Book Review: Loverboy by Sarina Bowen

Loverboy (The Company #2) by Sarina Bowen

Pages: 320
Publish date: December 1st 2020
Publisher: Tuxbury Publishing
ISBN: 9781950155095
Purchase: Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU

Secrets, desires, and exquisite pie. It’s all in a day’s work at The Company.

Growing up, I was the rough guy from the wrong neighbourhood who couldn’t catch a break. Posy was the pampered girl I tried to impress. But I managed to steal only a single kiss before I had to skip town.

Now I’m back, and the tables are turned. Posy runs a struggling pie shop. I’m the VP of a secretive billion-dollar security company.

Not that I can tell her.

There’s a murderer on the loose in New York, and he seems to spend a lot of time at Posy’s shop. I can’t let on that I’m here to bring him down before he can harm a hair on her pretty head.

Going undercover as Posy’s new barista wasn’t my idea. I don’t even drink coffee. But now I have to call her “boss,” and do everything the curvy perfectionist asks of me. I’d forgotten how much we infuriate each other, and that she somehow fills me with both irritation and desire in the same breath.

There’s nobody more skilled at stealth ops than me. I can bring this killer down. Right after I take a cold shower. And just as soon I figure out how to make a skinny peppermint latte with milk poured in the shape of a kitten…

Loverboy:

I received an earc of Loverboy by Sarina Bowen from the author in exchange for an honest review. This has in no way influenced my thought and feelings about the book.

It took me a little while to get into this one. I can’t figure out why. I think it was a combo of both me being not particularly in the mood for it and it took me a while to connect with the characters. But as I got novel went on and I continued really, I ended up enjoying the book. It’s not my favourite Sarina Bowen book out there, but I had a good time reading it.

Loverboy by Sarina Bowen follows Gunner who works for The Company. And when a murderer is on the loose in New York, Gunner finds himself back in a place he doesn’t like to stay long. Not only that he has to see and protect someone he never thought he would see again. Undercover as a barista at Posy’s pie shop, Gunner has to find out who is killing people in NY and fast. But the more time that Gunner and Posy spend together, the more old and new feelings arise.

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

Gunner was an interesting character in Loverboy. As readers, we were introduced to him in Moonlighter, but there isn’t much we know about him going into this one. As the novel goes on and Gunner starts to let Posy in a little more, the reader gets to know him better. I still don’t know how I feel about Gunner. And I wasn’t able to connect with him throughout the series, and that made it hard for me to really enjoy him. I didn’t hate him, but he was just another character.

I felt very similar in regards to Posy as well. Something was holding me back from really connecting with her. Like Gunner, I didn’t hate her, but I couldn’t love her either. I liked she was independent and the reader can see her grow even more throughout the novel. Before the novel starts, she has distance herself from her father and that really sets up a lot of the story and her character. And while I didn’t love Posy, I enjoyed getting to know her and seeing her grow.

Photo by Kenny Luo on Unsplash

And while I didn’t love both protagonists, I did enjoy the romance. Gunner and Posy had a lot of heat and tension and that made for a fantastic romance. They both had a past with one another and it didn’t finish on good terms. But as the novel goes on Gunner and Posy get to know each other again and everything seems to fit. I loved when they egged each other one and pushed the other. It was a great dynamic and played a great role in the novel.

I found that I didn’t care too much about the plot side of Loverboy. Again I’m not sure why I wasn’t able to connect with this book like Bowen’s others, but something felt off to me. I really enjoyed the first book in this series, but this one I didn’t have the same highs from the action. I felt that things were building up and then were over too quickly. In saying that I will continue with the series for sure. There were some hints on what other characters might come together and I need to know more.

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

Overall, Loverboy by Sarina Bowen was a decent read. I felt that it was hard to connect with the protagonist at first, but as the novel went on, everything becomes better. Gunner and Rosy were a mix of sweet and hot. They could flip between being nice with one another and then trying to one-up the other. Loverboy is a second chance romance, where they never really got to see where it would go the first time. While I didn’t love this one, I will read the rest of the series as they come out.

Have you read Loverboy by Sarina Bowen yet? What did you think of it? Are you planning too? Have you read anything else from her before? Let’s Chat!