Thank you to Harlequin and NetGalley for the eARC!

I really wanted to like this book, but unfortunately, it just fell flat for me. While the characters have great sexual chemistry, their romantic chemistry falls flat for me. I made it about 2/3 of the way through the book and these two barely know each other beyond a surface level. I wish we could have gotten more insights into their relationships with other characters, I feel like that would have been nice. All in all, this was just okay. 2.5 stars.

3.5 stars
This had some solid sweetness going on and a whole lotta spice, but I feel like we missed 95% of the MCs falling in love. They had their moments of depth to their conversation, but never had some very necessary difficult conversations. Exception being right about the end of the book. Vini was great and I enjoyed her take no shit attitude with customers. Jessica was not the most self aware, even if she saw herself that way.

Spice: 5/5

Triggers: misogyny, parent death from cancer (historical)

Wonderful romance!

I know that this is my first book by Karmen Lee but by golly. I think I am an instant fan of the way she writes romance. This first of all is such a uniqe premise for falling in love. I was hooked on the first glance with these two. The banter had me chuckling.

I must comment on the steam too because my face was REDDDDDDDDD

Thank you NetGalley for my ebook arc

I’m loving this series. Vini and jess had me kicking my feet and giggling.

If you are looking for a fun light read. This is definitely a must read!

The relationship mechanic is part of a series of interconnected standalones. You do not need to read the others in the series to understand, but it is fun to see characters from the first book appear in this one. We need more sapphic romances with POC characters, so I was very happy when I saw this. 

The small-town vibes in this book were so cozy. They felt a bit different from other small-town romances, but it still had that family feel and the nosy, meddling town folk. 

I really enjoyed Jessica’s inner monologue; however, I found that she wasn’t very developed as a character compared to Vini. Perhaps it is because Vini existed in book one. Vini seemed to have more of a personality outside of the romance plotline. 

I loved the banter between Vini and Jessica, and I felt that they did have good chemistry; however, parts of the romance felt rushed or sudden. Sometimes the spice overshadowed any relationship development. The spice was good; it just took over a bit. I wish it had been a little longer, even just 20 pages longer, to fully explore everything the author was trying to. It was a short and sweet book, and I don't think 15-20 pages would have changed that. 

Overall, very cute, and if you are looking for a short sapphic romance, I’d give it a go.

The Relationship Mechanic by Karmen Lee is the second book in the Peach Blossom series but can be read as a standalone. I enjoyed this book much more than the first one! I enjoyed the instant chemistry between Vini and Jessica. Vini is the baby sister and has lived in Peach Blossom her whole life, while Jessica is just passing through trying to wade out her scandal. While everyone tells them they need to stay away from each other, neither of them can resist.

Vini being a woman in the male-dominated field had me excited from the state; I love that they are 22, own their business, and are a master mechanic who put grown men in their place! And I love that Vini was unapologetically herself and goes after what she wants. The banter and wanting between these two characters was fun and exciting. I liked the chemistry. However, I don't know if they worked well enough for Jessica to give up her lifestyle to settle down in a small town, but I loved the thought of it. I loved how Karmen Lee built Vini's close-knit family with so much love and sport. Also, how she writes diverse queer romances, where there is no coming out, and it is just a casual hope she also likes women/I'm going to shoot my shot. Overall, I had a great time reading this book, and I would absolutely add this book to your TBR

Thank you to Netgalley and Karmen Lee for the advance copy of this book!

Sweet story, and I liked Vini and Jessica. The side characters were pretty flat, and the conflict with Ava felt forced.

That being said, overall I enjoyed the read. The romance was cute, and the end was adorable and funny!

While this sweet and charming small-town romance gave me everything I wanted on the surface, I was left needing more when it came to depth, emotion, and the small details. I loved Vini and Jessica separately, but, I don't know if their relationship had enough to stand on its own in the end. Not to mention, this was insa-lust to the extreme and with 4+ sex scenes, I wish there was some more variety. Just a PSA to others, women can have sex in more than one way, you can get creative instead of rushing straight to oral sex. With the constant scenes, the story just felt very repetitive and ultimately one-dimensional. I'm not writing off this author yet, I want to give her other books a read because at its core, this book has so much potential!

I was interested in this book because I love a sapphic romance. Black MCs too? Bet! I enjoyed this enough but I felt that the book was a bit boring. There wasn’t enough tension between Vini and Jessica for me. Their situationship developed very quickly and then felt stagnant for a long time. There just didn’t feel like there was a good conflict/main plot point in this story, if that makes any sense. There was nothing progressing the plot for a good bit in the middle there.

I think I may not have been the target audience for this book like I’d initially thought I was. I like my romances to have some tension/some big looming issue that needs resolution, and this didn’t really give me that unfortunately. I wasn’t invested in the story even though I really wanted to be, and I felt that there were significant chunks of the book where nothing really happened at all.

Thank you to NetGalley, Harlequin Romance and Karmen Lee for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

There are a lot of great things about this book! I especially love Vini, who is a young Black tradeswoman running her own mechanic shop that's been in her family for generations. She is wise beyond her years and has really made a name for herself within the town as a dependable adult (we see this with her interactions with the Sheriff and Tony). I think because we know Vini as a badass woman who can take care of business, I got extra baffled at Ava's apprehensive reaction to Vini making her own romantic decisions. That said, I missed book one of this series (7-11 Split) which as Ava's story, so perhaps reading that first would offer some context which would explain Ava's choices. In all, Vini really made this book for me. She was sweet, strong, thoughtful, and eager. She trusted herself and displayed more emotional maturity than many of the other characters (save maybe Dani) despite her being only 22/23. I have some qualms with Jessica, the love interest. I can see where she was coming from a lot of the book, but I didn't gravitate towards her throughout the story. Of course, characters need to be flawed or else it's a pretty boring book, but I found Jessica to be a bit tiresome. That said, I think Vini and Jessica make sense together despite being from seemingly different worlds, and I was happy to read their story. I also loved reading about Jessica's experience being Black and Korean and growing up (partly) in Korea. I thought those moments of vulnerability really deepened Jessica's character.

