We Shouldn’t – Vi Keeland

Genre: Romance
Pages: 316
Release Date: January 21, 2019

Bennett Fox walked into my life on one hell of a crappy Monday morning.

I was late for the first day at my new job—a job I’d now have to compete for even though I’d already worked eight years to earn it, because of an unexpected merger.

While I lugged my belongings up to my new office, a meter maid wrote me a parking summons.

She’d ticketed a long line of cars—except for the Audi parked in front of me, which happened to be the same make and model as mine.

Annoyed, I decided to regift my ticket to the car that had evaded a fine. Chances were, the owner would pay it and be none the wiser.

Except, I accidentally broke the windshield wiper while slipping the ticket onto the car’s window.

Seriously, my day couldn’t get any worse.

Things started to perk up when I ran into a gorgeous man in the elevator. We had one of those brief moments that only happened in movies.

You know the deal…your body lights up, fireworks go off, and the air around you crackles with electricity.

His heated stare left me flush when I stepped off the elevator.

Maybe things here wouldn’t be so bad after all.

Or so I thought.

Until I walked into my new boss’s office and met my competition.

The gorgeous man from the elevator was now my nemesis. His heated stare wasn’t because of any mutual attraction. It was because he’d saw me vandalize his car. And now he couldn’t wait to annihilate his rival.

There’s a fine line between love and hate—and we shouldn’t cross it.

We shouldn’t—but straddling that line could be so much fun.

I really need to stop giving the enemies to lovers trope chances because every time I read one of them, I’m always disappointed. Unfortunately, We Shouldn’t was not an exception. 

We Shouldn’t lacked consistent chemistry between the main characters, Annalise and Bennett. For most of the novel, the chemistry between the characters was non-existent to warm. There were only a few moments where the sexual tension was palpable. When they finally get together, it was more of a fizzle rather than a bang.

Annalise is an incredibly bland character despite being given some of the most popular tropes as personality characteristics. Annalise is described as a blond bombshell unaware of her good looks, she recently got out of a long term relationship where her boyfriend was less than ideal, and she is, for the most part, sexually inexperienced. All of this contributes to Annalise’s oblivious nature making her appear stupid and annoying.

Bennett, on the other hand, has a loud personality, even if that personality is predictable. Bennett is charismatic, confident, and sexy as hell, but has his fair share of baggage. Keeland and strikes a balance between cockiness and sensitivity making Bennett the best part of the novel. 

Overall, We Shouldn’t is an okay workplace enemies to lovers story that doesn’t quite land.

 

Have you read We Shouldn’t? What did you think?

 

Slightly spoiler thought…

If I remember Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover correctly, We Shouldn’t reminds me of a subpar version of it.