This book just absolutely did not work for me. I have worked in politics for half a decade and was excited for a political romance as I tend to enjoy them. However, the writing was just so elementary here. The dialogue was completely unrealistic, the characters were one dimensional and fell flat. The attempt at portraying a political rivalry was far too on the nose as a character literally pulls out pictures of safe staffers and compares the situation to Romeo and Juliet.

Also there were plenty of problematic comments sprinkled in. Very early on in the book the character of Karim is fat shaming his brother and telling him that he’s getting soft and to lay off the food. These comments are highly fatphobic and inappropriate. I can’t believe they made it past an editor in 2023. This is a one star book that I will not be recommending to anyone.

DNF at 10%
This book was not for me. I thought it would be a rom-com with West Wing vibes (two of my favorite things), but it felt just...blah. The writing was boring, and the characters were very one-dimensional. I really wanted to love it but just couldn't force myself to keep reading.

Blunt, honest? I didn't like it.

The writing did not flow well for me at all. Between the timing and the sometimes immature conversations, I could not get into this one. The MC's would go from having an absolutely normal conversation to breathing all in each other's faces and necks and "Tell me to stop, Isadora", like please put your pants back on, you're in the hallway at your workplace! I was excited to read this one and I'm sad that it didn't meet my expectations.

What was with the freaking obsession with Riesling? Just why Karim?! I am a wine loving gal and Riesling happens to be one of my favs. But Karim's a pusher, he's a pusher, and he's going to push you. My guy was slinging Riesling as hard as Gretchen Wieners wanted fetch to happen okay.

I did enjoy the back and forth banter with BFF RJ. Also the discussions of mental health and how it can affect your family members along with yourself. Thank you @netgalley, Dell Books, and the author for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest review,

I wanted to love this book, I really did. I think a lot of the plot is clever and well paced. But I just couldn’t connect with some of the language and how some of the characters interact. This book was fine, but not for me.

Read if you like:
❤️ Reading Diversely
❤️ Enemies to Lovers Trope
❤️ Politics
❤️ Undeniable Chemistry

I absolutely love the undeniable chemistry between love interests in this one as it got me so invested in their story. I love that they had their meeting and started to fall before complications of forbidden romance/enemies came into play as that added great tension!

Overall, if you are looking for a great romance with all of the above I highly recommend this one as you can’t go wrong picking this one up!

Thanks to the publisher for my ARC copy in exchange for my review!

Gia de Cadenet is doing something in romance that others don't seem to be jiving with right now (we're looking at a whopping 3.41 average rating on GoodReads for this bad boy at the moment), but for me, this story just worked. Isadora and Karim are characters that the romance genre holds at arms length in my opinion, especially our heroine. I enjoyed the setup of their romance - overworked and ambitious chief of staff meets impassioned political rival. It made for fun banter and great on-[age chemistry in a unique take on the workplace rivals romance trope that The Hating Game has conditioned us all to love.

NOT THE PLAN really worked for me, and I'd recommend for others who enjoyed workplace rivals and head-to-head combat in the form of battles of wits.

Isadora Maris is the chief of staff that is traveling to help a senator with his campaign when she meets Karim. They meet in a bad way. They seem to keep meeting as they are seated next to each other on the plane and comes to find out they are working on against each other on campaigns. They had instant Chemistry, but Karim's past haunts him. Isadora's Mother is a piece of work. I loved how politics and romance came together.

The writing was good. I didn't like that Isadora kept calling Karim a demigod. Plus, Karim Wife was a lot also. Overall, this was a good book. This was my first Gia De Cadenet and I would give her books another try.

Overall, Not the Plan by Gia De Cadenet is an engaging workplace romance that explores complex themes. The chemistry between Isadora and Karim is palpable from their first meet-cute, and their forbidden romance is both heartwarming and heartbreaking at times. With a setting in California state politics and a peek behind how the legislature operates, there is a layer of tension and complexity added to the story as these characters navigate the difficult ethical dilemmas of their jobs while trying to pursue their own desires. If you enjoy romance novels with a lot of depth and emotional resonance, then I would recommend adding Not the Plan to your reading list.

I adored the relationship between the two main characters! I am biased since this book takes place in my area, but I loved it! I did find it to be a bit cheesy at times, but overall I thoroughly enjoyed it and could not put it down.

From my blog post: This was a book I was excited about since I read Gia’s first book and found out there was a companion. While I’m not one for politics (both characters work in this field), it really didn’t distract from the story at hand, which had quite a few layers to it. There is a bit of an emotional roller coaster ride in terms of what the main characters go through in this story (this, too, is a book with dual perspectives) both separately and together but it also allowed the reader to see their growth. The daunting moments don’t last long nor took away from the love story that was brewing. We did get some spicy moments in this book, which y’all know I love but will tell the 18 & under folx to stay away from until they join the 18 & over crowd. I’m hoping we get another companion so we can see more of these characters & have already asked Gia about this (to which, she said she can’t say anything *insert side-eye emoji here*).

