Wrong Number, Right Woman Review | Jae | Is It Worth Reading?

Wrong Number, Right Woman by Jae — ★★★★½ 4.3 / 5

Weighted reader score across Amazon & Goodreads (5,793 combined ratings).

One accidental text message. A shy woman who can barely say two words to her crush in person. And a stranger on the other end of the line who slowly becomes the easiest person in the world to talk to.

If you love a gentle, low-angst, feel-good sapphic slow burn, Wrong Number, Right Woman by Jae is a comfort read at its coziest. A misdirected text sparks an unlikely connection between two women who never would have met otherwise, and Jae builds their romance the way she builds all of them — patiently, warmly, and with characters you genuinely root for.

Our take: A sweet, tension-light romance that trades drama for warmth and a truly gradual slow burn — ideal if you want soft and swoony, less ideal if you want fast-paced or high-stakes.

The Evidence Scorecard

Here is how Wrong Number, Right Woman holds up across the dimensions that matter most, drawn from 5,793 combined Amazon and Goodreads ratings and hundreds of written reviews.

Overall ★★★★½

Evidence:

  • ✓ Weighted 4.3/5 across 5,793 combined ratings
  • ✓ Amazon readers rate it an excellent 4.6/5 across 1,648 ratings
  • ✓ Goodreads community sits at 4.15/5 across 4,145 ratings
  • ✓ A reliable comfort-read favorite from a beloved sapphic-romance author

Romance ★★★★½

Evidence:

  • ✓ A wrong-number text that blossoms into a real connection
  • ✓ Two women who click over messages before they meet in person
  • ✓ Grumpy/shy-meets-warm dynamic with gentle chemistry
  • ✓ A love story built on genuine friendship first

Characters ★★★★½

Evidence:

  • ✓ Denny: shy, self-deprecating, and instantly endearing
  • ✓ Eliza: a single mom, grounded and warm
  • ✓ A well-drawn found-family and supporting cast
  • ✓ Realistic, low-drama adults readers find easy to love

Writing ★★★★

Evidence:

  • ✓ Jae’s signature clean, comforting prose
  • ✓ Natural, believable dialogue — especially the texting
  • ✓ Careful, methodical pacing some find a touch slow
  • ✓ Warm, character-first storytelling over plot fireworks

Emotional Impact ★★★★

Evidence:

  • ✓ Warm, comforting, and low on manufactured drama
  • ✓ The vulnerability of opening up to a stranger
  • ✓ Sweet single-mom and found-family beats
  • ✓ More cozy-heartwarming than gut-punch emotional

Heat Level ★★★

Evidence:

  • ✓ A low-heat, slow-building romance
  • ✓ Focus on emotional intimacy over explicit scenes
  • ✓ Tension carried by shyness and longing
  • ✓ Best for readers who want sweet over steamy

Ending ★★★★½

Evidence:

  • ✓ A satisfying, feel-good happily-ever-after
  • ✓ Both leads earn their resolution
  • ✓ No cliffhanger — a complete, cozy landing
  • ✓ A companion novella (Lucky Yellow Shoes) extends the world

Re-read Value ★★★★

Evidence:

  • ✓ A go-to comfort re-read for low-angst fans
  • ✓ Warm characters you’ll want to revisit
  • ✓ Reads standalone despite its series placement
  • ✓ Slow pace means less re-read urgency for some

Quick Facts

Title Wrong Number, Right Woman
Author Jae
Series Unexpected Love Series, Book 3 (reads as a standalone)
Published August 22, 2020
Length 370 pages
Genre Contemporary sapphic romance
Tropes Wrong number, slow burn, friends-to-lovers, low angst
Heat Level 3/10 — sweet, low heat
Weighted Score 4.3 / 5 (5,793 combined ratings)

You’ll Love This If…

  • ✓ You want a gentle, feel-good, low-angst sapphic romance
  • ✓ You love a truly gradual slow burn built on friendship
  • ✓ You enjoy a shy, endearing lead and a warm single mom
  • ✓ You like a wrong-number / texting meet-cute
  • ✓ You want a cozy comfort read with a guaranteed HEA

Avoid If…

  • You want a fast-paced, plot-driven romance
  • You prefer high angst, big conflict, or lots of drama
  • You’re looking for high heat rather than sweet
  • A very slow build tests your patience

Book Synopsis

Denny has a hopeless crush on the beautiful bus driver she sees every day — but she’s far too shy to do anything but make a fool of herself whenever she tries to speak up. Then one day she receives a text from an unknown number: a woman asking for a second opinion on a date outfit. Denny knows she should say the message went to the wrong person… but she answers anyway.

