Romance Mini Reviews: Slightly Off-Limits

I am not the biggest fan of off-limits romances but when they are only slightly so, I can enjoy them because they add a bit of angst without it being overwhelming. I am also old though and I just cannot with romances involving really young people, so the books I read with off-limits romances only involve people who have been adults for at least a few years.

Disturbing His Peace by Tessa Bailey

Published by Avon, 2018

This is the third in Tessa Bailey’s The Academy trilogy and by far my favourite. The Off-Limits-factor is that Danika is a recruit and Greer one of her teachers but it isn’t icky because they are both adults (and have been a while) and she doesn’t take any crap from him. I really enjoy Bailey’s writing and I do love how very much into each other these two are.

4 out of 5 stars

Content warning: Attempted assault, child abandonment (backstory)

Pretty Face by Lucy Parker

Published by Carina Press, 2017

I love, love, love Lucy Parker’s romances: they are funny and lovely and super charming. In this one Luc Savage casts Lily Lamprey for her first West End role after playing a rather sexual role in a TV show – and as such dating her director would be absolutely catastrophic for her reputation. These two are not the biggest fans of each other in the beginning but they have a ridiculous amount of chemistry – and I loved them.

4 out of 5 stars

Content warning: slut shaming (always challenged), harassment, heart attack, death of a loved one

The Trouble with Love by Claire Contreras

Published May 2019

This was lovely – but also kind of forgettable. Morgan is starting her dream job at the company she has always wanted to work at – but her boss’ son is not only her brother’s best friend but her one-night-stand from a year ago. Bennett is relatively newly divorced and really does not believe in love any more – and he thinks that his best friend’s younger sister is seriously off-limits for him. Obviously this is not how it works out. I enjoyed how clever and driven Morgan is and I did like how very nice these two are to each other. I don’t love this whole idea that you should never ever sleep with your friends’ sisters – because that frames sex as something at least slightly shameful and degrading you shouldn’t be doing to a woman who has any connection to a man you know and I am not here for that. I am also not the biggest fan of the “super evil ex-wife” trope though and as such could not really warm to the book as a whole.

3 out of 5 stars

Content warning: Infidelity (back story), infertility, drug addiction (back story), child abandonment (back story), prostitution (mostly respectful), stalking