Cadence has pined for Matt since her start at Prism Realty. Having him as her work husband has it's perks, including early morning coffee, but just as she is thinking of taking things out of the office, Matt is up for a promotion that includes a relocation putting all thoughts of taking this working relationship into a real relationship off the table. When they are forced together to work on scoring a big client, in their hometown, they get closer than they ever have before. Will Matt be able to bring Cadence's walls down and open her up to what they could be if she let them or will he force her walls back up forever?

When I saw this book available on Netgalley, I was so freaking excited. I love me a good workplace romance with Asain rep and fake dating....count me IN! While fake dating is teased in the book, it doesn't happen. That is totally okay by me though because Circling Back to You is so much more than a rom-com. Is it funny? Yes. (WARNING: Matt makes the dadest of dad jokes 😆) Is it a romance? Yes. It is also a book about grief and family. It's about strength and resilience and trusting in people. As it is marketed as a rom-com I was not expecting the amount of depth that was involved in the love story of Matt and Cadence. There were so many important moments and intricacies that made up their relationship.

I read Circling back to you in one sitting. I stayed up well past my bedtime because I could not wait until morning to find out how things ended for the couple. I also made 4 pages worth of notes on the book. This is another epistolary novel. Throughout the book is a smattering of text threads, email chains, and chat conversations. It is also dual POV so you get to be inside both Cadence and Matt's brains to know what each of them are thinking. While both characters come from Asian families, their upbringing and relationship with their relatives are completely different. I loved the way that Julie Tieu gave a glimpse into each. The way she described the death anniversary rituals for Cadence and her family were a lot more in depth to some other books I have read in the past. It was written in a beautiful way that showed love and respect for an emotional and difficult ritual.

I could go on and on about all of the things I loved about this book (4 pages of notes 😅), but I will just end this with READ THIS BOOK. I give it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ and 🌶🌶🌶. It has some open door scenes but they aren't super detailed or descriptive.

Julie Tieu always manages to write sweet, diverse romances and I’m all here for it.

This book is filled with unappreciative coworkers and bosses, women in STEM, work friendships, crushes, fake dating, and some real feelings. But when families get involved things tend to take a turn – and they definitely did here.

Personally, I loved the characters in this book, and the plot, but I felt a bit of a disconnect from how the characters spoke to each other – and I want to specifically say that I think it’s due to cultural differences. Julie Tieu is fantastic at representing different and diverse cultures and with what I know about the cultures being represented, I think she did a phenomenal job. It’s just not how I tend to interact with people (again, different cultures), but that’s why we read, right? To expose ourselves to different environments, people, and experiences! And this book does all of these at the same time for me.

If you’re looking for a cute workplace romance with a strong and quirky female protagonist, this is definitely one for you!

Another solid Own Voices read from Julie Tieu!

This is a work place romance with friends-to-lovers that is a bit of a slow burn. There’s also a bit of grumpy/sunshine thrown in where Matt is the sunshine and Cadence is the grump. The dynamic works and it brings out Matt’s sweet side.

While it’s not a closed door, fade to black romance, the intimate scenes are fairly tame. I didn’t feel the chemistry between them, but that worked in this story because the focus was on the relationship dynamic between them,

There were a few parts that dismissed the mark for me and that I think could have been further developed. Grief, loss of a parent, and familial pressure to act a certain way are main topics of the story so avoid if these are triggers.

Overall a solid, heartwarming read for contemporary romance readers that enjoy office space relationships!

I love a good workplace romance and this also has forced proximity, friends-to-lovers, and mutual pining. But…. It just wasn’t it for me. It was good, but just not great. Maybe enemies-to-lovers, workplace romance is more my speed? Anyway… Circling Back to You is a quick(ish), mostly lighthearted easy read. There isn’t too much angst, and the grief Cadence experiences over the loss of her mother is present, but not overwhelming. I do feel like the chemistry and tension between Cadence and Matt was a tad lacking… not enough time was spent really developing their emotions and connections on the page, so it felt less believable. If you’re looking for an easy read without a big emotional lift, this does the trick.

Thank you to Avon and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

CW: death of a parent (past), grief, toxic workplace

This was a quick low angst read, that dealt with some heavier topics. While I enjoyed the diversity and the pushback against a toxic workplace, the romance was overshadowed by all of the external plots for me. As a romance reader I was hoping for more romance but I know that plenty of other will appreciate it.

Steam: 1.5

What an absolutely delightful workplace romance!

Cadence and Matt are cubicle neighbors and work spouses whose working relationship evolves into a romantic one. I enjoyed watching both of them struggle through awkward moments when they were concealing their attraction from each other, and I really enjoyed how their connection evolved over time. Once it became clear that there was a mutual attraction there, Matt was charming in his attempts to woo Cadence, but I appreciated that he did respect her boundaries and didn't cross any lines or try to force her to speak to him when she needed space.

I loved the family elements. I laughed out loud at a few points with Matt's Filipino family, and I felt so tender toward Cadence and her family dynamic after losing her mom. Having lost my mom five years ago, and moved back home to help my dad around the house, I really connected with her struggling to reconcile her career goals with her family obligations.

