Review: Brooklynaire by Sarina Bowen

Posted August 13, 2020 by Kate

Review: Brooklynaire by Sarina BowenCheck out on Goodreads | Buy on Amazon
Genres: Adult, Contemporary Romance
Also by this author: Top Secret, , Him (Him, #1)
Series: Brooklyn #1
Publisher: Rennie Road Books
Source: My shelves

A sexy new standalone from USA Today bestseller Sarina Bowen.
You’d think a billion dollars, a professional hockey team and a six-bedroom mansion on the Promenade would satisfy a guy. You’d be wrong.
For seven years Rebecca has brightened my office with her wit and her smile. She manages both my hockey team and my sanity. I don’t know when I started waking in the night, craving her. All I know is that one whiff of her perfume ruins my concentration. And her laugh makes me hard.
When Rebecca gets hurt, I step in to help. It’s what friends do. But what friends don’t do is rip off each others’ clothes for a single, wild night together. Now she’s avoiding me. She says we’re too different, and it can never happen again. So why can’t we keep our hands off each other?

I put a story on my Instagram page asking for soft, sweet friends-to-lovers recommendations that I could get swept up in. It’s been a hard week, and I needed the comfort. @michlimjy came through, reminding me about Brooklynaire, a book from one of my favorite authors that’s been sitting on my Kindle, unread!

Let me just say: Brooklynaire did exactly what I asked of it. Damn, it delivered ?? It followed the lovely Rebecca and Nate, who met seven years ago when Rebecca applied to be the office manager of Nate’s start-up company of 17 employees. Now, he’s a billionaire tech mogul, and she’s still his office manager, except now she mostly just manages the Brooklyn Bruisers, the hockey team Nate started and owned.


“Help me understand—are you pissed off about the kiss? Or are you pissed that I stopped?”
“That’s not an easy question!” Obviously.
His handsome forehead wrinkles with confusion. “But it’s multiple choice!”


So not only was this an adorably sweet friends-to-lovers story between two people who spend their whole weeks together, but it was also an office romance?? Temporarily a roommates romance?? WITH HOCKEY???? Knock me over with a feather, it was perfect ? It starts when Rebecca takes a nasty fall, winding up with one hell of a concussion, which leads to other medical complications, and that’s when Nate steps in to try and help.

Sarina Bowen is truly one of my faves, and definitely one of my top new-to-me authors I found last year (thanks to Romance-opoly and Top Secret!), so I was thrilled to get the chance to step into her world again and enjoy the hell out of the ride. I know she has a Brooklyn Bruisers series, so I will definitely be checking that out a bit more thoroughly soon. Because, you know. I love hockey!


“… Seven years seems like plenty of time to figure out that you’re my favorite person in the world. And I don’t want to go another year without you.”


I really don’t have anything to criticize! The conclusion may have tied up the loose ends a bit too neatly for my taste, but Nate and Rebecca were so much fun, I can’t find it in me to care! I loved the simmering burn happening in the background of this whole novel, and honestly, it’s a wonder the two went so long without realizing their unrequited love wasn’t so unrequited after all. They were so natural and genuine in each other’s company (a little caveat I love in my friends-to-lovers reads) and watching them try to tone down their emotions and lust because of the whole boss/employee thing. And watching them bond over hockey? *HEART EYES*

It was sweet, humorous, honest, and full of friends, not to mention the hilarious….  well, I don’t really know what to call him. A smart bot? An AI? Think Jarvis from Iron Man, and that’s the tech that Nate is building and testing in his home. He was pretty funny and I loved that he was essentially a side character as himself! Speaking of funny… the palindromes jokes!! I love a good nerdy hero with nerdy humor, and Nate certainly delivered. I mean, dirty palindromes? I certainly didn’t know that I needed that in my life <3

This is the first in a series of spinoff’s happening from the Brooklyn Bruisers series (which are hockey romances), so I certainly know what I’m reading next!

More by Sarina Bowen …

  Cover to Cover Book Blog Kat Snark covertocoverlit Book Blogger Book blog reader reading Top Secret Kindle Unlimited Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy MM Frat College Stripper Rich boy poor boy Cinderella story neighbors roomies 

Office romances I adore …

Cover to Cover Book Blog Kat snark Rock Hard Nalini Singh Rock Kiss contemporary romance the best office romance slow burn rape currently reading recommended read   

More friends-to-lovers romances you may enjoy …

  Cover to Cover Book Blog Kat Snark covertocoverlit Book Blogger Book blog reader reading The Hardest Fall Kindle Unlimited by Ella Maise College neighbors roomies friends to lovers 

Have you read a book by Sarina Bowen? What are your favorite friends/lovers, workplace romances? Let me know in the comments below, I’d love to hear from you!


2 responses to “Review: Brooklynaire by Sarina Bowen

Chat with me!