I found Seraphina very sweet and her story quite interesting but the rest of the book just didn't work for me. The CEO Milo is just an asshole who goes around and uses his power to abuse his employees. Can you imagine working for someone who would instill so much fear that you would run a hall each time he passes the hallway? Seraphina might be fine with that but I could not fall in love with a person who treats others this way. Also albeit Milo's point of view pictured Seraphina very differently from how she sees herself and gave some insight why Milo seemed to be spellbound by her from the beginning, in general he was not that interesting and he sounded like having an immature mind. I am not a big fan of having both points of view presented and this case it made me dislike the hero even more.

Overall, the romance novel didn't work for me because there was no tension, no chemistry, no building, no surprises - it was rather all predictable and too predictable to my taste that I stopped reading half way through. I think the author should try again but a good novel needs a built-up, tension and release.

Thanks Netgalley for a free copy in exchange of the honest review.

Thank you NetGalley for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Safety in Numbers drew me in due to disability and women in STEM representation.

If you love a grumpy boss with a soft spot, a very intelligent woman making the best of her new life with a traumatic brain injury, and lots of pet names, this book is for you.

This book is a cute and quick romance but also deals with some very heavy topics throughout, so please be sure to check trigger warnings before diving in.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. The first 50% is much stronger than the latter portion. There was some parts to the story I had issue with but I tend to overlook those in romances.

I had difficulty with this book due to it being very expository and “tell” instead of show. If you open it to the first chapter and read, that’s the style that is used for the duration of the novel. It might be right up your alley, but it wasn’t up mine. I also have difficulty with liking jerks as love interests. Someone online compared this 50 Shades, and I think it does have very similar vibes but less explicit.

I was really excited when I read the synopsis for this one - disability AND STEM representation? But the writing just killed it for me. Seraphina is a whip smart mathematician who suffers from aphasia after a traumatic brain injury and Milo is her grumpy, temperamental (but filthy rich) CEO and boss. Seraphina was determined not to let her disability be known to anyone, but ended up disclosing it to Milo anyway, they helped each other become better versions of themselves, yadda yadda yadda.

I help people with job applications as part of my day job and I’m always telling them to “show, not tell” on their cover letters. There was a lot of telling going on in this book. We kept hearing how much of a jerk Milo is, but we hardly saw that in action. The whole story felt incredibly rushed, and I felt like there was a lot of dialogue missing. The author used a lot of the same words over and over again - forget “eating”, it’s always “tucked into”. Some distinctly British and Canadian words were peppered in throughout (which made more sense when I read about the author) but it felt out of place in a story that took place somewhere in the US.

This book had a great premise but there were some major flaws I couldn’t get past, unfortunately. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Booksgosocial and NetGalley for the copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Seraphina Ellis is working at a high tech company owned my Milo Grant. She has a TBI that has altered her life in many ways. Milo needs an assistant and Seraphina has the perfect qualifications. Throughout the book Seraphina and Milo develop a relationship displaying the good, bad, and ugly.

The characters in this book have good chemistry and it was a quick read for me. I enjoyed the message behind the title as well. However, I was not fond of the pace of the book and felt like the plot was rushed and certain scenes were oddly specific making it highly predictable. I didn’t enjoy a specific character due to feeling like they had a controlling, jealous, and egotistical personality. The intimate scenes in the book made me cringe and were very hard for me to read.

Overall, I feel like it had a good message but was poorly executed.

Rounding up from 2.5

Female mathematician, sign me up for this book! I was very excited to read this book. Thank you NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for the opportunity to read this eARC.

This book was a very fast read for me. It was very predictable.

Seraphina has a TBI. It follows her journey back to work after her time off from her accident and TBI. She's an excellent worker because she doesn't want to talk to her colleagues. She doesn't want anyone to know about her condition.

Dr Milo Grant is the CEO of Seraphina's company. He's in need of a Research assistant. Seraphina has the qualifications.

Again, predictable. You know what happens. They get together. There is a misunderstanding causing a separation. Then again the HEA :).