The stranger on the other end is Eliza, a single mother juggling work, kids, and a love life that isn’t going the way she hoped. What starts as an accidental exchange turns into a daily lifeline of messages, and the two women find themselves confiding in each other in ways they can’t with anyone else. As their connection deepens, they have to decide whether the easiest relationship in their lives could survive meeting face to face.

My Review

Wrong Number, Right Woman by Jae book coverJae has built an entire career on a specific promise: comforting, character-driven sapphic romance with likable people and no unnecessary drama — and Wrong Number, Right Woman delivers exactly that. The wrong-number premise is a clever engine for a slow burn, because it lets Denny and Eliza build genuine intimacy through words before they ever have to navigate the terrifying reality of meeting in person. It’s a romance built on friendship first, and that foundation makes the eventual payoff feel earned.

Denny is the heart of the book. Her shyness is rendered with real tenderness — the way she rehearses conversations, freezes up, and self-deprecates is painfully relatable, and it’s deeply satisfying to watch her gain confidence through her connection with Eliza. Eliza, as a grounded single mom, brings warmth and a lived-in realism that keeps the story from ever feeling twee.

If there’s a catch, it’s the pace. This is a slow burn in the fullest sense — one reader memorably described it as what you’d get if a slow burn and a staring contest had a baby. Jae’s storytelling is methodical, and some readers can feel the plot being carefully plotted rather than swept up in it. If you want tension and forward momentum, that patience may frustrate.

But for the audience this book is written for — readers who want to sink into something soft, warm, and low-stakes with a guaranteed happy ending — it’s a lovely comfort read. It won’t reinvent the genre, and it doesn’t try to. It just wants to make you smile, and it succeeds.

What Readers Are Saying

With nearly 5,800 combined ratings and hundreds of written reviews across Amazon and Goodreads, Wrong Number, Right Woman is one of Jae’s most warmly received books — a 4.6 on Amazon and 4.15 on Goodreads. The praise is consistent, but so are a few specific reservations worth knowing about.

What readers love

  • ✓ It’s a genuine feel-good, cavity-sweet comfort read — readers finish it smiling
  • ✓ Denny’s shyness is endearing and relatable, and her arc is a favorite
  • ✓ The texting/wrong-number premise feels fresh and charming
  • ✓ Low angst and low drama — a soothing, stress-free romance
  • ✓ Jae’s reliable, likable characters and clean writing

The criticisms and reservations

  • The number-one critique: it’s extremely slow — one reader called it “a slow burn and a staring contest” combined
  • Some feel it takes far too long for anything to actually happen between the leads
  • A recurring note that Jae’s plotting can feel methodical or formulaic, so you sense the structure
  • Readers wanting conflict or high stakes find it too gentle and low-drama
  • The low heat level disappoints readers hoping for something steamier

The net-net: this is a book that knows its lane and stays in it. Readers who want cozy, sweet, and low-angst adore it; readers who want pace, tension, or heat are the ones most likely to find it slow. Match your mood to the book and it rarely disappoints.

