Rather than just sitting there, she gets up on her chair so she is towering over him. In one delightful scene, she’s sitting at her desk when he comes in, standing in front of her with attitude. Though Reed is still a jerk to her for a while, she’s more than capable of standing up to him and knocking him off his high horse. Reed’s heart was broken and he has good reason for the personality transplant, and I dare anyone not to fall for Charlotte.

These two characters are darned near perfect. Imagine Charlotte’s dismay, though, when she finds out the sympathetic older woman is Reed’s grandmother and she’s been hired to work with Reed, the jerk. She runs off, has a complete breakdown in the public washroom and unloads all her sadness on a sympathetic older woman, who listens and commiserates and then hires Charlotte on a hunch. She decides to go anyway and discovers, much to her sadness, that the real Reed Eastwood isn’t at all like she built him up in her mind and is, in fact, a complete jerk. He sells high-end property and because she’s drunk as a skunk, she sets up a time to have him show her a piece of property, not even remembering until the next day when the appointment is confirmed. And while tipsy she googles the writer of the wedding dress love note and discovers a few things about him. Not long after she finds out on Facebook that her cheating ex is now engaged to someone else – and she does what any other woman might do in such a situation – she gets drunk on cheap wine. But all bets are off when she happens to spy a gorgeous dress and finds sewn into it the most romantic love note imaginable. She needs the money and doesn’t really care for the dress, so she’s at a second-hand store trying to sell the designer item. Trouble is, she also worked with/for him and felt she had to quit her job, because it would have been quite uncomfortable had she stayed. See, she caught her fiancé cheating on her and, of course, she ended the engagement. The book opens with Charlotte trying to sell her never-been-used wedding dress.

With a couple of exceptions, I’ve loved the collaboration between these two authors and this book firms up that love.

Kristie J’s review of Hate Notesby Vi Keeland & Penelope WardĬontemporary Romance published by Montlake 6 Nov 18

Hate notes vi keeland