[I received an electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Avon in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]
Summary
Melody Joo is a new video game producer at a male-dominated gaming company. The boss, Ian MacKenzie, is everything awful you can imagine – demanding, tantrum-throwing, egotistical, and misogynistic. And since he’s the leader, many of the other staff follow his example.
In a moment of commiseration with a female colleague, Melody tosses off a random game idea about male strippers fighting zombies and such in the apocalypse. She was just joking around. But Ian gets wind of the idea. And when the board backs him into a corner about the company’s low engagement with female gamers, he throws Melody’s idea at them. And they love it.
Now Melody has to work with the company’s latest intern – Ian’s nephew Nolan – on this fast-tracked game. Melody and Nolan have already had several conflicts. What are the chances they can finish this project without killing each other?
Review
This was so much more than I was expecting! I knew it would be an enemies-to-lovers romance, but that was a smaller piece of the whole story than I realized it would be. And it was terrific!
The bulk of the story focuses on Melody, striving to succeed in a field – and a company – willfully working against her. The racism and sexism is rampant. Early on, Melody assumes Nolan will be a part of that.
The nitty-gritty gaming pieces are not part of this, which I liked. The focus stayed on the people and the outcomes, which was perfect. While I might not have been 100% clear on what Melody was doing all the time, I definitely knew she was busting her backside, working long hours and leveraging the expertise of her team members and friends when she needed to. When word gets out about her game – targeting female gamers and produced by an Asian woman – the backlash is tremendous. There are no magical solutions to the haters and trolls and doxxing and harassment that Melody endures. But I was quite satisfied with how most of that is sorted out in the end.
The gaming story is balanced out by Melody’s parents who were a lot (for Melody, not for the reader) and her two best friends who are both experiencing major life transitions. They were just the right blend of helpful and focused on things outside Melody’s work life. They rounded out the story well.
I thoroughly enjoyed this one! If you like your romance books with a full, meaty story around the relationship, pick this one up. If you love books about strong, bright women fighting for a seat at the table, pick this up. And if you love books about women in tech fields charting their own courses in both their work and personal lives, pick this up. I don’t think you will regret it. You can read my review of the author’s latest YA romance, The Perfect Escape, here. (Language. TW: Harassment)
Rating: ♥♥♥♥½*
*♥♥♥♥½ = Loved it! Would read again.