I loved The Flatshare and so I was excited to read O’Leary’s new book, The Wake-Up Call, and it is wonderful. It’s about Izzy and Lucas, arch rival receptionists trying to save the hotel they love and their jobs. I enjoyed it because it’s a sweet, enemies to lovers romance that’s full of charm and low on angst.

A year ago, Izzy was crushing on Lucas, and wrote him a letter to let him know how much she liked him and hoped he might feel the same way about her. It was Christmas and she asked him to meet her under the mistletoe, but something went wrong (we’re not sure what yet) but they did not become a couple. A year later, they are competitive at work and always trying to outdo the other. They do things to get a rise out of each other, like when he rearranges all of the icons on her computer or when they ‘accidentally’ bump into each other and both end up in the swimming pool and I found their daily banter and antics really funny. 

The family hotel where they work has been struggling and is in desperate need of renovation. It’s so run down that when Izzy and Lucas are discussing decorations for an upcoming wedding (Izzy wants more decorations, Lucas wants less) half of the ceiling falls down. Luckily no one is hurt, but the owners decide to make repairs. They raise extra funds by selling some antiques and ask Izzy and Lucas to help with odd jobs including cleaning out the lost property room. When they find four wedding rings in the lost and found, Izzy decides to find the owners. The owner of the first ring is so thankful, he offers the hotel a huge reward! I loved the grand adventure as they looked for the owners of all the rings.

Lucas is a handsome Brazilian that’s serious about his work but gets grumpy, especially with Izzy. He has an uncle who helped out his family when his father died, but is pressuring Lucas, telling him he needs to work harder if he wants to be a success. Lucas is good with computers and spreadsheets but it’s hard for him to open up about his feelings and he was seriously hurt by an ex-girlfriend who called him ‘cold hearted’. Luckily, Izzy thinks Lucas is pretty hot! Izzy is creative and caring and so upbeat, even while she is afraid of losing her job and close friends at the hotel. This has classic grumpy/sunshine action, which I loved.

My favorite part of the story is when Izzy and Lucas make a bet with each other that whoever returns the next ring gets to have things there way for a day and it had me laughing out loud. There were sparks flying between them and things got spicy. Izzy admires how tall and gorgeous Lucas is and thinks there’s no harm in having a fling. Lucas thinks Izzy is beautiful and smells like cinnamon sugar.

The story was a little predictable but that didn’t bother me. I enjoyed the back and forth slow burn and wanted to see them happy together. There’s a group of colorful characters at the hotel and even a quick cameo from Tiffy from The Flatshare. There was a ‘big misunderstanding’ that I wished they had talked about sooner, but the ending is big, wonderful and satisfying. This book will lift your spirits and I recommend it to readers looking for a happy and upbeat romcom with humor that had me smiling the whole way through.