REVIEW: Technically Yours by Denise Williams

In Technically Yours by Denise Williams, Pearl Harris had run from her job because she was attracted to her boss but didn’t want to put her heart before her mind. The attraction was mutual. Seven years later, she’s back in town and is working at OurCode, a non-profit that attempts to get high school students interested in coding. After a scandal breaks out because the director was involved with a board member and engaged in some shady dealings, Pearl is promoted to acting director. She soon discovers that the man she ran from years earlier is the brand-new board member.

Cord Matthews gets roped into joining the board of OurCode because he owned another board member a favor. Abby, the person he was seeing, convinces him to also become a coding mentor to take over their mentee, which turns out to be Pearl’s nephew, Tye. After seven years of pining for the one who got away, Cord sees this as his chance to finally go after the woman he’s always wanted. Both are forced to face the past and the feelings that never went away, but OurCode can’t afford another scandal, and Pearl will have to decide if it’s finally time to put her heart before her mind.

One of my issues with the book was that while I liked that the author tried to be inclusive, almost everyone in the book was referred to as they/them/their. For those who are not aware, these are gender-neutral pronouns. I would have no issue with that; however, it’s not initially made clear that these people are non-binary, transgender, or that they just prefer to use gender neutral pronouns. For example, Cord was dating Abby and then referred to her as they. It threw me off at first because I wasn’t expecting it and I thought maybe there was a typo, but when it happened repeatedly, I realized why it was written that way. I feel like there are other readers out there who may be thrown off by this as well and will believe that there are typos, especially if they may not be aware of gender-neutral pronouns. It is mentioned later in the story that the program wanted to focus on kids that are part of the LGBTQIA community; I feel that if this was mentioned much earlier in the story, it would make things clearer and lead to less confusion.

That being said, there were many times I was tempted to mark this book as a DNF and call it a day. The main reason was Pearl. She is, to put it nicely, a hypocrite. First, she runs away from her job at Cord’s company because she doesn’t want to date the boss, only to then move across the country and date her new boss. Her reasoning behind this doesn’t make much sense. The previous director gets fired, in part for sleeping with a board member. Then here’s Pearl, the acting director, sleeping with Cord at a retreat for the board members, after another board member makes a speech about how the non-profit cannot afford another scandal. Let’s not get started on the number of times she stated they have to keep things on the downlow, yet keeps pulling him into her office where they almost get caught in positions that would not look good for them because she can’t be bothered to lock the door or be professional and restrict their relationship to outside of the office.

I also was not a fan of how she treated Cord overall. She treats him like a yo-yo, pushing him away and then pulling him back. While I liked Cord and thought he was a sweet guy, I also wanted him to grow a spine and finally put his foot down, because he didn’t deserve to be treated the way he was through the whole book, including in the epilogue, which took place three years later. I honestly could not figure out why he had been obsessed with her for seven years, nor the following three years they were together, because she’s not a likeable character. She singlehandedly ruined the book for me; I can’t recall a character in recent memory that I’ve disliked so much.

I also didn’t care for the jumping timeline. One chapter would be in the present, then another chapter would go back to when they first met, then it switched back to the present, then it would go back to another point in time. I think the author was trying to use the chapters about their past together to explain their history, but it was simply too much bouncing around and didn’t feel necessary, especially since they were never in a romantic relationship back then.

Something that is becoming a pet peeve of mine is when authors name two characters names that are similar or could be used as a nickname for the other character, which happens in this book. Pearl has a friend named Britta, but also has a sister named Bri. This can confuse readers, as they may think the author is talking about one character when they’re talking about a different one. I’ve seen a few authors do this recently, and I don’t understand the point of it, especially when there are so many other names out there to choose from.

Wes and Britta, the main couple from the author’s book, The Fastest Way, make a few appearances in this book. While this is not marked as being a part of a series, I’ve seen that Pearl and Cord are first introduced in that book. I haven’t read that book, so I can say that you can read Technically Yours without reading The Fastest Way first.

I loved how inclusive the book was, and I enjoyed Tye’s character and matchmaking attempts, but those were about the only things I enjoyed. I’m sure there will be readers who may be able to overlook the issues I had with it, but for me, it was a real struggle to make it through to the end.

Book Info:

Publication: December 5, 2023 | Berkley |

Pearl Harris has learned the hard way to be careful in work and in love. When she is appointed acting director of OurCode, a nonprofit aimed at inspiring high schoolers to code, she has a chance to make lasting change for the organization, but a scandal has put their reputation at risk. Further complicating matters, Pearl didn’t expect the one man she hasn’t stopped thinking about in seven years to be the newest member of her board of directors.

Cord Matthews fell for Pearl when they met in an elevator seven years ago. She’s just his type: smart, capable, and makes him laugh, but when she broke his heart, he decided love wasn’t for him. After five years with no contact, their connection is immediate despite the many roadblocks in their way and Cord must consider breaking his ban on serious relationships. But going public with a romance between them might derail Pearl’s career and the progress she’s made at OurCode.

Pearl and Cord both are hesitant to trust their feelings and take a risk as they grow closer, but it becomes impossible to keep ignoring the electricity between them. Cord is a skilled programmer, but a workplace romance might spell disaster for both of them, and love isn’t easily debugged.