There was an overwhelming amount of praise for this book. And unfortunately, I didn’t finish this book completely enchanted by the story or the characters. Overall, it was enjoyable. But not something that I loved.

The Allure of Dean Harper tells the story of Lily Black and Dean Harper. Lily has recently moved to New York and in need of a job. By the help of her best friend, she gets a job at one of New York’s trendiest restaurant. Unfortunately, for her the owner, Dean Harper, is not very kind.

Like mentioned prior, I didn’t love The Allure of Dean Harper but it did keep me interested. It was a hard book to put down. However, I did have a problem with the pacing. Especially in terms of Lily and Dean’s relationship. It felt as if the relationship was purely attraction. There was not any heartbreaking moments nor were there any moments where I could pinpoint that these two particular people should be together.

Their relationship went in hyper speed and I do not necessarily think that it was fleshed out fully. There is not really a clear path to how these characters ended up how they were at the end of the book.

This was a relatively short book, and the pacing issue could have been solved if it had around one hundred more pages. I think that would have been enough to fully explore these two character’s relationship. Separately, they were okay. Dean had a little more backstory than Lily. But nevertheless, I understood where she was coming from. And they both were extremely witty characters.

Final Analysis

The Allure of Dean Harper feels like a first half of a larger book. It feels like a beginning that has not quite earned the ending that it got.