3.5 stars

Delightful workplace romcom starring Asian MCs—YES to representation!—Cadence and Matt. They’ve sat next to each other at work for years, always found each other attractive but have never acted on it.

Cadence is the grump of the duo—analytical and reserved, preferring to keep her personal and professional lives separate. Matt is the charismatic commercial real estate broker who brings her coffee every morning, and is gunning for a promotion that will see him lead the new office in LA. When an important contract hangs in the balance with a particularly challenging client, they team up to try and seal the deal. This puts them spending two weeks together in close quarters, and you know what that means… 😉😉

I would rate <i>Circling Back to You</i> as low steam, but Cadence and Matt definitely have good chemistry. I found their flirty brand of teasing amusing and charming. The portrayal of stereotypical asian family dynamics—large unruly group of cousins, nosy aunties, meddling family matriarch, hard-nosed Chinese father etc.—felt immensely relatable to me, hilarious yet filled with so much love. This book is half set in San Francisco, where I live, so I really appreciated all the SF-specific jokes about “Karl” the Fog!

Thanks to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I was super excited about this one when I read the summary so immediately wanted to get started. I flew through the first half but kind of lost interest in the last half because it sorta lost steam. Which just made me really sad because this was a book that normally would have been my thing. I still liked it but it just got slow.

This book was the perfect office romance! I loved how the female main character was the grumpier one and the male was the sunshine character!

First off, thank you NetGalley and Avon/ Harper Voyage for my very first ARC! Thanks for taking a chance on me to read and write.

I give this book 3.5 stars. This book was okay, but not great. There were things to like for sure, but I wouldn’t put this on my favorites list. I enjoyed the story enough to keep reading it, but the characters weren’t my absolute favorites and I didn’t fall in love with either of them. Matt and Cadence work together at a high performing real estate company based out of San Francisco. Matt is a broker and Cadence is an analyst. They work great together as colleagues and their attraction towards each other grows over time. As they try to figure out what they mean to each other, they are also presented with a few work and familial hurdles to overcome together.

Readers who enjoy the following should give this a chance:
- Colleagues turned romance storyline (this is more friends to lovers not nemesis to lovers)
- Diverse main characters (loved learning about family rituals and traditions)
- Low steam 🔥
- Large families / caregiving plot line
- Enjoy San Fran/ LA backdrop
- Male & female split narration

This book somehow felt long but also lacked the character development I craved at the same time. The story started off quite quick, almost feeling as though you missed the first couple chapters. While I ENJOY not having a super long preamble of cat and mouse, I actually think I needed a little bit more slow burn. Other reviews say this is a fake dating trope, however there isn’t really a huge fake dating storyline (which I liked!). There was a little ‘what are we to each other - people are going to assume we are dating’ situation, but that is a very realistic plot and a breath of fresh air for the genre.

Moving on to the characters, I had a hard time nailing Cadence down. At first I thought she reminded me of Stella from The Love Quotient (shy, hard worker, doesn’t enjoy being social), but then she became very blunt, bossy and cold. I honestly couldn’t tell if she was even attracted to the main male lead, Matt, at times which might have been what killed the romance a little. She didn’t ever seem to like what she saw in him for longer than a fleeting moment. Towards the end, this gets better and you understand Cadence more, but by then you’re nearly finished. Matt’s character was a little better, but he was written very fluffy. There wasn’t a ton of depth to him and I felt like something was missing the whole time. He seemed sweet and caring but that’s about it.

I did love getting to know the cultures of both families throughout! I hope more books continue to highlight different cultures. I also loved that there was a caregiving subplot. It didn’t detract from the over all story, but was a nod to hardworking caregivers and the struggles/sacrifices they make for loved ones.

I think in general, I could have used more descriptions throughout the book and less scenarios - aka more bringing the world/characters to life and less events Cadence and Matt attended. The characters were blurry in my head and I couldn’t get a crisp picture of them. I also wish there were more solid secondary characters to round out the more flat gaps.

3.5

pretty good. i slowed down and kind of lost interest during the back half, though.

#netgalley

I adored The Donut Trap. And this was just as good.

The writing for this book was refreshing and there were plenty of times that I had that stupid smile on my face because of how lovey the characters were.
Such an enjoyable light, funny, romance. 
I thought the pacing was good, and the characters were all well developed
Julie Tieu writing flows and shines and I highly recommend this heartwarming captivating characters and an enjoyable plot
Sparkling dialogue, engaging side characters, and amazing romance.
Super sweet, well written, clever, funny story that I'm most positive y'all will absolutely fall in love with this amazing story!

