So imagine you’re working as a private lingerie model in college for extra cash, and one day your professor walks in.

Awkward.

This was one of those uber-nerdy Penny books, which I love. Emily was totally my fave in this one. Victor was definitely an interesting cup of tea, and I liked the character exploration the author did with him and the psychological effects of dating after extreme weight loss… but Emily remained my favorite half of the couple by far all the way up until the end. This was a simmer romance, rather than a burn, the kind that takes a while to develop. It was also a super interesting story with cool characters and friendships. There were some great cameos from other books in Penny’s romance worlds, and a sneak preview of Billy/Claire’s book… yes please!!!

Please excuse typos/name misspellings. Entered on screen reader.
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3.5 Fun quirky times with the professor. Enjoyable HEA story of true love and all it's possible roadblocks ( )

Emily's Research Methods professor is very intelligent and very hot. But an awkward meeting outside of school brings Victor and Emily into closer contact. A series of even more awkward meetings have the two deciding to be just friends. Until all the feelings show up.
This is a fairly serious story about body issues and images. Both Emily and Victor suffer in different ways, and their journey to understand each other makes for a slow burn romance that explodes when they finally work through their issues. Victor is adorable and hot - hotorable - and Emily is perfect for him once she gets her act together and puts down a firm foot (Victor needs her to be firm because he's a hot mess).
It's a good read and I recommend it to those who like contemporary romances with a bit of smarts. ( )

This was in the “new additions” section on Overdrive and the description -- What do you do when your freakishly smart and wickedly sarcastic Research Methods professor sees you mostly naked? You befriend him, of course -- made me curious.
Not “I want to read this” curious. Just “I want know why her professor sees her mostly naked so I’ll look at the sample chapters” curious. I wasn’t expecting to read all of the sample, but instead became quickly convinced that I should read this book.

Because this is smart and funny. And I liked how the characters deal with an awkward and potentially very problematic situation. (Emily works as a lingerie model, aka a human “clothes hanger”, and when her professor visits the store, he doesn’t recognise her.) Once Victor realises Emily is his student, he immediately takes appropriate steps to protect her -- from Emily’s perspective, he is bafflingly, unnecessarily, proper. And, after some confusion and hurt feelings, Emily decides that they should be friends.

I really enjoyed the progression of their relationship -- how obviously they like each other’s company and care about each other, how they have an intellectual connection that goes hand-in-hand with physical attraction, how they learn to understand each other better. Their relationship develops at a pace which makes sense for them, especially given that Emily is initially Victor’s student and that Victor has some serious body image issues.

It would have been a stronger ending if it had woven back in some elements from earlier in the story, but I don’t mind -- this book was the sort of thing I was in the mood for.

As such, the only coping strategy left to me was nihilism.
Please don’t recognise me, had become, It’s no big deal, which had morphed into, Nothing matters. I’d never travelled such a great distance in such a short time while sitting in one place. Thus is the power of mortification avoidance. ( )