This book was a whirlwind! I love a forbidden romance, but I was a little wary about the teacher/student trope as this was my first time reading a true teacher/student romance. Thankfully, Rachel Tork did a great job at not crossing the line (see what I did there) into "creepy" territory, as some age gaps can come across. I loved the first half of the book and watching their relationship come together under extreme circumstances. Julian and Rowan were great characters. Julian was likeable, kind, and intense and protective but not over the top about it. Rowan was strong, showed a lot of character growth as a woman in her mid-twenties dealing with all kinds of life altering events, and stood her own when faced with conflict. It was a joy reading their story. But...
I will say, about halfway through the book things started to get a little out of control. There were so many, what felt like, random events that were thrown in. For such serious events, the detail/context was lacking and the situations felt rushed in my opinion. The plot twist was there, though slightly predictable, but by the time I got to it I was honestly thankful and ready for the book to wrap up.
While this isn't necessarily in my "top picks" for the year, this is a solid romance book for those who like the extreme highs and lows of forbidden romance. I'm definitely interested in reading more of Rachel's work!
Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC!

Thanks to NetGalley and Azala Press for the advance reader copy, in exchange for an honest review. This was an enjoyable romance read! I like the forbidden romance trope and the first half of this book hit all the right notes for me. I liked the characters and there was the right blend of heartfelt emotion to the story.

The second half of the story went off the rails a little bit and took a turn I did not expect at all; that being said, I still enjoyed being along for the whole ride. The plot lines were a bit far fetched and it definitely wasn’t what I expected but, it still checked all the boxes that I look for in a romance. I sped through this one and would be interested to read other works by this author.

Overall, I’d recommend this romance readers who like forbidden romance tropes and to those who don’t mind a good few ups and downs!

This was such a good book. I loved the story and the writing so much. The characters were great and the story flowed smoothly. Will definitely read more books by this author in the future.

This is the type of romance book I enjoy! The writing was perfection, and I liked the setting for the two main characters to become reunited. It all made for a powerful story. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Forbidden
.Student/teacher
.Forced proximity
.Hurt/comfort

The beginning of this book felt like the perfect blend of The Love Hypothesis and Not Another Love Song (two books I adore). Which coincidentally are both originally Raylo fanfics turned into published books. So, naturally, this gave the story strong fanfic vibes, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing since I do love fanfiction. But, much like many fanfics, this book had its share of over-the-top drama and could have benefited from some heavy editing.

The first half was fantastic. It hooked me right away, with a strong connection between the characters. And nobody can resist a tall, dark, intense MMC.

But then the second half happened. The story veered off course into a storm of unnecessary and poorly explained conflicts. The drama was excessive, and the problems felt random, like they were tossed in just for the sake of it. By the last quarter, I was skimming, desperate to finish without outright DNFing. What started as a promising read fizzled out into a disappointing mess, barely scraping three stars in the end.

In short: not my favourite. A strong start, but it just couldn’t stick the landing.

This was a really good romance ! It hooked me from the beginning. I love a forbidden romance. The tension/chemistry between Julian and Rowan was very well written. The beginning of the book started very strong but parts of the middle towards the end were a little slow for my preference. The ending was really good and had a nice epilogue. I would recommend giving this a read if you enjoy romance with lots of spice.

Thank you Netgalley and Azala Press for the digital arc in exchange of my honest review.

I really wanted to love this book. It has everything I love in a student/teacher romance book, the age gap(without being creepy), the taboo nature of it, and a FMC that takes no shit. The writing is strong and you can tell that the author has some real talent! But it just felt like she was trying to fit 10 different plot points into a book that was less than 300 pages. Without spoiling it, there was about 3 plot points that could have been removed and it still would have been a jam packed storyline. This is not a bad book by any means, and I'm sure many people will love it. But for me, it just felt like it could have been edited down way more. I would have enjoyed to see more romance happen between the leads instead of the insane twists that were included to add adventure.

I fear this book will be the romance book of 2025, well done to the author for making this masterpiece.
this book draws you in immediately and never lets you go. this book is also highly emotional and extremely beautiful. I found this book deeply moving.
I loved all the tropes in this book, forbidden attraction/star crossed lovers.
LOVE LOVE LOVE

thank you so much for allowing me to read this book!

Rachel Tork wrote this romance novel perfectly and enjoyed the overall story being told during this. The characters had that overall feel that I was looking for and was glad everything worked together to tell the story,

This is the romance book of the year -- mark my words!

Draws you in immediately and never lets you go. Highly emotional. Extremely beautiful. Deeply moving.

Recommend 10x over!