3.5⭐️

I thought this was a really cute romance with a lot of great elements! Sophie and Ella had a great relationship and the slowburn romance felt really organic, with them learning to overcome their poor first impressions of each other, becoming friends, and eventually lovers. I thought the epilepsy rep was good and liked how Ella was shown to be a complex character outside of her chronic illness while still facing realistic struggles because of it. I also liked a lot of the side characters, with George in particular being interesting and funny.

However, I do feel like this lacked anything to make it feel very special. The relationship was quite formulaic and the plot was predictable in a way that was a little too much even for a light-hearted romance. I also think more should have been done to address Ella's privilege and the nepotism in the book as I feel this was sort of ignored after her and Sophie become friends. (view spoiler)

Overall, I thought this was a sweet romance with some good rep and good writing. However, I did have some issues with it and if I was being honest I think there are probably sapphic romances I would recommend more.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for providing me with this eARC in return for my honest review.

DNF, though I really tried to push through it.
The characters come off as two-dimensional, self-centered, and immature despite working in a professional environment. Their internal dialogue is repetitive, creating a book that's all tell and not nearly enough show. The prose leaves much to be desired, especially since the internal complaining about one another takes up more space than any descriptions. These two are not meant for each other, that much is clear.

I couldn't get into this story, although I tried. I wanted to like this book so badly because the chronic illness aspect really spoke to me, having a chronic illness myself, but it just didn't do it for me.
I didn't like the characters, I thought they were childish, boring and self centered. It was also clear from the start for me that they didn't suit eachother one bit. It also bugged me that the chronic illness seemed to be Ella's entire personality.
That being said, I'm sure that there will be enough people who really liked this book. It just wasn't for me.

Thanks to netgalley and Dana Hawkins for gifting me this e-arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

thank you to netgalley, author dana hawkins and storm publishing for this arc in exchange for an honest review.
this book and romance wasn’t my favorite. it’s very sweet but also stale at times.

This book was a bit underwhelming, I really had hoped it was going to be amazing because I am all for reading lesbian romance however the pacing was a bit off. The beginning of the relationship was handled really well but the ending felt rushed and was unsatisfying, I also did not enjoy the way the subplot about Ella's relationship with her parents developed - I don't think it made much sense for it to change 180 degrees especially because there was no big change in her parents behavior nor there was a good enough reason for Ella to completely change her mind. On the bright side, it was a very quick read that had given me a break from the outside world and although the ending wasn't what I was hoping for, I really did enjoy the major part of this book.

This is the best queer-focused romance I have ever read! Both characters are so much more than their sexuality and are beyond relatable. Being lesbian is just a small part of that. This enemies to lovers work romance was adorable and I can't recommend it enough!

So Not My Type is a slow-burn workplace romance that sizzles with chemistry, drama, and heartfelt moments. This book delivers a delightful mix of opposites-attract tension and emotional vulnerability, making it a standout in the contemporary queer romance genre.
Sophie’s scrappy determination and guarded demeanor perfectly contrast with Ella’s polished, seemingly effortless confidence. But as the story unfolds, we see the depth behind their exteriors—Sophie’s drive is fueled by her past struggles, and Ella’s privilege hides a longing to be truly seen and understood.
The romance itself is beautifully paced, balancing steamy moments with tender, quiet revelations that deepen their bond. The workplace setting adds ext layers of tension and stakes, as their relationship is tested by professional challenges and personal insecurities.
I loved how insecurities are addressed, both personal and professional making the characters relatable. The story tackles themes of privilege, self-worth, and vulnerability in a way that feels natural and heartfelt. It is also interesting that there is a lot of epilepsy awareness, it has helped me understand more.
5 out of 5 stars – A perfectly crafted love story filled with tension, heart, and joy!

In this sapphic romance, two women assigned to work together managing an ad campaign fall in love despite their initial resentment and very different personalities.