Romance Profile

Central Pairing Denny & Eliza
Dynamic Shy admirer & grounded single mom; strangers-to-friends-to-lovers
Trope Engine Wrong-number text + slow-burn friendship
Pace of Romance Very slow — a gradual, patient build
Heat 3/10 — sweet, low heat
Ending Feel-good HEA; standalone

Emotional Profile

  • ✓ Cozy, comforting warmth over high drama
  • ✓ The safety of opening up to someone through words
  • ✓ Gentle growth in confidence and self-worth
  • ✓ Found-family and single-mom tenderness
  • ✓ A soft, reassuring glow throughout

Content Warnings

  • Social anxiety and low self-esteem
  • References to a past unsupportive relationship
  • Everyday parenting and financial stress
  • Mild coming-out and identity themes

The Book’s DNA

Setting Contemporary everyday life — work, buses, family
Structure Dual-POV, character-driven, texting-forward
Vibe Cozy, sweet, low-angst, feel-good
Romance Flavor Gentle sapphic slow burn
Best Read When You want comfort and calm, not chaos

If You Loved Wrong Number, Right Woman, Try…

For more sapphic reads, browse our full guide to lesbian forced proximity romance, and if you love a slow-burn reunion just as much, don’t miss our Sapphic Second Chance Romance Books roundup.

About the Author

Jae is one of the most prolific and popular authors in the sapphic romance world, known for warm, character-driven love stories with low angst and reliably happy endings. Across dozens of books spanning contemporary, historical, and paranormal romance, she has built a devoted readership who return to her work for comfort and consistency — and Wrong Number, Right Woman is one of her most-loved contemporary titles.

Read more Jae reviews →

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Wrong Number, Right Woman a standalone?

Yes. Although it’s listed within Jae’s Unexpected Love Series, it reads completely as a standalone with its own self-contained story and a happy ending. A companion novella, Lucky Yellow Shoes, extends the world.

Is the romance sapphic?

Yes. It’s an f/f romance between Denny and Eliza, and their relationship is the central focus of the book.

How spicy is it?

Low heat — around 3/10. The romance is sweet and emotionally focused, with intimacy that stays fairly understated.

What is the wrong-number premise?

Shy Denny receives a text meant for someone else — a woman named Eliza asking for outfit advice — and instead of correcting the mistake, she replies, sparking a slow-building connection.

Is it really that slow?

Yes, and that’s the most common critique. It’s a very gradual slow burn, so readers who want fast pacing or lots of conflict may find it too gentle.

Is it low angst?

Very. Jae is known for low-drama, feel-good romance, and this book is a prime example — ideal as a comfort read.

What’s the weighted rating?

It earns a weighted 4.3/5 across 5,793 combined Amazon and Goodreads ratings — 4.6/5 on Amazon and 4.15/5 on Goodreads.

Where should I start with Jae?

Wrong Number, Right Woman is a great entry point for readers who want cozy contemporary romance; The Roommate Arrangement is another popular standalone in a similar vein.

Final Verdict

Wrong Number, Right Woman is exactly the book its fans want it to be: a warm, gentle, low-angst sapphic slow burn that turns an accidental text into a genuinely lovely friendship-first romance. Denny’s shy, self-deprecating charm carries the whole story, and Jae’s reliable, comforting storytelling makes it an easy comfort read to sink into. The pace is very slow — that’s the trade-off, and the one thing that will make or break it for you — and it won’t satisfy readers craving drama or heat. But taken on its own cozy terms, it’s a sweet, feel-good win: 4.3 / 5.

Where to Buy

Buy Wrong Number, Right Woman on Amazon

Note: This is not an affiliate link — we don’t earn a commission. We link to Amazon purely so you can find the book easily. If sharing close quarters is your kind of slow burn, see more sapphic roommates-to-lovers romance in our roundup. If a friendship tipping into something more is your favorite arc, see more friends-to-lovers sapphic romance in our roundup.

The Priory of the Orange Tree Review | Samantha Shannon | Is It Worth Reading?

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon — ★★★★ 4.2 / 5

Weighted reader score across Amazon & Goodreads (321,667 combined ratings).

A secret mage planted in a queen’s court, sworn to guard her from within arm’s reach. A frosty monarch who doesn’t know her protector is falling for her. And a doomsday dragon stirring beneath the sea while an entire world edges toward war.

If you love an epic, slow-simmering forced-proximity romance woven into sweeping high fantasy, The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon belongs at the top of your list. This is forced proximity on a grand scale: a bodyguard bound to a queen’s side across hundreds of pages of shared silence, quiet protection, and slowly thawing trust.

