As well as being part of Ms Dain’s Courtesan Chronicles series, this novella is also one of a series of mixed-genre novellas from Red Door Reads. It’s light and fluffy, written with a deft touch – and it certainly passed an hour or so pleasantly, but it’s rather too insubstantial for my tastes.

The plot can be summed up as follows: Emeline Harlow has been in love with her childhood friend, Kit Cullen, for as long as she can remember, but he doesn’t seem to have noticed or share her feelings. How is she going to get him to fall in love with her?

And that’s it.

It’s fun and frothy, and while Emeline’s constant “oh, he’s soooooo gorgeous, but he’s so thick not to have noticed me!” is a bit overdone, it’s written with a gentle humour that makes it less than grating.

The writing flows well, and we are introduced to various characters who will no doubt make appearances in future stories. But the characterisation is shallow overall, and Kit is presented as rather a “mummy’s boy”, something which clearly annoys Emeline, as on the couple of occasions in the story when she and Kit have an actual conversation, she confronts him about it.

There is little dialogue, although what there is is perfectly fine.

Would I read this again? Has it interested me in reading more in the series? Probably not, on both counts.

If you’ve got an hour to spare and are in the mood for something akin to a very frothy cappuccino – one that’s all froth and hardly any coffee – then this might suit. But if you want to read a novella that delivers on the coffee, stick to Courtney Milan.