How To Fail at Flirting by Denise Williams
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One daring to-do list and a crash course in flirtation turn a Type A overachiever’s world upside down.
When her flailing department lands on the university’s chopping block, Professor Naya Turner’s friends convince her to shed her frumpy cardigan for an evening on the town. For one night her focus will stray from her demanding job and she’ll tackle a new kind of to-do list. When she meets a charming stranger in town on business, he presents the perfect opportunity to check off the items on her list. Let the guy buy her a drink. Check. Try something new. Check. A no-strings-attached hookup. Check…almost.
Jake makes her laugh and challenges Naya to rebuild her confidence, which was left toppled by her abusive ex-boyfriend. Soon she’s flirting with the chance at a more serious romantic relationship—except nothing can be that easy. The complicated strings around her dating Jake might destroy her career.
Naya has two options. She can protect her professional reputation and return to her old life or she can flirt with the unknown and stay with the person who makes her feel like she’s finally living again.
How To Fail at Flirting by Denise Williams
MY THOUGHTS & REVIEW
How To Fail at Flirting was a well written debut novel. Fresh, sexy and romantic.
Although I did have to overlook some of the more cheesy moments.
The beginning of the book was pure romance, sexy, sizzling even, and sweet. Naya and Jake had an instant connection, but not too outlandish that it was unbelievable. Their one-on-one time was romantic, and Jake pulled out all the stops when it came to Naya. It was really sweet and Jake was adorable. They were perfect together. And both were genuine, likable and easy to root for.
The supporting cast, especially the friends on both sides, were just wonderful. They were supportive, and often voices of reason when needed.
The book also covered some deeper topics, which gave the book depth, but also was the source of why the last 20% of the book wasn’t as enjoyable for me as the rest. In the last third of the novel, there were quite a few things that happened all at the same time, from the abusive ex-boyfriend, to their kinda still secret relationship, and the conflict between Jake’s job and the possibility of Naya losing her job. And when all these issues reared their heads, it was too much all at once. The story kinda imploded, and took some of the enjoyment with it.
But overall, this book was a great first novel by the author. And I’m really looking forward to her next one.
Also, the narration was very well done!! The voices especially during he more emotional scenes were some of the best I’ve heard so far.
ALMOST FOUR STARS
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How To Fail at Flirting by Denise Williams
I liked this one, too. 🙂
I need to read this one still. I think I would be all about cheesy moments right now.
Great review! Sometimes cheesy is where it’s at (for me at least, haha) but it’s too bad that everything kind of exploded in the end! This does sound like a fun debut though and I’ll definitely have to check it out 🙂
I agree, cheesy is something exactly what I need between heavier books. And I would definitely recommend picking it up. For a debut novel it was very well done.
I always love it when the narration is done quite well especially in romance. This sounds like a solid read for you. Glad you liked it. I do respect authors that can handle those deeper topics.
It’s definitely a romance I would recommend, alone because of the topic and for a debut novel it was very well done.