Welcome Back, Booklovers! I don't think I even checked the premise of Out of Office before I decided to read it. Truth be told A.H. Cunningham had me at Afro-Panamanian love interest. There's not a lot of traditionally published romance that highlights the multiculturalism of Black people so it's a treat when I discover one. I received a finished copy from Harlequin in exchange for an honest review. You can buy the book here.
Genevieve is a woman who has a lot of pressure on her to succeed. She works for a major hospitality company and has been in Panama for the past few weeks helping open a new hotel chain. And now she's finally giving herself a vacation despite her mother's insistence on keeping her attention laser focused on the promotion she's up for. Adrian, the owner of a local transportation company invites her to spend some time at his family owned hostel and see where the chemistry between them goes and Gen decides to take a chance. But can their relationship survive once they're no longer in vacation mode?
This book explores what happens after the I love yous are exchanged and the couple has to learn to face the real world. I find most of the vacation romances I've read focus on the build up and then the declarations of love. Gen has great intentions. She wants to build her career to the highest it can go but she also wants to be able to build up her community. While Adrian is more focused on having a work- life balance and spending as much time as possible with the family he has left. As Gen moves up in her career she's discovering she has less and less time to focus on the things she loves.
The conversations that the book has about career and finding the right balance were well done. I liked the realistic relationship between Gen and her mother who tries so hard to push her and in some ways lives through her. I appreciated that her mother isn't demonized despite her harsh demeanor. Instead it's acknowledged that her mother is on a different path and an explanation is given for why she is the way she is but ultimately it's up to Gen to decide if that path is the same one for her.
A little more was needed when it came to the development of Adrian. Unlike Gen who is going through a journey of learning to value her own needs, he has his life together. Even his one flaw of being a people pleaser is still a loveable trait because it fuels his dedication to making things easy for her and making the relationship work. It would've been nice to see him challenged as well.
Another treat is the tidbits of Afro-Panamanian culture and history that are included in a way that doesn't feel like the author is trying to teach the reader. But instead that Adrian is trying to Gen a little bit more about his community.
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