Lily Ferrari works with Chris at the Johnson bookstore, and when she is invited to Chris’s for a party, Lily accidentally sleeps with her roommate, Mayte, weeks before she’s supposed to move back to Florida.

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Why this book?: I really enjoyed the first novella, The Melody of You and Me.

 

I’ve been having trouble putting my words for this one down, but my feelings are in fact just really simple when I think about it. If you read my review for The Melody of You and Me, my feelings have barely changed. These two novellas are fairly similar, but not in a negative way.

Lots of new characters were introduced all at once, and I found it hard to follow right away. Lily has three roommates, and then there’s Mayte’s friends. Karen, Hope, and Anika, who are Lily’s roommates, are hard to keep apart, and I’m still unsure who is who whenever one of them is mentioned. Then, there was this Naomi girl who was mentioned a few times, and I can only guess that she was Mayte’s friend. I did, however, appreciate how all of them were diverse–either queer or POC. One of them is Japanese, one is Brazilian, like Lily, but I can’t for the life of me remember who is. Josie and Chris reappeared quite a few times, and I really enjoyed seeing how their lives were getting on and how their relationship had developed in the elapsed time.

The relationship, however, between Lily and Mayte seemed . . . lackluster. I couldn’t really see the chemistry between them, and throughout the story I really only saw them for how they described their relationship: as a casual thing. Maybe that was the point, to see how it grew as the novella went on, but there was minimal development through the story.

Lily’s background was also very washed over. It was mentioned, but it was almost as if Hollis didn’t want to outright say what the problem really was. I loved the development in that area, but since I don’t really want to get into spoilers (which I think I have already), I don’t want to say much more.

Lily herself had the most development, the most solidity. I really loved her character, how unapologetic she was about who she was. Probably my favorite part was how consent was constantly asked throughout the sex scenes, as well as how they went over their boundaries early in their arrangement.

Final Rating: ★★★★☆

Overall?

I really enjoyed this one, and it kept me up late with all of the steamy scenes. Again, the third person present tense writing was really odd and clunky, and sometimes it almost felt like I was getting the story told to me by some random narrator. I also didn’t really feel the chemistry (but that doesn’t mean the sex scenes weren’t good. They were.)

Would I Recommend?

To anyone looking for diverse and sexy new adult romances. I never thought I’d find myself getting into this genre, but Hollis has managed to drag me here with hearts in my eyes.

Trigger warning for homophobia.

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Additional Information:

Published: April 6th, 2017

Publisher: CreateSpace

Page Count: 119

Genre: New Adult/Contemporary/Romance

Synopsis: via Goodreads

Lily Ferrari enjoys having control over every detail of her life. Ever since she left her parents’ house to gain her freedom, she decided to fully own her autonomy. But an unexpected visit from her little brother may change the path she chooses to follow.

Add to that a casual fling with the bright architect Mayte González, and Lily’s summer is turning out more interesting than she expected. It certainly beats the routine of working extra shifts at Johnson’s Bookstore.

A few weeks before her college life begins, Lily needs to figure out if she’s wrong about the past or if she should continue to protect her heart at all costs.

Sometimes moving forward is only possible if you have the right people by your side.