Our take: A standalone doorstopper that rewards patience with one of fantasy’s most quietly devastating sapphic slow burns — provided you don’t mind a very long road to get there.

The Evidence Scorecard

Here is how The Priory of the Orange Tree holds up across the dimensions that matter most, based on 321,667 combined Amazon and Goodreads ratings and thousands of written reviews.

Overall ★★★★

Evidence:

  • ✓ Weighted 4.2/5 across a massive sample of 321,667 ratings
  • ✓ Amazon readers rate it 4.5/5 across 25,173 ratings
  • ✓ Goodreads community sits at 4.16/5 across 296,494 ratings
  • ✓ A modern-classic reputation as a landmark standalone sapphic fantasy

Romance ★★★★

Evidence:

  • ✓ A canonical, central sapphic romance between Ead and Queen Sabran
  • ✓ Textbook forced proximity: a bodyguard sworn to stay at the queen’s side
  • ✓ Enemies-to-lovers frost that thaws over hundreds of pages
  • ✓ A payoff readers describe as tender and hard-won rather than rushed

Characters ★★★★

Evidence:

  • ✓ A large ensemble spanning four POV characters across two hemispheres
  • ✓ Ead Duryan: disciplined, secretive, fiercely loyal mage-protector
  • ✓ Sabran Berethnet: a queen weighed down by duty and dynasty
  • ✓ Complex secondary players (Tané, Loth, Niclays) with their own arcs

Writing ★★★★

Evidence:

  • ✓ Lush, formal prose that many readers call immersive and cinematic
  • ✓ Meticulous, self-contained worldbuilding across rival cultures
  • ✓ A dual East/West mythology of dragons that reframes the genre
  • ✓ Some readers find the density and page count demanding

Emotional Impact ★★★★

Evidence:

  • ✓ Longing built on restraint rather than constant contact
  • ✓ A slow accumulation of trust that readers find quietly wrenching
  • ✓ High stakes: duty, dynasty, and the survival of the world itself
  • ✓ Several reviewers report finishing in a lingering emotional haze

Heat Level ★★★

Evidence:

  • ✓ A subtle, low-heat romance — devotion over explicit scenes
  • ✓ Tension carried by proximity, restraint, and stolen moments
  • ✓ Intimacy that fades tastefully rather than lingering on the page
  • ✓ Best for readers who want yearning more than spice

Ending ★★★★

Evidence:

  • ✓ A fully resolved, standalone conclusion — no cliffhanger
  • ✓ Both the romance and the world-threat arcs are paid off
  • ✓ Some readers feel the climax arrives quickly after a long build
  • ✓ A satisfying landing point that needs no sequel to feel complete

Re-read Value ★★★★

Evidence:

  • ✓ Dense worldbuilding rewards a second, slower pass
  • ✓ Foreshadowing and lore land harder once you know the destination
  • ✓ A comfort re-read for fans of the Ead/Sabran dynamic
  • ✓ At 848 pages, a significant but beloved time investment

Quick Facts

Title The Priory of the Orange Tree
Author Samantha Shannon
Series The Roots of Chaos, Book 1 (reads as a standalone)
Published February 26, 2019
Length 848 pages
Genre Epic / high fantasy with sapphic romance
Tropes Forced proximity, bodyguard/queen, enemies-to-lovers, slow burn
Heat Level 3/10 — low heat, high longing
Weighted Score 4.2 / 5 (321,667 combined ratings)

You’ll Love This If…

  • ✓ You want a sweeping epic fantasy with a central sapphic romance
  • ✓ You love a slow-burn bodyguard-and-queen dynamic built on restraint
  • ✓ You prefer devotion and yearning over explicit heat
  • ✓ You enjoy dense, self-contained worldbuilding and dragon lore
  • ✓ You want a standalone doorstopper that resolves without a sequel

Avoid If…

  • You want a fast-paced, plot-forward read — this is a long, patient build
  • You’re here mainly for spice; the romance is low-heat and understated
  • 848 pages and a large ensemble cast feel daunting
  • You prefer the romance front-and-center rather than one thread in a wider epic

Book Synopsis

In the divided world of the Roots of Chaos, Queen Sabran the Ninth rules the Western realm of Inys, where her bloodline is believed to hold an ancient dragon at bay. Unmarried and without an heir, Sabran is beset by assassins — and unknown to her, one of her closest attendants is Ead Duryan, a mage secretly sent from a hidden order to protect her. Bound to remain at the queen’s side, Ead guards Sabran with forbidden magic while concealing her true loyalties.

