Close to Home

Kelly Rowan runs with her stress meter at high. When her partner suddenly ends up in the hospital at the beginning of tax season she lets her ex interfere with her business life in the form of a young hot intern.

Kelly Rowan leads a very quiet and unassuming life. No one in her life knows that she is a lesbian. She dates men occasionally and politely declines any further intimacies. Kelly focuses on work and her father who is her partner. She has chosen this life on purpose and already gave up one love, Beth, because she did not want to become a font of gossip for the town. When her father has a stroke during the beginning of tax season, she is at a loss at what to do other than keep moving forward.

Beth sees her exhausted and stressed and offers help in the form of an intern. Kelly is resistant, but finally gives into Beth. The next day young and cocky Elliot Garza is in her office and ready to work. Kelly is flummoxed and puts her on copier work. Kelly and Elliot are complete opposites in every way as Kelly is conservative and Elliot is snazzy. Can they find a way to work together at least through tax season and Elliot moves on to save the world? Or will Kelly destroy something before it even has a chance to grow?

As I was typing the blurb about the book, I was reminded of the Hepburn/Tracy movies and Rachel Spangler gives you that feeling in Close to Home (2017). Kelly and Elliot though have a mix of both actors in their characters yet still have the same back and forth chemistry. I loved being in the office with them as you never knew what Elliot was going to do. I also was in love with everything Elliot was wearing – as was Kelly.

This was a fun romance that dealt with how and when people decide to live outside of the closet. Everyone's pace is different as we saw with different characters in the book. Spangler shows respect for everyone's choices. Kelly's reason for staying hidden is real for her and Spangler shows us and Elliot this. We also see what drives Elliot to be who she is and how Kelly and her can still connect despite what would seem a huge difference of opinion. Spangler gives us romance, chemistry, and in this one some great one-liners courtesy of Elliot. I will not be looking at tax season the same again. I hope to see Spangler in Darlington again and you too.