Annie and Will are coworkers and rivals competing for the same promotion. They cannot stand each other. When a work retreat forces them to be fake-partners for a team-building exercise, the lines between real and pretend start to blur. Sarah Adams's most banter-forward novel.
Light heat — the rivals dynamic and banter are the main draw.
Skip if you dislike:
Moods: Banter-Filled Fun Rivals to Lovers Cozy
Tropes: Rivals to Lovers Fake Relationship Secret Feelings Opposites Attract
Yes, standalone.
Different universe — no shared characters.
Light and playful rather than truly antagonistic — more competitive tension than genuine animosity.
Every Sort By Cravings guide is written after a full read-through — not scraped from publisher blurbs or Amazon summaries. We map tropes directly from the text, cross-reference BookTok and Goodreads reader reactions across 500+ community posts, and calibrate heat ratings against reader consensus before publishing. Mood tags, spice numbers, and “skip if” notes reflect actual reading experience. Read our editorial standards.