It was also great to see such a strong, intelligent female lead. Cadence is a bad-ass data analyst who is the backbone of the real estate firm where they work, and it was great to see her stand up for herself and pursue what she rightfully deserves. More of this in romances, please!

So much adorableness wrapped into 345 pages. I love how many tropes were brought into this book without it feeling too chaotic. You have:

- Grumpy x sunshine (My personal favorite considering the FMC was the grumpy 😩)
- Friends to lovers
- Work place romance
- Mutual pining being hidden

I love how well written and thought out this book felt, the duel POV was great it made it easier to understand where each character was coming from and how they perceived each other. Their banter was also *chefs kiss*

I absolutely adored how Matt is the epitome of golden retriever boyfriend, he is such a sweetheart through out the entire book it made me root for him the entire time. Cadence was also such a strong character, I like that she didn’t back down from any obstacles or challenges and she always showed up when people needed her the most.

Can we also just talk about this quote from Matt?????

“Look. It’s late and we should get some rest, but let me be clear. I’ve wanted to kiss you for a long time. I’m done pretending that I don’t want to kiss you when you walk into the office, and I sure as hell am not going to forget that this happened. But I promise you, I’m not going to kiss you again until we’re on the same page. And if we are, we’re going to do a hell of a lot more than kiss.”

😮‍💨🫣🥵

I appreciated some of the family backstory that the author created here. There’s definitely a place in romance novels for diverse family dynamics, and I thought that the bones were there to dive deeper into the impact that pressure to be a parental care-giver can have on romantic relationships. But it never really got that deep.
I truly don’t understand the set-up of this book, in that…I don’t there was one? Matt and Cadence are already half in love when we meet them, and there’s little to no conflict throughout the book. One of the biggest hurdles they have to overcome is that his family…. teases her? Once? There’s nothing inherently BAD about this book. Just didn’t hit any of the beats that makes me want to gush about it.

I went into this thinking I’d get a cute romance story and got everything but that. From the get-go, I didn’t like Cadence at all – she’s constantly mean to everyone around her, but she’s extra awful to Matt. Sure, it does get better as their story evolves, but their relationship wasn’t that believable because of that. I didn’t think they had any chemistry, especially at the start.

The book got significantly better towards the end and I didn’t actually hate it, but I still can’t say I’ve enjoyed it. Around the 50-60% mark, a bunch of characters are added out of nowhere and I have to say I enjoyed Matt’s family more than I enjoyed Cadence and Matt. There wasn’t that much romance, to be honest – the book was a lot more focused on business than I expected it to be. Their relationship wasn’t believable to me so them getting together felt a bit rushed. I had some major problems with the writing style, because it tends to be so repetitive, it doesn’t flow the way it should have. None of the main characters were that well developed and I cannot tell you a simple thing about them besides “works in business, one’s grumpy, one’s a ray of sunshine”. I liked how the book dealt with grief, that was really well done and I have to point that out.

So, this definitely wasn’t the book for me and I should’ve probably DNF-ed. But maybe it will work out for someone else! I’ve heard the rep was good, but it’s not my place to deny or affirm that, so take it with a grain of salt.

3.5 stars
I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.
After really enjoying Julie Tieu’s debut, I was optimistic for her future books. And while Circling Back to You left me with slightly more mixed feelings, it’s still pretty solid.
Cadence and Matt are interesting characters, and I love their bond and how it begins as co-workers and friends (even if Cadence is rather guarded and doesn’t really let anyone in at first). Cadence can be prickly, sometimes overly so, to the point of often being overly critical, even of her close family. However, that only gives her depth for me, and helps flesh her out. And Matt is generally sweet, the perfect charismatic sunshine to balance out her lovable grump. They have a fun, playful relationship, which hints at their secret desires that they’re unable to vocalize or act on.
I also really liked exploring their respective family dynamics and how that influences their bond. As the blurb indicates, Cadence has a complicated relationship with her father, and while I’m not sure the juxtaposition between the lovely elderly man he was and the flawed man he was in Cadence’s childhood came across effectively, I can respect an attempt to explore that type of trauma from the perspective of an adult child. And on the flip side, Matt’s family is generally loving, but loves to meddle in his love life, in a loving spin on a familiar trope.
However, I had mixed feelings about the pacing. The middle of the book in particular feels kind of bland, and like it was going through the motions until the big conflict came to test Cadence and Matt’s relationship.
In spite of my issues, I mostly enjoyed what this book was trying to do, and the positives more or less outweigh the negatives. If you enjoy multicultural contemporaries with workplace romance, friends to lovers and/or fake dating, you might enjoy this one.

A cute read about two colleagues who fake dare, but of course they can’t keep up the facade for very long.
The beginning was a very slow build and I was having trouble with the book’s vibe.
Halfway through the tempo,got better. I liked Matt better than Cadence, although I loved her name.
Chalk this one up to fake date turns real genre.

