Yes & I Love You

This book is so much more than a love story, it delves into how people with Tourettes, anxiety, ADHD, etc. cope with everyday living ... it really made me think. The characters are so realistic because they aren't perfect, they have flaws like everyday people do. Hollyn and Jasper drew me in right from the very beginning ... I just loved them ... Hollyn with all her tics and Jasper not being able to shut his mouth. By the way, I have never heard the name Hollyn before and I just love it! I also really loved that it wasn't love at first sight between Hollyn and Jasper ... in fact, their first couple of meetings were quite awkward. There are so many characters that worked at the WorkAround that are a little quirky and I know they all have a story to be told. This is a great start to a new series and I can't wait for the next book!

Hollyn has Tourettes and her mother has protected her from the world almost her whole life. In her early 20s Hollyn moves to the city in hopes of overcoming her fears, but she's not making much headway ... that is until she meets the office's new barista. Jasper was a foster kid with ADHD, so he was never in one place for long. Now at 25, he's sleeping on his sister's couch and doing improv. He takes a job as a barista to make ends meet ... he just never thought that it would change his life's trajectory.

I received an early copy courtesy of Sourcebooks Casablanca through NetGalley in exchange for a honest review.

3.75 stars--YES & I LOVE YOU is the first instalment in Roni Loren’s contemporary, adult SAY ANYTHING erotic, romance series. This is online movie and television reviewer Hollyn Darling Tate aka Miz Poppy, and improv actor / barista Jasper Deares story line.

Told from dual third person perspectives (Hollyn and Jasper) YES & I LOVE YOU follows the building relationship and romance between twenty-five year old improv actor and barista Jasper Deares, and online movie and television reviewer Hollyn Tate. Hollyn works in the four-story WorkAround building, a converted New Orleans’ warehouse where podcasters and social media influencers rent space and hone their crafts. Jasper Deares, a new barista at the on-site coffee café catches Hollyn’s immediate attention but our heroine suffers with facial tics, a form of Tourette’s, and doesn’t leave a very good first impression with Jasper Deares, the man with whom Hollyn will fall in love. Hoping to apologize for their awkward introduction, Hollyn reveals the truth about her struggles with Tourettes, and in doing so sets into motion the start of a relationship that will spiral out of control. While neither one was in a place for a permanent relationship, Hollyn offers a friends with benefits affair, that will quickly turn into something more, when Hollyn asks Jasper to be her ‘pretend boyfriend’ when her rock star ex Cal, another man who struggles with Tourette’s, returns to town. What ensues is the building romance and relationship between Hollyn and Jasper, and the potential fall-out as Hollyn’s past comes looking for a second chances, and Jasper’s past offers our hero the role of a life-time.

Hollyn Tate struggles with facial tics, a form of Tourette’s in which, nerves and stress result in facial twinges and twitching that constantly draw attention when she would otherwise want to be left alone. Hollyn’s current line of work is the mysterious online reviewer known as Miz Poppy, a position that affords our heroine anonymity but her relationship with Jasper is about to expose the truth. Jasper Deares is a struggling actor who grew up in the foster care system, works as a barista during the day. An opportunity to invest in his own improv company finds our hero offering Hollyn the freedom to experiment with her public persona, an experiment that pushes our couple together.

The relationship between Jasper and Hollyn begins as a friends to a friends with benefits turned fake boyfriend/ girlfriend relationship that quickly turns into something more but the potential for a love triangle with the return of Hollyn’s ex, finds our hero walking away in an effort to protect the woman he loves. The $ex scenes are intimate and passionate, without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.

There is a large ensemble cast of colorful and dynamic secondary and supporting characters including serial murder podcaster Andi Lockley; Hollyn’s best friend / former lover and guitar player Cal; online therapist Mary Leigh; Jasper’s ex-girlfriend Kenzie, as well as several members of the improv troupe known as Hail Yes-Antonio, Monique, Leah and Barry. Andi Lockley’s story line is next in WHAT IF YOU & ME.

YES & I LOVE YOU is a story of friendships, relationships, struggles and acceptance. Roni Loren brings to the forefront several neurodevelopmental disorders including Tourette Syndrome, ADHD and anxiety disorders, of which, a number of her characters currently struggle. The slow building premise is emotional and encouraging but idealistic ; the characters are inspiring, quirky and spirited; the romance is tender and intimate.