Avon, Thank You for this eARC!
I will post to platforms closer to pub date.

This book is a quick cute romance. I love the fake dating trope mixed with friends to lovers and this one does it well. Matt and Candice are very sweet together. I did find the beginning to be a little slow but that usually happens when the romance is being set up. Once it was established the pace picked up. I did enjoy the dual POV’s in this book. I especially enjoy dual POV’s for romance books because I love seeing both sides of the romance.

My one critique is that occasionally Candice would come off as a little too cold and uncaring. It was harder to connect to her character for me. I understand this was done because she was trying to hold Matt at arms length because they might move and be separated due to their promotions but it put a slight damper on some of the warm fuzzy feelings I look for in a romance book.

Overall I did enjoy this book. It’s a fun lighthearted romance and it was wonderful seeing a Filipino male main character. I haven’t read The Donut Trap but now I definitely want to check it out.

Thank you Avon / Harper Voyager and Netgalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Netgalley and Avon/Harper Voyager for allowing ne to read and review this title! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I sadly have to DNF Circling Back to You. I stopped at around 25-30%. The story is told in a dual POV between Cadence and her co worker and cubicle neighbor Matt. Cadence and Matt become quick friends at the beginning of the book are kind of start to fall for each other. Cadence knows Matt is most likely going to leave state and it would be in her best interest to put a foot between them just in case, so she doesn't get hurt.

I don't mind dual POVs and sometimes it's really nice to read both sides but Matt's voice was too feminine for me. Most authors are able to do a great adult male voice but I think Matt's needs to be tweaked a little more.

I was looking forward to diving into a fun, flirty adult rom com but instead I got a kind of emotionless Cadence with Young Adult Contemporary writing. (Don't get me wrong I love YA but that's not why I wanted to read this book) The characters came across way younger than their 30s and the writing really could have been better.

Going back to Cadence's emotions, I don't mind a cold hearted character or someone with a wall around their heart but I didn't like the writing of her character. I see what Julie Tieu was trying to do but she missed the mark.

I wish I had a better experience but my expectations weren't met and this book just was not for me.

1.5 stars

I wanted to like this book, but it missed the mark for me. Cadence was cold and unemotional for the majority of the book, but then suddenly she had all the feelings. She was a bit frustrating and felt very disconnected from social situations and in her interactions with others. The chemistry between Cadence and Matt was missing and it was hard for me to connect with any of the characters. I appreciated the insight into more diverse families and characters, but there was a certain flow that was missing throughout the book and I found myself skimming over a few chapters.

thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This was such a charming setup, but I had a lot of trouble getting into the writing. I think it was because the way the book started, it felt like the reader was dropped halfway into the story when there was already a ton of tension. There was no introduction or a chance to get to know the characters outside of the premise. Unfortunately, it wasn't a good fit for me, but I 'd definitely try something else by the author.

I will never ever going to stop reading fake dating books, especially when the book is so well written and cute like this. It was wonderfully written, the characters and romance were great, I loved the setup and the story.
If you're looking for a light, fun, cute contemporary romance then this is the read for you! In meantime check out to check out Tieu's other novel, The Donut Trap.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for sharing this ARC with me in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a swoon-worthy romance left me here once asking God the question once again, WHEN is my turn?
I was sold before even starting with reading it, because friends to lovers and office romance, I couldn’t ask for anything more. I love Matt and Cadence, not only they are adorable and loveable characters but also their chemistry is off-the-charts and something to envy about. I love how compelling and strong secondary characters. Also, the cover is pretty cute too!

Disclaimer: Review will be up closer to pub date on pop-culturalist!

This is such a cute book!! I loved the characters and the plot. Everything about this was so freaking cute.

Julie Tieu is an excellent write. There was no major issues with the grammar or flow of the book. Being a minority myself, I love when books are the same old traditional Caucasian middle class fare. Julie was able to write a story featuring minorities without shoving the culture down our throat, nor dumbing the culture down for the masses, The story presented their cultures as fact, not as a novelty, and I loved it. Now lets talk about the plot and story itself. The plot was pretty standard. If you've read any workplace romance, then you've essentially already read this book. Not that there is anything wrong with it, its just that this book isnt exactly breaking new ground with the plot line. I can still recommend this book to everyone. I can only give it 4 stars, as I reserve 5 stars for books that have re-readability factor, and I dont think I will re-read this one. However its still a good book and I can recommend it to all.