BOOKWORM REVIEW: The Worst Guy by Kate Canterbary

December 28, 2021

BOOKWORM REVIEW: The Worst Guy by Kate Canterbary

RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
STEAM: 🔥🔥🔥🔥

TL;DR: This book might lure you in with shaking-my-head-but-grinning comedy, but that's before it sucker-punches you in the heart with all of the feels.

You are probably going to get annoyed at either Sebastian Stremmel or Sara Shapiro (or both) for their incessant and sometimes irrational bickering. Thank goodness that none of us are the Chief of Surgery at their hospital, so we would not have to deal with their banter, brooding, and evasion. After all, we probably would not have been paid enough to play mediator between the hospital's best trauma surgeon and up-and-coming reconstructive surgeon.

After an incident, these two get sent to resolution counseling where they have to work through how they can work together without destroying hospital property.

I cannot say enough about how seamless the arc development was from work enemies/rivals to lovers. It is not a slow burn, so you get the immediate relief from the instant tension you get from these two. And those scenes are SPICY. While there are other contributing factors to their adversarial relationship, it is clear that some of it is suppressed physical attraction that was bursting to come out, and man, did they unleash the heat in those moments.

I love that Kate Canterbary took us on a journey through Sebastian and Sara's lenses. I love in the beginning, how we the readers -- and the main characters -- cannot seem to see what their work colleagues see in them or say about them. We experience Sara in Sebastian's eyes and vice versa, and that perception is wonderfully altered as we find out more about them.

While they were both wonderful, Sebastian was my favorite in this read. I admire the alpha-roll's ability to see past what Sara thought were her biggest flaws and turn them into her most interesting qualities. He is very protective of his friends and colleagues, even the ones that get on his nerves the most.

** I am voluntarily reviewing an advance copy of this book. **

ABOUT THE BOOK

Eight weeks of forced proximity is a long time to hate someone you're trying not to love.

Sebastian Stremmel doesn't need another headache. He has enough of his own without Sara Shapiro, the noisy new reconstructive surgeon, stomping all around his surgical wing with her chippy, chirpy cheerfulness.

But Sebastian doesn't usually get what he wants.

No one gets under his skin like Sara - so much so a heated "debate" and an exam room left in shambles later, they land themselves in eight weeks of hospital-mandated conflict resolution counseling. Now they're forced to fight fair...which quickly leads them to playing dirty when no one's looking.

They know it's a mistake.

They promise themselves it will never happen again.

They swear they got it out of their systems.

They didn't.

Author's Note: Grumpy/recovering people-pleaser sunshine. Introverts attract. Enemies-to-lovers in the workplace. Banter, bicker, and button-pushing foreplay. Don't tell the friend group, get jealous when the friend group tries to fix her up.

Heat: rip her clothes off before you get the front door open.