Love On My Mind

One of my top books of 2016. A refreshing, modern love story with complex characters driven by realistic personal and professional goals.It's the little things, like getting the characters physical descriptions from the other's POV, so you see what really makes them sexy in the other person's eyes, to tackling bigger themes of acceptance, forgiveness, overcoming ones past with subtle grace that make this book unforgettable. I can't say enough for Adam's POV. There was so much respect and compassion for how he saw the world and interpreted the behavior of others. It wasn't a tacked on contrivance to complicate the plot, but an intrinsic aspect of this character that made him utterly lovable. Better yet, who he was wasn't presented as something to be overcome but appreciated for its strengths. Adam's learning to do what he needed to do for the company was a transformation that didn't rob him of his essential nature.Chelsea also felt like a real three dimensional person: her struggle to be recognized professionally to overcome her past is heartrending, but it never makes her pitiable. She's smart, savvy, and charming. Watching her learn to appreciate Adam and understand how to work with him made me root for them both. And her conversations with India made me laugh out loud, it made me think of a hundred little moments with my own sister and smile.While the plot has the usual plausibility-straining acrobatics the genre often requires to force the two characters into proximity, the way they ultimately came together felt absolutely satisfying. Each had something to understand and resolve in themselves before they could be happy with one another.And on a smaller note, living in SV (with a husband in tech) I felt like the author actually knew something about the industry and the people in it. So often I read books where the characters occupations and locations feel slapped on as an afterthought: it's watching a movie supposedly set in Seattle and recognizing the Vancouver skyline, ya know what I mean? It's just a nice detail.Livesay creates real characters that will live on in your mind long after the last page is turned.

First let me say, I loved this novel. I think there were aspects of it I loved, aspects of it that annoyed me, but it was a great PR exec/client romance, that just happened to be IR.I have a bias toward PR exec/client romances because I love them, but I liked that it was inclusive disability wise and racially. I liked Chelsea, but her past felt uncomfortable at times based ON the fact she was black, because he mother was a drug addict and I felt uncomfortable as this book was recommended to me by MANY non-black people, so knowing their internalizing black mothers as negative felt uncomfortable.Adam had Asperger's, and it was kinda weird that the reveal didn't come until chapter 15-16, because it was a bit obvious he was on the autism spectrum, and it would've been cool if the book wouldn't have felt like it was something that needed to be revealed. He had the social interaction of someone on the autism spectrum, so it just didn't feel like it should've been as big a deal as it was.I liked how they met and how she wove herself into his life; overtime despite his personality being outputting to her, he eventually came to want to do things that were IMPORTANT to her, despite them not being important to him and compromise is one of the basis's of love.I think it spent a lot of time focusing on her hair texture, it felt like every chapter either she discussed her hair or he did. And her skin color was used as food a lot, however his never was.Overall I loved it, and it cements my love for PR exec/client romances.

What a lovely interracial romance between a genius with Asperger’s, Adam and an intelligent, beautiful, African-American woman Chelsea. The back stories of the main characters were both sad and delightful, giving insight into both of them. Their differences were full of humor even when neither meant to be funny. The secondary characters were interesting and full of love for Adam and Chelsea.This romance was a little different with both characters demanding honesty above all for different reasons. Even though their initial meeting was predicated on a lie, because of love both forgave and understood and trusted it to never happen again. Adam's Asperger’s really added to his personality and made his genius less intimidating. Understanding Chelsea's background and what she went through with her mother made her desire for success, including a partnership and six figure salary, more understandable. Still, they both had integrity and were honest to a fault. His literalness, word merry go round and misunderstandings made for real laugh out loud moments.Favorite expression from book was: "I love you, Chelsea Grant. And I know that because every monad in my soul and body scream out your name, every waking moment of every day." You have to read the book to know what Adam meant by monad. I can't wait to reread or read for the first time books about the secondary characters who were Adam's and Chelsea's friends.

But lacked depth. I never really connected with the heroine, Chelsea. Her motives were mercenary and while I sort of understood the reasoning behind her decision to mislead the hero at first, after they got intimate I lost all sympathy for the character. Adam, on the other hand, was delightful. I loved his quirks, his literal-ness and his sexy genius scruffy persona. There just aren't enough sexy nerds in romantic fiction in my opinion. The romance was sweet, the love scenes sexy and I liked the authors voice. I also liked that this was an interracial romance but I disliked that there was very little introspection or commentary on what that means in today's society. Sure the world's more accepting of interracial couples but in my personal experience, it is far from being without its challenges. Maybe this is due to the California setting? In any case no one batted an eye and it seemed a bit unrealistic to me. All in all, it was a fast pleasant read. 3 1/2 stars