Thank you for my eARC of this book. I am a big fan of Denise Williams books and love her writing style. It was great to be back with a book of hers, and though this wasn’t my favourite she’s written, I had a great time!

It was ok but I wanted more chemistry - workplace romances are hard to stick the landing! But I like this author a lot and will continue to read her work.

I'm afraid I wasn't a huge fan of Pearl. She does like Cord...but not enough it would seem. I felt it was written in a way that seemed they were inevitable - so her acceptance of them as a couple was just a matter of time.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review.

3.5 stars
I liked this but I didn't love it. And I don't think it helped that I'd read some 5 star romances right before I picked this up.
I'm always a fan of a dual POV but there just wasn't that level of pining or tension that I like from a second chance romance.
I also don't know why it seems to be a trend to give multiple characters very similar names in recent romances. It adds a bit of confusion and sometimes means you need to reread a line to remember who is who.
Both characters also made some frustrating decisions in the third act.
I would be up for reading more from Denise Williams, as I did enjoy the writing style but this wasn't my favourite.
Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Amazing book!
I was thoroughly engaged throughout this book and I didn't want to put it down! The author captured my attention from the get go! Five stars from me :)

3/5 stars! The cover of his book is so pretty. I was really excited to get my hands on a copy. This was an enjoyable read if you glossed over several major inconsistencies. The angst really wasn't there. The story didn't set up a large enough conflict for the resolution to feel like it was something special the characters earned. It was good just not great.

I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review

I feel like Denise Williams is slowly becoming an author I can depend on for a solid romance that does the job - they're not always my favourite but they are inoffensive, well-written, and normally full of chemistry! I liked that this was centred around work, and featured a female main character who prioritised her career over anything else, and that the male love interest respected this, and believed in her talents too. I really enjoyed the flashback scenes of them interacting at work and clearly having so much chemistry, and this being mirrored in the present-day, as it made me root for them in an authentic way, with Williams providing readers with a good level of context and detail in their budding relationship. I didn't love how Cord stepped over the line and compromised her at work in an attempt to "protect" her, as that felt a bit dated, but overall enjoyable nonetheless.

Not my favourite from Denise Williams purely because so much of the focus on the connection between the characters seemed shallow / based on physical attraction alone which meant I couldn’t fully emotionally connect. But I loved the concept, and badass women working in tech. I’m excited to see what she comes up with next!

My word I loved this book. It took me a good moment to get to as I had work and was playing catch up, but I have already ordered a physical copy that I can’t wait to hold.

I have a few points.

1. Cord, just a gem. Could communicate better but generally no notes, reminds me of my own lanky golden retriever coder partner.

2. I will always appreciate Denise’s ability to show marginalised people, especially black women like Pearl and non-binary people like Tye, in a complex way. Pearl’s dating history and the impact of toxic relationships leaves trauma whether we like it or not. Having been in a similar, thankfully shorter situation, it makes you do crazy things. We’ve been told eternally that you have to save yourself, so letting people in who WILLINGLY want to support you, not save you, is hard. So to Pearl, I got you and I’ll bail Cord out if he does hit Jason.

3. I really appreciated not only the representation as a LGBTQIA person., but the love and support for Tye. People could learn from this and should.

4. Normally, not a fan of the time jumping, but here it made sense where it was placed (with a few exceptions). It was well oriented to not detract from the plot, but to me, it added important context where necessary. I wish we could’ve known more about Pearl and Cord’s lives apart, but thats neither here nor there. Also, I typically don’t enjoy third act breakups, but this ws slightly necessary to give Pearl the kick she needed.

5. This was a great amount of spice for me, without being overbearing or weird.

Finally, thank you to Little Brown Book Group for letting me access this title. It was a dream and I will gladly read any of Denise’s work again.

I love how Williams writes. And this one was really good. I really enjoyed reading this arc, and I want to thank Netgaley for this arc.

3.5 stars.

Pearl has worked hard for her career, choosing it over everything else since previous relationships had too much of an impact. She even chooses it over Cord who she probably loves but won’t admit it, and moves away to pursue her dreams. 5 years later and they’re reunited, but will she choose him this time?

Overall this was a fun story. I really liked Cord, especially that the focus wasn’t ever on how he looked but instead on how he treated Pearl and his personality. He was awkward and got things wrong sometimes which was really refreshing to read.

Unfortunately I didn’t love the second chance element to this. I enjoyed the five years ago scenes but wanted to live through the discovery of love with the two of them rather than going back and forth as it ultimately meant I felt less invested. I so loved the scene in the lift and would have just loved to explore that fully with them in real time.

The third act drama felt a little fabricated and I didn’t understand why both characters changed their mind on stances they’d taken literally the entire book.

I liked the elements with Tye, it was an effortless use of they/them and told an important story. This was really the only part that leaned STEM though, and whilst this will be blurbed as being similar to Ali Hazelwood it really isn’t as the STEM elements take a massive backseat unlike in Ali’s books.

The steamy scenes are well written and very sexy. Cord really cherishes Pearl through them but also gets cherished back which made for an enjoyable read.

The similarity of character names was so confusing for me - I really couldn’t tell the difference between Bea, Bri and Britta. I don’t think this is a series but it felt like I’d missed a whole book of context with this one - I’d have appreciated a clearer back story.
(I’ve since learnt that Wes and Britta are featured in another of her books. I’d recommend reading that one first, I really do think I’d have benefitted from that before this one).

I’d definitely read other books by this author and look forward to following her career.

Adore the cover of this one!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an arc of this book in exchange for my honest opinions.

