Thanks to NetGalley and Mantlake for this free digital copy in exchange for an honest review. 🙂 This book is available today, 4/27!
In The Seat Filler by Sariah Wilson, dog groomer Juliet helps her best friend for one night by being a seat filler at a swanky Hollywood awards show. To her surprise, she is seated next to her long-time celebrity crush Noah…and then promptly pretends she has no idea who he is, to his consternation and delight. What follows is a fun little friends-to-romance read with an interesting twist.
I zipped right along through this one! It was a sweet, enjoyable, quick read. The ending was extremely satisfying—I was grinning like a fool! The premise was definitely different (MC Juliet has philemaphobia—fear of kissing) and I loved how absolutely sweet and supportive and dreamy Noah was. Juliet was a decent character but Noah was my favorite by far. Juliet’s best friend, Shelby, was a lovely character and definitely a grounding influence that Juliet needed way more of.
There were moments when the pacing seemed a little quick, and at times the dialogue felt a little off to me–especially Juliet. I was taken out of the story a few times because her inner monologue or dialogue felt too forced. A conflict driven by holding back the truth is frustrating but overall, if you like romcoms, this is the book for you! I also really liked all of the conversations around consent and what it means to be a supportive partner.
I haven’t read any other books written by Wilson, but I liked this one well enough that I will happily read others!
Steam: 🔥—lots of kissing, thoughts of desire but no sex scenes.
The Bookish Bird 