Genre: Romance
Rating: 5 Stars
Have you ever read a book with the most satisfying yet infuriating slow burn romance that literally makes you want to throttle the main characters for being such oblivious boneheads?
Franny Doyle is having a DAY, ya know one of those everything that can go wrong will go wrong? Yeah one of those days. First she gets laid off from her job at a design startup and has to schlep all her stuff back to her apartment on the subway, then once she barely makes the train her beautiful thrifted satin dress gets caught in the door and you can guess what happens. As if almost flashing a bunch of random New York strangers wasn’t bad enough the interaction between her knight in shining armor Hayes Montgomery III is captured by a girl on the subway and suddenly the #SubwayQTS have gone viral.
What starts out as a simple kind gesture from a handsome stranger to help the damsel in distress not expose herself to all of New York suddenly becomes a thing neither of them can escape. And suddenly Franny is running into Hayes everywhere and Hayes can’t stop thinking about Franny and her infectious personality. But just like Franny’s delicate silk dress that fateful day on the subway their budding relationship tears easily and with these two who knows if it can stand up to the stress of being #SubwayQTs.
This is one of those rare books where the slow burn was so frustratingly slow that I actually wanted to throttle both Hayes and Franny at different points. They were so oblivious it hurt my soul, but that frustrating burn led to such a satisfying ending that even had me tearing up at certain points.
I really identified with Franny, not just because I too have been recently laid off from my job, but struggling with imposter syndrome or that insecurity that you’re not enough. It’s an ugly feeling that I think Kate Spencer captured really well and made me really relate to Franny and ultimately rooting for her to get the guy, figure out her life, and just be happy.
There’s one part of the book that really struck with me to sum up how both Franny (& I) were feeling about life at the moment:
“This was the dark, murky hole of insecurity that I fell into the second self-doubt came knocking at my door. Not that this was a new feeling, of course, I was good at pushing it aside most of the time, but getting laid off was like a welcome mat, inviting it to show up whenever it wanted. It crept into my brain as my head hit the pillow, sat across from me at my tiny kitchen table as I drank my morning coffee.”
That quote hits home because that’s exactly how it feels when you’re unemployed and everyone else in your inner circle isn’t. It’s like you can’t shake the feeling of not being good enough or that nagging insecurity that there’s something wrong with you. It’s a dark feeling that just sits there festering no matter how hard you try to shake it. It’s easier to shake though when you do have a job, or some sense of purpose, because you have other things to focus on.
When I mentioned earlier wanting to throttle Hayes for being a bonehead I wasn’t kidding. He did several things that made me grip my book tighter and take a deep breath in through the nose and out through the mouth because he was being so dense and I just wanted him to see some sense.
My, albeit intense, connection with these characters is what I loved most about this book. I was rooting for them to overcome everything that was being thrown at them because I could see that they were the perfect compliment for each other. This was exactly what I want out of a romance because just when I thought we were wrapping it up to the happy ending something else would pop up and we’d be back so many steps that it seemed that they were never going to figure out.
I swear I could go on way more about this book, but that would give away so many details and I don’t want to spoil this satisfying slow burn of a romance book.
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