I also appreciated how spicy this book was! There were multiple intimate scenes, which makes sense given Vini and Jessica's instant-lust, and I'm not mad at it! I do wish we got a bit more inventive with their intimacy as there are only so many times I can read about how they are so 'hungry' to 'eat' each other. There are a lot of other sex acts beyond oral that we sapphics partake in, and I would have loved some variety. But hey, it seems a bit off brand for me to be complaining about reading repetitive scenes of lesbians loving eating pussy, lol. I just think there was opportunity to explore other ways the characters could be intimate.

In all, read this book if you're into hot tradeswoman mechanics, lesbians from two different worlds, or if you also salivate when 'hungry'. If you're a mood / seasonal reader like me, this book takes place in Georgia during the Fall. There's a few mentions of the weather getting chillier as winter approaches, which offers some cozy vibes. Additionally, there's a significant plot point around Thanksgiving and Christmas is lightly mentioned near the end of the book, but I would definitely not call this a 'holiday romance' by any means.

This was a SPICY opposites attract, small Southern town Sapphic romance between Vini, a badass Black mechanic and Jessica, a biracial Black and Korean influencer who start a fling that turns into more after Jessica leaves town. Good on audio and perfect for fans of authors like Talia Hibbert or Synithia Williams. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest review!

I was really interested in this book from reading the description, but I sadly couldn’t bring myself to finishing it.

It started off okay, but the more I went on, the more I kept running into pacing and character issues. I really wanted to explore the relationship, but there didn’t seem to be enough of a build to make it believable.

I may pick it back up later if I come across it again, but for now, it’s a no.

I was really looking forward to reading this book. The premise seemed so interesting to me but unfortunately it just fell flat for me. There were a lot of times in this book where instead of being a part of a scene and seeing things unfold, we were just given a short recap of what happened and it really took me out of the story and made me feel disconnected from the characters. I also felt like Vini and Jessica didn’t really have any chemistry and I struggled to imagine them actually building a life together. I did enjoy Vini’s character on her own and I liked the small pieces we got of her family dynamic and her daily life but I just wanted so much more. This book just felt very unbalanced to me and it could have had so much potential but didn’t dive deep enough into its characters, plot or even the setting.

Thanks to Harlequin and NetGalley for the e-ARC.

THE RELATIONSHIP MECHANIC by Karmen Lee is a spicy sapphic rom-com and the second installment in Lee's Peach Blossom series. I absolutely loved the first one — I was so excited to read THE RELATIONSHIP MECHANIC and it did not disappoint. I cannot wait for the next book! Thanks to NetGalley and Afterglow Books for the advanced copy!

First of all this cover art is GORGEOUS and it sold the book to me at first glance. This was a quick read for me. I think there's something in Lee's writing style that doesn't click for me - it feels straightforward in a tell not show way that prevents me from really getting the emotional depth i love in a romance. Vini was a compelling character, but i found Jessica to be a little flat so it was hard to really understand or cheer on her arc. This one was much steamier than 7-10, since that one was more of a slow burn. I don't know that I'll continue the Peach Blossom series

This was my first Karmen Lee book and was very excited to read it. I loved the build up to Jessica & Vini's relationship but things then burned a little too slow for me. I loved their story and I may just need to read more of Lee's work (which I'm excited to do) but I know this wouldn't be my favorite of all her books.

I hope to see more of Vini and Jessica in the next book! Thank you to the publisher, NetGalley and Lee for this ARC!

I cannot believe just how much I loved Vini. I think I went into this being prepared for that same slow burn we got in book one and Lordy we took a hard left and got all the steam.

I related to Jessica a lot on the level of joy feeling worth love and trying to protect yourself from the hurt. It was frustrating to see her constantly protecting her heart but I got it. I loved how tight knit the family was and getting to see their relationships change.

I will say that while this is a series you could pick this up without reading book one, but it enhances the experience of book two if you have.

The Relationship Mechanic x @authorkarmenlee

This book was so cute 😭 I love a WLW romance… BAD. What happens when the travel girlie meets the small town girl? A real sweet, low-key romance. Not too much mess or foolishness. I cannot stand an immature third act break up so this was a great change of pace.

Unfortunately, DNF at 56%. I really don't like to DNF arcs, and I really liked the 7-10 split, but I struggled deeply with the lack of a plot in this book. There was also a lot more spice that had no real purpose beyond being spice. I know that works for a lot of people, but it doesn't for me, especially in this quantity. I really do like Lee's writing overall and was legitimately excited for this one but it's a miss for me. Hoping the third book will come through with plot like the first one did! Thank you so much for the arc.

Fantastic continuation of small town love in Peach Blossom. Karmen Lee's latest is an exquisitely written tale of saphhic love in the South. Thoroughly enjoyed!

Thank you to Harlequin - Romance | Afterglow Books by Harlequin and NetGalley for providing an eARC for a honest review.