“Kissing Galileo” by Penny Reid

Once again the romance mood hit as the Christmas holiday rolled in, and I found myself watching and reading more romance stories than I usually do (like two books, lol!). One of the books I picked up was the second novel in Penny Reid’s Dear Professor duology, as Reid is shaping up to be one of my favorite romance authors.

GENRE

Contemporary Romance

SERIES

Dear Professor, book 2

PUBBED

2018

Quick summary

The second novel in the Dear Professor series focuses on Emily Von, a smart college student who works as a lingerie model. One day her research methods professor visits the shop where she works and sees Emily while she’s modelling a lingerie set; however, Victor Hanover did not realize that the model was his student.

Eventually, the two learn that they have feelings for each other and attempt to have a platonic relationship, which doesn’t really work. Emily’s feelings for Victor continues to grow stronger despite the mixed signals she gets from him, and Victor struggles with his body image and the complexities of his feelings for Emily, his student. (Goodreads)

My thoughts

I think I have a soft spot for Penny Reid’s books. I end up liking them no matter what, it seems, especially if it’s a trope I like, and professor-student romances always appeal to me. I don’t have much to say about this one, partly because it’s just a fun, light read that was also quick to get through and because I read it back in December and have since forgotten any strong feelings or opinions I may have had about it (I doubt I had any).

I recall that the characters didn’t stand out to me, but I liked how geeky Emily is and enjoyed her internal monologues. Victor, however, was unappealing. I understand that he’s dealing with a lot of stuff, but I disliked how he treats Emily for the majority of the story. Him acknowledging this by the end of the story and seeking help to change what drives him to act like that was nice. I liked that bit of character growth.

The story, of course, focuses on just the two characters. There are side characters, but they only appear a few times and aren’t so developed to be memorable. The only one that stood out some was Anna, but that’s because she’s from the first book, Kissing Tolstoy, and I always get a little excited when a character from a previous book pops up in the one I’m currently reading. However, part of me wished that these two weren’t friends or close friends. Like, why do the two close friends have to both date professors?

There was something else about the story that annoyed me, but I can’t remember what it is and don’t care at this point. The short of all this is that I enjoyed the story despite whatever faults I saw in it and most likely I’ll read it again someday because I enjoy Penny Reid books and professor-student romances.