DISASTER GIRL

A spirited Chicagoan enlists a tech superstar to protect her from scandal in this romance.

Tess Greene has everything: a successful career in “disaster recovery” at a tech firm; close friendships with her younger sister, Kat, and vivacious older neighbor Roz; and a fulfilling sex life of brief flings with handsome men. But soon life gets complicated: Kat announces she’s moving to San Francisco in a matter of weeks. Tess’ beloved boss, Paul, is retiring, and she is in line for a promotion, but only if she can land an especially challenging prospective client for the firm. Worst of all, an anonymous man with a website full of amateur sex tapes is teasing out his next big release—which happens to feature Tess. Unashamed of the video she consensually made but unsure of her one-night stand’s identity and aware of the major humiliation she could endure, Tess finds Max, a friend of her quirky employee Abigail and a qualified hacker—and extremely attractive. He’ll help her make sure the video never sees the light of day on one condition: She help him land the open senior programmer position at her firm. As Tess and Max grow closer, she must face her past—a traumatic adolescence with a struggling single parent and her former engagement, mysteriously broken the morning of her wedding—and decide whether Max can be a part of her (hopefully sex tape–free) future. Dayton crafts a terrific hero: Tess is both independent and vulnerable, unapologetically work-driven and sex-positive, with a lot of love to give. Max has a rich backstory of his own, involving an ex-fiancee–turned–platonic pal, a Robin Hood–esque deed that wreaked havoc on his professional reputation, and a desire to connect with Tess that results in sweet romantic gestures and genuine devotion as she gradually lets her guard down. Each member of the protagonist’s personal network of supportive women—not only Abigail and Kat, but also Tess’ mother and the hero’s favorite local bartender—is memorable in her own right.

A sexy and satisfying read from beginning to end.