4.5 stars

TW: sexual harassment; mentions of death of a parent

This was an unexpected surprise. I was hesitant to read this since the author was pretty big in the Star Wars fanfic scene and I’ve had not great luck with other big fandom authors. But, aside from a few nods, this definitely stood alone as original work and I appreciate it. The slow burn here was excellent and I really enjoyed the characters. While there were a few romance tropes here I didn’t enjoy (over emphasis on how large of a person he is in contrast to how small she is; characters being so oblivious it’s painful), I overall adored this. There were a few bits at the very end that I felt were a little over the top, which combined with the mentioned tropes kept it from being 5 stars. But if you like fake dating and slow burn, this is for you.