Penny for Your Heart
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4.1 • 13 Ratings
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
At fourteen, Penny Winters fell out of the closet and in love with her best friend, Misa Ito. But before they truly understood their feelings, Misa and her family were gone. Over a decade later, when Penny secures a job at a top New York advertising agency, she has a second chance at first love when she’s introduced to the lead account executive, Misa.
But the road to happiness is riddled with potholes. Misa is still impossibly beautiful, but super cold. And Misa shows no recollection of Penny—the girl who once showed her how to skateboard, make daisy chain crowns, and shared every secret with. On top of that, there’s the huge engagement ring and photo of a handsome man on Misa’s desk. The butterflies Penny feels don’t seem one-sided, and she wants answers.
Penny has no idea that she’s begging for the impossible. Getting Misa to admit anything means asking her to do the unthinkable: put aside her career and her father’s expectations to give in to her heart. Which has always belonged to Penny.
Customer Reviews
Perfect Queer Romance!
I’ve been a fan of Season Vining since her first book release almost 10 years ago. And for 10 years, I have been waiting for a queer romance.
IT. WAS. WORTH. THE. WAIT.
I couldn’t put it down. The characters are so raw and real. Growing up queer isn’t an easy thing for most people, and Season captured the reality that many people in the queer community still struggle with acceptance well into adulthood.
I cannot wait for the next book in the series!
Where We Are
This book is reflective of where we are and find ourselves on a cultural continuum. It is contemporary, seeking to check all of the boxes that say, I’m fresh, understand racial, sexual, and social dynamics of today. In doing so, it seeks to pull this genre; especially in that it is vastly white and queer; forward. Yet, there are glaring dynamics illustrative of just how far away from true racial dynamics the author is. First, let me acknowledge the obvious, this is a romance novel, I get it. However, the author opened the door and as a reader and fan of the genre, I’m simple stepping through. There are pieces of this that are problematic. First, there is a bi-racial MC where one side of her race, specifically the black side, is completely negated. This is made more insidious by the black vernacular, and cultural dynamics rife in the book yet, absent in the character’s day to day life sans a brief acknowledgment of her mother. While the male gaze and Japanese culture of her father is centered throughout the novel and it is no less stereotypical. I see where this intends to go, but it falls short and I hope that there will be more nuanced portrayals of people of color than this offers.