This was leaning more towards a 3.5 stars
It was fun and enjoyable but I felt there was an element missing.

Personally I would have preferred a bit more exploration on feelings and depth but if you're looking for just a fun easy sapphic romance as a pallete cleanser then would recommend.

The Relationship Mechanic by Karmen Lee revolves around Vini and Jessica. Vini is a mechanic in a small town, where Jessica arrives for a short vacation. It’s a small-town story and an LGBTQIA+ romance. The plot follows how Vini and Jessica fall for each other.

However, I couldn’t finish the book after reading about 50% of it. I realized the story didn’t compel me to keep going. It felt a bit boring and just wasn’t my taste. While I don’t know the full story, based on what I read, I felt it was just an okay read.

This was a really enjoyable read and had gorgeous dynamics between the characters with a cute story. 🥰👩🏾‍🔧

This was definitely a case of lust at first sight and I’m all for it but I didn’t expect the spice to be so soon and so full on. And boy is there spice *fans self* 🥵 I also loved reading a story with strong yet vulnerable sapphic women, it was one of the main reasons I requested it. (And the cover!) 🌶️

I’m only giving it 3 stars as it fell a little flat for me. I think because it was insta-lust, there wasn’t the excitement of them slowly falling for each other I was hoping for.
I also felt we didn’t get a real picture of who Jessica was. Yes, we get the reasons she’s in Peach Blossom but very little else. I don’t know if I need to read 7/10 Split but I feel I was missing something between the sisters and why Ava was how she was.

Thank you so much, Afterglow Books, for the e-book. I’ll definitely read more from this author.

#TheRelationshipMechanic #NetGalley #millsandboon #afterglowbooks #afterglow #sapphicromcom #sapphic #romcom #smalltownromance #spicybook

Thank you for providing me with a copy of *The Relationship Mechanic* to review.

Unfortunately, I did not enjoy this story. The wording was off-putting and made it difficult to connect with the narrative. While I appreciated the banter, teasing, and some of the underlying messages, I found that the adult content was not well written, in my opinion.

Sapphic romance, sign me the hell up. This was a quick and cute read for me. I did lack a bit of depth for me, but if you are looking for a easy read this is for you.

3.5 stars

*eARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

this book was a fun read, and a nice follow-up to The 7-10 Split - side characters that were in that book as well as new ones complemented the main story. the writing was quite straightforward though and i didn't feel very invested in the stakes of the plot. i don't think i'll read this again or the next one in the series.

I think 3 stars was definitely a very comfortable rating for me. It took me a while to get into this book because I just struggled to connect to a lot of things, but overall it was enjoyable!
I’m not sure these pair had an emotional connection or were the perfect match. I think the fact they were friends with benefits for some time made me not be as invested as I’d have like to have been. I think it was Jessica I struggled to connect too because she wasn’t as interested in the settlement down kinda vibe than Vini maybe wanted.

It was written well and I found it overall quick, easy and almost a palette cleanser! Would recommend to someone in the market for a fast paced sapphic romance

This was a sweet, sexy read. I loved the chemistry between Jessica and Vini. I did however feel like the character development was a bit rushed in the last fifty or so pages and it was never really clear why Ava was so over protective until towards the end and so she came across as a bit extreme and that extreme rubbed off on Grace. I also felt like Grace and Jessica had a lot of repeated conversations which weren't necessary.

Overall though, this was a fun little book and I loved Lee's writing style.

I’m sorry but this book really didn’t engage me. The characters were rather flat and the storyline sort of petered out. It was all held together by a lot of spice. I feel disappointed as I was really interested in the description!

Such a cute Saphic romance, with more smut than I expected. I thought it was going to be more NA based on the cover. But no it was two fully fledged adults (23 and 27), who have their lives together (mostly) and want to make things work. I loved their small accepting town, and somehow knew it was set in Georgia before being told, the descriptions made me feel like I was back there.
Written in 3rd person singular narrator, which we really don't see enough of in romance these days, it was very enjoyable.
Both have interesting jobs you don't usually hear about, for women in books anyway. Vino is a mechanic and Jessica does voice acting.
Well written, but the pacing did sometimes feel odd. It seemed like every emotional or regular cute scene, had ro be book ended by smut. Good stuff, but still odd pacing wise. It also seemed a bit shallow at times, we have very little knowledge of Jessica as a person, and despite their attraction and clear adoration of each other, we arent shown much of things that would sustain a relationship. But thats just me being picky.

I enjoyed this book. I loved the small town vibes. And boss b*tch Vini. However, at some points the romance fell flat for me. I didn’t feel the connection between Vini and Jessica sometimes. However, the spicy scenes were very well written!

Even through some parts fell flat for me I would still be excited to read more for this author. I haven’t yet read the 7/10 split so that might have to be my next read

Thank you to NetGalley for this Arc.

