I absolutely devoured this book! I thought it was the cutest book that had me giggling and kicking my feet. An the English professor vibes was to die for!

This was very well-written enemies-to-lovers story with many of my favorite tropes: marriage of convenience, one bed, etc. An excellent read that kept my attention in a time where I abandon books quickly.

An Academic Affair was one of my favorite reads this year—a sharp, swoony, and deeply human romance that delivers both emotional depth and scorching chemistry. Jodi McAlister crafts a brilliant rivals-to-lovers story centered around Sadie and Jonah, two academics who enter a marriage of convenience to exploit a university partner-hiring clause. What begins as a transactional arrangement between academic rivals quickly unravels into something far more tender.

The alternating first-person POVs are executed to perfection, offering intimate glimpses into both characters’ vulnerabilities. Jonah’s narration, in particular, is a masterclass in yearning—his quiet care and longing for Sadie are so palpable that I found myself clutching my Kindle in delight. McAlister has clearly answered the collective plea for men who yearn in romance, and the payoff is electric. The love scenes feel earned, intimate, and very hot, thanks to the emotional groundwork laid by their growing connection.

Beyond the romance, the novel deftly explores weighty themes—imposter syndrome (Sadie’s fear of not belonging in academia, Jonah’s anxiety over nepotism), institutional sexism, and the grinding pressures of late-stage capitalism in higher education. The Australian academic setting adds a fresh layer, with its distinct hierarchies (like lecturer tiers), but McAlister ensures context carries the reader smoothly.

What I loved most was how human the conflicts felt. There’s no melodramatic third-act breakup between Sadie and Jonah—instead, the tension arises from real-world stakes (job insecurity, union meetings, familial expectations). The most poignant rupture is between Sadie and her sister, Chess, whose well-intentioned overbearingness leads to a fallout that’s raw and nuanced. McAlister refuses to villainize either sister, making their reconciliation all the more satisfying—and leaving me desperate for Chess’s upcoming story!

An Academic Affair is a triumph: witty, steamy, and emotionally resonant. If you love academic rivals, marriage of convenience, and men who feel things deeply, this book is an absolute must-read. Jodi McAlister has cemented herself as an auto-buy author for me.

Rating: ★★★★★ (5/5)
Read if you love: The Love Hypothesis but more grounded, Beach Read’s emotional depth, and Boyfriend Material’s humor and heart.

(And yes, I’ll be first in line for Chess’s book!)

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️🌟

4.75 stars

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for the ARC!

I absolutely loved this book. A dual perspective academic rivals romance was a super easy read!

Jonah was swoon worthy. The way he took care of Sadie and supported her throughout the book was goals. Also loved the Jonah chapters and reading all his footnotes! Was a fun inclusion in the book!

Sadie was such a relatable character. How she internally processed her fears and abandonment issues made it easy to like her as a character.

I hate when the enemies to lovers trope very quickly leads to the characters being madly in love. With this book, I feel the author did an amazing job at noting Jonah’s crush on Sadie (not a spoiler, literally in the first chapter) and having the characters realize it was the debating and arguing they enjoyed, but didn’t actually hate one another! I also felt that Jonah and Sadie’s connection was genuine, sharing so many cute moments throughout the story.

Didn’t want to put this book down and easily could have finished in one day if work did not get in the way!

I loved this book! I think the romance is so cute and the characters are so dynamic. I couldn't put it down and loved reading it and seeing their relationship grow.

It had potential, but I DNFed it at about 25%. It just didn't hook me the way I had hoped. I wasn't a huge fan of the internal monologue, but I did enjoy the premise.

Super cute! I always love a good academic romance and this one didn't disappoint. It was whimsical, and full of good lighthearted moments!

As a book nerd I love how this novel melded my obsession with all things literature within the popular romance genre. Sadie and Jonah have been competing throughout their college and doctoral journeys until they finally call a truce and work together. Sadie’s specialty is popular romance and Jodi McAlister advocates for the importance of the genre while giving us the classic enemies to lovers trope. She weaves in the ins and outs of complicated family relations, creating honest and fallible characters who exhibit growth throughout the story. At no point did I question a character’s motivation as her protagonists were developed, imperfect, and realistic. I didn’t realize how much I missed the thrill of literary debate until I read Sadie and Jonah’s debates on the page and the addition of footnotes reflected the “academic” characters and their daily lives. This novel was well written with fully developed characters and plot. I look forward to reading more from this author.

