Unfortunately, I DNF’d this one halfway. This was an easy read and the characters had good banter but, despite it being generally well written, I find it hard to get on with books that have a lot of telling v showing. I also struggle to get on board with grumpy sunshine books when the FMC is the grump, but that’s just a matter of personal preference!

Thank you to Kate Callaghan for the gifted e-ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Any book that comes with a recommended playlist is always a win for me.
This forced proximity, enemies to lovers suspense romance was such an enjoyable read. Autumn struggles with chronic pain and strives for control in all aspects of her life, but when Elijah unexpectedly moves in Autumns control and routine are scattered. This is the first book I’ve read from Kate Callaghan and I’m already adding her previous works to be TBR! I wish we had more time to uncover Elijah and what makes him tick but overall I enjoyed this book. It was a good balance of humour, spice, plot and drama all wrapped up in a heartfelt package.

I think it will be difficult to write this review without giving too much away, but I'm going to try. I'll start by saying that the pace of this novel was a little slow to gain momentum and was not always steady; by the end of the book, things were happening so quickly on so many different fronts that it was difficult to stay invested in each of the individual plot threads. The story overall was enjoyable. I appreciated the take on chronic pain from an author who is herself afflicted -- while I don't personally suffer from a similar condition, I think it added an element of realism to the whole story, especially given the plot driver of Autumn's past. I didn't figure out who was behind the suspenseful elements of the book until shortly before the big reveal, though the secondary suspense plot was much less suspenseful and I caught on to that one very early on (not sure if that was a deliberate choice from the author or if I just happened to pick it up. Either way, it didn't detract from the experience of reading it).

I sincerely think that this book would benefit from an editor; firstly, because it is in need of proofreading, but more significantly, because there are some glaring issues with consistency throughout the novel. Some of them are small things like in one sentence Autumn is wearing a dress and in the next she's wearing a t-shirt; in one sentence, they're in her bedroom, in the next they're on the couch, etc. Others, however, pertain to things like the ongoing friction between Autumn and Elijah in the first half of the book. Rather than coming across as a struggle to navigate their situation, it sometimes comes across a bit like whiplash, bouncing so quickly from them making progress to further antagonizing each other without provocation. Moreover, as the plot thickens, there are numerous times where Autumn or Elijah or one of the other characters display a knowledge of information they didn't/wouldn't have, or they appear ignorant of something we previously saw them learn. It's a little frustrating, a little jarring, but very fixable.

Overall, for Callaghan's first foray into romantic suspense, I'm impressed with how well she kept all the pieces moving in their rightful places. That said, her dedication to maintaining the plot does appear to come at the expense of concerns like consistency and editing. Certainly not a must-read in the romantic suspense vein, but still an enjoyable read worth trying out if you like romantic suspense books or if the concept of this one intrigues you.

This book was just alright. Based on the description, it sounded really cute and like something I would enjoy. However, the execution of it wasn’t great. I didn’t really connect with any of the characters and the dialogue between them was a little strange. Nothing felt like it flowed and some scenes were hard to follow. I did really like that Autumn had chronic pain from a past trauma. We rarely see books with representation like that so it was great to see the author really take the time to portray her daily struggles. Overall this was a quick easy read but don’t plan on rereading in the future.

This was a 3-3.5 star read for me. It was a cute story, but it overall fell flat for me. When I read the description about a pianist and game developer, it piqued my interest immediately, but the execution of the plot fell flat for me.

I stumbled upon this entertaining read that took me on a whirlwind journey. Autumn is a musical prodigy in her prime that had a tragic accident that left her with tough times ahead. Her quiet and very private life is upended when her landlord temporarily rents out the bottom story of her home to an irritatingly handsome game developer.

In the end, watching the protagonist rise above it all and find her own salvation within herself was inspiring. What made it even better was the mix of mystery and romance that kept me turning those pages. Sure, there were moments when I wished the characters wrapped up those internal monologues a tad quicker, but trust me, the spice level was just right! And can we give a round of applause for the lovable dog character? This book has it all—heart, suspense, and a perfect sprinkle of romance.

Listen, I want to like this book so badly. I really do. But man… I just really struggled through it.

The concept was interesting. The story follows Autumn who has suffered an enormous tragedy at a young age and now endured lifelong chronic pain. She happily lives alone until she is forced to take in a roommate against her will.

First of all, I love the representation of this type of trauma survivor and chronic pain endurer. This is an underrepresented group and I love that the author leaned into that. I think this aspect of this character was well done and seemed to be well researched or spoken from a place of intimate knowledge. So I appreciated that.

However, Autumn and Elijah’s relationship felt so forced to me, all the way through. The transition from enemies to lovers felt so abrupt and lacking. And I really feel like it could’ve been helped! I think the author had a great concept, it just felt like maybe it wasn’t fully fleshed out yet. For instance, when describing a scene it felt almost like I was reading bullet points of the major events happening in that moment (he said this, she did that, etc), rather than actually painting a picture of what was happening. This made it feel really choppy, awkward and incomplete to me.

The suspense subplot felt a little unnecessary, but it was interesting I suppose. It sort of felt like two different stories that didn’t belong together though.

I think the bones of this story are definitely there, so I honestly wish I could give it a better review… but it just did not work for me.

I did receive this copy as an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. So I am hopeful that the published version may improve.

