Hot Desk by Laura Dickerman was assigned for review through Library Journal. The review will be published in an upcoming issue.

I really loved this book, I really liked the triple POV and all the side characters and I love anything about the writing/publishing industry. The first couple chapters were a little dense and hard to get into (especially because of all the side characters) but then it really started to flow and get good around the 33% mark.

My only issue is with the marketing/descriptions of this book - it is not a rom-com. It is neither a romance nor a comedy and definitely not a combo of the two. I liked the romance side plot, but it really is a side plot. I think framing this book as literary fiction or women’s lit will really help it find its readers.

Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for a copy of this book eARC!

DNF @ 32%

This book, while well written, was pulling at too many threads, making the reading experience confusing…. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to be paying the most attention to or what the point of the story even was. In the first 32%, there are many things happening but happening mundanely. We have:
* FMC being a disgruntled employee due to desk sharing (which, IMO, is unrealistically blown out of proportion…. does anyone *actually* care that much?)
* workplace competition between FMC and MMC to win over rights to publish a deceased author’s works
* FMC and MMC subtle fights via post it notes — is this supposed to be a workplace rivals to lovers?
* FMC attempting to help her best friend become famous for dinner parties….
* an alternate timeline of the FMC’s mother and her time in the publishing industry

I’m sure that it would have all been woven together eventually, but I can’t say I saw it coming together in a satisfying way. I really enjoyed the author’s writing, even though at times I felt it to be a lot of telling and no showing. I would pick up another book by this author, but this one wasn’t for me.

From the blurb, this story should have had more interactions between the two characters sharing a desk. By 30% in, they had only exchanged one post it note. I was really disappointed in the way the blurb made this book sound vs. what it actually was.

They were rivals, but it didn't seem like either of them cared much about what they were competing for.

There was also a separate timeline with two additional characters that I don't recall the blurb mentioning.

Also, this was written in 3rd person - which is almost an immediate DNF, but I stuck it out. Almost wish I hadn't.