This review hurts my heart to write…but honest reviews are super important!
Professionally I am a social worker who works with individuals with disabilities - so when I read the description of this book & instantly wanted to read it for the disability representation. Sadly, this disability representation fell very short. I struggled to get into this book & to finish it - as it lacked character development and focused a lot on the physical relationship between Seraphina & Milo - almost as if it was the only thing they had going 😔 I really wanted to like this book, but the topics I mentioned above + a super cringey dialogue & storyline made this a book I honestly wouldn’t recommend 😅

This book had a very interesting blurb, and I was keen to read a STEM female character with a disability.
Unfortunately it was all a bit clumsy, their relationship was not believable, neither were them as full characters.

I was initially enticed by the description of this book, but I was unfortunately disappointed. Mostly, I felt like the story itself was lacking development and romantic tension. While the main female lead was likeable, I couldn’t find myself liking the male lead. His character felt a little too forceful, overstepping boundaries from the beginning. The boss-employee dynamic is not one I typically have an issue with, but his dismissal of HR was a bit of a red flag to me. However, with both characters, backstories and personality traits were dumped onto the reader, and I would have preferred progressing the story in a way that things played out more naturally. Additionally, Kendall’s character was completely lacking depth. Overall, I liked the premise, but I think the story could have been slower paced, with their background a little more fleshed out.

"Relationships are never plain sailing."´
Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read an arc of this book!

"Safety In Numbers" was an adorable romance, told in the pov of Seraphina and Milo. Both had "cookie cutter " personalities, in the sense they were only worked on the surface, lacking individuality and diversity - however, they were adorable enough together that it made it worth a read.

The most interesting details were the ones that spoke and dwelled a little into Seraphina's life after her accident. My favorite parts were reading about her as a person, her struggles and small victories throughout life, instead of Milo who, in contrast, had the typical self-made, grown-from-nothing C.E.O. backstory. Their instant romance also threw me off, since there was little push-and-pull, little teasing or pinning to enjoy.

If you'd like to read a sweet, light and fast-paced romance, go ahead and pick Safety in Numbers, it's a nice choice.

This is such a cute book. Seraphina went through a horrific accident and because of that, she is unable to speak well and remember words well. The author did a great job characterizing her struggles. She finally gets work, working for Milo Grant, who has a reputation for being a horrible boss and a playboy but he's not that way with her. I loved how he treated her (Although his behavior in general left much to be wanted- treating one person well does not forgive poor behavior overall!). It was wonderful to watch these 2 grow together and while there were some slow spots, overall, I really enjoyed this story and loved that they were an imperfect 2 people who were perfect for each other. A sweet romance that does a fantastic job introducing me to this author! Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for an early read.

I love seeing science in romance. "Love Hypothesis " by Ali Hazlewood was one of my favorite 2021 reads and Safety in Numbers had some similar plot lines.

Covering a disability in a book is tough stuff. Serephina's diagnosis was well done, but I was a bit troubled by Billy's. Milo and Serephina's romance was well plotted out and believable, quick paced and easy to read.

I almost think the whole "for those who liked Love Hypothesis" might not be the best angle because that book is a tough North Star to have- it's so good. If you go into this book letting it be it's own story and not comparing it to others, it's a fun romance novel.

I specifically chose this title hoping for a woman in STEM story, but the science aspect of it takes an insane backseat to the romance.

Story flow is a little haphazard. You'll get introduced to something in one scene, but you won't get an explanation for what it is or why until a few pages later.
(The knick knacks Seraphina puts on her desk for example).
It felt less like an attempt to avoid obvious exposition and more like the author forgot.
Similarly, details are constantly repeated from chapter to chapter.

I expected there to be a lot more difficulty in the main heroine communicating with others. She completely bombs her interview because she can't think on her feet anymore, but later is able to answer questions about herself just fine because the plot calls for it.
The dialogue is incredibly unnatural, even for characters without brain injuries- cringey is a great way to describe it.

Love scenes are graphic and detailed, this did not affect my rating but I like to include this information in my reviews.

Despite all my issues, I think this is a cute romance well suited for the intended audience(minus the STEM career issues). I'm just disappointed in the execution.

Also, say "fiery" one more time.