I love books and politics so a book ABOUT politics seems right up my alley except not. This book had too much going on: commentary on living with people with borderline personality disorder, a political plot that was criminal (and doesn't show up until 78% of the way through), and a Romeo and Juliet romance. None of these plot points were fully realized. Literally, none of the other characters cared about the Romeo and Juliet romance. I never believed the chemistry between the main characters either. Finally, the dialogue was so stilted. The male main character ends every phrase with beautiful. It's used 70 times in the book. This was underwhelming and I finished it for the political plot, not the romance.

Thanks to NetGalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I could not put this book down. The chemistry between the two characters is to die for and the dialogue is incredibly realistic. I liked the pacing. There was a lot of political language (mostly the political titles) that went over my head and thankfully it didn’t matter much because if it was important, it was explained.
The build to the relationship is definitely instalovey, but I think that is to be expected from a Shakespeare rewrite/book that constantly references Romeo and Juliet. There is spice, this is not a closed door romance. And the spice is realistic, which is refreshing.
This book also hit close to home with certain characters and I found them to be very relatable.

I personally found this book to be just okay, it was an easy read with a fairly predictable plot line. The main issue I had with the book is that it made me want to read Jasmine Guillory's "Party of Two" again. And for me the comparison didn't hold up.

There's something that I didn't click with Isadora and Karim's characters. It was a very cute premise though. Thank you to Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for the eARC. This in no way impacts my rating.

A sexy and sensitive workplace romance. I wasn't sure I'd enjoy a book revolved around politics, but this was sweet. Thanks to NetGalley and Publisher for the early read.

Summary
Isadora is the youngest chief of staff in the California State Senate. She got there by keeping her head down and focusing on her career. Her boss is set to run for a seat in the US House and Isa plans to go with him. When she meets Karim on an airplane, he gets her all tongue tied. Then she runs into him again when it turns out he is working for a rival state Senator. Their chemistry is off the charts, but the two senators are enemies, with Julian, the one Karim is working for, turning out to be a much worse guy than he realized when taking the job. Karim is in California to start over after his marriage ended. He endured a lot of trauma and is ready for a fresh start. Meeting Isadora and their quick connection was not expected. Karim needs to prove himself to his boss, and rebuild his life. He's scared to open himself up again after how poorly the last time went. Even though

Review
Overall, very cute, yet steamy, romance. I will say, in terms of it being set in the political landscape, it wasn't my favorite. Not because the story was bad, but because Karim's boss and how he does politics is exactly what I hate about it. Corruption and blackmail and cheating; it just made me feel icky. I read for escape and some of it was just too familiar to things we've heard in the media in recent years.
I appreciated Karim's struggle with self-esteem, the pro-therapy (especially for men!) stance and the acknowledgement that men can be the victim in abusive relationships too. I liked seeing Isadora realize what she needed to do for her mental health in regards to her relationship with her mom. I would have liked a little update in the epilogue about where things stood with that relationship. The relationship and the intimacy seemed out of nowhere very quickly. I could have used a little more tension and build-up to see their relationship forming beyond physical chemistry.

Isadora and Karim meet at an airport, not knowing that they will.soon be working for opposing sides. I'm not one for politics, but I enjoyed this book anyway. I hadn't read the first book, and while I don't think it mattered, I do.want to read it now.

Not The Plan
Gia De Cadenet
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶

Isadora has devoted her life to focusing her career. There’s no time for love as it’s a distraction from the end game result.
Karin devoted his time trying to please his wife only to her manipulative tactics push him away for good. Deciding on the need for a fresh start he fins himself face to face with Isadora on a flight. The mutual sparks fly but a relationship isn’t in the cards for either one of them.
When they find themselves face to face again but on opposing teams there’s no way that either can give into the attraction. Their jobs continue to bring them together again and again until finally the resolve melts. However when something big threatens the foundation of their connection we’re left worrying that workplace politics will force them apart.
This one kept me engaged and invested in the relationship and really rooting for these two. Their similar backgrounds with manipulative personalities really had me concerned that they wouldn’t be able to work through their issues but don’t worry we get our HEA.
This is one of the many new releases for February and if you’re interested in politics, diversity rep (the visual I have of Karim and Isa in my head are 🥵), and spicy af romantic scenes this one won’t disappoint!!

At first, I wasn’t sure if I’d enjoy a political romance but I was pleasantly surprised by Karim and Isadora’s sizzling chemistry!

Besides the forbidden-like relationship between Karim and Isadora—you’ll find raunchy secrets, dirty lies, and scandal-worthy drama in this riveting read written by Gia.

I really resonated with Isadora’s estranged relationship with her mother and appreciated how much representation there was for mental health awareness. Karim being in therapy and feeling comfortable openly discussing it was significant to me. Just a heads up, some of the scenes in this book can be triggering to some so please mentally prepare for that.


Much gratitude and special thanks to Netgalley & Random House Publishing for sharing this ARC with me in exchange for my honest review.

Not the Plan is a well-written, fascinating romance about two colleagues who should be rivals. Isadora and Karim have a wonderful meet cute on a flight and then meet again when they discover they work for competing politicians. I loved the depth of the main characters and enjoyed the romance. It is a little heavy on the logistics of their jobs, but I really was drawn to the writing style. I listened to the audiobook, which was perfectly narrated by Zenzi Williams.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC. All thoughts are my own.