this was a cute book! I enjoyed the characters and the plot, but the writing style was probably the strongest for me. also the cover is super cute. def gonna add this to my collection

I am struggling with a rating for this book.

I loved reading it, while I was reading - however, it's not one of those books that I will think about days or weeks after reading.
This was a sweet, simple love story that had some fun tropes in it. I thought I had the book all figured out and knew how it was going to end, but I was completely wrong. If you like your characters to have a fun banter between them, you will like this book.

Looking forward to reading more from this author.

It felt like the writer took on more than they could chew with First Impressions. The heroine just seems like a category 5 hurricane, with one bad situation after another. Kudos for her for not completely breaking apart. The romance was not well explored either. Overall this book fell flat for me.

#netgalley #FirstImpressions

I enjoyed reading this book, it had its cute, sweet, funny moments but I did feel like for a book called first impressions they could have played with that a bit more in the book and it felt like they didnt organically fall in love. Overall is a good read for a quick romance novel as I finished it in a few hours.

Do you ever think about how you would like having a second chance at making a first impression? First Impressions tackles this.

This book was charming but a total trifle. It won’t stay with me though I did enjoy reading it at the time.

Anna meets Daniel when she has an interview as his assistant. She gets the job but needs to keep her distance as her last workplace romance went badly wrong in the end. I liked how it was told from both points of view.

First impressions

1.75⭐️2.75🌶️

Contemporary romance
British Romcom
Workplace romance
Family dynamics
Miscommunication
3rd act breakup


Tw: domestic violence, terrorist attack

The cover and synopsis of this book were cute and intriguing. Unfortunately it just didn’t deliver for me.

The plot was just trope after shock factor after trope. Victim situation on top of victim situation on top of victim situation. By the 50% mark I was so tired of the woe is me for this FMC. All the characters were reduced to their role, instead of coming into their own. Leaving them all flat and tired.

There is a lot of telling and not showing. The whole book was basically inner monologue. There was barely any actual dialogue. The timeline was very timeline jumpy. Events that needed unpacking never were, instead the plot would skip to later in the week.

Light spice. Barely open door.

Add a terrorist attack type explosion during London fashion week to just up the camp. I thought it was done in bad taste as something cornered into a side plot.


Thank you NetGalley and Joffe Books for an eARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

I am on the fence with the rating for this book because it was such an interesting read.

I got into it thinking I'll get a grumpy/sunshine, enemies-to-lovers story but that wasn't the case at all. I loved, however, the dynamics between all the characters, and how it (kind of) avoided the much-dreaded third-act breakup.

Anna was an interesting character but she was too much of a doormat in the beginning, with anyone but Daniel. Her home situation was horrible and misogynistic, yet she did nothing to help herself initially for so many years. I loved the character growth and how much she was able to step up for herself.

The exes in the story are also caricatures of real people, as everything they do is try to mess up the lives of people they once allegedly loved. I liked the dynamics between Daniel and Anna and their slow-burn romance. I loved that the author took the time to develop them and their relationship and feelings before they started dating. Anna's relationship with Ben was also a high point, although her best friend (forgot her name) was absolutely horrible and zero supportive.

Basically, everyone around them was horrible, and they had to work around that.

Final rating: 3.5 (rounded to 4).

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this book so much that I bought a copy so I can read it again!

I liked Anna and admired her keenness to get on in life despite her family.
Your root for her to have a happy ending.
I also liked Charlotte, Daisy, and Eva. It was good to see how the characters evolved.
Daniel was also a good character just trying to do right by his son and Anna brought out the best in him. It was enjoyable and quite an easy read. I got through it quite quickly.
Thanks Netgallery

This story is all about not judging a book by its cover. The main characters we follow are David and Anna. Who start working together as a photographer and his assistant. Over the course of working together they built a friendship/mentorship through their passion of photography. David is the first to have romantic feelings for Anna but keeps them hidden. Anna is in the same boat but does the same. Eventually everything comes to light and they embark on a new adventure together as a couple. Throughout this David’s ex tries to create a divide between them and win David back through their shared 9 year old son Ben.

I gave this a 3 because I felt the romance was lackluster. There really wasn’t any besides him liking her personality and them staying in for a few meals with each other. The drama in this story was more a lot and kind of went on longer than I think it needed too. It started to make Anna and Lucinda look childish. David seemed as enjoyable as wall cause he had no personality. I liked that the author touched on mental health issues in this and how it can affect people in relationships with them and how they can be undiagnosed when it’s not recognized. There were some other parts of the story that dealt with tough situations and I thought were explored well.

Thank you Netgalley and Joffe for the chance to read this story,

Absolutely fantastic plot! Could not put the book down once I began reading it. I am so glad the book has been released. I will recommend it to everyone I know!

