Tuesday Reviews: The Hot Henry Effect by Lucy Chalice

 

When a mishap with a pain au chocolat ruins the most important presentation of Dr Clara Clancy’s career, the last person she expects to come to her rescue is the impossibly good-looking and all-round super-nice guy from her university days, Dr Henry Fraser.​

Back during their time together at Oxford, Clara was seemingly the only person immune to The Hot Henry Effect – a genuine scientific phenomenon whereby those around Henry fall instantly and helplessly in love with him, the outcomes of which he has remained entirely oblivious to.​

Now, reunited and back working together, it’s not long before they slip back into their easy friendship. But both Henry and Clara are keeping secrets – if they can’t be honest with themselves, what hope is there of them being honest with each other? And will Clara really be able to resist the Hot Henry Effect for long?​

Super cute STEM centered story.  I have to give props to the author for accurately describing the cell culture process as I have been a cell culturists and lab manager for the last 15 years. It's rare to find someone who writes science correctly. The characters were likeable, albeit a bit blind to the attraction from either side of the "friendship." I will say that it's not until the end of the book that the relationship really takes off, and then suddenly, we're at the epilogue. I would have really liked to see their relationship develop more. We're only given a tiny glimpse into their actual romance and in the next chapter, she's meeting his family... It seemed a rushed once we finally moved into relationship territory.   My biggest issue is that this story was marketed as a spicy workplace romcom... and I honestly couldn't find any spice. The only somewhat spicy scene comes about 90% into the book comes with a fade to black ending.  

All in all, it's a good book, but it needs more to move into the 4-5 star category for me.