Book Review: Let's Kiss and Tell by Joss Richard

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Rating: 5/5 stars

Spice Level: 4/5

Tropes: Fake Dating, Slow Burn, Workplace Romance, Friends to Lovers, Forbidden Romance

I went into Let's Kiss and Tell expecting a fun, breezy summer read. What I got was so much more than that. I picked it up and had a hard time setting it down. I closed this book feeling a little changed by it. That doesn't happen often enough.

This is the second novel from USA Today bestselling author Joss Richard, and if you loved her debut It's Different This Time (which earned a spot on the 2026 Canada Reads shortlist, by the way), you are going to love this one just as much. It is a different kind of story, lighter and sexier and full of sharp banter, but it has the same emotional depth and richly drawn characters that made her first book so special. Richard has a gift for writing people who feel genuinely real, and that gift is on full display here.

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The Story

Lucy Reid is a sex columnist who has built her entire career around one central message: you do not need a partner to be happy. She celebrates female sexuality, encourages her readers to own their desires without apology, and she means every word of it. Lucy is not performing confidence. She is confident. She loves sex. She has made a career of talking about sex. And she is completely, stubbornly, deliberately uninterested in romantic relationships.

Then her editor delivers some uncomfortable news. Their readership has shifted. The audience is mostly coupled up now, and they want content that reflects that. Lucy needs to write about relationships, not just sex. To buy herself time, she does what any panic-stricken columnist would do: she lies. She claims she is already in a new relationship.

Enter Marshall Oakley.

Marshall is the new senior news writer at Lucy's company. They meet at a work event, and in a moment of mutual vulnerability, Lucy learns that Marshall's ex of nine years is getting married. He needs a date to the wedding to keep his family from asking questions and to prove to himself, and maybe to her, that he has moved on. The arrangement they strike is straightforward. Lucy gets the relationship content her editor is asking for. Marshall gets a plus-one for the wedding. They keep it professional. They keep it non-physical. They keep it simple.

It is not simple.

What Makes This Book So Good

I want to talk about Lucy for a moment, because she genuinely deserves it. Female characters who celebrate their sexuality without shame or apology still feel rarer than they should in fiction, and Lucy is written with such conviction that reading her felt almost cathartic. There were moments in this book where I wanted to pump my fist in the air as Lucy called out the social stigma around female sexuality and pushed back against the idea that a woman's worth is tied to her relationship status. It never feels preachy. It feels earned. Joss Richard writes it into the fabric of who Lucy is rather than making it a soapbox moment.

Lucy's complicated relationship with love itself is just as well-handled. Growing up watching her parents struggle shaped her into someone who keeps romance at a firm distance. She has constructed an entire worldview around the idea that relationships are a trap. The real emotional arc of this book is watching that wall come down, brick by brick, without ever feeling like Lucy has betrayed who she is.

Marshall is a wonderful counterpart to her. He is kind, emotionally present, and not at all threatened by who Lucy is. Their dynamic is one of the healthiest I have read in a while, which is a little bit ironic given that their entire relationship is technically built on a lie. They support each other. They make each other better. They are genuinely good together. And that is exactly the problem for Lucy, because she keeps telling herself that the ease between them only exists because none of it is real.

The Slow Burn and the Spice

If you are here for the tension, this book delivers. Richard takes her time with the build, and it is absolutely worth it. Lucy and Marshall establish firm boundaries early on. No physical involvement. No real feelings. No complications. Watching those boundaries slowly, almost imperceptibly shift is a masterclass in slow burn writing. Add in the fact that their employer has a strict policy about workplace relationships, giving them a genuine professional reason to keep their distance, and the stakes feel real.

The spice, when it arrives, does not disappoint. I would rate the spice a 4 out of 5. It is steamy and intimate and it fits the characters, which is the most important thing.

A Worthy Follow-Up to It's Different This Time

Readers who fell in love with Joss Richard's debut already know what she is capable of. It's Different This Time was a sweeping, emotional love story, and it connected with readers in a big way. Let's Kiss and Tell is a deliberate shift in tone, something Richard has spoken about wanting to do. This one is funnier, faster, and spicier, but it has all the same heart underneath. It proves that Richard is not a one-trick writer. She can do emotional devastation and she can do romantic comedy, and apparently she can do both in the same breath.

If you have been waiting for your next summer read, this is it. Contemporary romance lovers, this one belongs on your shelf.

You can find Joss Richard on her website at jossrichard.com.

I received an advance copy of this book from Dell Publishing, an imprint of Penguin Random House, in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.