Can you fall in love in thirty-six questions?The closest rookie lifestyle writer Derelie Honeywell gets to megastar reporter Jackson Haley is an accidental shoulder brush in The Courier's elevator. That is, until the love experiment: a study designed to accelerate intimacy using thirty-six questions and four minutes of sustained eye contact.
As far as Derelie is concerned, Jack Haley has always been a man best imagined in his underwear. He's too intimidating otherwise. But participating in the love experiment is her make-or-break chance. With another round of layoffs looming, Derelie knows holding on to her job means getting the story no matter what. Even when the what is kissing Jack like a maniac.
Jack Haley has zero interest in participating in a clickbait story. He didn't plan on finding Derelie smart and feisty and being mesmerized by her eyes. He certainly had no intention at all of actually falling in love with her.
The conclusion to this experiment? Thirty-six questions might lead to love, but finding the answer to happily-ever-after is a lot more complicated.
Comment: I got interested in reading this story because of two details which I do like to see in books: the protagonists would have a sort of opposites attract kind of relationship and there is a slight age difference where the hero is older. Call me conservative or unfair but the situation with younger heroes and (considerable) older women doesn't appeal to me.
Anyway, in this story we meet Derelie Honeywell, a young woman starting from the bottom at a newspaper which is facing several financial issues including the possibility of going only digital or dismissing workers. Therefore, Derelie does want to perform well, which includes to write and be a participant of the so-called love experiment. In this experiment, the couples are supposed to see if they match and have what ti takes to fall in love by answering 36 questions and a staring contest somehow.
Since the article based on this will be published in the newspaper, Derelie has all intentions of succeeding but the problem is when they decide to test her with Jackson Haley, an older cynic guy considered the hero of the people because of his provocative but detailed investigation pieces, always reveling some fraud or crime which affects the population.
Could two more different people find common ground to accomplish a successful experiment?
This was a cute romance story and when I started it, I imagined a certain path which seemed to be the most likely one to happen. However, I must say the author included some more realistic and not as cute tones which make me think of this book as one with serious content, opposed to what the blurb and cover indicate. For me, it was a positive surprise.
Derelie and Jack are quite different and the experiment doesn't seem to go well at first mostly because Jack isn't really interested in doing it and when he accepts it's only because of office politics. However, when both decide to be professionals, they do discover a lot about each other and that is when their relationship does gain power. Of course this means we still have some pages of them not really agreeing on things, of the reader seeing how different they are and how opposed in several things (background, expectations, personality) but then, obviously, those same differences disappear when they notice at last the attraction they feel towards one another.
In a way, we could see how the experiment was successful but when things really start getting more serious, they don't really care about it... as expected, though, there are several less than positive situations to go through before any understanding can happen between them.
At the same time, we are able to follow both their thoughts and I'm very happy this was a third person narrator, I feel readers can get so much more out of this method than first person, especially when the narrators aren't compelling.
The more serous tones issues are related to their personal experiences. Some readers didn't like Jack but I think his behavior and personality are understandable considering his past. And he does change/improve so...
Derelie was more difficult to read, especially because she does stress out the fact she is a small town girl a lot. But the fact she misses home and wants to succeed made me like her. Although the characteristics of both her and Jack don't seem individually something I appreciate about "my" protagonists, neither was bad to the point of not accepting and enjoying they got a HEA. Still , one mist be aware the happy ending only comes after some obstacles.
This is not a perfect romance, the flaws can be quite obvious but to be honest, I liked reading this, I liked how several scenes were played out and when I finished, I did wonder about these characters and imagined how their lives might have gone had we more pages to read. I think the wondering about what could happen is always a good indicator the book, at least, left a mark.
I'm still debating if I'll read another by the author.
Grade: 8/10
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