I went into this book not knowing what to expect, just hoping for a good love story and some positive fat representation and I totally delivered there. I loved the relationship between these two, it was based respect that then led to attraction and some good spicy scenes. The office elements played out in an interesting way too.
So over all you get good body diversity, office romance, forbidden love and forced proximity, all elements of a really enjoyable read.
TW One of the office workers is constantly saying anti-fat comments about her and often times in ear shot of her. I just wanted to say that in case you are not ready for that.

Steamy romantic read about 2 colleagues that turn into lovers. Also touches on being a Black woman in a male dominated industry and facing barriers and discrimination.

This was so much fun and I am so happy I was able to get this ARC. Tati really did her thing with this book and I really hope this book gets to hype it deserves! Thank you NetGalley!

I knew this book was going to be a hit with me because it literally checked all my “Nikki boxes.” And I mean it had all the things I like: Romance, Black Romance, Plus Size main character, and it counts as Foodie Fiction. Literally all the things I love. And once I finally read it, let’s just say, I was right. I really enjoyed this!

Ok so first things first, let’s talk about the characters! Ari is a MOOD! The things she loves (Wonder Woman!) the food she eats!, all of it is me. I related to her so hard. I really felt like she could be like my bestie or at the very least we could have a real good conversation about life. And then there’s Porter. I knew I was going to like him from the moment he was a goner when he met Ari. That boy was down bad y’all lol And I loved it. They both had issues that we didn’t know about in the beginning, but they both have to confront those things by the end.

The romance was very cute! I loved seeing the two of them fall towards each other. Its like they were magnetized but they both held the opposite ends, if that makes sense. I say that because they were so attracted to each other, and they were feeling each other so hard, but they kept finding reasons to repel away from each other. It was like a slow burn torture. But at the end I did feel like it took Porter too long to realize what happened. Like be for real. This person has been grimy the whole time, you think they changed overnight? But I can admit it made for a great ending.

The writing style was also really comfortable. I felt like I was getting a big hug type comfort. It was easy to fall into Ari’s mind and her experiences, yes because it’s a contemporary romance, but also because I could fully relate to Ari’s character. The way she slid down the door in that one scene, the music she loved, just everything. This is the power of writing our own stories. Representation matters. It was refreshing to see Ari’s character being loved the way she deserved.

This book was so cute but had lots of more indepth themes. I really hope y’all check it out to find out more Ari and Porter. I also hope to get another book out of this one, for Ari and Porter’s besties. I’m almost positive that’s what was happening, but I don’t want to make any assumptions. But I’m not above begging. How do I make my plea?

What a debut novel!!!!!

Thank you to the author for delivering a book that hit the check marks on a great novel! I honestly couldn’t put it down. I loved the couple, the dialogue and the importance of tackling hot topics in todays world!

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

CW: misogeny, toxic work environment, death of a parent (past), fat shaming, sexual harassment

I would recommend if you're looking for (SPOILERS)

-m/f contemporary romance
-fat rep
-workplace romance
-insta attraction
-he falls first
-this is just a hookup

I really enjoyed this workplace romance. Ari was confident, knew her worth and just wanted to get the job done. But what she didn't plan for was Porter, who she is teaming up with at her new job for a big project and who she can't help but have immediate chemistry with. But having learned to not cross working and dating at her lat job she does everything she can to fight the attraction.

Porter respects her decision but he's also entirely gone on her immediately. These two were fun, flirty and steamy. I just enjoyed their interactions as they struggled to stay away from each other and finally said screw it and screwed each other. The steam was top notch, Porter adored every curvy inch of Ari. A great steamy workplace romance.

Steam: 3.75

Ari has just left her old job at a different architecture firm and it's clear that something went down there, but we're not really let into the specifics in the first third of the book. She's having a disastrous first day, but Porter, her new co-worker, is pretty great and they hit it off. The two of them are both attracted to one another, but tell each other that for a variety of reasons, they can't date one another. There's a lot of sexual tension there though.

I really cannot explain what it is about this book that didn't work for me, but ultimately, I was just disconnected and bored. There's something about the way the plot/pacing at the beginning that had me feeling disconnected almost like I couldn't figure out how much time was passing. It felt like there was a lot of talk about work. And there is so much talk about Ari's body. She's a plus-sized/fat main character and she has a "roster" of men to rotate through and it's certainly something that's body positive, but then there were men being skeevy and also fat shamey and I think I'm also not in a place to read about that regardless of the technically positive messaging going on. Anyway, I really think that you will appreciate this book if you like reading about characters who are in their 40s (if my math is right) and you appreciate some workplace talk/scenes.

A delightful debut with a heroine who knows who she is and isn't ashamed of it, whose confidence was fought for and well earned. Loved having this set in Atlanta; that was a refreshing change of pace.

