An honest review thanks to NetGalley. I had read this book awhile ago but apparently forgot to write a review. I just reread it today and am so glad that I did. The first novella was good but it was the middle and last story that drew my attention completely. These were great reads and the connection between the characters and the romance flew of the pages. This was a great read with three amazing novellas!

Overall, an entertaining and enjoyable read, I loved having 3 different authors stories together and these were closer in content that most anthologies I have read. I am happy to have found some new to me authors I look forward to reading more from all three authors.

This is a collection of three very different novellas - all linked by the idea of office romance. I'm just going to suspend my internal ethicist and go with the flow - it's fiction and it for fun.

Aurora Rey's offering takes place in New Orleans at a law firm and focuses on second chance romance for two women how had a brief (PG Rated) encounter in law school some years before. This one is focused on the relationship and there isn't much going on otherwise - but this is a novella and works well as its focus is on the rekindling of romance and the discovery that the characters aren't quite so polar opposite.

Julie Cannon's novella is more erotica and wasn't my cup of tea . It is an oddly structured novella where one part is told from one character's perspective, the second is a repeat of those events from the other's POV and then the last part is combined POV. The dynamic between Riley and Jess was just - odd and a bit unsettling. Normally, I have really enjoyed Cannon's books but this one just didn't work for me.

M Ullrich's story is probably my favourite of the three. This is the ice queen melts trope and actually has probably the most direct boss/employee relationship (intern reporting directly to the boss). I think in reality, Luca should have quit long before she managed to make an impression on Steph - but this is a romance. Even with the ice queen persona, I liked Stephanie quite a bit and actually found that she was better developed than the easier to like/relate to Luca. Ullrich writes a good romance and this one worked very well.

I like some of the novellas but wasn't really my thing. I really love the chemistry between Luca and stephanie though. It was well done.

this featured three novellas but only one of them I really loved. I typically love office romances but have never read a f/f one. Still enjoyed though.

I really liked this novellas, "For Your Eyes Only", it was my favorite one.
Between the three of them complement a good book with different stories about a powerful boss and a subordinate

This book was good — but I struggled massively to get into it. It’s taken me a few months to lose myself in the story but I can’t for the life of me pinpoint why, but I’m not sure it’s the work itself. I’m more inclined to blame the fact that it’s just not my kind of story.

That being said, the characters are fantastic and the plot is really gripping and enticing. The writing is also faultless and a lot of fun, and the story overall is extremely captivating!

I would definitely recommend this — it’s a good addition to the LGBTQIA+ market which is ever expanding. This is a fun rollick of a read and it was really enjoyable overall.

Curiosity led me to read this collection and I found myself quite enjoying them.

Each story has that slight unbelievable element that is an unfortunate necessity of a short story, in that they are co-incidence driven where the main protagonist finds themselves acting against character. For all that, they were all well written, though the corporate boss (3rd story) was the most fun.

If you're after 'explicit' LGBT etc, then this won't be for you, but plaudits to the writers for writing as they have, as it would have been so easy to have fallen into that 'trap' and they resisted...kudos!

The Boss of Her is a romance collection of three short stories all featuring sapphic women (primarily lesbians, it seemed, though there were stories were labels were not used) who engaged in boss-subordinate relationships. The romance novel genre leaves gaps in the readers expectations and The Boss of Her does fall into those gaps. The characterization sometimes suffers for the plot and the devices can be cheesy or overdone. However, the three stories are enjoyable and will leave romance readers satisfied.

These were good novellas. As with any novella, you’re always left wanting more.....but that’s just the way it is. These three were entertaining. Highly recommend.

This is a collection of novella's that are quite good. The problem I find with novella's are that they end up too short. You are left wanting more.

I found all three very good but the one I loved the best was Aurora Rey Lead Council. This one felt complete and unrushed. I will admit it sounded familiar but for the life of me I can't put my finger on it. The other two I felt could have been longer as the endings felt rushed.

Yes, I would recommend this book. Enjoy!

*ARC provided by publisher via NetGalley*

https://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R1JJL8RMZQVAK1/ref=pe_1572281_66412651_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2419516612

"The Boss of Her" is a collection of 3 novellas.