I struggled to get into the story. The main characters were entitled and self-centered, and although I appreciated Ella's desire for independence, I didn't feel like I really got past first impressions with either of the leads. A lot of time was spent on their project management jobs, which was not the most interesting novelistic background. The budding couple's Seattle adventures were more engaging, but they felt like a set piece put in to entertain the reader rather than to further the characters' relationship or story.

By the end of the story I was happy for each character's individual successes but pretty well convinced that these two people - leads of a romance novel - did not belong together.

3.5 stars, rounded down for incompatible leads.

3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 stars.

I liked this romance, not so much for the romance angle, but more for the medical (epilepsy) angle. The story itself had no real surprises, no real tension, and no huge conflicts to overcome. In fact, much of the book seemed like a recitation of working in a modern ad agency. The characters were pretty one-dimensional, but I still felt a small connection with most.

Quick read, well-written by an author with a firm grasp of the new workplace.

I received a complimentary copy of the novel from the publisher and NetGalley, and my review is being left freely.

Sophie ha trabajado muy duro para tener una buena vida, sin carencias, y conseguir un buen trabajo, al punto de que todo gira en torno a su carrera. Casi no socializa y no toma vacaciones porque desea seguir ascendiendo. Cuando se le ofrece una oportunidad única, no duda en aceptarla, pero el problema es que deberá enseñarle a la hija del dueño, a quien odia.

Ella ha vivido toda su vida sobreprotegida debido a su epilepsia, ya que sus padres temen que algo le ocurra y no la dejan hacer nada. Sin embargo, está cansada de vivir en una burbuja, por lo que decide que necesita vivir sola. Para lograrlo, necesita un trabajo, así que le pide a su padre que la deje trabajar con él. Parece que todo irá bien, pero no contaba con que Sophie le pondría las cosas difíciles.



Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I had a hard time getting into this. It’s taken me a couple of days to pinpoint the reasons why this didn’t rise to the heights I’d hoped. Kudos to the author for featuring a condition, epilepsy, and going some way to showing how debilitating it can be and govern a life. It was an interesting choice not to feature the direct after-effects live on page. A choice I wish had been made differently. What we are left with is a lot of “talk” about epilepsy, rather than our being able to experience its after-effects, firsthand. That “showing” would have greatly enhanced the depth and reality of the story and the challenges that Ella faces. Which in turn would have made her reactions and behavior feel more organic. Instead, we are left to understand logically why Ella behaves how she does because she, and the narrative, have told us the reasons why.

That leads to a lack of depth I would have liked to see and a lack of organic feeling about Ella’s choices and behaviors. So, while Ella has traits you will admire and you will root for her, I felt I should have bonded with her more than I was able to. With all the telling and not much showing in too many places, I couldn’t engage with Ella as I’d hoped.

As for Sophie, again I would have hoped for more depth. Unless I missed something, we never understand why she reacted to Ella as she did on first meeting, creating a resonance of negative feelings towards Ella to set up the enemies to friends part of the story. So, again, it’s hard to fully engage with this MC too.

As for supporting characters, they feel somewhat vehicular. Sophie’s father is made to be some level of comic relief in spite of being “the founder of the feast” and having built a company from nothing to something significant. The twenty-somethings seem to regard him with a level of ridicule that rather irked me. I understand Ms. Hawkins is going for a degree of lightness here; this is a romance story after all. Yet, I couldn’t really enjoy the scenes where Ella and Sophie’s workmates appear. In fact, I soon wanted to skip thru most of those scenes at work as we are asked to engage with a ton of business speak and generic descriptions of the project. Again, more depth and is needed here, I feel.

Indeed, there isn’t much *actual* project; rather descriptions of stages/deadlines/issues concerning “the project.” We know it’s for a donut company, but we are hardly privy to any of the actualities of promotion/PR/copywriting. I needed to find patience to get thru too many pages where the two leads are at work. I got bored of being told, or characters discussing, the need to update the plan and key in the leads before a heads-up meeting to go thru the hands up… or hand out… or something? I haven’t quoted directly I should add: the generic terms and issues/challenges that featured have already fallen out of my head.

