seriously romantic: solo by lauren e. rico

i'm not sure i have the words to explain how much i loved solo. but i will try, because i have to share how good this is. this embodies one of my favorite romantic tropes, enemies-to-lovers. i love the sexual tension and the angst and how these stories show how thin a line exists between hate and love.

to start with, drew markham is a total jerk. he's a super brilliant musical theory professor and he's made a ton of assumptions about his top student, katherine brenner. he thinks she's disrespectful and entitled. and he's done his best to make her life miserable every chance he gets and still she never fails to meet his challenges head on. he's so wrong about her in every possible way. mostly he's angry because she reminds him of his dead wife. and also partly because her father is a senator who is intent on eliminating arts programs.

but when katherine gets stuck at his home in the midst of a blizzard while deathly ill, the forced proximity brings down their walls and they discover a sizzling attraction and that they have more in common than they ever realized. they also realize that all those assumptions and preconceptions they had about each other were totally wrong.

but he's a professor and she is his student. and they need to keep this quiet, for both their sakes. it would ruin his career. it would cast doubt on her own academic successes. but with katherine's father possibly seeking the presidency she's got increased press attention, and keeping their attraction a secret is more difficult than they could have ever imagined. things get a little crazy, but in the end they figure out what really matters.

i loved so many things about this—the way music informs the narrative, the depth of emotion that builds between these two characters, just everything about this worked for me.

**solo will publish on may 8, 2017. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/entangled publishing (embrace) in exchange for my honest review.