The first one is "Lead Councel" written by Aurora Rey. This is a second chance romance I'd say. Parker and Elisa had a hookup in college but didn't see each other since everything went bad afterwards. It was nice to meet these two so different women. It is a solid und great story, but not my favourite in this book.

This is the 2nd story "For your eyes only" written by Julie Cannon. It's so hot and it's written so well. I was totally lost in the plot and the characters. I wished it would have been a longer story though - there is so much potential. But it was great! Really great.

The 3rd novella is "Opportunity of a Lifetime" written by M. Ullrich and it was great as well. I have another book from this author on my kindle and I am really looking forward to read more from her. Her writing was great and I really liked the characters. It's a Icequeen-story which totally captured me while reading.

All in all this is a really good book with three really different stories about "the boss of her". These novellas are cute, sometimes hot, but definitely not what I expected in the first place. "The boss of her" sounds like a hot lecture, it is, but I am so happy that the romance is everything between the first and the last page. Thanks for this great book. I loved it.

This was a new type of book for me I don’t usually read novellas but these three I really enjoyed. They were fun and fresh, sweet romances. in fact they could easily have been full length books. The first story was my favourite.
I was given an advance copy by NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

The theme of this book attracted me straight away however the authors have not been my favourite is the past which made me pause questioning if I would enjoy the book. I'm glad I did because I really enjoyed all three stories, I actually could not pick a favourite. In fact I really felt all three could have been standalone books.

As M/M is very over-represented in queer romance, I was looking forward to reading this trio of lesbian romances. I feel like this set is really a microcosm of romance: the writing style, plot, and dialogue vary widely. I’m not sure if these novellas will be available separately, but I’ll review each of them on their own. Their order is slightly different than that in the blurb; I’ll review in book order.

Lead Counsel
This was the best one, hands down. It was also first, which set my expectations way too high for the others. I was very easily invested in story of Elisa, a lawyer with really good work-life balance, doing her thing in her Louisiana law firm, and Parker, a former classmate of Elisa’s who comes down south after working in New York for a while. Elisa and Parker have History, which colors their perceptions of each other in different ways. Parker is trying to slow down her life and smell the roses, etc., while Elisa does a great job of modeling what it means to have a life beyond one’s occupation.

I found their romantic tension, and doubt based on their encounter in law school, to be very realistic and relatable. I liked both of them, too. Parker has been brought onto a civil case, a barracuda who Elisa’s firm is hoping will scare the other side (the bad one) into settling. Elisa’s boss is pretty excited about Parker’s reputation, and how everyone treats her (who, from her description sounds pretty obviously butch) is so wonderful, like a fairy tale where women are taken seriously in the workplace, and are given leadership positions because they’re skilled and have earned them.

Without giving too much away, Past Parker did something that hurt Past Elisa, and Present Elisa is warranted in being guarded around Present Parker. They have a conversation about their past interactions, and Parker sets about to show Elisa that she has changed from who she was in law school.

Because it’s a novella, and there’s an actual a plot, there isn’t too much sex, but what there is is sweet and Parker and Elisa are both grown-up enough to handle it and the aftermath.

The only drawback to this one is that though it’s third person POV, the omniscient perspective can switch quickly. I could be reading about Parker’s thoughts, and then the next paragraph would be talking about Elisa’s inner monologue. Not a fatal error, but it could be jarring. On the whole, though, I definitely wouldn’t have minded spending more time with these ladies.

For Lead Counsel by itself, 5/5 stars.

For Your Eyes Only
As I mentioned above, the novellas varied in quality. This one was a bit of a let-down after how much I liked Lead Counsel. The premise is that Riley attends her bff’s 50th birthday (I didn’t learn until later that Riley is mid-30s; she just has an older friend) and falls in lust with a stripper there (“Jess,” which is not her real name), who she hires several times for private shows. And then the mysterious lady (whose real name is Dana) ends up getting a job at the company where Riley is CFO.

