Star Rating:
5 Stars
Genre:
Contemporary Romance
Synopsis:
Dr. Rue Siebert might not have it all, but she has enough, including a few friends she can always count on. She works as a biotech engineer in the field of food science.
Eli and his business partners want Kline, Rue’s company, and they’ll stop at nothing. They have their reasons, and Eli gets what he wants. That is except for one exception, Rue. The woman always on his mind, and also off-limits.
Torn between loyalty and undeniable attraction, Rue and Eli throw caution out of the window for a no-strings attached steamy relationship.
Thoughts:
Every single time a new Ali Hazelwood book comes out, I immediately binge it, and then I say “this is my favorite one yet”. Yup, it happened again. The way she wrote the spice in this book was next level! Talk about taking consent up a notch! I had never really thought about some of the things the way that she presented them, and for a romance novel to make me stop and think, you know it must be good. I love how she explored kinks and being open with each other, as well as mutual agreeableness and communication. Being open and building trust is the key to any relationship.
I dare say that my favorite part of this book, well there were many, was that Dr. Rue wasn’t a tiny woman. I was glad that Dr. Rue was almost as tall as Eli! It made the story even more perfect for me. I have commented before that the female main characters tend to be small women who are rescued by big brawny men. There was none of that here. However, there was emotional saving, for which I am all for. Dr. Rue was plenty emotionally damaged, but Eli also had his scars. I really enjoyed the game they played where they shared secrets with each other, and slowly built them up. I think that this is a great way to get to know each other and build trust.
I’m not always a fan of the forbidden romance trope, but in this case, it worked for me. It was believable and didn’t make me feel like I needed a shower in a bad way. I loved that the characters had ethics, and the way this played out was great. I did get the feeling that things might be amiss early on but couldn’t quite put my finger on how it was all going to play out. I was excited to see and learn how it did end. While I wasn’t surprised by the ending, I was saddened by it because it felt all too real.
The writing is, as always, very polished and well done. I think that the story flows nicely and is well paced. While I didn’t want the story to end, I needed to know how all the pieces came together, and I didn’t want to put it down.
Ali continues to be the Queen of STEM but I will read everything she writes. You will want to run and buy a copy of this one, it is that good.
Publication Date:
June 11, 2024
Author:
Ali Hazelwood
Page Length:
400 pages
Publisher:
Berkley Romance, Berkley Pub
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