Burnt Out
Reminding you all to take a break before the new year begins
I hope your holidays were amazing! It felt fitting to end the year by acknowledging that sometimes simply making it to this point of the year is a success in and of itself. The following three books are about incredibly burnt out women and how it affects their lives and loves, and how they each learn to reclaim what they actually want from their life going forward. Learning to acknowledge and tackle burnout has been a major theme of my life the past few years, and will likely define the rest of my professional life, and these three books give me hope for my own future happiness.
Are you a new years resolution person? Do you want to be, without putting a ton of pressure on yourself? I’m running a goal-setting session for creatives with my friend Kim Hoyos of The Light Leaks the first weekend in January! Join us for Creative Intentions in Focus: a New Year’s Goal-Setting Workshop and banish the Sunday Scaries with us! RSVP here to reserve a spot.
Well Traveled by Jen DeLuca. Lulu is a high-powered, high-achieving lawyer from a hyper-ambitious family, and when she realizes that the years of bullshit she’s put up with at her firm isn’t going to lead to her being made partner, she quits and throws her cell phone into a giant water tub used by laundry wenches at a renaissance faire. Maybe let’s back up slightly.
The previous book in this great ren faire series featured Mitch, a high school gym teacher/sports coach who spends his summers being a Scottish warrior at his local faire. Lulu is Mitch’s cousin, so she was introduced to his world of magic and history then. She happens to wander into a faire right before dramatically quitting her job when the fruitlessness of her efforts becomes too much to stomach, in some random North Carolina town, hoping it would bring her some familiarity and comfort even though it’s very much Not Her Scene. But since she’s got a family connection, she falls in easily with the protagonist of book 2, Stacey, her boyfriend, and the family band they tour with from faire to faire, The Dueling Kilts. And after the dramatic laundry wench phone drowning, Stacey’s like… what if you traveled around with us for a bit before going back to your clearly terrible life? (but nicely)
Lulu agrees, having nothing else going on and not wanting to face her family, and though she thinks Dex MacLean, one of the band brothers, is cute, she also knows his reputation. He’s got a girl at every faire (used to be Stacey, before she fell for his cousin!) and no plans to settle down, and while Lulu is in a moment of crisis, she still wants to settle someday. And yet… they seem to have endless things to talk about, or endless interest in just quietly not talking about things together. While Lulu learns to let go a little, and earns her keep by getting into tarot, Dex realizes that living in the day to day isn’t as fun as it used to be and he might want to start considering, god forbid, his future.
This is my favorite of the series so far, because I love an overworked heroine who freaks out HARD at the top of a book and lets herself get a little messy before figuring out what comes next. Also, we’ve got forced proximity vibes (Only One RV), road trip vibes, and a reforming rake! What’s not to love?
Rating: 4.25/5
How hot? 🔥🔥
The Pleasure Contract by Caitlin Crews. Unsurprisingly given the name of this roundup, academic Bristol March is burnt out. She’s in adjunct hell, and she’s desperate for when she can finally be done reaching and grinding and just… be. So perhaps she’s not paying as much attention as she should when her sister encourages her to go to an interview, only to realize that the interview is for a position as billionaire Lachlan Drummond’s new girlfriend that her sister submitted her for. Her laughter at the prospect and immediate refusal (which Lachlan watches on camera, because of course he’s not doing this first round of vetting HIMSELF, he’s so busy he can’t date for real, come on) is catnip to a guy used to getting anything he wants with zero resistance.
Lachlan convinces her to go to dinner with him, he’s a jerk but an upfront one, and Bristol decides… well, I’m so burnt out I might actually die so maybe a few months as this dude’s girlfriend getting tons of orgasms and lots of money isn’t the worst way to pass the time. It’ll give her some space, some rest, and some time to consider what comes next.
Of course, being a billionaire’s for pay girlfriend isn’t all fun and games, especially when he gets domineering outside of the bedroom as well. But when Bristol, already emotionally exhausted BEFORE this arrangement, eventually is brow-beaten into playing the girlfriend Lachlan thought he wanted… he discovers maybe actually a hot cardboard cutout isn’t what he wanted at all.
This book is sexy, the heroine punishes the hero through malicious compliance (my FAVORITE micro-trope, it’s official), and it is only a little bit too real for me vis a vis academic career burnout. This book isn’t deep (and it’s not quite my style, certainly not as much as Caitlin Crews’ cowboy romances), but it’s enjoyable and a nice bit of escapism for my brain, which I always need around this time of year.
Rating: 4.25/5
How hot? 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Happy Place by Emily Henry. I shouldn’t like this book as much as I do, because it’s made up of the tropes I’m usually trying to avoid: second chance, dual chronology, miscommunication. AND YET. Emily Henry and I seem to share a very particular point of view and set of emotional footholds. She just… gets me. And this book barely had any daddy issues stuff!
Instead, it’s a book about yet another high-achieving heroine who can see no way out of her ambitions but through, and the man she’s loved since college. They broke up six months ago, but haven’t told anyone, because it’s nearly time for their annual trip to Maine with their fellow college friends and they didn’t want to bum anyone out. So, of course, it’s shenanigans time: they have to pretend to still be together to keep the peace, which means spending a lot of time together after months and months apart (for the first time in years), which means… hey maybe use your words!!!!
This is a book about a lot of things, but per our roundup theme, it’s absolutely about the choices we make and the people who we let define us, and how to break free of expectations to be happy without the pressure of external success. A very freeing book, a devastating book, and an extremely compelling romance between two people who just want what’s best for each other.
Rating: 4.5/5
How hot? 🔥🔥🔥
Thanks for joining me for my first full year of Forced Proximity! Your support means the world to me, and I’ve loved talking romance with you all. Next week, I’ll be recommending books with ambitious heroines to get the new year started!
And don’t forget to join me for Creative Intentions in Focus: a New Year’s Goal-Setting Workshop: RSVP here to reserve a spot.
What should I be reading next? Let me know in the comments!