Spoiler Free!!
Safety in Numbers
By: Sophie Penhaligon
1.5 stars
When a tragic accident leaves mathematician Seraphina Ellis broken and despairing, she is convinced that she will live out the remainder of her life in lonely solitude. Determined to conceal her disability from her co-workers, she hides away in her desolate cubicle, crossing off the days of her life, unfulfilled and defeated. A chance meeting with irascible but mesmerizing billionaire scientist and CEO Milo Grant provides her with the job of her dreams, and the chance of escape from cubicle land. But Grant is haunted by his own monsters and is increasingly interested in more than just her mathematical magic.
*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher BooksGoSocial for providing a free arc of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.*
I had such high hopes for this book! The synopsis sounded so good, with disability rep and women in stem. I got my hopes up for a mix between The Love Hypothesis and the The Kiss Quotient. To be honest, I was let down.
Safety in Numbers follows Seraphina Ellis, a passionate young mathematician with aphasia. She applies for her dream job of a research assistant at a company owned by the ~moody broody~ CEO Milo Grant. Obviously, she catches his attention and they get all lovey dovey.
As you can see, the plot is extremely predictable. That's not necessarily bad, so if you're looking for a short quick romance (maybe a palate cleanser after a fantasy overload) this will do the trick. For me, this was incredibly disappointing.
If I could describe this book in one word it would be bland. The writing, the romance, even the spice!
The writing was bland too. So simple that it was risked stepping into Wattpad territory...
The romance was just lacking. It felt forced with such a predictably boring storyline that I was rolling my eyes. I had hope for Seraphina! But the disability rep was disappointing since Seraphina went through ZERO character development. She retained her ableist mindset throughout the whole book with no change. I could not take Milo seriously from the start with that name, I had to physically force myself to not imagine him as a green can of chocolate powder. He was so weirdly jealous for no reason. Don't get me wrong, I love the jealousy trope in books, loved it in FBAA, but here? It was so stupid, he yelled at some poor waiter for looking at Seraphina. Their "romance" was painfully cringey to read at times, which is saying something for me since I love heart melting romances.
Overall, I'd say read this expecting a quick, light, predictable romance. Also, ignore the disappointing representation of disabilities. Otherwise, enjoy!
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