Tati Richardson’s dual POV debut novel The Build Up focuses on architects Ari James and Porter Harrison competing for a partnership in their firm. They are assigned to work together on a project that could help one of them land the partnership. Despite themselves, their unlikely alliance soon leads to love. Richardson’s natural dialogue, vivid description, deft character development, and insightful narrative style quickly grabbed hold of my imagination, investing me in her characters and their journey from the first scene to the very last.

Ari James shows up disheveled for her first day at a new firm—not the first impression she was going for. To make things worse, her new, hot colleague walks in on her at the absolute worst time. When she’s assigned to collaborate with him on the project she hopes will get her career back on top, she knows it will be much more challenging to stay focused on her big comeback. A partnership at his architectural firm is on the line, and Porter Harrison can’t afford anything getting in his way of excelling on his new project—including his unpredictable brother, an obnoxious work rival, and especially not his new co-worker Ari. Ari, whose stunning curves he hasn’t been able to stop thinking about since the moment he accidentally walked in on her changing her first day. Neither Ari nor Porter is looking for love. But creatively, they make a dynamic team. And the longer they work together, the more it becomes clear that the connection developing between them is more than creative. However, making a romantic relationship flourish won’t be easy. It may even jeopardize their jobs, Porter’s partnership, and the new life/fresh start that Ari is building for herself because both are focused on winning and reaching the top of their field.

It’s interesting how Richardson shows two characters, each at different ends of the spectrum, in how they allow others’ perceptions of them to control their life choices and happiness. A gorgeous, intelligent, shapely, quirky, talented, confident, and gifted architect, Ari’s making a fresh start with this job and the home she’s renovating. Betrayed by a co-worker who stole her work, lied about her, and ruined her professional reputation, Ari’s sole focus is getting her career back on track. I love Ari’s hard-won confidence. She counters the stereotypes of fat girls being lonely and needing other people to boost their esteem. I love her. Porter is a sweet, fascinating, thoughtful artist who needs to focus on his career because being an architect doesn’t come naturally to him. His life is a façade. In reality, he’s shy, nerdy, insecure, and loves painting more than architecture. It’s not what he wants to be doing or the career or life he chose for himself.

Ari and Porter make a fantastic team once they settle into their partnership. I love Ari and Porter’s flirty, funny, sexy banter; and steamy interactions/love scenes. Ari and Porter talk to each other about all kinds of things and hang out just watching TV. These scenes may be Richardson’s best. Porter falls fast and deeply for Ari. But because of her past, Ari holds back, trying not to make the same mistakes. Not that it keeps her from falling for him before she can keep from being hurt or hurting him. She’s drawn to him despite herself because he makes her feel safe and comfortable.

I love Richardson’s nuanced exploration of the treatment and stereotypes plus-size women face, particularly when Black—through her heroine Ari—and how being judged by appearance affects them in their personal and work lives. She also thoughtfully explores issues of colorism and race and how it continues to impact Black men and women within their families and the workplace. Richardson examines this within the relationship between Porter and his brother and through Porter’s career. Being fair-skinned may have given Porter some advantages career-wise and positively affected his relationship with his grandparents. However, it also increased the expectations and pressures placed on him and created strife/issues between him and his brother, whose skin is darker and a problem for his color-struck grandparents.

The Build Up is a sweet, sexy, funny, emotional, steamy, and a bit angsty romance about taking risks, following your dreams, finding new dreams, letting go of the past, making fresh starts, and taking advantage of second chances. It explores themes of grief, prejudice against people based on appearance—weight, skin color—betrayal, family baggage and emotional trauma, sibling rivalry, colorism, classism, and sexism.

Advanced review copy provided by Carina Press via Netgalley for review.

This is the debut novel for Tati Richardson and I must she did an awesome job with her writing skills, her characters were believable, awesome plot that held my interested from page to the very last page. Way to Tati Richardson. Hoping you’re working on your next novel. Ari is a new architect and she has the confidence to match it in a male dominated world. Ari has been partnered with sexy Porter who is up for partnership at the firm. Porter has vowed that nothing will stop him from making partner even the gorgeous new architect Ari. When Ari and Porter meet there is an instant attraction of which neither is looking for romance but fate has other plans. These two are great together, love their chemistry and how well they fit together.

Did Porter make partnership, how did Ari handle being in a male dominated field, is there an HEA in store for Ari and Porter.

I received an ARC via NetGalley Carina Press & Carina Adores (Harlequin), Carina Press Romance and I am leaving my review voluntarily.

I enjoyed this book. Hard to believe this is a debut novel. The author has some skills. The author was able to handle some serious issues like sexism, racism and fat shaming and do it well.

