Sawyer Greene knows romance. She’s a bestselling author of the genre—or she was, until her college girlfriend left her with nothing but writer’s block and bitterness. So when Sawyer gets stuck in an elevator with a handsome stranger, she sees it for what it is: not a meet-cute but a chance encounter with a charming man whom she will sleep with exactly once and go on her way. Easy enough…until she runs into him again at a Christmas market straight out of a Hallmark holiday movie. 

Romantic comedies often function as palate cleansers for me. I tend to approach them as predictable, light-hearted distractions when I need a break from horror/thrillers or literary fiction that is a bit more emotionally intense. As we know, many rom-coms stick to a familiar formula: meet-cute, trope assignment (enemies-to-lovers, fake dating, etc.), some dating and/or sexual tension, a falling-in-love montage, a climactic breakup, and the inevitable grand gesture that seals the happily ever after. While this book certainly follows this familiar formula, it does so in a refreshingly self-aware and unconventional way. Despite knowing the direction the story would take, I really enjoyed watching Sawyer and Morgan – a romance writer in denial and a hopelessly romantic TV star – stubbornly try (and fail) not to fall in love.

The story introduces us to Sawyer Greene – a romance novelist whose personal life has left her deeply cynical about love. At the top of the book, Morgan finds herself stuck in an elevator with Morgan Kelly, a gorgeous and charming actor famous for playing the romantic lead on TV. Sawyer, who has sworn off anything more than casual flings, decides Morgan is the perfect candidate for a one-night stand. However, fate (or rom-com magic) has other plans, and the two find themselves repeatedly crossing paths in settings straight out of a Hallmark movie.

What really makes this book work is the personalities of the two leads. Sawyer is deeply disillusioned, her writer’s block stemming from a painful breakup that has soured her belief in romance, which is all the more tragic because she is a writer who writes romance books. She’s witty, guarded, and allergic to sentimentality. On the other hand, Morgan is her polar opposite: a true believer in grand gestures and happy endings. This guy loves to fall in love – even if it often ends in disappointment. Their chemistry crackles not just with attraction but with conflicting worldviews. Sawyer sees Morgan’s faith in love as naïve, while Morgan finds Sawyer’s cynicism intriguing. Both Sawyer and Morgan are self-aware enough to poke fun at the romantic tropes they find themselves trapped in, resulting in many laugh-out-loud moments. The meta-commentary on romance conventions is playful without being annoying.

One thing that I really appreciated was the alternating points of view. This allowed me to immerse myself in both characters’ heads. I always like it when we dive deep into a character’s thoughts to get a feeling for where they are and what they are really thinking – even if it makes me want to slap some sense into them sometimes.

I mostly listened to this one, and the performances by Mia Hutchinson Shaw and Lee Osorio are exceptional. Both narrators capture the essence of their characters perfectly. Shaw’s portrayal of Sawyer nails the mix of sarcasm and vulnerability, while Osorio gives Morgan a warmth and sincerity that feels effortlessly natural.

While this book doesn’t break the mold of the rom-com genre, it succeeds by embracing and subverting familiar tropes with intelligence and charm. It’s an entertaining, heartfelt read that will likely appeal to both rom-com skeptics and die-hard fans. If you’re looking for a clever, character-driven story with plenty of laughs and just the right amount of rom-com magic, this book definitely delivers.

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