Sunday, June 23, 2019

Review: Breaking the Plan (Mill Street #1) by Jessica Calla


Oliver Stoneridge loves order and plans, especially when they’re laid out on a perfectly formatted spreadsheet. But when his girlfriend, Violet, dumps him, Oliver’s strategy for the future slips away. Desperate to win her back, he begs Taryn, his archenemy and Violet’s beauty queen roommate, for help. Taryn’s gorgeous, thinks he’s a nerd, and wouldn’t know a plan from a prom dress, but Oliver soon finds himself tangled in her web of sexy. Suddenly, Ollie’s falling for Taryn and losing track of everything he thought he wanted.

Taryn Markos knows that agreeing to help Ollie win back her best friend is a dumb idea. Not only because he’s all wrong for Violet but because the more time she spends with him, the more confused she gets. Who knew Nerdilicious himself could challenge her with a single look, even from underneath those unruly eyebrows in dire need of a tweeze? How could she have known that he would accept her and defend her when she needed it the most? Taryn’s hated Oliver for three years. Why does the sight of him now make her come alive?

As things heat up between the frenemies, sparks begin to fly. But Ollie and Taryn know their love-hate flirtationship has to stop—before someone ends up with a broken heart.



 
 
 
 What I thought about Breaking the Plan
 
Ollie has his life planned out with his girlfriend Vi. They are going to graduate, move to Cambridge while he goes to law school, graduate, get a job in NYC... he's got it all mapped out until Vi breaks up with him before she takes off on a trip to Austria.

Turning to Vi's roommate, Taryn, Ollie begs her to help him get Vi back. Only one problem -- as they spend time together, they both find friendship and more. Both Ollie and Vi don't want to hurt Vi, and they know it's wrong, but they eventually give in to their physical attraction only to find there's something much deeper between them.

I did like the light tone of the this story, and Ollie was sort of cute most of the time (except when his drinking got in the way). Taryn was a more complex character, and endearingly likable, even though she's falling for her roommate's ex. They were "on a break" after all.

I liked this story but the uneven pacing did have me taking longer than usual to finish. It does deal with a sensitive issue of falling for a friend's ex, which can be painful, and there's plenty of that to go around between Vi, Taryn and Ollie.

Overall, I thought this was a good start to the series, and I'm interested in reading more set in this world.
 
An ARC was provided for review. 
 
 
 
 


Jessica Calla is a New Adult and Contemporary romance author who moonlights during the day as an attorney. If she's not writing, lawyering, or parenting, you'll most likely find her at the movies, scrolling through her Twitter feed, or gulping down various forms of caffeine (sometimes all three at once).

Jessica is a member of Romance Writers of America and the New Jersey Romance Writers (New Jersey's local chapter of the RWA). She's volunteered as a mentor in the PitchWars contest for unpublished works, and loves helping out the writing community any way she can. A Jersey girl through and through, Jessica resides in the central part of the state with her husband, two sons, and dog.

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