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If something feels too good to be true, there’s a good chance that it is. And in the romantic comedy A Lot to Unpack by author Portia MacIntosh, a heartbroken young woman’s perfect new job turns out to be far from what it seems.
The story finds Liberty starting a fabulous new job at Matcher, the dating app that led her to break up with her former boyfriend and quit her job at the company where they both worked. At first, she’s paid just to travel the world and explore new cities. But then her boss gives her a big, important job: traveling to New York City to work closely with her boss’s business partner and ex-husband, Jordan, and switch a couple of contracts without him knowing. And the more time she spends with Jordan, the less she wants to trick him.
As Liberty repeatedly tries (and fails) to find clever ways to switch the contracts, her antics are often laugh-out-loud funny. She’s foiled time and time again as each call from her boss gets more and more ominous. Meanwhile, the more she gets to know Jordan, the happier Liberty is just to be in his company—and the more she begins to question whether her boss is telling the truth about his personality and his intentions.
While the story is light and entertaining, though, the premise is pretty thin. From the beginning, Liberty’s job is questionable—until it becomes clear that she’s been hired to keep an eye on her boss’s ex. Still, everything about her trip to New York is hard to believe. Liberty is told that her boss—in a fit of heartbreak and rage over the divorce—did a search and replace on an important contract, accidentally putting the company and all of its employees at risk. But if that were the case, the espionage seems unnecessary—even in an apparently messy divorce.
Overall, the story is a little messy, meandering from Liberty’s bad breakup to her ill-fated dates and her awkward family gatherings to her experiences with Jordan in New York. This isn’t the author’s most seamless novel. But it still has enough humor and romance to keep rom-com fans entertained.
A Lot to Unpack isn’t the author’s best work. It takes a while to figure out where it’s heading—and, even then, it feels a little unfocused. But if you’re just looking for some laughs and a little romance, it’s still a fun read.
Listen to the review on Shelf Discovery:
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