CIRCLING BACK TO YOU was a solid and very enjoyable romance book. I love that Cadence and Matt are co-workers and friends first. It's refreshing to read a novel that's not an office enemies to lovers story. I also appreciate that they both strong in their careers and help each other succeed. Both characters are rich with details and you're rooting for them the entire time. It's fantastic that we're seeing more diverse authors and characters in romance now. I can't wait to read more from Julie Tieu in the future.

I kind of DNFed this book because the romance wasn't for me... It was a bit slow and off track a lot on the romance and it wasn't for me tbh.

What I had hoped would be a cute office romance was... something different. This book wasn't for me for a lot of reasons but mostly for the romance. Not only does this book get bogged down with unnecessary boring business jargon, but the romance just was not it. Cadence was so mean to Matt and I really didn't understand why. There was no chemistry and I wish the banter was as good as it was promised.

I tried a few times to get into this book, but the writing style wasn't a good fit for me. I found myself getting easily distracted and I wasn't invested enough in the characters to be invested in their budding relationship. I ended up giving up around the 15% mark.

I really wanted to love this book. I thought the idea was great. I did think the beginning started off strong but then, I felt like, it got a little slow and boring. I did love the ending though.

I wasn’t a huge fan of the characters. I felt like Cadence was mean at times and Matt was a little too into himself.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Circling Back To You is the typical contemporary romance. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it but there weren’t any elements that made this a 5 star read for me. It is extremely predictable but sometimes that’s exactly what we need!

Read if you like:
- Asian American representation
- Friends to Lovers
- Workplace romance
- Real estate

What I Didn’t Like
- Not much romance
- Slow paced (but still a quick and easy read)

(3.5 ☆)

What to expect:
- multicultural family
- delicious descriptions of Asain dishes
- colleagues to lovers
- a sweet and cute read based in California
- fake-dating trope
- big family gatherings
- adorable gay side couple trying to adopt (!!!)

<b>Thank you Avon and Harper Voyager for providing me with an ARC of "Circling Back To You" in exchange for my honest review and thoughts.</b>

Though the beginning was a little too much info-dumpy for me, I would like to say that I quite like our main characters. Cadence was extremely likable within the first act, though towards the middle she was starting to get on my nerves. Matt, however, was such a light within this novel.

I loved how diverse this was. The big family trope is something that fills me with so much warmth, especially when they're all likable like they were in this read. The pacing of this novel caught me a little off guard and I found myself flipping back to see how to piece together the timeline.

Both of our main characters are neighbor cubicle employees of a high-stakes real estate company. Cadence works as a big shot analyst and Matt is our magazine voted the best broker in California. When they're thrown together to land a sale with a top-priority investor, both of their livelihoods are on the line.

I loved the fake dating in this book, though. I am a sucker for fake dating. This book capsized on the feelings behind a fake relationship, though I wish it was more established. I think there were only two or three actual talks about them faking it, but at the same time, they weren't faking it? Maybe it's the third person format because I'm so used to the first person, but this made the pacing a little more weird for me.

Regardless, this was a pretty good cutesy workplace romance read with friends to lovers. You can grab your own copy on July 12, 2022, when it hits shelves.

Unfortunately this one didn’t hit the mark for me.
I never found the relationship to be believably real. things felt predictable and over played and I just didn’t ever connect with the story or the characters.

One of my greatest disappointments of adulthood was realizing that there is no point at which you have your life completely figured out for all time. In every decade we find ourselves considering our priorities and our choices. After reading her debut, The Donut Trap, I think I can safely assert that Julie Tieu writes characters who are figuring out how they want to be in the world really well.

In Circling Back To You, Cadence Lim and Matt Escanilla are at a point in their 30s where career, family, and personal goals need to be reassessed. They work together and everyone in the office thinks they are, or should be, a couple. For a good third of the book they pine, and even when they do decide to try dating, they have to figure out what that means in the face of job opportunities and family needs and expectations.

An added complication is the different ways they interact with the world. Cadence hides her grief with reserve. Matt hides his anxiety with sparkle. Tieu makes sure to show that the two have built a strong work partnership, and the foundation for a friendship and more. But they both have to learn to communicate feelings and be honest about what they want. Cadence has been so firm in her separation of work life and personal life that Matt has a lot to learn about her. Matt is willing to learn all he can, and I love that he takes a back seat to Cadence when he needs to.

I like the way Julie Tieu writes. She’s engaging, has a firm hand on her characters, and writes with nuance. The marketing department at her publisher doesn’t seem to know what to do with her books though. There are funny moments in Circling Back to You, but it doesn’t feel a rom-com. And while Matt proposes at one point that Cadence pretend to be his girlfriend, there is no fake dating. I had similar issues with The Donut Trap. It’s a shame because people will pick up the book expecting something very different. If you are looking for a good friends to lovers, workplace romance with a healthy side of dealing with family expectations, and excellent AAPI representation, read Circling Back to You.

CW: death of parent and grand parent in past, grief, parental disapproval, racist microaggressions.

I received this as an advance reader copy from NetGalley. My opinions are my own and freely given.