Okay, so I only picked this book up because somebody in my TikTok comments recommended it—and I’m so glad they did, because this book was so freaking cute.
It starts off with Malachi, who’s this shiny little model that everybody assumes is kind of an asshole shallow and kinda dumb. We know right off the bat that it is part of a persona. Milachi is pushing himself way too hard, he’s getting talked down to by the photographer, and then he straight-up passes out during the shoot. Shaking my head, eye rolling cuz he really have NO self-preservation.
And of course, Kayden (the owner of the farm they are shooting on) is a grumpy, small-town farmer with a sharp tongue and zero patience, who ends up having to take care of him. (squeal and feet kicking for how that scene played out) Yep, I loved that, because I got the banter, the forced proximity, the caretaker trope—but it never stopped feeling cozy. There’s tension, but it stays soft the whole time.
Oh and both of them being hard headed and sharp witted, no worries, they do not go easy on each other. Their banter stays sharp, and I love that neither of them backs down. They fall hard, they both try to hide it, and of course they go full “no-strings-attached, just until one of us doesn’t want it” like that ever works.
It leans into tropes, HARD—but they still felt real. I got annoyed at them at times, but it was because they were making very human decisions, which yeah, yeah, without it would have made the book shallow. So get ready to be VERY annoyed with one of them for a chapter or two.
I don’t know why more people aren’t talking about this one.