Thank you Berkley Romance for the complementary ARC of How to Fail at Flirting by Denise Williams! Available Now!

Review:

How to Fail at Flirting was one of my most anticipated 2020 reads. I adore following Denise Williams on Twitter and I could not wait to read her debut romance from Berkley. I finally read How to Fail at Flirting last week and I enjoyed it a lot! That being said I do not think it is a romantic comedy like Berkley Romance marketed it as. I had been warned by a friend who read it early that the subject matter of the book is very heavy at times, and I wholeheartedly agree with that! Even with the heavy subject matter, I think this is one that a lot of people will appreciate.

Naya Taylor is an overachiever. She loves her job as a professor, but her department is doing poorly and making tenure will be impossible if her department is eliminated. To distract Naya from her job being at risk, her friends talk her into a night on the town to release some of her anxious energy and put her focus on a new to-do list. Jake is a charming stranger in town on business, he seems like the perfect person for Naya to have a casual hookup with. Until the two quickly develop feelings for each other.

I adored the chemistry between Jake and Naya, Jake is a delightful cinnamon roll hero! His dad jokes and sweet demeanor worked so well with Naya’s personality. I loved Naya, but I really felt like the combination of the two made the book nearly perfect. Insta-love plots aren’t always my favorite, but their interactions with each other, and their bar meet-cute, felt so genuine. It was a joy watching their relationship develop! And there is a bit of steam in this one!

I am a sucker for any romances set in the academic world, and I thought the setting for How to Fail at Flirting was very well done. Denise Williams has a PhD and works in academia herself, her knowledge of the background and setting really shows! I also loved how Naya’s academic focus reflected her biracial background and the relationship she had with her grandparents.

It’s briefly mentioned in the synopsis that Naya had a previous abusive ex boyfriend, I was not expecting her ex to play as big of a role in the plot as he did. A lot of the scenes of Naya reflecting back on the abuse she experienced was very intense. I think there should have been a more clear outline of how interpersonal partner violence played into the story. I do not think that Berkley did the book a favor by marketing it as a romantic comedy. How to Fail at Flirting was a contemporary romance with very heavy tones, there is on the page violence towards the end of the book, tension, angst, and very descriptive flashbacks. I think this could be triggering for a lot of people if they went into the book without realizing the contents.

That being said, I did really love the story and the characters. Naya, Jake, and their friends were all such great characters! I highly recommend trying How to Fail at Flirting, but please note that the synopsis doesn’t clearly express how heavy the story is.

Synopsis:

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.