Half a world away, dragon-rider Tané trains for a life she has always dreamed of, even as a long-buried threat begins to wake beneath the sea. As East and West are forced toward an uneasy reckoning, Ead and Sabran’s wary alliance deepens into something neither expected — a bond that could decide whether their world survives at all.

My Review

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon book coverSome romances live in a single room; this one lives in a queen’s entire court. What makes The Priory of the Orange Tree such a distinctive forced-proximity read is that Ead cannot simply walk away from Sabran — her whole purpose, her cover, and eventually her heart require her to stay within arm’s reach. The romance is built not from grand declarations but from proximity itself: shared silences, small acts of protection, and a trust that has to be earned inch by inch across hundreds of pages.

Sabran begins as icy and untouchable, a monarch armored in duty, and the gradual crack in that armor is the emotional engine of the book. Shannon takes her time — a lot of time — letting distrust give way to reliance and reliance to love. For readers who savor a slow burn, the restraint is the reward; when the two finally reach for each other, it lands precisely because so much was withheld.

Around that central thread runs a genuinely epic tapestry: rival dragon mythologies, a doomsday threat rising from the deep, court intrigue, and a large ensemble whose arcs eventually converge. The worldbuilding is meticulous and self-contained, which is part of why so many readers treasure it — but it’s also why the book asks for patience. This is not a quick read, and it isn’t trying to be.

The heat level is low; this is devotion, not spice. If you come expecting a steamy contemporary, you’ll be surprised. But if you want a sapphic love story with the scale and weight of high fantasy behind it — one that ends fully resolved, with no sequel required — Priory earns its reputation as a modern landmark. It rewards the reader willing to settle in for the long haul.

What Readers Are Saying

With more than 320,000 ratings and tens of thousands of written reviews across Amazon and Goodreads, The Priory of the Orange Tree has one of the largest and most vocal reader followings in modern sapphic fantasy. The response is overwhelmingly warm — but it is far from unanimous, and the criticisms are consistent enough to be worth taking seriously.

What readers love

  • ✓ The Ead-and-Sabran slow burn — readers call it tender, restrained, and worth the wait
  • ✓ A rare epic fantasy where the central romance is unapologetically sapphic
  • ✓ Rich, self-contained worldbuilding with a fresh East/West dragon mythology
  • ✓ A satisfying standalone that resolves without demanding a sequel
  • ✓ Lush, immersive prose that many describe as cinematic and transporting

The criticisms and negative opinions

  • Length is the number-one complaint — many readers find 848 pages simply too long and the middle draggy
  • Pacing is uneven: a very slow build followed by a climax some feel arrives too quickly
  • One recurring word in critical reviews is “inelegant” — a sense the sprawling plot is a bit of a mess
  • The large ensemble and multiple POVs leave some characters feeling thin or underdeveloped
  • A vocal minority calls it overhyped, arguing the payoff doesn’t justify the page count

The net-net: readers who go in wanting a patient, immersive epic with a quietly devastating sapphic romance tend to adore it; readers who want tight pacing or a spice-forward love story are the ones most likely to bounce off. Know which camp you’re in before you commit to the doorstopper.

