Off Limits by Clare Connolly is a wonderfully hot romance featuring widowed billionaire Jack with a penchant for one night stands with no strings attached, and the girl who is about to change his whole way of thinking, the smart, but cold Gemma, his very efficient PA who aims to stay professional at all times and not get involved with Jack. At least, that's what she wants him to believe...

But as Gemma watches him from afar, working at such close proximity, she sees a different side to him she likes, but how could she ever admit to her boss she's in love with him? If he ever found out she could lose her job.
Off Limits is a daring, passionate office story, which plays on Jack's emotional baggage and Gemma's resistance to her boss - for obvious reasons - she's a professional and he's a player. They shouldn't get involved. Why is she so cold towards him? Is she truly worried about losing her job, or is her facade for another reason? And what is behind Jack's "bachelor" behaviour? Could this relationship ever go beyond professional?

I found the powerful heat of their chemistry bubbling away under the surface, made for a passionate and explosive read. Especially when their emotions boiled over and they finally gave in and succumbed. Another successful Mills and Boon sizzling, sexy romance! Dare you read it?

5 stars and two thumbs up!
I'll confess to not being a fan of first person POV so my heart sank a little at the first page. However, I was quickly won over and utterly engrossed by the authors skill with words. The POV is necessary, works, and perfectly so.
The Dare series seems to be less plot heavy and instead is more heat and intensity. Off Limits provides all of that and adds a lot of emotional hits too.
Jack Grant is an arrogant so and so and his PA deserves medals and stars for putting up with him. She's smart, strong and incredibly efficient, but Jack is becoming her weakness. When Jack makes Gemma his next bed notch target he's hard to resist. So much so that their working relationship is tipped on it's axis and there's no going back.
There's so much passion and tension in this book! It's already a gripping read with that alone, but the emotion makes it a beautiful read.
Loved it!

The chemistry in this book nearly set my Kindle on fire as Gemma and Jack are pretty explosive together. However I really liked the fact that there was also an emotional connection that was simmering just under the surface too. Jack is a complicated character who reveals more depth as the story moves along. He has a tragic past but the question is will he be able to overcome his sadness? I enjoyed the parts where you got to see how Jack was feeling and see the story from his side too. Gemma is likeable and her struggle to stay emotionally and physically distant from Jack is interesting to see play out. She is determined and capable which is exactly what she needs to be especially working so closely with Jack for all that time.

Off Limits is a well paced story that I finished in no time at all so perfect for a lazy afternoon or evening. There are quite a few steamy moments but I would say overall the book is balanced out with a more meaningful storyline too especially the more you get into the story.

Sparks will definitely fly when you pick up this book, Off Limits is both passionate and daring!

Four stars from me!

With thanks to Mills and Boon & Netgalley for my copy. This is my honest and unbiased opinion.

Clare Connelly’s ‘Off Limits’ is a delightful quick read that is full of emotions that sneak up on you, just as they do on the protagonists.
The story of Jack and Gemma is full of fire from the very start, her icy demeanor and his desire to break through it, even though he doesn’t understand how or why keeps you turning page after page. Having worked together for over two years, they know one another intimately, but only on a professional level. Jack has emotional baggage he deals with in the only way he thinks he can, and Gemma watches from an emotional distance even though they often are sitting right next to one another. Then sparks ignite, and each time they tell themselves it’s a one off, just one more time, until time has slipped through their fingers. Emotions overwhelm them, family overwhelms them, and they have to try and be one another’s anchors, but only if they’re honest with themselves and each other. Their chemistry is electric, with both of them revealing weaknesses that make you love them all the more.
I really enjoyed this book, and I only wish there’d been a bit more emotional depth. Whilst the story does explain it all, I just found myself wishing a bit more from the character journey, the character development. Yet I cannot complain about how Jack and Gemma got from Point A to Point B, and I know you’ll enjoy that trip as much as I have!

Off Limits is a steamy hot boss romance by Clare Connelly. It's a new look/genre book from Mills & Boon and it's definitely an 18+ read. So, if you don't like swearing or explicit sex scenes then this is not the book for you.

Gemma has been in love with her boss Jack since she first started working for him. She knows he sleeps around and that she would just be another notch on his bedpost. She also knows that if she has a one night stand with him she would have to quit the job that she loves. So she puts on a very cold and untouchable persona whenever she is with him.

Jack has lusted after Gemma for a long time despite all the women he has had sex with. He doesn't understand why she is so cold around him, but if anything it makes him more determined to break down her icy barriers. She is perfect at her job, and he likes her a lot, he shouldn't lust after her but he does. He manages to get a hot steamy kiss from her and from there his and Gemma's lives change. They tell themselves that it's just sex when they feel like it, which seems to be all the time, but despite that their hearts get involved which can only lead to them being broken. Or maybe not??