The irascible boss and the brilliant but damaged research assistant

Seraphina Ellis really wants this job as research assistant. She's perfect for it, with her double major in computer science and math. The only problem is that a little over six months ago she was in a car accident and suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Her intelligence is intact but she suffers from aphasia, not always being able to come up with the correct word she's searching for.

Dr. Milo Grant is the CEO and founder of Grant Innovations, a genius and a bad boy scientist. But he seems to understand and appreciate Seraphina.

I enjoyed this book very much and highly recommend it. I liked both main characters and I liked the way that Seraphina's TBI was described and handled.

I received this book from Books Go Social through Net Galley in the hopes that I would read it and leave an unbiased review.

This was such a cute read! I really loved the representation for people with brain injuries. The author did such a great job giving the reader insight as to the struggles that people with that disability have. I definitely recommend this book for those who loved The Kiss Quotient.
I did feel like there wasn’t enough of a dramatic hook in the storyline. There was no big wrongdoing or mistake that lead to a happily ever after. This caused the plot line to seem flat without much development. I did enjoy reading about Seraphina and Milo. I felt that they had some chemistry but it was definitely an insta-love plot with a hint of the grumpy-sunshine trope.

Wow I struggled with this one. So much didn’t make sense here! It was infuriating hearing Milo constantly call someone he just met Sweetheart. The “romance” felt rushed and weird. No real romance here. Seraphina calling her coworkers stinky and sad, just weird. I can’t recommend this to anyone.

Thank you NetGalley for providing this arc
this book was short and sweet I really enjoyed it .plot had so much potential ,heroine story and origin was new for me and I expected much more but unfortunetly author didn't deliver it .here are some critics that I have about the book:
1-in the first chapters all I read was about how pretty hero was ,kind of too much and boring
2- hero's personality was not portrait well enough. it was all about him saying how bad he is and then it suddenly changed like without any background he turned into some loving boy friend
3-the start of the relationship was too fast, again not enough backbone in the plot
4- when she meet his parents that behavior was so out of the character ,how some one with trouble in speaking suddenly starts like that? I didn't like the scene...
5-i felt the author just wanted to finish the book so fast and didn't pay attention to the details first 30 % was great but the middle not so much

my rating:3 stars
spice:1chilli

“Safety in Numbers” by Sophie Penhaligon follows two main characters - Seraphina and Milo. Their stories are told in alternating chapters. Seraphina has suffered a brain injury, but has decided to conceal that information from nearly everyone in her life. Milo is her boss - who becomes her lover.

I found the exploration of Seraphina’s aphasia (loss of word usage - aka difficulty finding the right word) an interesting angle. I also found her coping strategies interesting to read about and liked the idea of a flip-book for items at a grocery store, clothing store, or about the house. While it’s always a person’s right to tell or not tell others about any disabilities they have, I felt that because Seraphina knew her speaking was “off” and knew others were picking up on it, that mentioning something after a few meetings, no matter how uncomfortable, might have been appreciated by her co-workers and others in her life.

While the book was a quick read, I found some of the information repeated a number of times - twice mentioned were Seraphina’s desk items; Milo refers to himself as another term for donkey a number of times, his good looks were mentioned numerous times - and I’m not quite sure why all the repetition was necessary. I didn’t like the “mean girl” because, well, she seemed to be thrown in there to just cause tension. While this is a romance book - with a bit of a predictable plot - it was a fast read, but for me, this was an okay book.

I was not able to finish this book. I found some aspects really disturbing. Milo is by his own admission verbally abusive to his employees and it’s just chalked to his genius and his personality. Newsflash a smart a**hole is still an a**hole. Furthermore, the way he speaks/thinks about Seraphina is plain creepy and quite disturbing for 2021.

I also didn’t like the portrayal of Seraphina as the only smart and hardworking person in the company. Specially the way she speaks about other female employees. It feels like the author cannot envision supportive denial relationships. The most egregious is the character of Kendall, whose demeanor is described in a way that does match someone with her job. In fact, the way the characters refer to women in general is quite atrocious. And why are all the bosses/supervisors male?

Honestly, as feminist, I had to stop reading at 30%.

Safety in Numbers started as a decent story with likable, interesting characters that devolved into a cliché and somewhat boring romance. On the positive side, I enjoyed Seraphina's character and the representation of disabled people she brought to the story. Milo and Seraphina also had a good dynamic in theory and I liked seeing him take care of her and show his softer side to her. The plot held a lot of potential, but there were quite a number of problems I had with the book.