The book was in his/hers FPPOV. It just felt very dis jointed. Two weeks passed then we did this. Big chapter/story on an activity that happens. Six months later...more story. One week, more story...etc. It was disconnected and disjointed. This is what prevented me from giving it a higher rating as it was a fast read and predictable so I was happy reading it :)

Thank you Netgalley and BooksGoSocial for the ARC.

Safety In Numbers was a very quick and light read. The cover is adorable and the summary is promising.
I had so many hopes when I started reading this, but honestly this was such a big disappointment.

Seraphina and Milo’s relationship felt rushed and a lot of conversations between them were immature. To me, it felt like an instant love and I did not enjoy it.
There was nothing much going on in the story except their relationship. It felt as if there was no salt in the food.

I expected so much from Milo’s character but his character was underdeveloped and I just didn’t care.

I would agree to some point that this book was sweet but some dialogues said during the bedroom scenes were immature and not acceptable. I didn’t feel anything for the characters and everything felt so rushed.

Overall, it was boring and the plot was predictable.

Safety in Numbers by Sophie Penhaligon is such an emotional love story.
I'm still fighting back my tears... it just touched my heart and soul.
Seraphina Ellis is a special kind of woman. After a bad accident she has to deal with aphasia for the rest of her life. Trying to get back to normal, she applies to get a job at Grant Innovations.
Dr. Milo Grant is the boss of it all and after an elevator incident with Seraphina he can't forget her. Can Milo deal with his attraction? And can Seraphina deal with it too?

Well...I REALLY REALLY LIKED THIS BOOK! ♡
The emotional story line totally got me!
I felt with Seraphina right from the beginning. She has to deal with so much stuff. OMG! 😢
She totally got my sympathy and I hoped for her best!
When Seraphina started her job at Grant Innovations I was nervous with her, when she met Dr. Milo Grant he totally got under my skin too. I just couldn't stop myself from swooning and loving this story!
Both are so different. He's the successful, confident business man. She's the organized, quiet woman with a handicap.
But... after spending time together it's crystal clear that they've a lot in common too.
Okay I won't spoil you too much!
Read Safety in Numbers! You won't regret it.
I really liked it and it definitely won't be my last book of Sophie Penhaligon!

Thanks to Sophie Penhaligon for this ARC via Netgalley.

☆ This is my honest review in my own words. ☆

Where to begin. This book has such promise and potential but in the end it really fell flat for me. The characters talked about how much each of them had grown but nothing in their thinking or even their actions changed throughout the story. It was a very “woe is me” book from the start and never developed into something more. It was an easy read but I did not enjoy the plot or lack of character development.

Thank you to NetGalley, BooksGoSocial, and the author for an advanced copy of this book for my honest review.

First things first - I adored the cover. It is adorable! I love reading about women in STEM. I really liked the first ~50% and learning about how Seraphina came back from her traumatic brain injury and the different systems and routines she had in place to help with her aphasia. I also liked learning how her and Milo got to know each other, and how easily they understood each other.
•
I was really excited to hear more about her work in STEM, but once she and Milo got together, it was all about sex and there was very little time or words spent on work.
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The bedroom scenes had cringey dialogue, and some of Milo’s internal and verbal dialogue seemed too immature, young for his age and status as a CEO.
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My biggest issue was closer to the end. There were some major HIPPA issues with the doctor/psychiatrist at the end, and that they said having someone with a “worse” disability in her life is helpful to remind Seraphina of how much worse her life could be is really, really disappointing. People are people, and those with disabilities are not a prop or trophy.
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Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher, BooksGoSocial, for the advanced copy of this book. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I really enjoyed this book! It was such a sweet romance between two brilliant scientists. What made me pick up this book was the female main character, Seraphina, is a mathematician with a traumatic brain injury who is trying to navigate normal life after only a few months of living with her new reality. I was so curious how she would grow as a character! Milo, as a renewable energy tech CEO, was a grump to everyone but her. Each of them have their challenges that they have to work through, but reading how their friendship evolves into something more was just really sweet. I felt like the challenge to their relationship was super minor- all things considered. I loved seeing the STEM representation. I thought the epilogue wrapped things up really well! If you're looking for a cute, fast romance, I'd recommend looking into this one!

