I received an Audible code for a free copy of Jea Hawkin‘s Something About You from the narrator, Lori Prince.

Description from Goodreads:
Dre’s life falls into a nice, predictable rhythm and that’s the way she likes it. But when an adorable, fashionable 20-something bursts into Dre’s flower shop to cancel her wedding order after her fiancé’s change of heart, Dre finds a distraught young woman on her hands. She doesn’t have the heart to shove her out of the shop, so she takes her out for sympathy and tea. The idea of befriending this woman who is clearly her opposite, however, is the last thing on Dre’s mind.

Kelsey feels awful for canceling the order, but she’s sincere when she tells Dre she wants to be friends. When she offers to make up the loss by using Dre’s services for a major project at work, Kelsey sees a chance to get to know the woman who represents the life she’s always wanted for herself. And as Kelsey gets closer to Dre, she proves to her that they aren’t so different.

Will Dre take a chance and break out of her comfortable routine to find love in an unexpected place? And will Kelsey finally embrace the life she’s always dreamed about? Or will this budding flower of romance be cut short before it blooms?

Review:
Soooo, I wasn’t all that fond of this. The fact that the narrator, Lori Prince, did a good job with the narration meant I made it through, but the story left me pretty cold. It’s basically a meet cute and some sex scenes. There’s some flirting and an attempt to give the story some depth by looking at how the pretty blond is so much more than her appearance would suggest, but since the romance is so rushed none of it really works.

My main issue was elsewhere though. I had some major problems with Kelsey’s character. The story begins when her male fiancée cancels the wedding at the last minute and she comes into Dre’s flower shop to cancel the flower order and breaks down. Dre offers her some friendly support. Kelsey is obviously presented as straight. Toward the end of the book, she’s still referred to as straight. But the reader is never given even a moment in which she considers her identity or sexuality before she aggressively pursues a lesbian relationship. None. If someone goes from identifying as straight to something else—bi-sexual, lesbian—whatever, I would expect there to be at least a moment of, “Oh, I guess I’m not as straight as I thought.” I don’t need a lot of angst, but a little consideration for sure.

This was all compounded by the fact that Kelsey repeatedly went on about how she’d always wanted to try this or do that. But the things she wanted to experience were basically Dre’s life, lesbian lives. It made her feel like she was just playing dress up with Dre’s identity, a lesbian identity. I expected it would be the sort of thing she’d later chortle about with her suburban mommy-friends, “That time when I was young and adventurous and dated a woman.” It didn’t feel serious or real.

All in all, the writing was ok and the narration was good, but the story was uncomfortable at best.