Small Change by Roan Parrish Series: Small Change #1
Published by Roan Parrish on 2017-05-27
Genres: Contemporary, LGBT
Pages: 344
Format: eBook
Goodreads
Ginger Holtzman has fought for everything she’s ever had—the success of her tattoo shop, respect in the industry, her upcoming art show. Tough and independent, she has taking-no-crap down to an art form. Good thing too, since keeping her shop afloat, taking care of her friends, and scrambling to finish her paintings doesn’t leave time for anything else. Which … is for the best, because then she doesn’t notice how lonely she is. She’ll get through it all on her own, just like she always does.
Christopher Lucen opened a coffee and sandwich joint in South Philly because he wanted to be part of a community after years of running from place to place, searching for something he could never quite name. Now, he relishes the familiarity of knowing what his customers want, and giving it to them. But what he really wants now is love.
When they meet, Christopher is smitten, but Ginger … isn’t quite so sure. Christopher’s gorgeous, and kind, and their opposites-attract chemistry is off the charts. But hot sex is one thing—truly falling for someone? Terrifying. When her world starts to crumble around her, Ginger has to face the fact that this fight can only be won by being vulnerable—this fight, she can’t win on her own.
Small Change is the first book in a series that will include M/F and M/M romances.
FTC : I bought this book.
Genre : Queer Contemporary
Trope Tags : contemporary, fiesty-heroine, cinnamon-roll-hero, chef, gender-politics, dreamy-hero, bi-sexual-heroine, dual-pov, first-pov
Content Warnings – side character with suicidal ideology and on page discussions around this.
Ginger is a kick-ass, fiery heroine who I adored. Owner of her own shop, she is a business woman who has worked her way to the top. Her parents don’t approve of her lifestyle, her shop desperately needs another tattoist and her best-friend has moved town to be with his boyfriend. Life isn’t really as easy as it should be … and then she meets Christopher.
Christopher has opened his own deli, a dream he has had forever. With artisan sandwiches and coffee to die for, he finally starts to live his own dreams. Then in walks Ginger. She is fiesty, a bit mean and attractive as hell. He is drawn to her immediately – each day she walks into his shop she becomes more attractive.
Over morning coffees, they start to drift together. Christopher woo’s her with sandwiches (the “Ginger” was the most romantic scene in the book) and tries to take care of her when she works herself into the ground. He never holds her back, only wanting to shoulder some of her burdens … he so used to being there for everyone else; will Ginger realise that he needs a partner too?
This is written from the POV of Ginger in real time but we get some of Christopher’s POV in the letters to his brother. The writing style really worked for me.
Ginger was a wonderful heroine to read about. Strong, fiesty and independent, I loved her from the start. She was so independent, so used to fighting for everything she needed, she didn’t know what to make of Christopher. He is a complete cinnamon roll hero and all he wants to do is take care of her; she is not used to that treatment from anyone.
It is the character development from Christopher that drives Ginger’s change. Christopher has lived his life constantly worrying about his brother and wanting to take care of him. He is so used to the roll, that he naturally does it for everyone he meets; I adored him but I worried that he would not have his own identity within the relationship. I shouldn’t have worried…
Together, they are lovely. They each have emotional baggage (a massive Content warning here around Christophers really frank discussions about Jude, his brother who is suicidal) but they find some solace in each other … for a while at least.
I really enjoyed this – and I want a Christopher!
Thanks for the review.
Thanks for commenting 🙂
And now you need to go read Jude’s book – it’s awesome!
I confess, I have read it. I loved it; I cried from start to finish.
The only book I have to read is Daniel’s and that will be soon as it is on KU