First, the dialogue was at points very cringy. Milo specifically had a lot of lines that felt cheesy and unrealistic - I could not imagine anyone saying that in real life, much less someone who is supposed to be a demanding, genius CEO. For me, Milo was almost too nice to and too amazed by Seraphina that the romance didn't seem genuine. The dialogue was a real detractor, at some points it was very distracting and made me not interested in the romance at all.

The characters were often in their heads, describing a lot of their feelings rather than talking or doing. These thoughts tended to be very repetitive (Seraphina explaining her schedules, Milo explaining why he used escorts, etc.) and it felt unnecessary to include. By the last 33% of the book, the plot line felt pretty predictable and there was so much thinking rather than action, I started to skim the end. Overall, the flaws made it a bit of a struggle to finish the book.

On a final note, towards the end of the book, Seraphina's former psychiatrist says to Milo that Seraphina's relationship with Billy (who is her friend from the rehab center and had a very severe brain injury) is good for her because it reminds her that she could be in a worse spot. I found this really troubling - it's quite disrespectful to disabled people to suggest their purpose is to make us feel better about ourselves. I think the book did a decent job of addressing Seraphina's internalized ableism and combatting her belief that she is undeserving of support and love due to her disability, but this part was not addressed and felt very problematic.

I enjoyed this cute stem based romance read. But do not let all the sweetness fool you! I appreciated how it touched based on a very specific disability and the main character's struggles to accept it and love herself and let others do the same despite of it.
After a terrible accident, that not only left her with a disability but pretty much alone in this world besides her medical team, Seraphina Ellis is trying to live her life again. After joining Grant enterprises and overcoming many challenges along the way, she encounters love and the support she needs in the rude, workaholic, but oh so handsome, Milo Grant, her new boss.
An uplifting and easy read, Safety in Numbers, teaches us how we can find love in the most unexpected times and places, even when we ourselves have already given up.

Fresh off my enjoyment of The Love Hypothesis, Safety in Numbers seemed like the next logical choice for a STEM based romance. Our heroine Seraphina was brimming with intelligence and had a gentle heart as big as her brain. This book had the nice gentle pace of a rowboat in comparison to the fast paced waverunner romances I’ve read this year. The full throttle books lacked character development and offered no friendship alongside the couple’s chemistry, thankfully Safety in Numbers delivered on both accounts. In addition to having a female thriving in the scientific field, she was also recovering from a brain injury that affected her speech. Penhaligon brought two underutilized romance categories to the forefront in a lovely combination bound to make you say “Eureka!”.

Seraphina and Milo's courtship was sweet as pie and I loved their progression from friendship to a serious relationship. They were so tender with each other and had very open communication. They constantly shared their feelings and it was such a welcome feature not often seen in modern romances. I can always appreciate a hero who is not ashamed to discuss his emotions with the heroine. The bar is pretty low for fictional men, but Milo cleared it with ease. While the couple did provide plenty of warm fuzzies, their more carnal moments weren't too shabby either. I'm happy to get a little sugar and spice to help balance my overall reading experience.

My only complaint was a slight dip in interest near the last quarter of the book. There was a scene where our heroine overheard some mean girl gossip in the bathroom and Seraphina ran out crying. It seemed very juvenile and out of place for an adult romance novel. Otherwise, this was a lovely unique book that I'm pleased to have read. All the ingredients were well researched and the author confirmed her hypothesis for a successful love story. Whether it's the amount of funds needed for scientific research or the amount of times you say "I love you", we can all indeed agree that there is safety in numbers.

"Why would I want normal when I can have extraordinary? You are incredible Seraphina; normal is for boring people."

I deeply enjoyed this story.
Full review to come.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion

I really appreciated the attention to detail about the brain injury that Seraphina suffered and her journey through this book felt grounded in research. Some of the dialogue felt a little silted for my personal taste, but overall, I enjoyed this! A one-day read that's easy to get lost in. Milo has serious Tony Stark vibes, which was a bonus!

Unfortunately this was a dnf for me. The writing was very stilted and it felt like there was no real depth/ substance to either of the main characters despite the setting of the story in the world of STEM and heroine having a disability. (2 ⭐️)

Sweet book! It has a very interesting concept that is different. The couple was very cute. This book was along the lines of The Love Hypothesis and The Kiss Quotient.