Thank you Netgally for this book!

I was super excited about it as I never read anything with a disabled main character. However, I did not enjoy it. I will give my honest opinion about it and enlist why:

1. The writing. I was not even 10% in and felt like I was reading one of the many 2012 badly written fan fiction from Wattpad. After almost DNF, I gave it another chance and tried to love it but I just couldn’t.

2. He is really boring. Shouldn’t I be supposed to love him? No character development, and I thought he was kinda cringy and creepy. I'm just not into it.

3. I was expecting something, anything remotely interesting to happen but I felt it was very monotonous and boring.

I feel like it is a good story but badly executed. So I’ll give it a 2/5 stars.

2/5 stars rounded up.

i was so excited for the plot, but i didn’t like the execution of it. i actually had a hard time keeping my focus, just because there was a lot of repetition, and so much narrated action as opposed to shown, which i always am a little annoyed by. i really tried but couldn’t finish this.

insta-love doesn’t bother me when it’s subtly and well done, but this just felt super rushed and i had trouble liking milo and being patient to see his character growth. i didn’t like him at all so that ruined the experience for me.

i’m sure i’ll pick up future books by the author and give them a try!

After absolutely loving The Love Hypothesis, I was so excited about another romance featuring a STEM heroine popping up on NetGalley. I had really high expectations for this book, but sadly they weren’t quite met.

Seraphina lost her mother in a car accident that left her with brain damage. Having aphasia means that she shies away from conversations, sticks to her carefully crafted routines and tries to stay to herself in her new work environment. So far so good - until science bad boy CEO Milo Grant requests her to become his new research assistant due to her stellar qualifications.

I was really really excited to read a book with disability rep. It’s not something I see very often. Though not being able to relate to Seraphina, I could see where all of her doubts and low self-esteem come from. I was so hoping to see her embrace herself as she is and grow as a person throughout the book, but the only „growth“ we got was that she got better at talking to Milo and was told over and over again to just tell everyone about her disability so people would be more understanding instead of making hateful comments about her intelligence. I can’t speak for anyone obviously but I don’t see how this is a good way to represent disability - a person deserves respect no matter the circumstances, and disclosing sensitive medical information should not be a prerequisite for that. Also, I can imagine that people with disabilities get comments either way, but again I can’t speak for anyone there.

What I disliked extremely was one comment towards the ending of the book in which Seraphina is told that she should be grateful that Milo doesn’t turn his back on her after her extremely emotional outburst caused by hateful comments from her former co-workers. No, just no. Seraphina doesn’t only suffer from brain damage a year after the car accident in which her mother died, but probably also from trauma. Nobody should ever, ever feel like they aren‘t allowed to show emotions when someone or something hurts them as deeply as these comments hurt her. She deserves an understanding and supportive boyfriend, and should never ever have to feel self-conscious about how she reacted, or „grateful“ for something that should be a given.

Something that I also struggled with was that Milo got a troubled past that wasn’t well developed at all. It came up twice but there was not much explanation behind how it made him the person he is today, and I felt like it was a try to balance out Seraphina‘s horrible past, but for what reason? His irascible nature also seemed to mostly cater towards a certain trope.

However, Safety in Numbers was a very quick read and I enjoyed the plot. It was funny and emotional. The writing style wasn’t really for me as there was very much tell, little show and many repetitions, but the pacing was good.

2.5/5 stars.

I love the idea and idea of this storyline but sadly for me the execution wasn't the best.

Seraphina suffers from a brain injury after a tragic accident which affects her speech and word recognition.
She starts a new job in Grant Innovations but doesn't want to label herself as disabled with her colleagues.
She begins to work as an assistant for the CEO, grumpy Milo Grant, who Seraphina is extremely attracted too.

I'm not really a fan of insta-love and this story is very much that.
A lot happens very quickly in the story timeline and there isn't enough time to build a strong relationship and empathy between the characters.
I also don't think there was a lot of growth for the characters. Most of the issues facing them were not addressed again once they got together until the conflict at the end and then there wasn't enough time.

