3 1/2 Stars. This was better than Wallace’s other two books she released this year, but wasn’t as good as some of her older work. I like Wallace as an author and I also like that she writes many main POC’s. I’m always happy to read books with some diversity in them. I enjoyed this read but had a few issues with it.

Dakota is a model who is well known for her androgynous look. She models and wears mostly men’s clothes. With her sister’s wedding approaching, Dakota decides to get a suit professionally tailored to truly fit her body. Grace is a tailor who works for her father’s business. When Dakota enters their shop, Grace is surprised to find herself attracted to Dakota. Grace normally prefers feminine women with curves. Do the more free spirted Dakota and the reserved Grace have a chance at a relationship, or are they just too different?

I really enjoyed Dakota as a characters, she was extremely likeable. Grace was a little harder to connect to as she seemed to be all over the map with her thoughts and feelings. The secondary characters are where things fall a little flat for me. They were not fleshed out well enough and didn’t really help with the story.

The romance went at a pretty good pace. I was happy it was not insta-love. The characters actually got to know each other, which I appreciate. The sex scenes were decent, not the best but above average.

The biggest issue I really had were parts of the story were really rushed, especially the ending. As others have mentioned, the ending was almost too HEA. I like happy endings but the complete turnaround of both families was a little unbelievable to me; especially with how one of Grace’s sisters always treated her. I just didn’t find the ending that realistic.

As I mentioned before, I think this was the best book Wallace has released this year. I was not crazy about the other two and this was an improvement. I still like her older books much more, but this book is more on track to what I expect from Wallace. This has a few bumps, but it was an enjoyable read.

I enjoyed the dynamic between Dakota and Grace tremendously. This is one of those sweet romances where one of them is determined to not be more than friends, however, persistence prevails. 

There are some LOL moments and very slick dialogue. Also some insights into tailoring and modelling. This is good book and im glad i picked it up.

I enjoy romance novels and this read was sweet with some push and pull but communication is the key to navigate the challenges. I like the main characters. What interesting and unique careers they both have. The bike ride, caught in the rain, a meal in a quaint/trendy restaurant and a cute scene at a baseball game. The romantic in me smiles very big. Both characters are likable and you want happiness and fulfillment to boil over for them. Grace Henderson has it all figured out from the business she will take over and the type of women she plans to share her life with or so she thinks. Dakota Lane has a lot going on which makes her a little hard to believe and connect to. She appears so self aware which makes her even more likable but also unbelievable. Both women have family challenges which they choose to navigate carefully, ignore, or just be upset about. I wanted so much to like this read and provide more stars but the story felt disjointed.

Grace Henderson works as a designer and tailor in her father’s bespoke suit shop in Brooklyn. Working in the family business has all the perks and problems you’d expect, but Grace loves the chance to create for her clients. 

Dakota Lane is hired as a male model for her gender-bending looks. However, for Dakota, it’s more than just a fashion statement. Looking for a special outfit for her sister’s wedding, Dakota asks Grace to design a suit. A suit might be their introduction, but how far will it go?

This was a charming book by Wallace, and there were some lovely touches to this romance. The two lead characters were engaging and a little different, and I could see how both would be challenged by the other, but be a little fascinated too. 

Wallace did a good job of setting up the characters and the plot, which ticked along nicely. The romance started slowly, but the pace seemed a little rushed towards the end. I could have done with a bit more time with the two characters, seeing how their romance might develop. 

I also really enjoyed how Wallace introduced the concepts of Dakota’s gender-bending without it ever becoming hard work. It gave a spark to the budding relationship without ever distracting from the central romance.

This was a delight to read.

Advanced reading copy provided by NetGalley for an honest review.

I liked the characters in this book.  However, I wanted much more.  So many of the actions of both characters just didn't make any sense.  It moved too fast and didn't give this reader enough build-up.
The end was way too cliche' and way too perfect.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book is a kind of fairy tale, by the way it is developed and especially by its end and there are some things that are not quite coherent. It is clear that many of the characters in romantic novels are very stereotyped, but I believe that in this case, Dakota has too many topics. Also, does not it seem that her behavior is absolutely credible, being a top model and working as a bicycle messenger? Fairy tale. Then, the doubts of Grace and her changes of attitude towards Dakota seem somewhat artificial and with little logic. Of course, love has no logic, even less in fairy tales. 

The secondary characters that could be more interesting, like Rich and Lillie, they appear very little in the story. And besides having very few sex scenes, one and a half maybe, the end is a bit hasty. 

Despite all the above, the book has its charm and is not disappointing. It's worth reading it.

Okay, this is going to be tricky to review. I really wanted to love this but I just... didn't. There was a lot of discussion around gender which was good but both of the leads are cis. One of them, Dakota, does say she isn't a fan of labels and is overall more androgynous but in the end, the novel seems to only present her as cis. 

I should note I am cis but there were some lines that didn't sit well with me. At one point, Dakota's best friend makes a comment about how if Dakota had a penis he'd have sex with her. It's not really challenged at all since it's a very cissexist phrase. There was discussion around pronouns but one scene felt weird to me. First, there were name tags in one scene for people to right their pronouns on. But a character told Grace to write it down so she wouldn't be "offended" if she, and other, were misgendered. The language just didn't sit well with me. Maybe because I'm used to people using 'offended' to downgrade hurt, I don't know. But later a character who's a social worker who works with foster kids talks about how she wants to get into more training of working with trans and non-binary kids, and mentions using they/them pronouns. But Grace tells her to 'just use their name' and this is treated as her being enlightened. It just felt weird to me she was telling her to not better herself.

One line that didn't have to do was gender was how a character said another needed to lose weight, and she responded by mocking skinny women. That was another thing that wasn't challenged. 

I also didn't care about the romance and the overall plot was boring. It was a real disappoint.

ARC received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This story was just straight-up charming. I loved both characters, although Grace did annoy me a little, especially towards the end. I was worried this would be one of those ‘player keeps on playing whiled she decides if she can settle down’ books, but Dakota was far from that, and I confess to being half in love with her myself by the end of the book.

The chemistry between Grace and Dakota was immediate but this is a slow burn, although it takes place over only about six weeks (which is still longer than most lesfic). The two leads spend a lot of time together and talk to each other, and their developing relationship is just plain sweet. The secondary characters aren’t terribly well-fleshed out, especially their families, and taking a bit more time there could have added some depth. 

It got a bit messy towards the end, I thought the breakup (not really a spoiler since there’s almost always a breakup, mores the pity), was the only misstep. Grace’s apprehension about dating a ‘butch’ woman seemed to have been resolved earlier, and then all of a sudden was a problem again, and it was especially callous given how it went down. Dakota is much more forgiving than I am. 

The epilogue ties things up a bit too nicely, but if the worse thing you can say about a book is that the end is too happy, you’re doing ok. If you’re in the mood for a sweet romance, this should hit the spot.

Engaging! This romance novel did not disappoint! Yolanda Wallace provided an endearing narrative with strong character development and genuine emotions as this couple found their way.

3.5 stars. I was in the mood for a butch-femme romance and this one hit the spot! Sweet, but with plenty of sexual tension, no insta-love, but instead a relationship building over time, and interesting characters including not only Dakota and Grace, but their friends and family. I would recommend this to anyone who is looking for a sweet (with some steaminess near the end) contemporary romance.