Having said all that, there are still things to like in So Not My Type. The slowburn enemies to friends to lovers is enjoyable and both girls do have plenty of traits to enjoy and the dynamics of the stages of their relationship are constructed and delivered quite well. The city tour that Sophie takes Ella on is wonderful, with sights and smells and feels delivered directly into your senses. I really enjoyed a lot about their time together as Ella and Sophie get closer. And we get to see how sweet Sophie can be, too.

Pretty much all Dana Hawkins’ ideas are good. But reach has exceeded grasp, I fear. I don’t mean to insult or anything when I say, this feels like a rushed final draft. If I was an editor on this, I’d be saying it’s a solid second draft, marking out specific areas that need attention. So Not My type could have developed into something more engaging and with more depth to have raised it up to where I hoped it would be.

3.25 stars means I can’t mark it up to 4, alas. There are weak areas but still things to enjoy here, especially if you’re a fan of the author. Don’t expect more than the blurb sets up and you’ll still find things to like here.

Thank you to the author, to the publisher, Storm Publishing, and to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review, and I’m not sure I want to give it. I really like this author as a person, and I enjoy her writing style, but I have some problems with her plot choices.

My main problem is with the way she displays chronic illness in her books. As someone who is chronically ill and disabled, I appreciate any and all representation received for different medical conditions. But the way Hawkins portrays chronic illness (both in this and other books), makes the disease the character’s entire personality— to the point that it comes across as more of a character flaw than anything else. Why can’t we have a character existing with the disease, why does it have to be the cause of conflict in relationships? Making a character’s disability be the reason for tension is almost othering. We know there are complications with all diagnoses, and it’s okay to show those and make others aware of the struggles endured on a daily basis, but to make a relationship almost fail because of it is cruel.

I get that we wouldn’t have a book without nepotism, but I, too, would be pissed if I busted my ass for someone else to enter at a high level. George could have easily started her at a lower level.

When Sophie visits her parents and is like, “why didn’t you strive for a better life?” And her mom says, “name one thing that was so bad about your childhood.” AND SHE CAN’T?! Girl, you were just talking about how you had to glue your shoes together, didn’t have enough to eat, and were left alone to fend for yourself as young as 5 years old. How is that conveniently forgotten?!

Anyway, I LOVED George, and I thought bingo was really cute. Malcolm was sweet. I really liked Sophie. The plot with the ex was creative. I liked that Sophie overcame her bias against the upper class, and it was refreshing that the upper class wasn’t villainized while still promoting the work ethic of the working class.

So Not My Type was a delightfully fun, sweet, steamy, and sensitive story that left me with the biggest smile. I enjoyed following Sophie and Ella's journey, it was so endearing, and I love how well they compliment each other.

Sophie has worked her way up at the advertising firm where she works. She started fresh out of high school running coffees and is now a project manager. She is given the opportunity of a lifetime to get a free cruise but has to finish the project in a tight timeline,  all while mentoring the boss's daughter, Ella. Ella who she sees as privileged and having everything handed to her. Meanwhile, Ella is just trying to save money so she can have some independence after a lifelong medical condition has her parents treating her with kid gloves. Watching these two come together and start taking down their walls and learning that what you see isn't always the full picture was super delightful. 

If you love sapphic reads, watching characters grow into themselves, and all the fun of enemies to lovers and some forced proximity I would absolutely recommend you pick this up! Thank you to the publisher for providing an advance copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

When I started "So Not My Type", I wasn't sure that I would finish it. I thought I knew the character types and would be bored quickly. And boy, was I totally wrong! By the third chapter I was hooked and I couldn't put it down. I appreciated the character development and slow reveal of their inner lives. I can't wait to read more from Dana Hawkins!