Romance Profile

Central Pairing Ead Duryan & Queen Sabran the Ninth
Dynamic Secret bodyguard & the queen she guards
Trope Engine Forced proximity + enemies-to-lovers + slow burn
Pace of Romance Very slow — a book-long build
Heat 3/10 — low, understated, fade-to-black
Ending Resolved and hopeful; standalone

Emotional Profile

  • ✓ Longing and restraint over instant gratification
  • ✓ The ache of duty pulling against desire
  • ✓ Slow-building trust between two guarded women
  • ✓ High-stakes tension — personal and world-ending at once
  • ✓ A dreamy, lingering afterglow readers report on finishing

Content Warnings

  • Fantasy violence, battle, and peril
  • Death of characters and grief
  • Political intrigue, assassination attempts
  • Some body horror / plague imagery
  • References to persecution and religious extremism

The Book’s DNA

Setting A divided quasi-Early-Modern fantasy world of rival dragon cultures
Structure Four POVs across East and West, slowly converging
Vibe Epic, formal, immersive, patient
Forced-Proximity Flavor Bodyguard sworn to the queen’s side
Best Read When You have time to sink into a long, rewarding epic

If You Loved The Priory of the Orange Tree, Try…

  • The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri — lush sapphic epic fantasy with rebellion and slow-burn romance
  • The Unbroken by C. L. Clark — a soldier-and-princess dynamic charged with power and tension
  • She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan — sweeping historical fantasy with queer ambition
  • Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir — genre-bending sapphic fantasy with a prickly slow burn
  • A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske — magical romance with forced-proximity charm (m/m, same energy)

For more like this, browse our full guide to lesbian forced proximity romance, and if you love a slow-burn reunion just as much, don’t miss our Sapphic Second Chance Romance Books roundup.

About the Author

Samantha Shannon is a British author best known for The Bone Season series and for The Priory of the Orange Tree, the standalone epic that became a word-of-mouth phenomenon for its scale and its central sapphic romance. She later returned to the world with the prequel A Day of Fallen Night, but Priory remains the entry point most readers reach for first.

Read more Samantha Shannon reviews →

Frequently Asked Questions

Is The Priory of the Orange Tree a standalone?

Yes. Although it’s labeled Book 1 of The Roots of Chaos, it tells a complete story and resolves fully — you can read it entirely on its own. The later book A Day of Fallen Night is a prequel rather than a direct sequel.

Is the romance actually sapphic?

Yes. The central romance is between Ead Duryan and Queen Sabran, and it’s a canonical, on-page f/f love story woven through the main plot rather than a side note.

How is this “forced proximity”?

Ead is secretly planted in the queen’s court as a hidden bodyguard and is required to stay close to Sabran at nearly all times. Their relationship develops precisely because duty keeps them within arm’s reach across the whole book.

How spicy is it?

Not very — roughly 3/10. The romance is built on longing, restraint, and devotion, with intimacy that fades to black rather than lingering on the page.

Is it worth the 848 pages?

For readers who love immersive epic fantasy and a patient slow burn, most say yes. If you want fast pacing or a spice-forward romance, the length is the most common sticking point.

Do I need to like fantasy to enjoy it?

Largely, yes. This is epic fantasy first, with the romance as a major thread — readers who don’t enjoy dense worldbuilding tend to struggle with the page count.

What’s the weighted rating?

It earns a weighted 4.2/5 across 321,667 combined Amazon and Goodreads ratings — 4.5/5 on Amazon and 4.16/5 on Goodreads.

Where should I start with Samantha Shannon?

Priory is the most popular starting point for readers drawn to the sapphic romance and standalone format; The Bone Season is her other major series if you prefer urban fantasy.

Final Verdict

The Priory of the Orange Tree is a landmark sapphic epic that turns forced proximity into something grand: a bodyguard and a queen, bound together by duty until duty becomes devotion. It asks for patience — 848 pages of it — and a tolerance for sprawling worldbuilding and uneven pacing. But for readers who settle in, the reward is a tender, restraint-driven slow burn set against genuinely epic stakes, delivered as a complete standalone. If you want your sapphic romance with the full weight of high fantasy behind it, this earns its place on the shelf: 4.2 / 5.

Where to Buy

Buy The Priory of the Orange Tree on Amazon

Note: This is not an affiliate link — we don’t earn a commission. We link to Amazon purely so you can find the book easily. If that sharp, adversarial spark is your catnip, browse more enemies-to-lovers sapphic romance in our roundup. If the protector-and-protectee dynamic hooks you, browse more lesbian bodyguard romance in our roundup.

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