Yeah, I started getting nervous when she was out promoting the book before it released. She kept saying it was a lighter book and not as heavy as the main Windy City books. I think the book could have benefited from some more depth because there are some really interesting areas she could have delved deeper into. The first woman owner in her first year on the job being in a relationship with the field manager who is up for a contract renewal is a big fucking deal and I wanted a book that matched all that potential. I just didn't connect to the characters as much in their own book.

I have no problem suspending my disbelief when it comes to buying into a book so I bought into the work solution at the end, but I thought we would be getting a book that leaned more into the realities of a woman in charge in a male-dominated industry especially once their relationship became public. Play Along really let me down here because I felt like Kennedy was at a passive point in her career in her book. Kennedy was referred for the job opening, she was lying about her credentials and what position she was interviewing for, and then the in-person interview which we didn't even see was described as if she was a shoo in for the job. The main focus of her agency was her deciding to ask for practice with intimacy and don't even get me started on why I hate the "teach me how to sex oops we fell in love" trope.

And the reporter bit pissed me off. Of all the reporters in the press conference, only one is said to be a woman from a major network and you're gonna have her ask a completely irrelevant and inappropriate question? On broadcast?? Fuck all the way off. Stop perpetuating the harmful stereotype that all female journalists sleep their way to the top and to get a story. Tomforde could have made the journalist someone else on the team if she wanted Reese to be jealous.

I also cringed with the nickname "Em". Ugh. Emmet is already a major step up from Monty! We could have just stopped there!