This is the first romance novel marketed as such that I ever read. The notion that marriage is the hallmark of successful love gets on my nerves. Still, I couldn't in good conscience giving it less than three stars, because I did enjoy reading it. It felt very much like watching an American TV series: witty characters with truly good hearts, high disposable incomes, constantly drinking coffee in take-away-cups and eating doughnuts. Engaging dialogues, identity politics, and frequent and 'didactic' nods to racial politics and safe sex behaviours. And a lot, a lot of drama around having feelings, not having feelings, and having feelings about having or not having feelings. The sex scenes are pretty sexy. Sometimes that's just what you want.