There's a thin line between love and hate . . . and it cuts right through the middle of their office.

Bad boys? They run right over good girls like Georgina Keller. After a confidence-shattering breakup, she's determined not to let anyone at her new workplace push her around--least of all the brooding creative director, a "bad boy of publishing" who's made it clear she's enemy #1.

Sebastian Quinn's taste for fast cars, late nights, and beautiful women may have gotten him to the top of a leading New York magazine, but the reputation that made him is suddenly threatening to end his career.

Georgina can help Modern Man shed its bad reputation, but in order to do that, she'll have to start at the top--and no amount of rakish charm or inconvenient attraction will distract her.

Because if Sebastian gets her right where he wants her, it means she's going down.

It’s a brand spanking new year, which means more buddy reviews together with my favorite book peeps. Ames and I are going for 12 buddy reviews this year, to keep our long-standing buddy reads going. Right, Ames? First up on our review docket is Right Where I Want You by Jessica Hawkins.

Georgina Keller is too nice, at least according to her best friend Luciano. After a disastrous relationship ends, Georgina realizes that to keep the peace with her ex-boyfriend, she became a bit of a pushover and is trying to become a stronger person, someone who says no and stands up for herself and those around her. She doesn’t have a problem being firm at work but outside of work? Not so much. When she meets Sebastian Quinn, things get turned all upside down.

Sebastian Quinn has had a very tumultuous year. He went from being at the top of his game in his career as Creative Editor of Modern Men magazine to barely holding things together now. After being included in a not so nice article that was published and put the reputation of the magazine at risk, Sebastian comes to work to find out that someone has been brought in to fix the magazine and if he doesn’t shape up, he’ll be shipped out.

Georgina and Sebastian battle at every turn but an attraction simmers below the surface with each turn and before they know what’s what, love is definitely in the air.

Rowena: This is the first book that I’ve ever read by Jessica Hawkins and I’m happy to report that it will definitely not be my last. I enjoyed this one. What were your initial thoughts, Ames?

Ames: I’m torn. I don’t know if it was my mood or if it was the book, but I just couldn’t get into this one. The writing was fine and I’ll definitely give this author another try, but I honestly couldn’t connect to the characters. I feel bad. It seriously had everything going for it though – taboo office-romance, enemies to lovers, a freaking DOG character that was fully fleshed out and not just a prop. All checks in the positive column…and yet I couldn’t get into it. But I did like Sebastian’s friend and co-worker, Justin. LOL

I wish we had seen more of Georgina’s work at the magazine. I thought that was interesting but we didn’t get any depth.

Rowena: Oh wow, you didn’t connect with the story or the characters? I enjoyed both George and Sebastian. I would have liked to get more from their lives outside of work. Like, it would have been fun to get more scenes with Luciano or even to get a scene or two with George and her family. I also would have liked to see more in-depth scenes with Sebastian and his friends and family. I felt like the entire book was all them, all the time but overall, I liked them so I wasn’t too mad about it.

I agree about Justin and the dogs though. They were great additions to this story. Maybe it was a mood thing for you. I thought the writing was easy to fall into and though this is probably not going to be a favorite of mine for the year, it was still a solid romance.

Ames: I feel you on the wanting more aspect of things. I feel like we got a glimpse of something happening and then we were moved onto the next scene. Honestly though, I think it just came down to Georgina and her character at the beginning of the book – I did not like how much of a doormat she was. Over coffee! First impressions you know.

However Georgina’s character did improve but the damage had already been done in my mind. This book wasn’t bad, but it just wasn’t for me. I also felt like the sexism at the magazine wasn’t really tackled, or if it was it happened off page so we didn’t see if the guys were any better.

Rowena: Yeah, you’re right about the sexism at the magazine. I wish we had gotten so much more than we did get. It would have been nice to see it all with our own eyes instead of taking Georgina’s word for it. I wish that the book wasn’t so focused on Georgina and Sebastian alone but like I said, I still thought it was a solid read. I enjoyed what we did get and even though I was left wanting more, this book is still a solid 4 out of 5 from me. What about you?

Ames: This was a solid read so I agree with you there. I’m going to chalk this up to my mood. I’m going to give this one 3.5 out of 5.

Final Grades

Ames: 3.5 out of 5
Rowena: 4 out of 5