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this book

vini is called to a broken down car on the side of the highway..... its there that she first sets eyes on jessica

jessica is heading to her friends house to lie low for a while so that the gossip surrounding her will die down....

whats she wasnt expecting was to fall for vini.... and that scares her

vini is fed up with her sisters butting into her life so when things heat up between her and jess she keeps it quiet in fact they all do....

well this was an entertaining read....its a slow build up to what becomes an explosive end but what an ending it was..... cant fault it plus all that spice

1.5 stars - round to 2.
“The Relationship Mechanic” was a book I had been looking forward to reading for a while, but unfortunately I had to DNF this at around ~60%. Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with this eARC, regardless.

What are my problems with this book? Well, this entire book felt like it was giving me a tension headache; a build up of frustration with each passing page.
But more specifically, the characters in this just aren’t remotely interesting to me. They feel like concepts of characters; the first drafts of them. They all have about one trait that we are supposed to believe defines their whole character. Not even the main characters, Vini and Jessica, have anything else about them, it’s like the author decided, ‘okay! I’m going to have two characters: one insanely reckless, and the other ridiculously responsible’ and… that was as far as they got.

The ‘romance’ isn’t enjoyable either. I think a lot of that lies within the characters being empty shells that don’t even feel human, but even aside from that the relationship is almost entirely sexual, which doesn’t exactly constitute towards romance... I can appreciate high lust books when balanced with something deeper, but this was just ridiculous. I had to skip through so many sex scenes. Meanwhile the characters seem to be drawn together like magnets - which, as a reader - didn’t make any sense at all to me.

There were a few issues with sentence structure and grammatical issues as I read through (primarily in the first few chapters) but I’m assuming that there will be another round of editing before publication, so I won’t hold that against it.

I’m sorry to say this, but I really wouldn’t recommend this to anyone personally. Though, if insanely surface level romance books are your thing - or maybe you want an 'easy' read - you might enjoy this more than I did. That said, I definitely won’t be going back for the first book in this series…

A solid open-door romance with inroads into character study and exploration of the dynamics within groups of women. Never did I think I'd read a Mills and Boon! I found the writing in 'The Relationship Mechanic' (catchy title) plodding in places, like a Sapphic episode of Gilmore Girls, if a bit clunky. Thanks to Mills and Boon for the chance to read an ARC.

Well, this was my first Mills and Boon, but I don't think it will be my last!

Was there a huge amount of plot? No, but let's be honest, we are all here for the romance (and a surprising amount of spice). I especially loved the tempestuous relationship between Vini, Dani and Ava, and it reminded me a lot of mine with my siblings. A fun read, with the expected sweet happy ending.

Firstly, this cover is gorgeous, I am a little in love of it.

This was such a cute book. I thought how they spent most of the book not speaking to each other all that much about things they probably should have been speaking about, but engaging in a lot of physical intimacy, was pretty realistic!

I read this without reading the first book for transparency. It didn’t effect my enjoyment of it, but I think it would have been great to have got to know the background/secondary characters a bit more. The spice was also a little too high for me, but a *lot* of people are going to be very happy!

The cover of this book is absolutely gorgeous. Unfortunately, the content fell a bit flat for me. I did like both Jessica and Vini and it is a cute sapphic romance. The pacing was confusing though. We race through their "relationship" with big time jumps but nothing really happens. All they seemed to do was eat or have sex. We're supposed to believe they're feeling more for each other than just a fling but we never see them just interacting or having deep conversations. They don't know anything about each other. I didn't feel a connection to the characters.

The sister drama was so ridiculous. They are grown adults and the argument blowing up was a mess. It made the third act breakup feel really immature. The end was cute though I did love some of the side characters as well. Vini's dad was sweet and Aiden seemed like a great guy.
This is the second book in an interconnected series and I don't think I'll go back for the first

I really loved the cover and premise of this book, but I found it hard to connect with the characters.

This was a sweet and very spicy read, I really enjoyed it. Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this.

Firstly, thank you Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately, this fell a bit flat for me. I didn't feel particularly connected to our main characters and felt like I only got to know them on a very superficial level.
The pacing felt really rushed to start off with, and then really slower down in the middle. However, I think this was more due to the plot of the book and our main characters slowing down and enjoying each others company, rather than the rush of initial lust.

The 3rd act breakup felt quite predictable and I couldn't help but feel so frustrated about everyone bickering and involvement in the situation. It also didn't really feel like a breakup? I didn't get the normal gut wrench reaction I do in similar situations, and that was likely due to not feeling connected to the story line.

I think the writing was good. It was clear and well structured. It made me giggle at times and there was some good playful banter that I enjoyed.

However, ultimately it wasn't a book for me.