Book Review: "From the Start" by Katie Duggan

This was such a sexy, emotional romance, with so much more depth than I often find with this genre. And the coolest thing is that the author, Katie Duggan, works at my local bookstore, and when we recognized our shared love of certain romances, they told me they wrote a book. (My copy is even personalized!)

One of the things I loved about this book is that it’s a grumpy-sunshine romance but the genders are flipped. Nic (short for Nicoletta) is a psychologist with a chip on her shoulder. The last thing she’s expecting is to run into Josh, her childhood nemesis, on a train. She’s not seen him in 10 years (and she’s happy about that), so she cannot believe they live in the same Brooklyn neighborhood.

While Nic remembers that Josh made her childhood miserable, Josh remembers that she was his first crush. Yet after the furthest thing from a meet-cute, neither can get the other out of their system. And when Nic learns at a party that Josh is particularly skilled sexually (and she doesn't hear it from Josh), she realizes that she may need to make a deal with her own personal devil to get the satisfaction she craves.

Of course, when they agree for some no-strings-attached fun, they’re both convinced they can have sex without catching feelings. Hmm…how do you think that’ll work out for them?

I love banter in my romances, and this book has it, as well as some serious steam. But beyond that, the book deals with neurodiversity and body positivity, and the supporting characters were terrific, too. I’m so glad that feeding my book-buying craving put me in Katie’s path!