A review by kblincoln
Can't Escape Love by Alyssa Cole
4.0
Cole excels at contemporary romances with references to nerd/fandom culture...and in this one the main character, who runs a fandom site called GirlsWithGlasses manages shoutouts to a variety of fandoms that made reading this a little bit like an Easter egg hunt in a good way.
But the challenge Cole set herself up with in this novella is threefold: 1) believably convey the challenges faced by a girl in a wheelchair with dating, 2) believably convey the challenges faced by a man on the higher end of the autism spectrum with dating, and 3) weave a romantic story into a short timeline within the narrative of her full length romance novel (A Duke by Default) about the heroine's twin sister.
Cole, at least for me, meets all those challenges. This is the first time i've read a scene where the hero and heroine get together that involves a wheelchair, but also expresses passion in your usual romance novel way. I originally didn't quite believe the device Cole used to get the two main characters together (Reggie emailing Gus out of the blue for a recording of his voice to help with her insomnia) but once I realized Gus was autistic, and we got a little background on his obsession with puzzles, then the fast pace of their relationship made sense.
You don't need to read the other books to get this romance, but I am glad I did because it added extra depth and layers to Reggie's problems with her sister. I just wanted...more. I wanted Reggie and Gus to have their own full length novel so we could have had more development in their relationship which is a problem with all shorter length romances :)
But the challenge Cole set herself up with in this novella is threefold: 1) believably convey the challenges faced by a girl in a wheelchair with dating, 2) believably convey the challenges faced by a man on the higher end of the autism spectrum with dating, and 3) weave a romantic story into a short timeline within the narrative of her full length romance novel (A Duke by Default) about the heroine's twin sister.
Cole, at least for me, meets all those challenges. This is the first time i've read a scene where the hero and heroine get together that involves a wheelchair, but also expresses passion in your usual romance novel way. I originally didn't quite believe the device Cole used to get the two main characters together (Reggie emailing Gus out of the blue for a recording of his voice to help with her insomnia) but once I realized Gus was autistic, and we got a little background on his obsession with puzzles, then the fast pace of their relationship made sense.
You don't need to read the other books to get this romance, but I am glad I did because it added extra depth and layers to Reggie's problems with her sister. I just wanted...more. I wanted Reggie and Gus to have their own full length novel so we could have had more development in their relationship which is a problem with all shorter length romances :)