This was the cutest book ever. Lovers of academic rivals/enemies to lovers/marriage of convenience!!!! will absolutely eat this up. My only qualm is that I felt like the conflict with the school wrapped up a bit quickly. I read this on my kindle and I wasn't paying close attention to the percentage of how much I'd read through so I was so distraught when I realized this was coming to an end (a bit suddenly). Otherwise, this was superb. I can't wait to read more books by Jodi McAlister!!

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing this e-arc in exchange for my honest review!

Academia book

Two rivals have to figure out how to make it work for their jobs and family

I didn't fully understand the chess and Sadie argument but I guess it forced Jonah and Sadie to open up more with each other

Thank you NetGalley for the arc

This was a cute fake dating, academia book set in Australia. The characters were enjoyable and fake dating is one of my favorite tropes so I really enjoyed it. It was a nice, bookish, romantic read and it read quickly. I liked the evolution of the relationship and the dual pov! Thank you netgalley for this arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thank you Atria books and NetGalley for this ARC ✨📚🇦🇺
An Academic Affair is the a perfect read for those who love forced proximity, fake dating/marriage of convenience and romcoms! Jonah Fisher is the perfect cinnamon roll MMC in my opinion, I loved everything about him. Sadie Shaw has many walls built up but she slowly lets Jonah knock them down one by one. The tension these two shared was good. I wish the ending of the book was a little longer! I got to the epilogue and thought the book could’ve used a few extra chapters. I hope there’s a sequel to this!

I want to start by thanking the author and publisher for the opportunity to read an advanced release copy of this book.

I really wanted to like this book and I did to a point, but the story was very slow to me if I’m being honest. I really had a hard time getting though it.

I loved this. The academia, the rivalry, the banter…on the nose!

This is what I want from a contemporary romance. I want the slow burn and the payoff.

This is whip smart and cheeky in the best way.

The only qualm I had with this was the modern day references and use of language, which is a personal preference in my reading. I also felt like the ending was a little rushed and needed some fleshing out. Other than that, no notes!

I came for the cover but I stayed for the footnotes and the swoony MMC! You’ll have to read it to see what that’s about 😉

Sadie and Jonah’s story was absolutely perfect! It was full of humor, witty banter, and zing!

The Academic Affair is perfect for lovers of:
-academic rivals to lovers
-marriage of convenience
-slow burn
-dual POV (my fave!!)
-one bed
-he falls first

My only complaint is that the ending felt a little rushed after the tension and slowwww burn!

Thank you Netgalley and Atria books for this ARC!

An Academic Affair is an enemies to lovers, marriage of convenience story following Sadie and Jonah who have been battling each other to the top throughout their 15-year academic careers.

Sadie and Jonah are both navigating complicated family relationships, as well as the politics of pursuing professional careers in the world of academia. When only one of them gets a rare permanent position, they decide to get married to take advantage of the university’s partner hire policy.

I really enjoyed this story and felt the characters were easy to connect to. The dual POV worked really well and I loved the footnotes in Jonah’s chapters - they gave a deeper understanding of Jonah as well as driving home the point of academia being his whole life. I loved the mentions of popular novels, as well as Shakespeare and Tolkien.

The prologue was well thought out giving a great background of the 15 years that Sadie and Jonah’s lives had been entwined by explaining the ceasefires they’ve had over the length of their relationship.

There was no third act breakup which felt right considering how mature the characters were throughout the book, and that the main conflicts were between the MCs and their family members along with the university.

The way Sadie and Jonah’s love story unfolded was so beautiful and felt very realistic as the marriage of convenience made complete sense for the situation they were in.

The ending felt just a little rushed, but everything was tied up nicely and felt satisfying.

An Academic Affair releases November 11, 2025.

Thank you to Atria and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review!

Loved this romance set in the cutthroat world of academia. It has tropes I enjoy - enemies to friends to lovers, marriage of convenience. There’s an engaging couple with Sadie & Jonah, and I hope some of the side characters get their own romances, especially Fiona and Julia. Jonah’s footnotes are delicious asides into his mind - almost as entertaining as Terry Pratchett’s footnotes. The Tasmanian setting was also great. I wish the Bibliophile wine bar/bookstore was real.

