Reviews

Behind Closed Doors by Anna Stone

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busybri96's review against another edition

1.0

I only finished this because it was on audiobook, and even then, I was close to just dropping it. The plot felt generally unbelievable from the first chapter and never recovered. The pacing felt awfully rushed, and I felt like the romance was forced.

For the same kind of story with the same tropes, but with better writing, pacing and characters, I'd recommend The Brutal Truth by Lee Winters. There are too many similarities to count, but I assure you, it's 90% the same content with 100% the craftsmanship.

littlebookterror's review against another edition

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I desperately hope that this experience with Stone's work will not continue she is one of the few authors of colour I know that write sapphic BDSM but I have to drop this book.
It was the over-reliance on tropes to sell the story without building them up properly (I barely know the main characters and them both commenting how "unlike themselves" they are acting along with the general lack of tension). I also don't mind a workplace romance but it's jarring to be dealing with a sexist, inappropriate employer on the one hand while also gleefully entertaining their budding relationship? I needed more from that entire situation, a slower burn, something to bridge that divide. I can read about sexual harassment at the workplace and I can get lost in fantasy where the boss fucking her employee has a positive ending but combining both is a choice Stone is not pulling off for me from the parts I listened to.