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I feel like I’ve been waiting a year for Business Or Pleasure – and I pretty much have, because I was desperate to read more Rachel Lynn Solomon as soon as I turned the final page of her last book, Weather Girl. This one was billed as “her sexiest novel yet”, and the amazing team at Penguin Books Australia were kind enough to send me a copy for review.
Chandler Cohen is a bit fed up with being a ghostwriter. She works hard to bring other people’s stories to life, while her own languishes in a Miscellaneous folder on her laptop. She agrees to take on one last job, penning the memoir of TV heartthrob Finnegan Walsh, because it will give her the space and money she needs to figure out her next move.
Except when she meets Finnegan Walsh for an interview, she realises: he’s “Drew”, the man she had an awful one-night-stand with after “her” last book launch.
They agree to put their brief encounter behind them and focus on writing the best book possible… but, come on. Business Or Pleasure is a romance novel.
This is how I die, I think: confessing to Finnegan Walsh over falafel that he did not rock my world.
Business Or Pleasure (Page 100)
Chandler ends up agreeing to give Finn “intimacy” lessons, as a kind of side project to the memoir. Two hot people, working together by day, sleeping together by night, with an explicit lesson plan… who could guess what happens next?
Yes, Business Or Pleasure is a steamy read, with a bonus “oh no, there’s only one bed!” incident that had me giggling with delight. Chandler is a refreshingly sex-positive heroine, and Finn a very respectful student. Oh, and there’s no stupid miscommunication break-up in the third act!
And it’s not all smut: Business Or Pleasure offers a lot of interesting insights into the world of comic book conventions and fantasy fandom, and both main characters have anxiety disorders (OCD and GAD) that play significant roles without defining them.
Business Or Pleasure somehow managed to exceed my already-high expectations. Rachel Lynn Solomon remains a must-read romance author for me.
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