The Relationship Mechanic by Karmen Lee

TL;DR: Very cute, and an improvement on the first book for sure!
Source: Netgalley, many thanks to the publisher!

Plot: Jessica breaks down outside Peach Blossom and ends up at Vini’s shop. She’s visiting friends in town and the two strike up a relationship.
Characters: My biggest gripe with this is with the characters
Setting: Peach Blossom sounds lovely in what we get but unfortunately that’s not a ton
Romance: The chemistry wasn’t there for me but the spicy scenes were hella spicy

Thoughts:

The Relationship Mechanic is the story of Vini and Jessica. Jessica’s rental breaks down outside of town and she meets Vini, one of the town mechanics when she comes for a tow. The two are also linked in that Jessica is in town visiting Vini’s sister’s girlfriend. They strike up a relationship, in secret as Jessica has a reputation, and the story unfolds.

This is the sequel to the 7-10 split and you can definitely tell some growth in the writing. I enjoyed the first portion of this greatly, my only big complaints being the characters especially in the later half. Ava, our character from book one, acts absolutely over the top and causes a third act breakup. Jessica has a ‘reputation’ as her mother is somewhat famous. This whole situation felt… very underexplained. Honestly I actually kept forgetting why people ‘didn’t like’ Jessica. Eventually the two get back together – of course – but it felt a bit contrived.

I can see definite improvement from Karmen Lee and so far I’ve enjoyed the Peach Blossom books. They’re quick, very spicy and fun reads and if you’re looking for some sapphic romances in a small town these are a great pick!