The Work Boyfriend

by Rebecca Mardon

When your quarter-life crisis might blow up your entire world . . . Kelly has a great life. The kind of life one might wish for, in fact. She has an upwardly-mobile career, and a stable, loving relationship with her college boyfriend, Rob. They’ve got a great condo, and he feels like they’re moving in the right direction. Towards something. Towards something, together. Except, the path in front of her might not be the way for Kelly at all, and the only person who gets it is Garrett, her “work boyfriend.” He’s the one who really gets how trapped she feels. When everything spirals out of control during the holidays, Kelly should be celebrating the future, except she finds herself questioning what she really wants from her life . . . and who she wants in it.

Genres: Fiction

352 pages, Paperback

Published December 5, 2023

Reviews

[Silvia Fournier · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! I really enjoyed the style of writing, I loved how relatable the main character is.

[Rhiana · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book did not live up to the title imo. :( I think it needed more “work boyfriend” cute interactions to better understand her crush. I did not believe Kelly and Garrett had any kind of real connection, they also barely spoke for like 3/4 of the book. Her boyfriend Rob was honestly such an amazing guy and deserved way better, if he was mean to her I would have felt better for her being absolutely terrible to him. The ending was also too rushed and didn’t tie the story in a nice enough bow for me personally. I wish they continued the “now” chapter from the beginning of the book to get a confirmation on who she settled down and had kids with and why, since that didn’t seem to be her path for the entirety of the book.

On the plus, it was nice reading a story set in Ontario for once. Hearing the city street names and local universities felt very familiar and nice.

[Katey Townshend · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lovely little romance, and *the* perfect weekend read leading up to the holidays ❤️

[Tiffany · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about this book. I feel like the writing was well written but so much unnecessary detail. I am from Toronto, so its awesome to hear about all the Toronto/Canada type stuff and to recognize the street names and places she's talking about, but for anyone not living in the area, its just so much unnecessary detail about random Toronto streets that don't hold significance to people who aren't from here. Like sooo much. It was just so much filler information throughout the book. Even old stories about things that have happened to the character previously, but not like important character building recollections, just random ones that I basically skimmed or skipped all together. I would say like 65% of the book was just her internal struggles and feelings and filler stories that had no relevance to the plot and 35% was actual dialogue. There was really no romance. so if you are looking for a romcom book, this is not it. It was more about her internal struggle within her relationship; her 'work boyfriend' was not really relevant, just helped her recognize her unhappiness in her current relationship. Her work boyfriend was barely in it in general. It was not a love story. But I did like the thoughtfulness behind the characters struggles and I thought the author portrayed real life struggles people have and real life complications in relationships that are not these big dramatic moments/breakups. I think it was somewhat relatable as many people commit to someone they think they should love and settle for unhappiness because nothing technically is wrong in the relationship. There does not have to be some dramatic event that happens in a relationship to trigger a breakup, sometimes the person just isn't a right fit. I can definitely relate to the character in terms of staying somewhere or with someone that makes me unhappy just because change is hard and scary. So I did like how relatable it was in real life. She did not try to dramatize things or make huge plot twists and climaxes, but at the same time, that made this book kind of boring. I kept waiting for something to happen and it was pretty flat throughout. Would not recommend unfortunately.

[Kate Viner · Rating 5 out of 5]

The perfect book to read during this week between Christmas and New Years!

I am thrilled to say that I loved The Work Boyfriend. Rebecca Mardon is the pen name of my former boss Deana and I am being completely honest when I say that I loved this book.

This is a fun, easy but clever, romance set in Toronto and Kingston - two places I know and love. In fact there’s a lot that’s familiar in this novel which could be why I loved it so much. I kind of live the life that the main character, Kelly, doesn’t want - but the author treats her characters with care and respect so the novel isn’t about casting judgement - it’s about a woman trying to figure out how to be true to herself and where she fits in the world. The writing is smart, the dialogue fun and believable and I was totally immersed in the story. Congrats and bravo to Rebecca Mardon on an amazing debut! Can’t wait to see what’s next. 👏👏👏

[Jeanna · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is not a romance.

Ugh, the main character is a terrible person and I could not relate.

This book is a good story what NOT to do in a relationship. The biggest lesson being, just because you’ve been with someone a long time doesn’t mean you have to stay with them. You should never get married to someone because you feel like you SHOULD. Forcing yourself to be with someone is a cruelty to the other person. And you should NEVER be with someone who has differing views on marriage and kids, and as soon as you figure that out, it’s better for everyone to break up sooner rather than drag out a relationship with an end date.

Also, every single character is an alcoholic. They choose to drink away their issues rather than confront them and talk about them. That’s what adults do, and the book says over and over about how they’re trying to be adults. Well, you’re sure not acting like one!

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting, I see this book was actually published in 2014 with the author's real name and now re-released 10 years later under a pseudonym. Anyway I was ready for a change of reading pace, this looked good and was set in Toronto. I was totally relating to her hungover ride to work on the Queen streetcar, been there done that and then came the nugget that she was always late for everything.! As someone who is always on time if not early for everything, I thought oh oh, losing my connection to Kelly. It just went downhill from there, couldn't understand her attraction to Garrett or her treatment of Rob and his family. Might have stopped reading about 3/4's of the way in and just read the ending.

[Lillian Schneider]

I want to start off by saying the title is a little misleading. I was expecting some silly little tension filled work romance when I picked this off the shelves at the library, and it did not live up to that. Whatever though, the author went for a different storyline. In my opinion this storyline had potential to be really interesting, but it unfortunately was not executed to that potential. I think it could’ve dug a little deeper and the main character could have had an introspective and interesting arc, but it just fell short. I wish the ending wasn’t so rushed as well

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Work Boyfriend is an absolute delight--I fell in love with Kelly's honesty and wit as she showed us just how hard it can be to figure yourself out, especially when romance is involved...

The entire cast of characters in this book are perfection and each one got into my heart because I could imagine them so clearly off the page. A remarkable feat for Rebecca Mardon's debut work!

[Nadine Araksi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had so much fun reading this book! It took me back to a time early in my career when things were messy as I was learning how to adult. It’s a totally fun, light, lovely read for a beach or a break from work, even though it’s about a work romance. Who hasn’t had a crush at work that perhaps went a little too far? Love!

[Libana Kassab · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, it was a cute read! But I had a hard time getting in the story until about half of the book. Maybe it's just me, but I thought the first few chapters were too slow. Then the ending felt rushed. I would just the pacing of the book, but other than that, I liked the story and it was fun to read. Really enjoyed reading a story based in Ontario, too. :)

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was deeper than I thought it would be. I can’t explain the 5 rating , except that it really got to me and I couldn’t put it down. It felt predictable but wasn’t; the usual tropes were there but didn’t feel the same. It’s just a pretty good short read that I thoroughly enjoyed 💙

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

8/10 well written, fast paced, very believable and local places are mentioned! #Bolton 🤩