Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨
Steam: 🔥🔥🔥
Release Date: June 30th, 2022
Add to Goodreads | Amazon.in (Available on KU)
CW: Reference to misgendering and dead-naming of a non-binary character, reference to bullying targeting gender presentation and sexual orientation. Find more of Katia’s content warnings on her website.
As a self-proclaimed ‘cosmically guided matchmaker,’ she’s played every card in the deck trying to set Dane up with the perfect match she’s found.
The problem? The ‘perfect’ match is Evangeline Hudson.
Dane and Evangeline rent rooms in Dane’s eccentric aunt’s house, but that’s where their similarities end. Dane is a drifter who freewheels from one odd job to the next, and Evangeline is an overachieving undergrad with a ten year plan so detailed it reads like an autobiography.
The two can’t even agree on a laundry schedule without feuding, but when Dane’s aunt reveals new tenants ready to take over the lease, they realize they’ll need to play some cards of their own to keep the beautiful old house they both love.
Their plan is simple: fake falling for each other long enough to get some soul mate sympathy—and a lease renewal.
A few lingering glances, some ‘accidental’ touches, maybe some well-timed tiptoeing into each other’s rooms late at night…
It’s a stretch, but it just might work.
Only said tiptoeing starts to heat the house up faster than they can stop it. As their plan begins peeling back the layers between them to reveal more similarities and way more feelings than either expected to find, Dane and Evangeline are forced to toe the line between real and fake—and decide which side they’re brave enough to stand on.
I am completely and wholly obsessed with Katia Rose’s sapphic/NBLW romances, because they’re so real and relatable and it warms the cold cold heart in my chest. Her characters are complex and have so much to offer, she puts her 100% into crafting this world and these stories that everyone can enjoy. And then she also makes sure to toss in a great amount of humour to complete the magic that are her books. But there was just something about Just Might Work that moves it to the top of my list and I really hope more people enjoy this story as much as I did!
Dane and Evangeline are roommates/housemates. They’re renting the space for Dane’s aunt while she’s taking in the world and exploring her spirituality and herself, really. The two of them don’t really have a lot to do with each other, except when Dane doesn’t do their portion of the chores. Evangeline is an organiser, she’s got lists and schedules for everything, she follows a strict routine to get the most out of life and she refuses to apologise for it. It’s also a way for her control things around her, because after her parents’ messy divorce, she feels a little adrift. Dane’s the complete opposite. They have one dream—move back to Vancouver and start their own photography business—and till then, they do odd jobs with their best friend Jonah to save up enough money. Dane lives life large every single day and they enjoy things their own way. Except, living with Evangeline means the two of them clash constantly and it’s not always peaceful. But when Dane’s aunt decides that she’s going to give the home where they live to one of Dane’s useless cousins, the two of them hatch a plan to make sure that never happens. And well…it’s fantastic.
The stark opposites of these two characters was definitely one of my favourite things about the book. That and the fact that Dane’s got these complicated feelings for Evangeline even though she might not necessarily return them. As a sucker for fake dating/fake relationship, I knew this one was really going to win me over and it did! I loved how they went through the motions of figuring out how it would work, the stories they would tell and the presentation they’d put on. It was complicated and totally unnecessary, but so much fun to watch them do it. Where Evangeline is the serious, focused and head in her books kind of person; Dane’s the free thinking and taking risks kind of person and I loved that together, they really had to wing it quite a bit.
“My dream was to finally feel worthy of something, but I don’t need Vancouver to do that. It turns out what I really needed is…well, you.”
Katia said that this book was going to be steamy, but I honestly didn’t know just how hot it would get. It’s a bit of a slow burn, but the moment they throw caution to the wind is truly special. And what makes it even better is that there’s an audiobook involved! I don’t want to give too much away, but just know that as a bookworm, Evangeline reads and listens to some pretty steamy stuff and when Dane catches her in the act, they find a way to incorporate that into their sexy times. And it is SO GOOD.
The chemistry between Dane and Evangeline is fantastic. I enjoyed watching the two of them go from being sort of enemies to working together to being friends and then falling in love. It’s such a real and raw kind of progression and made me love them so much. I never say this, but even the conflict felt so honest and genuine. You could feel just how deeply they were both in love with each other, and how everything else really affected them.
On the whole, this book just hit the right spots for me! I need more sapphic/NBLW romances by Katia Rose, please and thanks!
Thanks to Katia Rose for generously providing me with an advance copy. I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.
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