Thank you so much to NetGalley and to the publishers for access to an ARC in exchanged for my honest review.

The premise of this book was enough to get me interested right away. A beautiful, brilliant scientist (Women in STEM are everything and I will not be accepting any arguments on that) and an artistic recent ex-spy meet by chance in an airport, both decide to act out of their usual comfort zone and have a one night stand when their flights are delayed, and then find themselves stuck working together very closely when they turn up in the same town. The idea of Wyatt's dossier being sold out and that leading to him being pulled from the field adds such an interesting layer to the story and to Wyatt and Blake's relationship as they get to know one another and develop their feelings, and while the thought of an art competition being hosted by a prestigious company like Cygnet Labs did require some suspension of disbelief, it was really fun to watch the battle of science versus art go down between Blake and Wyatt as they both learned to appreciate the other's side of the equation.

The first few chapters dragged for me slightly, but once we were into the story, I found Wyatt and Blake's relationship to be really fun and engaging, and they had me laughing and smiling more than once. I was rooting for them to get to a place where they could be happy and honest with each other, where they could both learn to accept themselves as they are and find their way forward, both professionally on their own and as a couple. I loved both characters' individual plot lines, too, with Wyatt coming to terms with living in his aunt's house now that she's gone and also having lost the career he'd given his life to while also trying to reconnect with his old love of art and Blake's determination to not lose ground in her research or be forced into a management track rather than sticking through with her project where she's happy all while trying to find a way to reconnect with her brother after years of them both working to survive their family's expectations.

All in all, the book wasn't perfect, but I had a lot of fun getting to know these characters and, let's be honest, any book that takes a beautiful blonde woman in STEM and has her dress up as Elle Woods for a costume party has my vote of confidence. <3

Okay so I had high hopes for this book in the beginning. I enjoyed the spy backstory and the journey back to “normal” life. But that’s kind of where it just stopped for me. The only enjoyable couple scenes in this book were the smut scenes, otherwise I just didn’t see the chemistry :(