Author: Ruby Lang

Genre/Themes: Contemporary romance

Release Date: 11 Nov 2019

Author links: Website / Twitter / Facebook / Goodreads

My rating: 3,5 Stars

Blurb 

Love can take root where you least expect it.

Tyson Yang never imagined that one day he’d be the de facto spokesperson for an illegal community garden. But when the once-rat-infested-but-now-thriving Harlem lot goes up for sale, Ty can’t just let all their hard work get plowed under.

Even if he is irresistibly drawn to the lovely but infuriatingly stubborn real estate associate.

Magda Ferrer’s family is already convinced this new job will be yet another flop in her small but growing list of career path failures. But her student debt isn’t going anywhere, and selling her uncle’s historic town house and the lot nearby means a chance to get some breathing room.

Ty is her charming rival, her incorrigible nemesis, the handsome roadblock to her success.

Until one hot Harlem night blurs the hard line drawn between them, and the seeds of possibility in this rocky garden blossom into love…

It was a nice, somewhat subdued city romance. I loved the focus on community, coupled with some interesting and very real family dynamics. I  liked how none of the characters are perfect, they have their strengths and weakness and makes mistakes but learn from them. It's not some preachy story, rather, it's about kindness and supporting, uplifting each other. 

It's very much focused on unlikely friendships and love connections. all about building, something, creating. I liked seeing the heroine acting like an adult, dealing with very real issues of dealing with dept, struggling professionally. While I loved seeing her as a newbie in her job, I never felt like she settled properly in her job. It never read to me like being a real estate agent was her dream job and despite being good at it, it never felt properly satisfactory to her. I have mixed feelings about this to be honest. Lots of people do a job that they are good at without loving it, but still I would have preferred to see her happier/more optimistic about her career choice. 

It's a true enemies-to-lovers, they were literally at the opposite sides of the fence. There was no real hate though, both understood the position of the other. Lots of angst there and a feel-good, working resolution of the conflict. 

While I liked the overall writing, I wanted more character development, stronger connection between the MCs, more focus on their romantic relationship. I didn’t really buy the whole plotline with her uncle and his neighbour/classmate. It seemed far-fetched and at odds with the very real, down-to-earth feel of the rest of the book.