By Denise Williams
Star rating: ★★★★☆
Blurb
Seven years ago, he fell in love with a stranger he couldn’t have—today, she’s back in his life and the sparks between them threaten to set her career on fire.
Pearl Harris has learned the hard way to be careful in work and in love. When she is appointed acting director of OurCode, a nonprofit aimed at inspiring high schoolers to code, she has a chance to make lasting change for the organization, but a scandal has put their reputation at risk. Further complicating matters, Pearl didn’t expect the one man she hasn’t stopped thinking about in seven years to be the newest member of her board of directors.
Cord Matthews fell for Pearl when they met in an elevator seven years ago. She’s just his type: smart, capable, and makes him laugh, but when she broke his heart, he decided love wasn’t for him. After five years with no contact, their connection is immediate despite the many roadblocks in their way and Cord must consider breaking his ban on serious relationships. But going public with a romance between them might derail Pearl’s career and the progress she’s made at OurCode.
Pearl and Cord both are hesitant to trust their feelings and take a risk as they grow closer, but it becomes impossible to keep ignoring the electricity between them. Cord is a skilled programmer, but a workplace romance might spell disaster for both of them, and love isn’t easily debugged.
Genre: Contemporary romance
Read if you Like:
💻 Second chance
💻 Dual timeline
💻 He falls first
💻 Heroine in tech
💻 Friends with benefits
My Thoughts:
Cord and Pearl are the kind of couple you will be rooting for from page one. Cord is gone for Pearl right away but he never respects her wishes and waits for her.
Pearl has a lot of baggage when it comes to relationships and is extremely career-focused. I really loved the organization she worked for and admired her drive. I did, however, get a little confused with her relationship history. I felt like potentially the two relationships could have been combined into one to make the story a little clearer.
Another part of the story I loved was watching Cord bond with Tye. I loved that Cord cared so much about Pearl's family and what made her happy. I did think Pearl was a little hard on Cord at times but I still enjoyed their relationship.
Overall I think this is a great romance for anyone who enjoys second-chance romance, books about women in STEM, and navigating the tech world as a woman of color.
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