Strictly Off Limits: A Forbidden Romance Novella

Let’s get the basics out of the way so you know what you’re getting yourself into. • This is a novella • There’s a forbidden romance/office romance [boss/employee] • It’s between an 18 year-old girl and 48 year-old man (her father’s best friend) • Told from heroine’s point of viewAlexandra James isn’t getting a typical college Spring Break. Instead she’s going to work during her time off so that she can buy the perfect dress to win back her ex. Enter Dean Brittany, friend of Alex’s father, who hires her temporarily as his fill-in secretary. Things in the office begin as normal as ever, but the atmosphere quickly turns into something intensely provocative.With a story such as this—an older man and younger girl—there’s always a worry that the creep factor will take precedent to the heart of the story. And with the exception of one scene that made me a bit uncomfortable, I felt like their relationship was focused on and executed well.The age difference was different for me. I’ve never read a story with an age gap quite this wide, so it took me a bit to fully acclimate. The only time I cringed was during a dinner scene with her parents in which things between Dean and Alex got a bit too steamy for the table.Alex is eighteen so she’s obviously going to have some naivety to her but she was still a fun refreshing character. Her interactions with Dean showed the curiosity and lustful intrigue that comes with Dean’s sexual come ons. That vulnerability and young mindset she owned at the beginning slowly transformed into a more mature stance by the end of the novella.A few grammar issues here and there, but not too bothersome. The steamy scenes will no doubt keep you interested and the building relationship will be enough to keep you in the story.I listened to the audio version of the book and was happy with the narrator. The execution from Melissa Barr was fantastic, and she really nailed all the voices perfectly. Sometimes the female narration is laughable when they narrate the male dialogue, but Barr made each male voice distinguishable.There’s no cliffhanger with this story—everything is cleared up and finalized—but I certainly had an urge to know more about Alex and Dean’s next step together. Oh the possibilities!Let me emphasize that if you choose to read this, you’re going to read a short-length book, so by no means should you expect an in-depth story with explanation and backstory.It is what it is. And what it is, is a pretty hot, quick read!

2.5*The definition of forbidden.Apparently I bought this book almost 3 years ago but never got around to reading it. I was looking for some quick novellas today since I was falling behind on my GR goal and came across this one. I don't know at the time what I was thinking when I got it, as I'm not typically a fan of the older man/younger woman trope, and this one really pushes the boundaries- he's 30(!!!) years older than her. I don't understand that attraction. I'm the same age as the H and I can't imagine any of my male friends getting involved with a teenager. Sure, I don't doubt for a second that any of them wouldn't look twice at a beautiful young woman, but to act on it, especially a daughter of a friend, yeah I don't see that happening. Especially when that girl is the same age as your daughter, as is the case in this book. I'm not sure what the fascination authors have with this type of storyline- I seriously have my doubts if their 18yo daughter was out there with a 48yo man they would be okay with it.Anyway, to the story- even if I could get past the age gap I didn't feel any kind of connection between the characters at all. There's was nothing between them that made me want a relationship to work for them, taboo as it was. Granted it's a novella, but I've read plenty where the author is able to really pull you into the story and characters, but this one didn't. The H did nothing to endear himself to me and the h was just way to immature to make it plausible that he could be attracted to her. And the ending was just plain abrupt. All in all just a miss for me.

Here are the reasons why Alex was strictly off limits: Alex was eighteen and Dean was forty-eight, Dean was her father's friend, Alex was a temporary secretary hired for the week, and Dean was her boss.Dean pushed the limits with Alex hoping to scare her off. Dean tempted young Alex with wild notions of sexual fantasies.The dilemma: Was Dean taking advantage of Alex's naivety? Was Dean asserting his power and control?The choice: to have a man with experience or to have her boyfriend back who lacked experience.Apparently stating something as strictly off limits was not enough of a deterrent for Dean. It should have been a forbidden romance except when both parties were consenting adults.I really wanted to hate this story. In fact, I was appalled with every commanding word I read. Yet, I continued to read knowing it was wrong but only because society deemed it wrong. As the saying goes "we can't help who we fall in love with". All those taboo kinky fetishes seemed wrong when done with the wrong person. Find the right person and all the wrong reasons disappear.The beauty with writing is the ability to create fantasy which Jessica did. Jessica took a modern forbidden romance and added a few off limit reasons to heighten its appeal. In the real world this scenario would flash all kinds of red flags but for the book world we can sit back and enjoy the beauty of creative fantasy.

Short and hot this novella will light up your kindle and make you squirm. Father's best friend and boss for the week Alexandra takes this temporary job to earn some much needed money for a dress she so dearly yearns to own to impress her douchebag of a boyfriend who has recently dumped her.She has known her father's friend Dean since she was a child but when they start working together she starts to notice just how sexy and attractive this man is but he is strict at work and he makes her nervous. He is after all way older than her but she thinks she can learn a lot from him, in more ways than one. Dean soon starts to salivate over Alexandrea but feels it is wrong to have these sexually feelings for someone so much younger than him and of course he doesn't want to cause any bad feelings between him and his best friend, Alexandrea's dad.Soon things are taken out of their hands and the pull becomes too much to resist resulting in some steamy sexy times which were hot to read about.I enjoyed the characters immensely, would have liked Dean to be even more alpha male and I did think the story ended rather abruptly. It was told completely from Alexandrea's POV but I prefer a duel POV and would have loved Dean's thought on paper.A good quick read and one I enjoyed.

A quick short read that definitely packs the heat in. I picked this up as a freebie which if this is the caliber of the authors writing as a taster then I shall make it a must to check out more of her work!Alexandra James takes up a temp job in an office while on spring break from school.Dean Brittany is not only her sexy older new boss but also a friend of her fathers! Cue the taboo twist. Now I'm all for a hot older man seduction romance - however the age gap was a little much for me and I kind of imagined him at 38 rather than 48 - no biggie tho coz the plot of the story still caught me and I imagined all ways this story could have been expanded. I'd love it if the author decided to revisit this and develop the story more. It's certainly got the potential for much more exploring.

I was actually quite surprised by how much I liked this book. Is was a nice quiet afternoon worth of reading. Very hot and sexy. I usually like dual pov from both characters so I can know what's going on in their heads but this is only from the leading lady's pov, which I think was enough, because of the age difference and the fact that you could tell he struggled with it I think knowing the inner turmoil he was going through would have made the book a heavier read and a longer storyline, which obviously the author wasn't going for.

This was in no way poorly written, but a very short story. It kept me interested enough, but I won't be in a rush to read this sort of story line again, that's more of a personal preference though

Heart broken college girl goes to work off her dad's best friend to earn money during spring break to buy a gorgeous dress to woo the love of her life but the end result doesn't go as planned at all