Thanks to Netgalley for giving me access in exchange for an honest review. Also thanks to the author and publisher..

“An Academic Affair” by Jodie McAllister is an absolute delight. I’ve loved her first 3 books and jumped at the chance to read this one and it did not disappoint - hats off to another excellent romance with incredible pacing, characters you’re rooting for from the start, and a compelling story that moves from moment one. “An Academic Affair” follows the alternating perspectives of Jonah and Sadie, two warring academics in Australia, who wind up needing to get married to keep their jobs.

I loved the combination of enemies-to-lovers AND marriage-of-convenience in this book. In addition, I was pleasantly surprised by how well-reasoned the background was for why they needed to get married. Unlike some stories where the reason feels flimsy and unnecessary, McAllister does a great job of writing a compelling and iron-clad reason for why it’s the obvious solution to both of their problems. By the time we get to that point in the book, their sizzling dislike of each other mixed with mutual admiration and desire is so palpable that the marriage-of-convenience helps move the story along very smoothly.

I also really appreciated that each character’s perspective felt like they had a distinctly different voice — like with Jonah’s footnotes throughout! This really helps the reader feel like they’re in this world and can truly understand where each of them is coming from.

My only (very minor) critique is that I wished Sadie had come to realize the truth about her feelings for Jonah a little sooner, as that would have made the declaration of feelings even stronger. That is such a minor note, though. Even without this, I really loved this book and found it a very compelling read that I’ll be recommending to anyone who enjoys contemporary romance.

Thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for sharing an early access copy of this book with me in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to #NetGalley and Atria books for giving me an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is such a cute story! I absolutely love how it gets right into the story with just a little bit of background on why the main characters are enemies. The author does such a great job without harping on it for a third of the book. I love how the chapters are short with a few longer ones peppered in between. The main characters are also so lovable and have a lot of room for growth!

This is a very mild romance book with more focus on sister relationships and family. The academia talk was a little out of my scope of knowledge and got kind of boring at times. Overall a good mild book

This story was incredibly cute and I think Sadie and I would be friends in real life. Seeing that the topic for her thesis was eucatastrophe, and learning that there was actually a word for it, was nice. Just like her reaction to Anne of Green Gables. Thank you for expanding my vocabulary and my Tolkien knowledge. It’s nice to think it could happen, when usually something doesn’t; things don’t go your way or there are so many mountains blocking your path. Chess and Sadie’s relationship is a strong one and I’m glad Sadie has someone to support her.

I admire Sadie for considering Jonah and his sister’s situation, but I’m on Chess’ side where she also needs to think of herself and possibilities of what her future would look like if she didn’t even try to throw her hat in the ring. Both Sadie and Jonah actually care about the other, but want to advance- rightfully so. However, it’s definitely not healthy to constantly compare yourself to another, or even use them as a bar to reach or stay level with competitively. It’s ok to go based on how you feel or a goal set for yourself.

I feel bad for Jonah. I can understand Fiona’s feelings and needing help, expressing that, but before an interview that he’s been waiting for? What a way to add to the stress and anxiety of the situation. Not the best call. I would have told him to take a deep breath, and take it one question at a time. Do your best, that’s all you can do.

Chess, I would love to learn more about. Not only does Sadie have abandonment issues that flared when Chess dropped off the grid, but Chess has some issues that need to be addressed and I’d love to see a story exploring her character more.

The ending of this book did seem to jump quite a bit. I thought we would get more initial meetings between characters, see more of their fight, but we don’t. We have a synopsis, which is greatly appreciated, but it was a jump that interrupted the pace and flow already set.

I don’t have the mindset to click every footnote to read that footnote unless it’s at the end of the chapter or the page. Unfortunately, in my copy, they’re at the end of the book and I don’t have the patience to click the footnote, have it jump to the note, and then find my way back to the page I was on, just to read a random thought. Maybe if I had a physical copy it would be easier to bounce back and forth between where I’m at and then end of the book, but for me, I can’t do that easily on a digital version and keep track of the story.