I loved this book much more than I thought I would.
I was expecting something but what I got was completely diferent (in a good way).
I loved Anna, she was true to herself, her love was enormous and she was genuinely a good person. What she did at the end was necessary, Daniel had to realize what his ex wife was doing and really have a talk with her. I really liked how things were resolved right away, it didn't drag out and that was perfect.
I liked Daniel too, he loved Anna so much and he wanted to be with his son. I understood he was kind of between a rock and a hard place between Anna and his ex wife but in the end he did what needed to be done.
I loved them together, I think they complemented each other really well and I was smiling really big by the time the book ended

When I read the description of this book saying it was for people who like authors like Susie Tate I was excited. I loved Susie Tate’s Unperfect. This book has a lot of things in common with that book. Like Anna becoming Daniel’s assistant, or Daniel having a son, grumpy boss and sunshine assistant, FMC is trying to lose a toxic ex. Both British romances, ect. And while this book deals with the same serious topics (domestic abuse) it doesn’t handle it as well as Susie Tate does.

I was really excited when I picked up this book. It has an adorable cover and I loved the premise of the book.

I unfortunately didn't love this book. The book as a whole I felt lacked depth. I found myself wishing to have had more insight into the character's thoughts and emotions. I had a hard time connecting with these characters for this reason. I did enjoy the moments of banter between Anna and Daniel that I enjoyed.

I also didn't love the writing style of the author. The plot felt super rushed. Anytime there was a major conflict it was resolved on a quick and unrealistic timeline. I wish we got to see more of how these events affected the thoughts and feelings of the characters. I really wish this story had more dialogue between the characters and more inner monologue of the main characters.

I did enjoy Daniel's character. While I still wish he had more depth, I loved who he was as a person. I loved that he was a loving and caring father and mentor. I also found his perfectionism relatable.

While I didn't enjoy this book, reading is very subjective and it might be something you would enjoy if you like:
📷 Workplace Romance
📷 Grumpy/Sunshine
📷 Single Dad

Thank you to Linda, Joffe Books, and NetGalley for the ARC copy of First Impressions. I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

I was pleasantly surprised by this read. I think the story itself was entertaining enough. We had good characters and plot. The dialogues were lacking. It was as if you ask ChatGPT, what would characters say in this particular situation and they give you the top 10 typical answers. Just overheard expressions. I did find it a bit sad because I thought the story itself was original. Another thing I disliked is how everything wraps up in a bow, and too positively. The author chose to add serious topics in her book, the explosion, Eva's new disability, her brother assaulting her and going to prison for being involved in a serious crime. As much as I think I would not have enjoyed the book without these aspects, they were not dealt with in the best way. It lacked depth to a point where it was unrealistic. I thought this would make a wonderful Hallmark movie. All in all, an enjoyable read.

This was an enjoyable read. The plot was well thought out and the main characters had some great banter. The story went in a direction that I did not see coming but I liked it!

I think my expectations may have hindered my experience, as I initially had a positive impression of the book. However, the story took so many unexpected turns that I found myself feeling a bit weary of the characters. At times, they didn’t seem very realistic. It took me quite a while to finish, but I was still curious to see how it would wrap up. Thanks to Choco Lit for the ARC!

This book started out good! The writing style, however, didn't quite jive with me. I needed more details about the characters and their thoughts. The story felt like a movie script to me. It just jumped to the next scene, and I needed more. Because of the jumpiness, I felt like I couldn't relate to the characters which makes it hard to read. Along with jumping to the next scene so quickly, it made all of the "problems" in the plot super quick to resolve and it just didn't feel realistic or relatable to me.

For example, there is the part in the plot where Jack blows up and their father, Andrew, kicks him out. That was a lot. That was kind of traumatic for the characters and we barely got to here Anna's thoughts about all of that. It just jumped right to the next scene a couple weeks later, like what? Anna cared so deeply for her family and sacrificed a lot for them. I definitely expected more of her reactions and emotions.

Another problem I had with the book was Jack. His attitude and character was annoying to me. It made it hard to read through. The author also repeatedly described Jack as chauvinistic...and I feel like that was an inaccurate description of Jack and really rubbed me the wrong way. It felt like an "easy" or quick way to describe Jack. When in all actuality, Jack deserved more depth to his character. He was struggling...he was lost, lonely and grieving. He lost his mother and didn't know how to grieve her. Then he sees his older sister favoriting their little brother and that felt like another loss to him. Therefore he clings to his father and tries to please him. He sees his dad heavily depending on Anna to meet their needs, so he goes a bit extreme with it to hang on to his dad. I don't think that is necessarily chauvinistic. It felt like a cheap way to describe a character going through a lot. This novel was seriously lacking character development.

Also, who was Charlotte to Daniel? How did Daisy and Anna meet and become best friends? I needed a lot more detail from the author. I was often confused at times. It all felt rushed and unrelatable.

I don't like writing an all negative review, because authors deserve more credit. So here is the good. I really enjoyed Daniel's character. He was an amazing father, genuinely loved his son. He worked really hard to deal with ex wife, Lucinda and it takes a man with great character to handle that.

If you enjoy a book with single dads, the setting in London, achieved dreams, workplace romance, grumpy sunshine and happy endings then I think you should definitely give this book a try! Who knows, you may really enjoy it!