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A review by thebritishbibliophile
Rough Lover by Deborah Garland
4.0
'Sweeter is the forbidden fruit, and forbidden fruit doesn't come any sweetly forbidden than this.' - The British Bibliophile
Thank you to Deborah Garland for approaching me with an ebook Advanced Readers Copy for me to read and leave an honest review. It's much appreciated.
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It's been a hot minute since my last Deborah Garland read, and I'm happy to be diving back into her with two of my many favourite bookish things, steam and cowboys. I lucked out with this read that promised to offer one and a lot of the other, in spades.
Avery: He’s a rough relentless PI and when he finds out I’m his new trainee, I might end up tied to the bedpost.
First and foremost, let's talk tropes. Rover Lover offered a fair few of them, including:
✰Romantic Suspense
✰New Adult
✰College
✰Age-Gap
✰Workplace
✰Boss's Daughter
✰Father's Client
Don't be fooled by the 'college' trope, this isn't Gabriel's Inferno but instead our leading lady, Avery, is able to get a bit more up close and personal with our leading man, Grant. In ways a student could never get close to someone in a position of authority. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, these two will be working together--albeit against Grant's desire to keep Avery safe--, and with Avery's father's permission too. Here, the forbidden fruit just went up a level on the sweetness scale.
Grant Harding is not a man who gives second chances. I can’t forget how he kissed me four years ago before he pushed me away.
I have one shot with him now on this job to prove I have what it takes to do PI work like him. One shot to hear the words that will bring me to my knees: Good girl.
Despite a few other reviews here and there critiquing elements of this story such as the realism of where Grant used to spend some of his free time, his beliefs and the situation he and Avery were thrown in together, I actually found those things to be subject to Deborah's personal creative licence and touch. She wanted to write this story a certain way, tell their story a certain way, and yes while it won't be everyone's cup of tea, there's no need for senseless and harsh critique of an author who has put heart and soul into creating a novel for us to read. We all interpret and have our own individual levels of what is spicy, or how things should be, and for several readers--such as myself--were able to enjoy the way in which Deborah has chosen to write elements within this story, the characters and the world they live in.
Spoiler alert, Grant's former haunt is a club where members pay to go for sex. Nothing more, nothing less. We've seen this style of establishment in many forms and ways across several novels, and what was written here as 'The Stable', was how Deborah wanted to use this establishment to tell part of Grant's story and background. It's simply a place to go where only members can pay to have sex with another paying member, with anything extra also an option but is not a go-to requirement. The Stable was a place written with respect, dignity, consent and consideration. I cannot fault Deborah for including this and the scene in which took place here, me like! Me like very much. It'll be interesting to see what could potentially happen here in the future in another read in the series.
Now, Grant and Avery. It's always fun to discover a new main character couple, and Grant and Avery were a perfect fit for each other from the start. The age-gap element only made things better! Because despite Grant's years on Avery, she was wiser when it came to understanding and realising that they were meant to be. Grant, as a bookish male, of course took longer to realise that and when the two came together--pun intended--, yeehaw!
Would I have liked a little more spice between them rather than dancing around the element of their forbidden love? Sure. But that did not take away from the great introductory read to the series that Rough Lover was. Not one bit.
And that ending! It wasn't quite the dreaded cliffhanger that I detest, but boy did it leave me keen to read book two.
Fabulous job, Deborah. Roll on Hard Lover!
4 stars!
Thank you to Deborah Garland for approaching me with an ebook Advanced Readers Copy for me to read and leave an honest review. It's much appreciated.
--------------------------------------------
It's been a hot minute since my last Deborah Garland read, and I'm happy to be diving back into her with two of my many favourite bookish things, steam and cowboys. I lucked out with this read that promised to offer one and a lot of the other, in spades.
Avery: He’s a rough relentless PI and when he finds out I’m his new trainee, I might end up tied to the bedpost.
First and foremost, let's talk tropes. Rover Lover offered a fair few of them, including:
✰Romantic Suspense
✰New Adult
✰College
✰Age-Gap
✰Workplace
✰Boss's Daughter
✰Father's Client
Don't be fooled by the 'college' trope, this isn't Gabriel's Inferno but instead our leading lady, Avery, is able to get a bit more up close and personal with our leading man, Grant. In ways a student could never get close to someone in a position of authority. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, these two will be working together--albeit against Grant's desire to keep Avery safe--, and with Avery's father's permission too. Here, the forbidden fruit just went up a level on the sweetness scale.
Grant Harding is not a man who gives second chances. I can’t forget how he kissed me four years ago before he pushed me away.
I have one shot with him now on this job to prove I have what it takes to do PI work like him. One shot to hear the words that will bring me to my knees: Good girl.
Despite a few other reviews here and there critiquing elements of this story such as the realism of where Grant used to spend some of his free time, his beliefs and the situation he and Avery were thrown in together, I actually found those things to be subject to Deborah's personal creative licence and touch. She wanted to write this story a certain way, tell their story a certain way, and yes while it won't be everyone's cup of tea, there's no need for senseless and harsh critique of an author who has put heart and soul into creating a novel for us to read. We all interpret and have our own individual levels of what is spicy, or how things should be, and for several readers--such as myself--were able to enjoy the way in which Deborah has chosen to write elements within this story, the characters and the world they live in.
Spoiler alert, Grant's former haunt is a club where members pay to go for sex. Nothing more, nothing less. We've seen this style of establishment in many forms and ways across several novels, and what was written here as 'The Stable', was how Deborah wanted to use this establishment to tell part of Grant's story and background. It's simply a place to go where only members can pay to have sex with another paying member, with anything extra also an option but is not a go-to requirement. The Stable was a place written with respect, dignity, consent and consideration. I cannot fault Deborah for including this and the scene in which took place here, me like! Me like very much. It'll be interesting to see what could potentially happen here in the future in another read in the series.
Now, Grant and Avery. It's always fun to discover a new main character couple, and Grant and Avery were a perfect fit for each other from the start. The age-gap element only made things better! Because despite Grant's years on Avery, she was wiser when it came to understanding and realising that they were meant to be. Grant, as a bookish male, of course took longer to realise that and when the two came together--pun intended--, yeehaw!
Would I have liked a little more spice between them rather than dancing around the element of their forbidden love? Sure. But that did not take away from the great introductory read to the series that Rough Lover was. Not one bit.
And that ending! It wasn't quite the dreaded cliffhanger that I detest, but boy did it leave me keen to read book two.
Fabulous job, Deborah. Roll on Hard Lover!
4 stars!