This is a low-angst work-place romance between two likable characters. The romance is authentic if a little too on/off.

This is a great read with compelling characters and interesting themes. Highly recommend

I received an arc of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I loved everything about this story. Porter and Ari are officially one of my favorite couples in any book series. I really enjoyed how this one was written and the journey between Ari and Porter from the beginning. I appreciate how Ari's character is portrayed as a plus size woman and that she wasn't one of those characters that's obsessed with losing weight. She owned who she was and that's the kind of energy I love to see. Porter was a dream, as far as how he loved Ari. He was a little naive at times but I appreciated his willingness to learn when it came to navigating things with Ari. Overall, I really loved this story. It gives black professionals being successful, black love, HBCU rep, plus size rep and It was just a really fun read (with a good amount of spice). Definitely would recommend.

This debut novel deserves a standing ovation for author Tati Richardson! I adored this book and cannot wait to get my hands on a physical copy for my home library. Reader be warned, the beginning of this story contains racism, fat phobia, and misogyny. But let me say, this story is worth being uncomfortable for.

Meet Ari. She is a talented, beautiful, and brilliant plus sized woman. She get a new job at a prestigious architecture firm in Atlanta. Meet Porter. He is successful and gorgeous, yet in a bit of a rut. One day he gets a new co-worker chemistry sparks instantly with. Will this be the meet-cute they’ve been waiting for?

Get ready for unexpected jealousy, an Adonis male main character, a plus size female main character, pool scenes, and spicy romance scenes that will make you weak in the knees. Can I say this book has it all? Because it does. Hats off to Richardson for this grand slam review and I cannot wait to read what comes out next!

Thank you to NetGalley, Carina Press, and Carina Press & Carina Adores (Harlequin) for an eARC in exchange for my honest review!

Everyone should go and do themselves a favor and read this book, the characters are amazing, the story is amazing.

Tati did a wonderful with these characters.

Rating: 3.5⭐

Thank you to Netgalley and Carina Press & Carina Adores  (Harlequin) for providing me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Workplace romance and Black Love for the win.
Who doesn't love an office romance with spice?

Ari James envisioned kicking off her first day at a new firm....
With a partnership at his firm on the line, nothing is going to stand in the way of Porter Harrison absolutely killing it on his new project....
Learning that she’ll be working with extremely hot—colleague on the project that’s supposed to get her career back on top makes it harder than ever to focus on her big comeback.
Though neither of them is looking for love, once their creative juices get flowing, Ari and Porter’s connection is obvious.

Though this was a slow burn and dragged a little I still enjoyed this book.
Porter was the sweetest. He's so likable and swoon-worthy.
Though i found Ari a bit annoying, i liked that she was a smart, fiece and talented architect.
The 'we're just friends' line was tiresome.


Deep & Difficult and relatable topics like colorism, sexism, sizeism etc was took on in this book but the author still made the book fun to read.

TW:
Alcoholism
Workplace sexism
Fatphobia
Colorism
Death of a parent
Discrimination

Strong, resilient, go-getter. Those are the adjectives we hear when we tout women during International Women’s Month. Cautious and indecisive are not.

But if we’re talking about real women or women as role models, these adjectives should be part of the narrative. That’s what made me root for Ari James in Tati Richardson’s debut novel, The Build Up (Carina Press).

Clumsy in Love
Ari James is a Black female professional in the white male-dominated architectural industry. She’s just come from Chicago and landed at what she feels is a utopia: an all-Black architectural firm. She’s ready to make a fresh new start — except for the fact that she’s come in on her first day with a huge rip in her stockings, a broken heel and coffee on her blouse. Not the best way to meet the senior architect in her group, Porter Harrison.

But Porter’s seen her before — on the train heading to work when that doused cup of coffee added insult to her already “injured” pantyhose. He’s instantly attracted to her, and when he got another eyeful of her in her office changing her stained blouse, he — and all of us readers — knew we were in for a wild ride.

This novel not only has us falling for these two clumsy-in-love protagonists, it has us diving into the cutthroat, drama-filled world of architectural design, and makes us long for that moment when Shonda Rimes finds this one and adapts it for the screen. For those missing the messy and outrageous antics of Annalise Keating and her crew, The Build Up can satiate some of those cravings.

Real Love, No Games
There’s no game playing between Porter and Ari; they’re in their forties. These two are their true stripped-down versions of themselves when they’re together — no pretense, no manipulation — only falling in love. It’s a refreshing respite from their dramatic office scenes, but even more so, it’s so much easier on the palate than high-angst, insecure new adult romance. At least for me.

