If you’re looking for a fast, light sapphic romance with plenty of steamy scenes and some cute moments, this is a great pick!

This is the story of Jessica, whose car breaks down outside of a small town, where she meets Vini, one of the local mechanics. They end up starting a relationship in secret because Jessica has a “reputation" and well...things entail!

This is actually the sequel to The 7-10 Split, but I didn’t realize that going in. Luckily, you don’t really need to have read the first book to enjoy this one! I noticed some growth in the writing, which is always nice to see in a series. The book is a super quick read, pretty spicy, and overall a lot of fun.

That said, the plot was pretty simple. Most of the story revolves around Jessica and Vini not really talking about their relationship, which was a little frustrating at times. It wasn’t a huge conflict, and I had a good time, but I feel like the relationship ccould have been explored further to avoid miscommunication and to feel more chemistry.

But honestly, even with those small issues, I really enjoyed reading this and it was a nice end-of-summer book.

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**TL;DR**: Very cute, and an improvement on the first book for sure!
**Source**: Netgalley, many thanks to the publisher!

**Plot**: Jessica breaks down outside Peach Blossom and ends up at Vini’s shop. She’s visiting friends in town and the two strike up a relationship.
**Characters**: My biggest gripe with this is with the characters
**Setting**: Peach Blossom sounds lovely in what we get but unfortunately that’s not a ton
**Romance**: The chemistry wasn’t there for me but the spicy scenes were hella spicy

**Thoughts**:

The Relationship Mechanic is the story of Vini and Jessica. Jessica’s rental breaks down outside of town and she meets Vini, one of the town mechanics when she comes for a tow. The two are also linked in that Jessica is in town visiting Vini’s sister’s girlfriend. They strike up a relationship, in secret as Jessica has a reputation, and the story unfolds.

This is the sequel to the 7-10 split and you can definitely tell some growth in the writing. I enjoyed the first portion of this greatly, my only big complaints being the characters especially in the later half. Ava, our character from book one, acts absolutely over the top and causes a third act breakup. Jessica has a ‘reputation’ as her mother is somewhat famous. This whole situation felt… very underexplained. Honestly I actually kept forgetting why people ‘didn’t like’ Jessica. Eventually the two get back together - of course - but it felt a bit contrived.

I can see definite improvement from Karmen Lee and so far I’ve enjoyed the Peach Blossom books. They’re quick, very spicy and fun reads and if you’re looking for some sapphic romances in a small town these are a great pick!

Overall: 4.25/5
Spice level: 3.5/5
Tropes: fling to forever, small town

This was such a cute and sexy sapphic story from Lee! I really loved the chemistry between Jessica and Vini, and their meetcute was extremely unique!

The pacing was good and both characters had decent character development. There was also good character development among Vini and her family once they got past their drama.

I can't wait to see what's next from the author!

Vini is a small town mechanic, who gets called put to help Jessica with a break down.

Jessica is laying low on a small town, and was NOT expecting to meet the hot mechanic. But despite how attracted to her she is, she's not sure it's a good idea....

This is set in the same town as her book 'The Seven Twenty Split' but works as a stand alone.

I'm guessing because it's a Harlequin romance, but it feels a bit rushed, both in how aggressively Jessica chases Vini and how fast they sleep together.

It also feels like it could use more of a plot. There's not much there other than the romance and a third act breakup triggered by one of the side characters being a asshole.

Gosh! This was so damn cute and also a little sexy... much sexier than the 7-10 split. I really loved the way in which these two became their all for each other, with a little drama dashed in between

A fun, sexy roll in the hay. This book is all about Vini and Jessica's chance encounter in the small town of Peach Blossom where their instant attraction combined with Jessica's short vacation in town leads to secretly exploring their red-hot situationship.

Lesbian love | hot & heavy | Black main characters | contemporary romance | small town mechanic x jet setting actress | flirty

Alright let me just start off with saying that this book was HOT. Like, had me blushing and kicking me feet, HOT!

However... I feel like Vini and Jessica did not have believable/organic on-page chemistry. The spice was INTENSE but I didn't feel the connection between them. I also think Karmen Lee did whole lot of telling and hardly any showing during this story. I wanted more descriptions, more dialogue, more... everything.

It was a good read. Spectacular? No. But it was definitely enjoyable.

Thank you to Harlequin Romance for the eARC!

Jessica Jae-un Miller feels like a celebrity arriving in the small town of Peach Blossom, Georgia. From the first minute, she can't get over how adorable everything is, from shutters on windows to the mechanic who rescues her from the side of the highway. She's hot off the press from a scandal in Korea and battling with accepting the role of villain or selfish Hollywood Starlet's daughter, to the compassionate and casual hook-up girl she aspires to be. Jessica is always clear with expectations and I loved the way she approaches everything from flirting to mentally working through her baggage.

The adorable mechanic mentioned above is Lavenia “Vini” Williams, the baby sister of the Williams clan and notoriously quiet preferring cars over people any day. Vini surprises herself by being open to a casual arrangement with Jesisca but also acknowledges it's tough in a small town to not have a feast-or-famine mentality! The chemistry and connection feel off the chart and it's not long before Vini realizes maybe she can't do casual as well as she suspected .....

This spicy sapphic novel spares no expense at the depths of pleasure and emotional growth! It's hard to show up for yourself, and when you're used to leaving finding someone that makes you re-question your life can be earth-shattering. As a reader, you'll get plenty of verse wlw spice - something I especially loved as both women were equal in the bedroom - hungry and satisfying the other without necessarily relinquishing control! I didn't realize this #2 in a series and can confidently say you can read it as a stand-alone - but I will be going back to find book #1 and hope its the story of Ava & Grace !

I liked this novel, it was an enjoyable and easy read. I didn't realize it was a sequel but I don't think that was a problem thankfully, and I enjoyed this enough that I will be going back and reading the first one. This novel wasn't particularly impactful or incredible, but I also have almost nothing bad to say about it. I would recommend it as it is enjoyable, fairly short and quick to read.

This was a relatively simple novel. There was a lot of spicy content (which was well done) and some sweet and fun scenes in between. The protagonists were very sweet together. Not a lot happened in terms of plot outside of their romance (and bedroom antics), which different people will have different opinions on.

Most of the plot essentially revolved around the protagonists not discussing their relationship (I haven't seen "situationship" actually used in a novel before but this perfectly demonstrated what the term means!). To me this was annoying and a very weak conflict/plot, but at the same time it resonated as very realistic and I bet a lot of people would be able to relate to this. The lack of communication fell short of being annoying, so I'm counting it as a neutral point and not against it.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.