Avery Dimaano just wants to go home. After a disastrous vacation that began with her getting dumped and concluded with her ingesting way too much alcohol, she just wants to get back to the safety of her job at Gia and the comfort of her friends. She doesn’t plan on spending 14 hours on a flight with Kyla Logan, telling each other stories of their lives, holding hands through turbulence and sharing one hot kiss as they leave each other at the airport, seemingly forever. No, Avery didn’t plan for Kyla but who can plan for moments that change your life forever.
Kyla Logan is a travel influencer, jetting around the world taking photos for her socials and mostly avoiding her strained relationship with her mom. After meeting Avery, she can’t stop thinking about her. When Avery reaches out to wish her a happy birthday, a friendship forms, with both trying to ignore their underlying attraction. Avery needs to be in San Francisco for her best friend’s wedding. She might as well go a few weeks early and see Avery. As fate would have it, an accident at Avery’s apartment forces her to leave for a few weeks and Avery is more than happy to share her rental with her. Of course, the fact that there is only one bed won’t cause any issues at all.
We met Avery in Chef’s Kiss. She is Jenn’s best friend and HR manager at Gia, Jenn’s restaurant. Stephanie Shea gives us characters in Kyla and Avery, who are both struggling with family issues and their undeniable chemistry. While Avery is the “straight” woman in this story, she is the stronger of the two and less afraid of the connection. Avery knows what she wants and doesn’t care if she should be freaked out by being attracted to a woman for the first time. I love Avery’s strength and that she doesn’t experience gay panic. It is what it is and why would she deny herself something that feels so right.
Kyla and Avery have an intense chemistry but what I love even more are the moments of calm that they find with each other. They really are each other’s person. The supporting characters are all wonderful and it was great catching up with Jenn and Val. There are a lot of family dynamics is this book and those characters were vital in showing us how Ky and Avery came to be the women they are and how their views of relationships were formed.
Stephanie Shea is such a phenomenal writer. She writes books that have this beautiful, almost poetic cadence while creating characters that are relatable and endearing. When I think I possibly couldn’t love any characters more than Jenn and Val, she brings Avery and Kyla into my life. With every book, I become more of a groupie. I’m certain if you read this or any of Stephanie’s books, you will agree she has a special talent and is one of the best writers in our community.
An ARC was received from the author for an honest review.