a job posting pits them against each other once more. They both want to land the job for more than just the position itself. Sadie rarely gets the proper job opportunities because of her avenue of research (popular fiction) and Jonah wants the job to be closer to his newly divorced sister. Sadie has a soft spot for sisters, so when she is offered the job she comes up with a plan to get them both to Tasmania. (Oh yeah, did I mention this takes place in Australia? Oops) She proposes and idea to Jonah, literally proposing marriage so that he can get the ‘partner hire’ that was buried in her contract. The “arranged marriage” trope is particularly meta because the scene before, Sadie and her sister Chess (Francesca) discussed their most hated romance tropes, this being one of them. It was quite meta, and a great way to nod to the reader that yes, this premise is ridiculous but you know you want to see how it all goes down.

I absolutely loved the footnotes in Jonah’s sections. It really set his more “traditional” academic persona apart from Sadie’s pop culture references. I loved their academic debates and discussions. The insight into post-grad academia was also wonderful. It isn’t all money and job stability, turns out. Jodi McAlister’s ability to sow academic rivalry into lovers (yet another fantastic romance trope!) is wonderful and didn’t ever feel forced. The pay off was definitely worth the various bumps along the way!