Trixie isn’t exactly sure what she was thinking when she stopped her car in the middle of downtown Chicago, scooped up a chicken struggling to cross the road, and drove off… but she does know that she has to find a new home for herself and her new feathered friend. The landlord at her apartment doesn’t allow pets and has caught Trixie in one too many pet-smuggling attempts in the past.
Bear likes his quiet life with his close-knit family, who own a flower business, but he’s in for a rude awakening when his meddlesome sisters post an ad to rent the spare room in his simple home, without asking his permission. Still, when Trixie responds to the ad, he agrees to let her move in, despite immediate worries about keeping things platonic.
Determined to keep her new room, befriend Bear, and give her rescue chicken the care she deserves, Trixie fights to keep her walls up and resist her romantic feelings for Bear. However, it’s not long before the pair’s proximity and chicken parenting ignite flames that have Trixie and Bear testing the boundaries of their platonic ground rules. They have to figure out how to save a family business, pay for mounting vet bills, and navigate their own emotional baggage if they want to find the love that they all deserve.
The blurb caught my attention, not just for The Flatshare vibes but also the drama involving a chicken crossing the road and what follows.
The book starts off on an interesting premise where two people with polar opposite personalities are thrown together. While they adapt to cohabiting, with a chicken for added company, circumstances force them to reconsider the walls they’ve built to hide the scars from their childhood. Sadly, the book does not have enough substance to warrant your interest.
The narrative itself does little to move the story forward. I felt it had less show, more tell to advance the events. That also left a lot to be desired in terms of character development. Their personalities with the tough exterior and happy faces appeared forced and unnatural. Even if it was meant to protect them, it was in complete contrast to their true self. That only made the characters unreliable.
For mostly the above reasons, I didn’t enjoy the romance either as the characters lacked chemistry. Whatever they had was driven by lust which made it hard to feel invested in their relationship. The length was unnecessarily long and did not help the pacing with repeated back and forth over the same things.
The different forms of bullying both the lead characters experience opened a valid discussion, though the execution could have been better.
Maybe this was not the book for me but it may appeal to a younger audience for the meet-cute and instant attraction.
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Aquamarine Flavours 
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