One of the problems I had here was the dual first person POV, though that’s not even entirely accurate. The novella is split into three parts: Part 1 is Riley’s first person POV, then Part 2 is Dana’s first person POV, except that it also covers almost exactly the same period of time as in Part 1, just from Dana’s POV. So I learned just what she was thinking when she and Riley met the first time, and how she felt during each of the private sessions. The entire time I was reading Part 2, I was not sure what its purpose was. If we needed to know exactly what Dana was thinking, a very quick and easy method would be to have a flashback or a “she’d felt the attraction instantly” or something. Not a literal play-by-play. I mean, it’s not Grey, but it really felt unnecessary. Then we get to Part 3, which is third person, mostly from Riley’s perspective, and picks up where Riley and Dana realize that they’re now coworkers (well, Riley is Dana’s Super Boss).

This is probably due to my background in organizational psychology, but I winced a lot at the problematic power dynamics of a company CFO hiring a subordinate for sex work (because of course Riley keeps seeing Dana for private shows). And neither disclosed their prior relationship to their company. I know, I know, it’s fiction. But it made me uncomfortable.

This novella was mostly a “slice-of-life” story. I didn’t get too much backstory on either Riley or Dana. And while most of the focus is on their interactions, I didn’t see their relationship developing much, either. Yes, they’re attracted to each other. But why? Is it just lust? Do they have things in common? I don’t know.

The ending felt a little abrupt and ambiguous to me, and I couldn’t help feeling their future is full of signs saying “Here be dragons.” The writing style was ok, and I got a little lost with some of Dana’s strip routines. I did definitely pick up on a specific dance, being very familiar with its inspiration, and if you’ve seen “Striptease” as many times as I have, you will, too. (Hey, I was a confused baby queer, don’t judge me.)

It’s not that I didn’t like Riley and Dana. I was fine with Dana; Riley seemed like a cipher, and I didn’t feel like I knew anything about her by the end. The thing that sunk this one for me, though, was definitely the repetition of Part 2. I don’t think its purpose was to have the reader ask “why am I reading this?” throughout the whole section.

For For Your Eyes Only by itself, 2/5 stars.

Opportunity of a Lifetime
The actions of this one’s boss, Stephanie Austin, made me want to punch something. She. Is. A. Terrible. Boss. Remember when I said I have organizational psychology background? Her behavior would inspire low organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and few organizational citizenship behaviors, and high turnover, absenteeism, and burnout. Seriously, just awful.

Stephanie is a preeminent forensic accountant, which sounds cool, and probably is! She’s used to working alone, though, and does not seem to like people much at all. She’s really awkward around her family, especially her nephew (I can definitely relate to that, at least), and isn’t happy when her boss assigns her an assistant. This assistant, Luca Garner, is a rising star in forensic accounting, and Stephanie’s boss wants Stephanie to mentor Luca and nurture her talents.

I can understand Stephanie bristling at the prospect of having to babysit someone until they’ve proven themselves, but she consistently tries to sabotage Luca’s prospects. She won’t let Luca do assistant things, like answering her phone or keeping her calendar, and shuts her out of the cases she’s working on, instead assigning her filing work in the basement.

Luca eventually proves her worth (initially by handling Stephanie’s nephew, which sends a weird message, like she has to demonstrate care-giving talents?), and Stephanie realizes what an ass she’s been. Her initial actions come back to bite her, though, as they definitely should.

I know that Stephanie’s behavior is supposed to be the purpose and driver of tension in the story, but for me, it just inspired visions of me punching things. She could have been an excellent mentor, right from the start. We need more women mentoring women in every industry. Instead, Stephanie is petty and cranky, basically because she doesn’t want to talk to someone at her job. She does get over it, and realizes how good Luca is, but at what cost?

They get a HFN, but I am definitely giving Stephanie the side-eye. I did not want to spend more time with her, though I liked Luca ok (she was pretty peppy, which can be a positive or a negative, I guess).

For Opportunity of a Lifetime (it wasn’t) by itself, 2/5 stars.

