ARC provided by @atriabooks 

Audiobook by Storytel

Author: Jodi McAlister

Narrators: Manny Kennedy and David Berry 

Thanks, @atriabooks for the gift. 

Sadie and Jonah became academic rivals while still undergraduates and things only got worse (to Jonah’s chagrin and quiet despair).  Now, when a coveted job opportunity puts them against each other for it, Sadie proposes the unthinkable: they offer partner hire, so why don’t they get married? 

Simple solution, right? Well, not really, because they both have to deal with, to use the phrase of the moment, their ‘heated rivalry’. 

OMG, I loved this one! What a delight, especially for someone who comes from the same world. I loved the academic setting, the banter, the ‘he falls first’ and the ‘it’s always been you’ vibes. Besides, I love when a book is set in a ‘different’ place – this case Australia – and gives us a new perspective on things we are used to. 

I was so enamored with the story that I went ahead and bought the audiobook. Narrated dual style by Manny Kennedy and David Berry, two new narrators to me,  and they did a lovely job. Sadie is sassy, but vulnerable and she goes through so much hurt in the book. Jonah is the greenest of flags hero, who’s quietly but irrevocably in love with his academic archival and David is swoony in the role. Loved it! 

We have academic and family shenanigans, one bed, marriage of convenience, enemies to lovers, a cinnamon roll hero, the annoying side of Academia and the sweetest HEA. They’ll slow burn you to it but it’s worth it! 

Jodi, can we get Fiona’s and Chess’s books too? Elias too! I need to know what happened! 

Content notes: (including but not limited to) toxic family dynamics, child abandonment, cheating (not MCs), misogyny in the workplace

Story

Narration