LOVED THIS! The perfect enemies to lovers romance with amazing characters and a slow burn that had me on the edge of my seat. Grace was such a great main character, I loved her little quips and personality. Eric was equally as entertaining as a love interest, I particularly loved his back story and closed off attitude for everyone but Grace. This book featured all the tropes I loved in a romance and the story felt natural and not forced at all. I took my time reading this, I didn’t want it to end nor did I want to stop reading about Grace and Eric’s romance. A real treat to read.

If there’s two things I love in romance books, it’s workplace rivals and fake dating. As soon as I read the synopsis for this book, I knew I had to read it immediately!

The Launch Date follows Grace and Eric, former friends turned rivals who are competing for a promotion at the dating app company they both work for. As preparation for their final interviews, they must find companies to partner with to create dates for the app users to go on. Grace and Eric reluctantly agree to test the dates out together, and, you can see where this is going, right?!

First off, I love Annabelle Slator’s writing. It was sharp and witty, and I lost count of how many times this book made me snort laugh! The British humour was right up my street.

As for the characters, I loved their push and pull dynamic, sizzling chemistry and fantastic banter. It was so much fun following them on their dates, and seeing them warm up to each other. Their slow-burn romance was slightly torturous, but SO worth it. I am very picky and have a very low cringe tolerance for spice, but the intimate scenes in this book were so well-written and very hot 🥵 I also felt that the characters both had a lot of depth to them, and had great development throughout the book.

As well as enjoying the romance, I also loved seeing Eric and Grace become friends again. Six months prior to the events of this book, they stopped talking, for reasons that are explained later on in the story. Their friendship was so genuine and sweet, and I loved how they were always there and looking out for each other.

I always love some grittier topics in my romances, and The Launch Date delivered! Both of the main characters have got a lot on their plates, from difficult parental relationships, demanding bosses, and horrible exes. These issues were explored well, and made the characters more relatable.

The plot was engaging and the pacing was consistent. I devoured this book in two sittings, and I was so satisfied with how it ended. The epilogue felt so perfect!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. I will be recommending this sexy, witty and heartwarming romance to everyone, and I can’t wait to read whatever Annabelle Slator writes next!