whitneydaniell

by: Farrah Rochon
published: Aug 2, 2022
genre: Romance, Contemporary, Fiction
368 Pages, Paperback
GoodReads Link

Previous Books in this Series:
The Boyfriend Project #1
The Dating Playbook #2

I. Characters

The final installment in this series follows London, a pediatric surgeon, and, Drew a partner with a consulting firm hired to review the operations and finances of the hospital where London works. Not only are these two forced into a cordial working relationship they’re also old high school classmates.

London was an over-achieving high schooler, scoring top grades and several accolades when she met Drew Sullivan who, seemingly came in during the latter portion of their junior year and tried to one-up her. He ultimately showed her up when she had to share her valedictorian title. Of course, 15 years later they’re both super successful in their own right and Drew is rolling in dough to the tune of one hundred million dollars but, why would this love affair be “easy”?

London was very self-assured and knew what she wanted out of life, so it was annoying to watch her fret over minuscule things like a fellowship – which she repeatedly said would be best for her career. She also kept downplaying her feelings for Drew, which also was annoying! What is so wrong with liking this man? It made no sense for her to hold on to some one-sided high school beef.

Drew came off as very laid back and understanding – London didn’t deserve him! He moved heaven and earth for her and for 80% of the book she kept treating him like a jiggalo, minus leaving money on the dresser. He did for London more than all the other men in this series did and she kept reducing him down to the 17/18 year old boy that she hated (for no good reason) in high school and that was stupid.

II. The Story / Plot

This story drug on a little too long for my liking but, nothing about my feelings has changed from the other books. It was obvious and predictable.

III. The Writing

Nothing bad to say about the writing. Much like the last book in this series, Rochon has a thing for “hooking” of a thumb.

IV. My Final Thoughts

As a series, this was lackluster at best. I think I would feel differently if this was just one book, but because I read all three, back to back, I got a little “romance fatigued”. The story was predictable, from the first two chapters, as a reader, we know the love interest, we know the conflict from chapters 10-12, and we know that they’re going to end up together. The predictability is what stopped me from adding an extra ‘star’ to my overall rating. I said in the review of Book #1 — I wish the love interests were like a friend of a friend, someone we as the readers wouldn’t expect off hand. Lastly, of the things that I didn’t care for too much, the timeline was moving so fast. Upon the ending of the entire series, I believe we’re only at 6 or 7 months since the start. Are people falling madly in love in 2-3 months, the way these three young ladies did? Is that a thing?

Ok, off of the things I didn’t care for – there were lots of things that I loved about this series.

I love that this series features successful black characters (no matter how outlandish I find it) and I love that there is no “struggle love”. There are no baby mamas/fathers, no cheating, no lying, no real scandal. I love that all the men are tall, handsome, educated, and rich – because we know in the real world, that is a stretch. I love the friendship among the women and how that blossomed from a somewhat tragic situation.

All in all, this was a cute series and (should be) a quick read. I would 100% recommend it if romance is your jam.