The first 6 chapters of this book seemed to focus more on sex than actual story. I was struggling to keep my attention on what I was reading. BUT at chapter 7 that all changed, the story really came into being. We learned why Jack is the way that he is and we get to read about Gemma discovering it too. All of a sudden it makes sense to her why he is the way he is, and I enjoyed reading about how her love for him helps him to see what he is doing isn't helping in the long run. The story was a beautiful one and would have been just as beautiful even without all the sex scenes. For me, that is the sign of a good book, erotica or not, that the story can come to the forefront and the sex, however well written, is just something extra. I was worried in the first 6 chapters that this book was going to be one that was all fluff and no substance and that I would struggle to finish it. I am glad to say that that wasn't the case.

My advice, definitely buy this book but be if you are expecting a good story, be patient, it starts at chapter 7. If you are just happy to read a lot of steamy sex then you will enjoy this book from the first page!

“No commitment. No redheads. Commitment was for Lucy."

Widower and successful businessman Jack Grant doesn’t do commitment after the death of his wife. His loyal assistant Gemma has seen it all as he wanders through life (and his grief) through one night stands with women whose names he can’t recall (or, judging by one encounter, doesn’t even ask for). Naturally, Gemma is a little bit in love with her boss, not that she will ever admit it, but one day Jack decides to act on their chemistry, and decides to indulge in an office romance (well, less romance, and more encounters in offices and on boardroom tables…)
Told in two first person narratives, we get to know Jack and Gemma through their thoughts as they act on impulse and enjoy a passionate affair with no promises of a happy ending, and as a result these wonderful characters come alive as their narratives progress. Indeed, the fact that the characters are telling the story is a great idea as we really get under the skin of Jack and his troubled mind and Gemma's willingness to help him emerge from the depths of his grief.
Jack and Gemma are well crafted and believable, and Jack's grief for his late wife is very well written, sympathetically described and emotionally touching. As he eventually explains to Gemma, his one night stands help him forget his grief for the briefest of moments, but he also knows he doesn't want Gemma to be one of those women. Gemma is equally likeable; she knows Jack well enough to stand up to him, risk their entire (successful) working relationship for the sake of giving in to passion, and asks enough questions to prompt Jack to consider if he can overcome his no commitment rule.
Jack is every bit the tortured soul who still considers himself married to his late wife, and, while he's quite happy to take Gemma as his lover, she will never be anything more because, even if he might have feelings for her, Lucy was and is his wife, and in his mind, anything more would be a betrayal. Clare Connelly has created a wonderfully complex man who you really do feel for as he struggles to accept he can move forward and love another woman whilst still loving Lucy, and as a reader, you soon understand that the cold hearted businessman act is all a front he puts on for the world, and actually, he's a wounded, emotional mess who is struggling to deal with his loss. Luckily for Jack, the author has also created a strong, no nonsense leading lady who can stand up for him, and isn't prepared to be just his little secret fling. Gemma is well and truly prepared to fight for her man, and is prepared to walk away when he can't accept that what they have is something more.
Interestingly, the book opens by quoting the last verse of W H Auden's 'Funeral Blues', and for most of the story I couldn't work out why, but eventually it all makes sense, and I felt it was an inventive idea to use the words to open the story, but only make the reader realise how significant they are in relation to Jack towards the latter end of the book.
Yes it's the Dare series, and it lives up to the ‘Sexy, Passionate and Bold’ billing, but it's also surprisingly emotional (the last chapter is especially well crafted), and simply a lovely story of two lost souls finding each other. Without spoiling the plot, the last line states "I am Gemma, he is Jack, and we have found each other at last" and this in effect sums up the whole story.
I look forward to reading more of Clare Connelly's work in the future.
Thanks to M&B for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Gemma Picton has a job she loves and a boss she has a major crush on! But he is most definitely off limits. Having lost his wife young, handsome billionaire Jack Grant isn’t a safe bet when it comes to relationships. He just doesn’t do them. One night stands is the most committed he ever plans to get. But what Gemma doesn’t know is that Jack’s had his eye on her ever since she started working for him. But he knew from the start that she was different. And that’s the one thing that’s kept his desire for her at bay…until now.
This is the second book I’ve read in Mills & Boon’s new steamy Dare series, and definitely my favourite so far. There’s a definitive storyline and the passion feels real. I loved following Gemma and Jack’s tale and waiting to discover whether Jack would not only let the woman he clearly has feelings for be a part of his world – and a part of his heart.
My only qualm with this book was its present tense voice. I’m not really a fan of this style on the whole, but I got so involved in the book, luckily it wasn’t too intrusive and didn’t affect my enjoyment of the story. I’d certainly be happy to read another by Ms Connelly again.

4*