While not listed as such by the publisher or author, Technically Yours is the second story taking place in the author’s FitMi Corporation universe. The hero and heroine from the first novel - The Fastest Way to Fall - make appearances here, and the hero and heroine from this book were strong secondary characters in the previous one.

While the back blurb states that “Cord Matthews fell for Pearl when they met in an elevator eight years ago”, the truth is that he was interested in her from that moment, but they went on to work closely together for two years. It was over the course of those years that he fell - and fell hard -for her. However, Pearl was in that elevator to interview for a job at FitMi, where Cord is the founder/CEO. He kept the professional line strictly drawn and was only friends with his crush the whole time she was with FitMi as an employee. When she spoke of leaving, he asked her to give him a chance, to follow her heart and trust him. She responded, “It doesn’t matter what my heart would say because my heart is unreliable... I should listen to my head.” Then, she left for California to pursue what she thought was a great career move.

Cord, of course, reacted with utter maturity (not) to being rejected by his crush and swore off commitment for life. “It was freeing not to be consumed by someone else.” “Settled and committed, something I didn’t plan to be” “ I needed to cut... off before things got serious.” He repeats this numerous times in the early chapters, reminding us that he has never really recovered from his hurt. As the tale goes on, we learn he tried four whole relationships after Pearl (with whom he never acrually had a relationship) before realizing he was like his father and unlucky in love. He is with his current friend with benefits at a charity event when Pearl walks into his life once more.

Pearl’s job in California turned out to be the wrong move, but she thinks her latest career choice is the right one. OurCode is a non-profit program “designed to encourage kids with traditionally marginalized identities to take an interest in coding and careers in tech” and Pearl feels lucky to be a part of it. It has the advantage of being located in Chicago, which has brought her home to family and friends. She’s enjoying reconnecting with everyone until she runs into Cord. On the surface, the encounter is amicable and casual. Both of their hearts take a leap at the sight of each other, but Pearl forces herself to put her head before her heart once more. OurCode is involved in a scandal that is about to go public, and she can’t afford to focus on anything but work, especially since Cord has just joined OurCode’s board as part of the fix to their soon-to-be reputation mishap.

Naturally, with Pearl stepping up as interim director to help the company past the crisis and Cord being on the board, they will have to work closely together. And, of course, as they do so, they discover the spark between them has never gone away.

I have a question: Is not listing a book as a sequel a new thing? This is the second time in the past week where I read a story that was clearly part of a series but was not listed as such. Maybe I’ve just been unlucky, but if this going to be a pattern, I’d like my objection on the official record. Rant over.

Middling grade books are perhaps the hardest to review. They are neither so good you can gush endlessly on all you love nor so bad you can take a certain level of satisfaction in warning others away. That’s certainly true for this volume. The plus in the grade comes from its positive representation aspect. The author occasionally veers toward lecturing in this area but it was mostly nicely done and flows well in the story, Beyond that, there’s not much to recommend. I liked Cord and Pearl fine, but I certainly didn’t love them. They’re pretty basic career professionals who suddenly discover that they want more out of life than just a job (really?). Their endless angst over the past and the fact that they behave as though being unlucky in love is unique to them could be grating (we are all unlucky in love until we’re not, that’s just how it works.) I also disliked that this is Pearl’s second time (the first was in CA) having an affair with a person she works for, not just with. Cord is a romancelandia CEO with endless amounts of free time. Those would be flaws if they didn't appear in half the books I read, so I guess we’ll call them annoying tropes.

The secondary characters here aren’t very memorable. Both leads have family and friends but they are background noise. The most prominent of them is Tye, Pearl’s sister’s child, who is adorable and precocious and helps play matchmaker for Cord and Pearl. Ellie, Pearl’s rival for the position of director, and Kevin, another board member, are the only significant co-workers. It seemed unrealistic that Ellie and Pearl were vying for the job of director as both are recent hires, and neither has the experience to steer a company through a crisis. It was much more likely that someone new would have been tapped for that honor, but I digress.

I had a few issues with the writing. One is that the book is a dual-time narrative, showing us Cord and Pearl in the past and juxtaposing that with them in the present. The scenes from the past are unnecessary - readers of The Fastest Way to Fall already know they like each other, and for newcomers, telling rather than showing would have worked better - the alternating timelines don’t flow smoothly. More than once, during a scene in which memories are brought up, I thought, ‘When did this happen? Recent past or five years ago?’ The author is also very heavy-handed with whatever point she is making. A good example is the endless conversation surrounding Cord swearing off love at the start of the book. In the first several pages alone, it is mentioned at least five times and then sprinkled throughout the first three-fourths of the novel fairly frequently. Pearl’s putting her head above her heart is another issue that feels beaten into the ground, especially since she never seems to follow through on that aside from at the start, when she leaves Cord for California.

I loved Ms. Williams' first book, How to Fail at Flirting, with its adorable meet cute, and charming characters, and enjoyed The Fastest Way to Fall enough to give this one a try. To be fair, Technically Yours isn’t technically a bad book. I never felt like throwing it against a wall, but I was reluctant to pick it back up once I put it down. I would recommend it only if you are a huge fan of the author. Otherwise, give it a miss.