The very nice box

This nicely hard-to-define joint debut combines workplace satire, steamy romance, and genuine suspense. Ava designs boxes for STÄDA, a minimalist, Brooklyn-based furniture company producing items that punctuate the whole book, like the Sensible Bento Box, Encouraging Desk Chair, and Ava's "Passion Project," the Very Nice Box. Ava tightly manages her days in 30-minute units, and loves her work, her dog, and little else. Enter STÄDA's new marketing hire, Mat, a relentlessly positive young bro-boss fluent in the confounding self-improvement lingo that Ava despises. Ava first resists Mat's attempts to incorporate marketing into her engineering work, and then his seeming efforts to woo her--it's been ages since she dated a man, and she hasn't been with anyone, period, since she tragically lost her fiancée and parents in a car accident. But Mat is supportive, charming, handsome, and determined, and Ava's new STÄDA-sponsored text-therapy app, SHRNK, encourages her to break down her walls. Gleichman and Blackett irresistibly and unpredictably entertain with surprising plot twists and lots of diverting scenery in the goings-on at STÄDA and its relatably droll office culture.

The limits of self-preservation and the giddiness of new attraction collide in Blackett and Gleichman's sharp debut. Ava Simon designs boxes for a trendy Brooklyn furniture company, but her life barely extends beyond her workspace. Her girlfriend and parents died in a car accident the year before, and Ava has been compartmentalizing her grief and emotional needs ever since. But when charismatic corporate-bro Mat takes over the department, everything changes--right down to Ava's sense of self. He insists Ava has been denying herself the joy she deserves and convinces her to work less, relax more, and allow herself to fully heal. Soon, a mutual attraction simmers between the two. Mat is not who Ava expected to love, and she initially resists his attempts to get her to open up about her grief, but he remains steadfast in encouraging Ava to be her truest self. But is something sinister lurking beneath Mat's generosity and kindness? The authors play their cards carefully, balancing the buoyancy of infatuation with subtle red flags and red herrings. Blending comedy, thriller, and romance to great and surprising effect, this should have wide appeal. (July)