Rating: 3 stars
Buy Link:
Amazon | iBooks | Amazon UK
Length: Novella


Duncan Witten is a resource manager for a major telecom company in Australia, the absolute pinnacle of his opportunities in the field. Unfortunately, he’s done such a good job setting up his teams that he’s hardly needed to problem solve, which makes for a boring workday. Then an old colleague, Krista, calls to offer Duncan a tire fire of trouble to solve…if only he’d quit his job and join her competitor company. It seems that there’s a huge rollout of infrastructure involved that has all gone astray while Krista is on maternity leave and her replacement mucked it all up—and then quit.

Dunc isn’t sure he likes the opportunity, but he knows he’s languishing where he is. He takes a huge professional leap and is soon invested top-to-bottom bringing this project back online. The project is thorny and difficult, but Dunc’s got a knack for pruning these messes into line. If only he could make direct contact with his most capable and recalcitrant project manager, way out in the bush. Paul Hanks has given no quarter whenever Dunc reaches out to him. He won’t respond to emails, letters, or take his calls, so Dunc has no choice but to get on a plane and ambush his quarry. Little does Dunc know that Paul will become the newest obsession of his love life.

This is a cute, fast-paced, enemies-to-lovers romance that’s heavy on the jargon and light on the loving. Paul and Dunc meet via ambush, but the attraction is instant for Dunc. His brains and demeanor seem to win Paul over professionally, and Dunc is happy for the amiable work relationship they build. Soon, however, they are talking daily—and not just about work. Being that they work in different parts of the country, Dunc needs to leave Paul behind, but their connection ramps up across the wires, and it’s a matter of months before Dunc’s welcoming Paul into his home when Paul is required to appear for the wrap-meetings for their part of the project. Dunc’s been long confused if he and Paul are really “together” due to the long-distance, yet growing, personal connections and is happy when Paul makes his desires plain.

Dunc and Paul seem like great guys, and I loved how Dunc won Paul over by being a decent and capable man. I so wanted to experience that journey from adversary to confidant to lover, and I felt that was missing. I wished we had had a little bit of the loving on the page, because I was needing that after the breakneck pace of this story. Alas, it’s all fade-to-black and that frustrated me. I also could have done with way less explanation about what and how telcom companies do business, and more on the relationship. Overall, this story is short and cute, but left me wanting.