This is how enemies-to-lovers should be done. Both Elsie and Jack had legitimate reasons to "hate" each other (Elsie's being Jack's delegitimization of her field and Jack's being his belief that Elsie was being dishonest with his brother). While both were misunderstandings, this book didn't read like the typical miscommunication trope. I was extremely content with Elsie's refusal to out Greg to his brother and even more so with Jack's reaction to finally finding out about Greg's asexuality later in the book. I was also fond of the twist that Dr. L was the physicist that ruined Jack's mom's career; for some reason I didn't see it coming even though the clues were probably there the whole time. That being said, I was slightly unsatisfied with the way that he immediately turned Cliche Bad Guy as soon as Elsie starts questioning him. I felt like there was a slight missed opportunity to make him more manipulative and gaslighting but instead he immediately starts saying outright "I want you to do what I want" which is just not as fun and provides less of a payoff when Elsie finally storms out of there.
My other qualm with the book that prevents me from going full five stars is Elsie's mom/family situation. I just did not buy into it at all. Elsie's mom calls so much through the book, and I just thought that side of the plot was so contrived and implausible. It was so obvious that it was meant to reinforce Elsie's people-pleasing problems, but it just didn't work for me. I wouldn't be so annoyed by it if it had not been a constant running thing throughout the book. And then to top it off, Elsie tells off her mom in a very short phone call rant and they never cycle back to repairing that whole relationship. That part of the plot was just a mess.
Onto the good stuff... the romance. The ROMANCE. I bought into this romance so hard. Jack's whole "I was into you the whole time" paired with Elsie's love epiphanies were just so cute. The pacing of the book was interesting because when it became clear the main plot was about Elsie trying to get this job at the place Jack was already working I thought that that would be the vast majority of the story, but then the interview is over at like 50%. This was actually brilliant though because we got to savor Elsie falling for Jack and then them beginning their relationship and just being in the honeymoon phase. Beyond that, this book had the perfect about of tension for a fluffy contemporary romance.
As for Elsie and Jack themselves, Elsie was immediately an engaging narrator and character to me. Her people-pleasing obsession was a little heavy-handed (do people pleasers really not even tell their best friend they don't or do like certain movies??), but I thought she was witty and fun without being a MPDG. And yes, I chuckled at "towered like a towering tower". The line was clearly supposed to be ironic and I loved it and all Elsie's other silly depictions of her life and her perceptions of Jack. Jack was definitely a grower on me; since this is a first-person narration from Elsie's POV it was hard for me to get to know him at first. Once the job interview section of the book is over and Elsie and Jack start spending more time together outside of the professional aspect I really appreciated Jack. I found him to be that perfect "I'm better than everyone except this one girl who is my entire world" boyfriend type (I'm sure there's a better term for that vibe that I just can't think of right now). It was slightly cringe that there was the cliche he's-super-tall-and-muscular-while-she's-tiny-and-dainty trope, but honestly that was the only cringe for me; everything else about this book that other people may have labeled as cringe was only ever silly in a way I had fun with and thus appreciated.
Final verdict: This is a very cute romance with well-fleshed out characters and interesting discussions that is only slightly hindered by an annoying family subplot.
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