I love to see how people get to know each other and fall in love in romance — when they laugh together at the same joke, when they’re surprised they like the same things, when tensions ramp up the closer they get to each other — all of these are so much sweeter without couples playing games. Here the game playing stays firmly in Greer, the villain’s, office where it belongs.

By the time people with established careers get to their forties, they’ve dropped the pretense and the angst, because there’s no time for that, and Mrs. Richardson shows that well here. While Ari does fall in the miscommunication trap for a while, it’s not because she doesn’t have feelings for Porter — it’s because she doesn’t want to get burned again by an office romance going wrong. This couple is in love, and they can’t seem to hide it from anyone, least of all themselves.

Breaking Stereotypes
The Build Up also crushes several negative stereotypes in its character portrayals. One is the fact that Ari and Porter both graduated from Hampton University, an historically Black college. The school itself has a praised architectural program,which doesn’t get enough attention. Plus seeing these two in professional roles while proudly representing their alma mater crumbles the myth that HBCUs don’t produce professional and significant contributors to society.

Another is Ari portrayed as a plus-sized woman who’s confident in her allure and comfortable with her body. There’s a freedom in that self-confidence, one that all plus-sized women should have the chance to see if they can’t feel it themselves. Porter recognizes it as well, and it attracts him even more. This is yet another welcome representation that we need more of in romance.

Overall, this page-turning debut had me in Ari James’ corner from the beginning. Maybe the best adjective we can use to laud women during Women’s History Month is not strong or persevering. Maybe the best adjective is authentic.

—∞—

Nerdy Romantics Podcast was able to interview Tati Richardson and talk more about her debut novel as well as her podcast Romance in Colour. Listen to the episode on your favorite podcast provider or check it out below:

https://open.spotify.com/episode/3ey85wmrL7a07mIXgwT6RH?si=46ecc1d3c8424ee7

The Build Up is a dual POV romance book which sweeps you away. My instant favorite has to be Ari who is being an excellent architect in such a male dominated field. The scenes of the sexism and fatphobia against her made my blood boil from the beginning. And Porter was a delight, the ways he has to digest what he wants to do. We love some truly career focused and ambitious main characters!

I really, really, really wanted to love this. The storyline sounded so promising, a Black woman succeeding in the very male dominated field of architecture falling in love! Unfortunately, I really didn't like it and ended up not finishing the book (which barely ever happens).

I really wanted to love Ari but instead found her annoying and not very nice to the people close to her. Porter I liked better but one of the issues of the novel to me was that their was barely any distinction between their voices. In those cases where I stopped reading mid chapter, it took me a little while to figure out whose chapter I was in because their voices were so similar. Does a straight man in their 40s really think "be still my beating heart" when seeing a beautiful woman? I know it's possible but I'm using this as an example... Also, I only knew they were in their 40s from reading some raving reviews before starting this book, which I thought was great, unfortunately the way they were portrayed, they might as well have been in their 20s and I (mid-30s) wanted to tell them to grow up.

Also, a lot of the dialogues felt very unrealistic, like the one where Porter speaks to his brother in the restaurant. Instead of us learning about their background, their grandfather and their youth through the narrative or through Porter thinking about it, his brother tells their story. But they have both lived it, it's not something that would be explained to someone who was part of it, making it feel fake. Almost as if the author was trying to set the scene but not being able to find a way to do so in a way that feels natural.

Another issue was the timeline, in some places it's extremely slow and in other places it skips a few weeks, taking away all that would have happened in-between but assuming that the relationship has progressed in a certain way.

It's almost like the ideas were all great, which is why I am giving it two stars rather than one, but its execution didn't work out. Or maybe it could have done with a good editor, I don't know.

A fun story, but the writing feels all over the place. The pacing was so slow in the beginning.

The couple was great and I love an office romance! The spice and tension was there and well executed.

The Buildup was an anticipated read from this author because the premise captured ny attention. I like that this book featured a Black female MC who worked in an all male architectural firm and the characters are in their 40s. The chemistry between the characters Ari and Porter were amazing. I loved how Porter knew what he wanted and he made it known. With that being said this book didn’t work for me as a whole. The pacing was off. The dialogue started off slow and sometimes contained unnecessary inner thoughts. I didn’t like Ari as a main character. She came off as an insufferable person. Plus, the way she treated Porter and her best friend didn’t help her case. Her inability to effectively communicate frustrated me to pieces.Even though the book had a dual POV, I felt that we focused too much on Ari’s issues and neglected Porter. Conversations and topics that introduced weren’t properly explored due to the author introducing too many in the story. It came off as she was trying to check off boxes. I wanted to hear more about Porter’s experience with colorism and him being a nepo baby. I felt the author definitely dropped the ball there. Overall, this story didn’t work for me as a whole but I will chalk this one up as first book blues and will definitely read another book from this author.