I have always enjoyed the writing style of Katie Roberts and this book was easy to follow. Smut from the get go. 2 novellas in one book. Good read though not one of my favourites by this author. Tropes include: pregnancy, brothers best friend, millionaire/ billionaire, opposites attract and work romance.

Two spicy novella's in one book. The first story follows Aaron and Becka. They meet at Becka's sister's wedding where they spend an explosive couple of hours together before going their separate ways. Until Becka calls Aaron out of the blue to tell him she's pregnant and the baby is his. Aaron's been obsessing over Becka since they spent the night together and now he has his chance to finally have her in his life - he just needs to prove to her that he can be the man she wants and needs and not just a baby daddy.

The second story follows Aaron's sister, Trish, and his business partner, Cameron. Cameron seems to be on the spectrum though this isn't discussed in the book, but he's abrupt, doesn't think about other people's feelings before speaking and struggles to navigate societal conventions. Trish on the other hand is all sunshine and rainbows, at least that's the image she portrays but Cameron sees through all that. Their chemistry is there from the beginning and it doesn't take them long to start exploring it.

Each story is fast paced, full of spice and very hot. I preferred this rather than dragging out the will they/won't they storyline and multiple misunderstandings it would have been had they been full length novels.

Thanks to NetGalley and Mills & Boon for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

Overall thoughts:
⭐️⭐️⭐️.75
🌶️🌶️

‘This woman, this wildfire in his arms, she brought out something he’d fought long and hard to tame within himself.’

‘She couldn’t be in the same room with Cameron without ogling him, and it didn’t help that he kept wearing those fitted faded T-shirts that clung to his body like Trish wanted to.’

Tropes: Nickname, Novellas, Third Act Conflict, Pregnancy, Workplace Romance, Brothers Best Friend, Forced Proximity, Grumpy/ Sunshine, Billionaire Romances, He Falls First.

This book is a duo of contemporary romance novellas from Kate Robert’s Forbidden Games series. This book contains books 3 & 4, Make Me Yours & Make Me Need.

I would consider these stories to be lighthearted romances, pretty low stakes third act conflicts. I quick, easy reads. The first story plot is wholly based around an accidental pregnancy, which isn’t a trope I like so I could pass on that. It was alright, 2🌶️ on the spice. It was spicy from the off, fair warning 😂
The second story was a workplace romance involving the MMC from story 1’s sister. I did enjoy that story way more, just due to the tropes alone. I did also like the characters more in the second story.

Katee’s writing is easy to consume & really bingeable. Having read some of her other works, I think I prefer her fantasy novels.

Thank you to Net Galley, Katee Robert & Mills & Boon for the review copy in exchange for an honest review.

The spice was just as spicy as you’d expect from a Katee Robert book which is always a good thing! However with these, I just wished there had been more build up and while I appreciate these were two connected novellas which limits the time to execute this, it just fell a little bit flat for me. However, still a decent read

These are two great books. The first follows pregnant Becka working out how to move forward and whether the father is the right person to be with. The book pretty much focuses only on the two characters and how their relationship develops, winds and unwinds, and whether they can make things work. The narrow focus on Becka and Aaron means we really get under the skin and see their motivations. a cute read.
Book 2 is as sexy as book one. This time Aaron’s little sister and colleague Cameron get together. Once more the book focuses only on the two of them and how little Miss Sunshine manages to crack the grumpy shell of Cameron. Deceptively simple book that’s classic and well worth a read

So I have such a mixed review for this one because I feel like it could have been a great plot but was just not executed how I’d expected. I actually only read part one of this book as it is almost like 2 small Novellas in 1 book. The first half followed Becka and Aaron and I really enjoy a surprise pregnancy trope so I was excited for their story. I thought the representation of a women who has mixed and complicated feelings around her pregnancy which stem from childhood and family trauma was great and had the potential to be explored in depth. Instead it just felt quite rushed and then Becka seemed to overcome her fears right at the end which made the whole storyline seem completely unrealistic. The spice was excellent and if you are after a book with minimal plot or depth to it but a whole lot of spice then this is probably the book for you but unfortunately it just didn’t hit the spot for me. I may go back to part 2 when I’m in the mood for something like this but for now I had to DNF.

I'm huge fan of Katee Robert's previous work including her Dark Olympus, Wicked Villains and A Deal with the Devil series as well as Court of the Vampire Queen. I was incredibly excited to read Illicit Temptations and was ready to throw myself into a plot full of tension and spice, however, I found this collection of two novellas difficult to complete and almost DNF at several points.

There is no buildup between both couples, the attraction is immediate despite the abrasive personality of both MMCs. There was little time to invest in the characters relationship and the sex scenes felt flat and surprisingly bland compared to other books I'd read by this author.

Both female characters are in some way indebted to the MMC. There's a clear power imbalance in both cases and it made me a little uncomfortable at some points, especially when paired with how entitled Aaron initially came across. There wasn't really enough time to breakdown walls, deal with previous trauma or develop any real depth.

Also, even though both novellas were interconnected, I don't feel like the title and cover of the book reflected the two novellas at all. This was a very quick read, but ultimately not very memorable.

Just as hot as Katee Robert's other work .
Heavy PWP novellas, yet she still manges to write complex characters and relationships. I just wish there was more world building and plot. I'm used to her Dark Olympus and Crimson Sails series, which have amazing world building and good but simple plot, so it just felt a bit bland, and also less kinky (but still spicy) which is something I usually love about her work.
It didn't really seem like the characters had time to build their relationships slowly, and felt like a speed run instead, but still great fun to read.

Sometimes you just need a quick smutty book to break up the tough books and mills and boon do that perfectly.
I really liked both stories, if you are a fan of Hannah Bonam Youngs “out on a limb”. You will like this story and the second one is just a quick bit of fun to read.
I really liked how Katee managed to tell both characters side of the story with their thoughts changing through out the chapters instead of having a chapter each.
It was really not a deep book and went by super quick. I will pick up more from this author. Thank you NetGalley for letting me read and review.

These are re-issues of books written for the Dare line of Mills and Boon a few years ago. The Dare’ line was meant to be spicier than their Modern Line and in most cases - emotional tended to lose out to sex. I found these stories somewhat cold but they’re worth a read.