There are some spicy scenes in this book which are well written.

Safety in numbers

by Sophie Penhaligon

2 stars

I couldn't finish this book at all. 

First off Seraphine just never grew in the book like I had hoped for, she doubts herself and hates her disability. I know it's common but after a while you cope and start to show the strength you have. All she wanted to do was hide it and never except help which she is too proud to a point. I kept trying to see the good and trying to see how her and milo could and would grow but there was none. 

Milo he is a prick, he is rude to his employee's and overly jealous of everyone that talks to Seraphine which made me want to smack him. He has this dominate part to him but then thinks any little accomplishment Seraphine does is all because of him.  Also, I get new relationships there is a lot of sex, but it was poorly written sex scenes needs to be a little juicier. I liked this book till I was 40% in then it just took a turn for the worse and couldn't do it. I made it 60% and had to stop it was just infuriating. Also, very repetitive writing.  

This is my first read by Sophie Penhaligon, and as disappointed I was in this book, I am willing to see what else she has written and give it a try.

Seraphina is an intelligent, gifted woman who recently suffered from brain damage and lost her mother from the same accident. She’s relearning life completely alone.
Milo is an intelligent, rich entrepreneur. He also happens to become Seraphina’s boss. He is also they only person she has opened up to since her accident.
Their eventual bond reflects what I would describe as two neurodivergent adults coming together and learning to love each other’s quirks and trauma.

It was a cute book, at times it felt emotionally disconnected, but I think that accurately reflects how the two main characters minds work.

Safety in Numbers intrigued me because I love reading about women in STEM, nerdy romances, workplace romances, and grumpy x sunshine couples.

Unfortunately, this book didn’t necessarily do it for me.

The writing style reminded me of the novel Marriage for One, so if you like that book and The Kiss Quotient (I loved The Kiss Quotient with my whole heart!) then you might like this book.

I also didn’t really like the way that the heroine treated her disability like an illness. I understand that it’s supposed to be this whole romantic thing where Milo helps her see that her trauma and brain injury is not an issue to him, but some parts made me feel a bit weird.

There were a few cute moments here and there, but the couple as a whole needed to be developed a bit more, I think.

Again, there were many cute scenes between the couple, it was mainly the writing style that tuned me off. The epilogue definitely gave the novel redemption.

2.5 stars rounded up to 3

Pros: The story of Seraphina’s traumatic brain injury and seeing that representation in a book is great. It showed someone who fought to get back to a “normal” life while learning to deal with an injury that changed a large part of who she was. I loved that Seraphina was strong and smart, but also dealing with insecurities.

Cons: There were parts of the story and characters that weren’t fully developed. The author mentions Milo’s backstory but doesn’t really show him dealing with it other than saying that Seraphina saved him and showed him the good in people.

I also felt like there were a lot of jump moments or fade to black moments with their relationship. It’s like the book was a highlight reel instead of giving us the details.

Overall, good story, just needs a little work.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinions.

Safety in Numbers is my first Sophie Penhaligon book. I was interested to read her bio to find she grew up in England and moved to the Rockies—I suspected something about her background because she spelled traveled with 2 ls. (It might have changed in the final.)

I found this book to have greater depth than your average rom-com fare. And if I was in charge of marketing, I would push this a bit more towards women's fiction with the cover and blurb even though it is a dual POV.

I requested this title because the main character had a disability, and I wanted to see how the author this situation.

Seraphina charmed me from the beginning. Her struggles felt real, and to be inside her to see her thoughts made it so personal. Usually, I don't shed tears to the end of a book, but Seraphina had me misty-eyed from the beginning because of her difficulties. Milo was not so charming when we first meet him. But for good reason. I suspect most readers will find Milo charming once the book gets going. In ways, he is a Byronic character: moody and dark with a tragic past, and he needs saving which is only possible by Seraphina—an innocent woman because of how the brain injury affected her.

Content warning: This novel is steamier than I usually read with full sex scenes. And there are plenty of f-bombs with some coarse language.

I was intrigued to see how each character helped the other heal, how they learned to communicate, and how their outlook on life changed. They ended up complimenting each other.