Wow wow wow, this book was what I needed. I was in such a reading slump and was ending books left right and centre but this brought me right back out.

I love the second chance romance trope and this was such a good one! I was captivated from the start and quickly fell in love with both Cord and Pearl and their chemistry.

I loved Pearl’s determination, how hard working she was and how she put her family first. And Cord was such a nice guy as well! He was so in love with Pearl but never pressured her and was always understanding of her hesitation and reservations. They were so good together and seeing them bond and the way Pearl’s family loved him and were rooting for them was lovely! The tension and the way they couldn’t keep their hands off each other was brilliant and you couldn’t help but love them and root for them as well.

Although I’m not a huge fan of double timelines, not only did it not bother me here, but I actually quite liked to have the past chapters; I think they were a great addition to the story, as we were able to get glimpses into their past and the way they met and fell in love.

Overall, this was a really good book and enjoyable read! I’ve loved every Denise Williams book I’ve read so far and can’t wait to see what she does next

★ 4.5/5 stars ★

So here are the things I liked in the first 30%:


- dual POV. always my favourite to get a real look-see into both main characters
Flashbacks are like an emotional, plot building history lesson
- Characters? Totally lovable with lots of history and a good geeky basis.
- Spicy bits scattered around—keeps things interesting and I do love the spice.
- Overall vibe? Sweet and cuddly, all about family, friends, and the love vs. work dilemma.

But I couldn’t finish this book, as much as I was grateful for the ARC from NetGalley, due to a technical concern. Instead of an ebook, some publishers are now issuing scanned copies of books for ARCs and the fonts are not adjustable, page ratios aren’t appropriate and I got a migraine every time I tried to read it.

Hopefully I can come back after release and edit this review to tell you more about the book.

This was fun, but despite a lot of good tropes and an overall decent plot, I found it was a little too shallow for my liking.

I loved the setting, everything about the non-profit, the coding, the dual POV. I love a dual POV in romance, and it was nice to also have a dual timeline, with glimpses into the past.

The writing style wasn't my favourite though, and I feel like continuity and follow through were poor - e.g. something big would happen at the end of a chapter, then it would be mentioned briefly later, almost as an afterthought. Also, Pearl would talk about how Cord takes charge in the bedroom and how she needs that, yet we didn't actually get to see any of that in the spicy scenes.

There was a lot of telling and very little showing in this book in general, and I just didn't feel any pining or tension that a second chance romance should have. Then the workplace romance side also didn't wow me, the characters were constantly sabotaging each other in such silly ways, with pointless misunderstandings and miscommunication.

Overall I did partly enjoy it, and it was certainly a fast read, with short chapters and decent characters, but not enough chemistry between them.

My heartfelt thank you to netgalley and little brown book for providing me this arc in exchange for my honest review.

Technically yours is the first book I’ve read from Denise Williams and my reading experience has been amazing. With a premise of a second-chance romance sprinkled with forbidden love- I was in for a ride. I loved both the angst and the romance so much. I will definitely looking out for her future releases!

Geeky second chance romance!

Pearl works for a non-profit organisation that connects code-geek teenagers with mentors from the tech industry. Her boss is involved in a scandal, so she has to step up to lead. And as if that wasn't enough pressure, there's a new board member in the form of Cord - her old boss and sort-of-ex.

There is a lot of time jumping in the story, going back to what happened at various stages in the past, and this took me a while to get used to - particularly early on while I was still trying to get into the story. But once I did get into it I was absolutely hooked.

I loved Pearl's friend and family group. Those women are so supportive of each other (while being willing to call each other out). Pearl's sister's teenager features heavily in the book - as Pearl's houseguest and Cord's mentee - and they add a fantastic dynamic, particularly with the not-at-all subtle texts!

My geek heart was so happy throughout this. I'm a huge believer in highlighting the need for diversity in tech companies.

I can't skip mentioning the steam factor in this book. I had no idea what spice level to expect, but this was HOT! That study session has not left my thoughts since reading it.

This was my first Denise Williams book but certainly won't be my last. I'd recommend this to any lovers of second-chance contemporary romance.

4.5 stars, rounded to 5.

4 🌟
Pearl and Cord share a complicated past, which the book showcases really well using flashbacks. This is done really clearly, using different chapters which tell you who is speaking and if it's in the present or when in the past it was, which is really helpful for someone like me who can get a bit confused.

I really enjoyed the dual narrative aspect of the book, as well as the flashbacks, to help learn more about the characters and their motivations, actions and responses in the present day based on things they had been through before.

The characters are likeable, there's a bit of 🌶 mixed in throughout the book and generally it's a sweet, endearing book with a focus on family, friendship and the importance work should or shouldn't hold in comparison to love.

This one just wasn’t for me. It was my first read by Williams and I’d seen great reviews for her other books. But I struggled to enjoy this one. I was tempted to put it down more than once but wanted to continue to provide an honest review. I like Cord. He was a cutie who just wanted to show a woman he loved her. Pearl, I couldn’t relate to at all. We know she had a bad relationship that stopped her pursuing anything with cord but were given the tiniest of back stories and expected to use it to justify her treating Cord like crap. She was just stubborn in the worst way. I just wanted to tell the poor guy to walk away. Of course they end up together.

I really like this author and when writing style. She is really good at world building and creating interesting characters. I enjoyed Cord and Pearl’s chemistry. They had a nice, easy rapport and as much as they felt like romantic partners, they also felt like they had a solid friendship as well. The story took a little while to get going but once it did it was interesting. I did think Pearl got in her own way a little bit towards the end but liked how things were resolved. 3⭐️