Rating:(3.75 stars rounded up to) 4 stars out of 5

Red+Blue is a novel of opposites. Ben is a young man, trying to spread his wings and find his way in San Francisco. From all accounts, he’s never really been in love, and he’s not afraid to go spend a night out on the town. Adrian, on the other hand, is older and established. He’s also Ben’s boss. He has had and lost love in one of the worst ways possible. Between society and family, Adrian’s deep in the closet, with no plans of even letting that door crack open.

The environment of this was perfect. I have some experience with financial types with my own work, and the set up felt of the office just felt so fantastic. One thing is for sure, this is that taboo boss/employee romance done right.

I also enjoyed the outline of the book. It’s split up in three parts, with the first being Red (Ben’s), the second Blue (Adrian’s), and the third a combination. It was unusual but really fitting. At first, when I got to the second part, I thought we were going to rehash everything in Red’s section all over again but from Adrian’s perspective, but it wasn’t like that (thank goodness). Parts were glossed over again, but it really more focused on Adrian in that same time period instead of every same interaction again from the different POV. It also came together really smoothly in the third section. There was no awkward breaking between these perspectives, making for a better read.

Unfortunately, I fear this book may have suffered from the “two day syndrome” that so ails me. A lot of the more emotional aspects were in the later part of section three, which I came back to on the second day. If I had the emotional connection with them, I had lost it by that point. Additionally, I wasn’t a fan of how their first actual sexual interaction happened. It lacked that spark of intensity for me, the surprise.

The writing was excellent, though, and the story good. All around an enjoyable read.

The cover art, done by Anne Cain is nice and simple. I think it does a nice job of showing the contrast between the characters, and of course, it features red and blue.

—-A.B. Gayle is one of Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words Down Under Authors for January

Sales Links:  Dreamspinner Press eBook & Paperback      All Romance (ARe)    Amazon     Buy It Here

Book Details:

ebook, 330 pages
Published May 25th 2012 by Dreamspinner Press (first published 2012)
ISBN139781613725214
edition languageEnglish
urlhttp://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=2952
seriesOpposites Attract #1