Not much to say, I was in a mood for a cute, good sapphic romance and I knew from the first page that the writing wasn't it and I was facing another victim of the mid millennial liberal sapphic romance epidemic. Childish writing, childish characters which makes handling a rich/poor girl trope extremely complex (in my opinion it's extremely difficult to do well, class difference and upbringing shape people a lot more than authors would like to believe).

I'm happy that this author got a three book deal and then another one because the sapphic market is small and I don't take pleasure in criticising the few ones we have but I'd like to request better quality next time

3.5

Thank you to NetGalley & the publishers for this ARC. I liked this book significantly better than the last book in this series, but it still lacks ~something~.

Frankly I would’ve given this book 4 stars if not for the end. I think Ella blamed everything on Sophie when really she was the one who needed to apologize. The ending also felt super rushed, and I felt like loose ends were left untied.

But like I said, this was a step up from the last book. Better chemistry, better story, and two characters who felt more developed!

——

Post review thoughts - I forgot to mention that the title makes absolutely 0 sense. They were attracted to each other from the beginning, and never once did they say they weren’t each other’s types. Literally not once. Here is a short list of titles I think would have better suited this book:

- The CEO’s Daughter
- Second Chance Hatemance
- Conflicts, Campaigns & Chemistry
- Brand New Tension (because they worked in marketing/branding)
- Selling the Spark

Who doesn’t love a cozy romance. This was a great read, with great characters, I loved how the story felt relatable. Romance can be hit or miss with me because of the spice, it needs to make sense when it happens and sometimes it can be too much but this was the right mix of romance and tension and I loved it.

I've been lucky enough to get an eARC of every book in this series so far and I am HOOKED. Every book gets better and better.

While there is a formula to the books - they are romances after all, so you kind of know what the big ending is going to be - it's the characters that really make these books stand out.

I loved the character of Sophie and the journey that she goes through in this story. From thinking she's got everything figured out to realising that there's more she could be doing other than working, it's a realistic development that I really related to.

Ella is also a great character and the care and attention given to explaining her experience with epilepsy was done so so well.

This book and series are on my re-read list as they're fun romances with characters that make you care. As interconnected standalones, you don't need to read the previous books to enjoy this one, but they definitely set up some of the characters while also being great fun.

I'm already excited for the next book (please say there's another!)

I've been looking forward to this book! This went straight to the top of my to-read pile as soon as I had a copy.

This book made me so tense (I'm a good way) - the misunderstandings between Ella and Sophie, plus the looming deadlines - this was really well written and gripping. All the other characters (George, Ella's mum, Malcolm), plus the characters from previous books, all added to the story and were well-written. Ella's journey from the beginning to the end of the book was really lovely to read.

There was obviously a lot of research put into the illness story line (no spoilers), so it didn't feel forced into the story.

I thought I'd guessed the revelation and then I got sidetracked down a different route from a throwaway comment, so still ended up a little surprised.

I've loved all of Dana's books so far and will keep reading more.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced ebook copy in exchange for an honest review.

Where to start? I had a difficult time getting into this book because I read an amazing one before starting this, book hangover if you must. Part of my issue is the characters being so you, mid twenties, and possibly acting even younger, or I am just getting too old for this.
I didn’t mind the story and the budding romance itself, but the hang ups and grudges kept returning, to a very repetitive point that even had me skimming pages. I find both characters to be a bit flat and boring because of their attempted 3 dimensional personalities that are just repetitions of whatever was said before.
Possibly with a bit more body, less work talk, more involvement of friends and family this book could be great, now it’s just mediocre to me.
Boss man/ dad would be the best comedic relief and source of wisdom, but he’s just reduced to the same one liners time and again. Bring in the “fun” with the office bingo *eye roll*.
The vagueness around the epilepsy at the start is just wasted pages on something that could be a good representation of the disease.

Anyway, not a huge fan, but it wasn’t bad. Towards the end I warmed up to the pairing, but it was just a little one dimensional.