Ah this was a cute enemies to lovers story, entirely predictable but I really enjoyed it! Loved Autumn and Elijah and the supporting characters, I would definitely recommend this, brilliant beach book for your holidays!

Thank you NetGallery for the ARC! I liked how it was enemies to lovers and that they had to share a house. The suspense didn’t really pick up until like 80% of the book and wish they started earlier. The romance was cute and Autumn and Elijah were adorable. Great easy read!

This one sounded like it was going to be really cute. But the plot was so slow. I also did not feel any connection between the main characters. For a romance book, this needed more spice. This book could have been so much better if they plot was more thought out.

This was such a cute, fun and easy read. I really enjoyed the writing style and loved the characters.

This book was the perfect forced proximity romance! I loved the mystery aspect being integrated into the book, it was a great twist! The representation of chronic illness in this book was very accurately portrayed and I loved reading about Autumns character and what she has over come.

I apologize for this will be a chaotic honest review.


Ms. Perfectly Fine turns out to be not fine (for my liking). Initially, I had high hopes for it because I believed this should be my first book to have read about chronic illness. Turns out, it did not deliver the things I wanted to see in this book.
Thoughts:

• This book follows an "enemies to lovers" and "grumpy (her) and sunshine (him) between a famous pianist performer and a game designer. As implied by its title, it comes with a lot and complicated baggage due to Autumn's traumatic accident.
• The plot was poorly executed and their banters are childish. Also, the conflict/climax of the story was unsatisfying and not as thrilling as I had been led to believe.
• The tension between the two main characters escalated rather quickly and was weirdly confusing. It was stupid, vapid, and frustrating.
• Dreadful pacing, predictable, and repetitive.
• I did not enjoy it and it's excruciating to read.

This may be an unfair review for an ARC, I would still give this book a 2-star rating. I see a potential and this could be better on its finished copy.

Thank you NetGalley and Kate Callahan for this arc for my honest review.

Ms Perfectly Fine follows Autumn a pianist and Elijah a video game designer.
Autumn finds a stranger (Elijah) moving into her apartment.
I love the The repartee between Autumn and Elijah. Love the drama and suspense.
I will recommend this book to others.

Autumn Adler is a famous concert pianist who suffers from chronic pain. Elijah Wells is a wealthy game developer. She’s renting a house from his father and unbeknownst to her, he’s moved in to take over the first floor. Sounds like the perfect set up to an engaging romcom, right?

The cute cover and premise of this book appealed to me. Unfortunately, I don’t believe it reached its full potential. All the formulaic romcom boxes were checked. There was nothing really wrong with the writing or storyline but nothing outstanding either. The dialog and interaction between the two MCs seemed stilted or just weird in some cases. The roses left for Autumn should have led to a suspenseful side story. Instead of being drawn in, I was left not caring about the romance or the mystery.

I do feel the author did a good job relating Autumn’s pain. You would think it would really hurt her to be flung over Elijah’s shoulder so often, though.

Thank you to NetGalley and CallaghanWriter, Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) for this complimentary ARC. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I don't know what Autumn was thinking, I would have committed murder if a new housemate continually ate my meal preps!
I really enjoyed reading about Autumn and Elijah in this fun quick read. At times, the dialogue had a little too much exposition where it sort of felt like reading a scripted reality show, but overall they had great banter and nice chemistry. The pacing was alright, except towards the end where the crime confession felt rushed, but it was still enjoyable nonetheless.
Thank you NetGalley and CallaghanWriter for providing me with this ARC!

I DNFd this book. I got about half way through and it was just too messy and I wasn’t attached to either character or the plot line. I do appreciate the chronic pain rep though! Might be the book for someone else but not for me.

Please disregard star rating as I didn’t finish the book.

For me this book was nice, it was okay to pass time and get some entertainment. I usually love a book with forced proximity and a frenemies situation but something about this story didn't do it for me. The banter between the MC was nice to a point, but sometimes they come off a little childish for my taste.

The chronic pain representation was really great though, I really liked how that part of the story worked.

Overall, I feel this could be a quick enjoyable read if you're into those tropes.

The book was absolutely amazing. I loved every part of it especially the disability representation. The mystery sun plot was also amazing and completely unexpected. I also love that there is trigger warnings included at the beginning. There was a few formatting issues throughout where a couple chapters merged but nothing major that it took away from the story at all. Chapters 7 & 8, 16 & 17, 23 & 24.

This is the first book by this author that's not a fantasy story and I'm impressed and surprised that she hasn't written some of these amazing, exciting and romantic stories before.

I was completely engrossed in the story from the first page.
You're from the first page, full in the unique and funny story.
I love the characters and their sarcastic humor.
The constant banter between the main characters is amazing and realistic, not over the top, like in so many books.
Reading this book, you can identify with the characters.
They're real and authentic.
You just have to love them.

The main topic of this book is the processing of coming to terms with the difficult past and as well as living with chronic pain.
Yes, it's not easy to read about this topic, but it's so well done and so realistic that it should be a must read, so that people understand it better.

I loved every second of this fast-paced page-turner sweet, swoony, and sexy suspense romance.

What's to expect:

Grumpy X Sunshine
He falls first and harder
Forced Proximity
Suspense
Split POV
Enemies To Lovers
Healing
Chronic Pain
HEA