Nico owns a packaging company with her sister. She’s the artistic director and an artist in her own right, mainly specialising in welding. She’s had some bad experiences in the past with girlfriends just wanting her for her money.
Sophia is a chocolatier, inheriting the family business that her brother is now attempting to run dry. She wants to branch out into higher end chocolates and for that she needs high-end packaging.
If that had been how the two had met, I would have been on board with that storyline, but in fact they meet because Nico notices Sophia on the train, somewhat stalking her in an attempt to get her to notice her. When they then run into each other at Nico’s place of work, she lies about her role in the company in an attempt to hide her money.
This was the second book based around deception that I read in a row, which may have coloured my opinion slightly as I felt the deception aspect of the storyline was handled in a way I was more comfortable in the other read. In Scent the deception goes on for a long time, with Nico’s family trying to encourage her to be truthful to Sophia throughout.
Again, I could somewhat understanding Nico’s reasoning for the deception, but the other problem I had was that I couldn’t relate to Nico as a character either, making the deception seem even more jarring for me. Nico is self-centred, making lots of decisions that don’t include Sophia and we’re lead to believe is self-assured in her looks as well.
All in all, I don’t hate this like some, but I don’t love it either. Some have described this as having a 90’s rom-com feel and I completely agree. They all have elements to them that probably shouldn’t sit well, but you end up getting swept away in the love at the end, and for many this will be what they feel about this book – so I encourage you to take a chance on this one and see how you feel.
I received an e-ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
LGBTQ+ Reader 