Overall, this set of novellas features very different characters in terms of personality, though they feature mostly white characters, with no mention of trans folks or disabled folks. For a variety of reasons, gay male MCs saturate the queer romance space, so it’s nice to see women who love women as central characters. But even though the quality of these stories varies, I’d still recommend them.

3/5 stars

*Review copy provided by NetGalley. This review will also be posted on http://www.tbqsbookpalace.com

The Boss of Her: Office Romance Novellas

I received an ARC copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Three great reads from three great authors. Two of which are new to me.
I have read some of Julie Cannon’s other books but Aurora Rey & M Ullrich are new authors to me and I really enjoyed reading some of there work.

Book 1: Lead Counsel - Aurora Rey. Eliza & Parker were the two main characters and I really enjoyed this novella. Good strong characters and a good storyline. I only wish it was a full novel. I will definitely check out some of her other books.

Book 2: For Your Eyes Only – Julie Cannon. Riley & Dana are the two main characters. I have to say that this one has got to be my favourite. I instantly connected with the characters from the very beginning and loved the storyline. Again, I would have liked more.

Book 3: Opportunity of a Lifetime – M Ullrich. Luca & Stephanie are the two main characters. This has got strong characters and a good storyline. I didn’t really connect with Stephanie at the beginning but as the story progressed she grew on me. I will check out some of this authors other books.

Overall I would rate this 4 stars.

Three quick reads each with their own value. Enjoyed them all for the most part, but perhaps the first was my favorite.

I really enjoyed those short stories - some more some less and for some I wished they would be longer.... all in all I really liked this collection.

I'm a fan of office romances, and I especially like the boss-employee dynamic - because it is a tad riskée?

There may be ethical concerns, it is frowned upon, and will one of the characters get fired when it gets out? The forbidden element of such a pairing makes for good drama.

From the three novellas, I liked the first one by Aurora Rey best. The characters were likable. But they were more peers than boss/employee.
The peek into the world of litigation was exciting. Still, the book didn't veer into the boring too-much-information territory.
I also liked learning about the peculiarities of New Orleans. Very fascinating.
The angst/drama in the characters' relationship was enjoyable. I enjoyed the suspense.

The second novella was a surprise. For most parts of the story, it was not about a workplace relationship.
One of the leads is a stripper, and the other character, a businesswoman, gets enthralled by her. It's a sexy story. But I was a bit miffed that it wasn't a classic office romance.
Without going into detail - the author gets to that. All in all, well-done story.

The third novella by M. Ullrich is the only story with a classic setup. Stephanie Austin is the successful "Ice Queen Bitch" at the top of the corporate latter. Luca Garner is a new intern, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, talented and ambitious. But Stephanie doesn't want to give her a chance and is an impossible bitch for most of the story.
With this novella, I had problems with her character. Even when the romance began, it was a tad clinical. Stephanie was such a mean person.
Luca was likable, but I wonder what made her fall for Stephanie except for her looks and her success.
Technically, the author did an excellent job with this novella. The words flowed, the story had good pacing. It is unfortunate that I couldn't believe the characters' chemistry.

All in all, this book was a nice read. But I expected a strong focus on the risks of a boss-employee relationship. The three stories could have exploited that better.
I enjoyed two of the three novellas; the third one was merely okay for me.
Because the book needs a unified rating, I'm giving it a 3.75, rounded up to a 4.

ARC received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a mixed bag for me, I liked one, thought one was average, and didn’t warm to the other.

The first story is Lead Counsel by Aurora Rey, I don’t think I’ve read anything by her before, but I will now. This was by far the strongest story, and I wish it wasn’t a novella. I enjoyed both MC’s and the plot was interesting, there was also no stupidly interspersed drama. I would have liked more time with these characters, still what was there didn’t feel forced or rushed.

Second is Julie Cannon’s For Your Eyes Only, which had an out there premise featuring a stripper and a woman who’s wound so tight she has to keep paying her to dance for her. I didn’t really get a handle on either character and the reveal at the end was rushed and unrealistic. No way do I see that relationship lasting.

The last was M. Ullrich’s Opportunity of a Lifetime and I just couldn’t warm to it. Didn’t like either character, the plot wasn’t terribly interesting and the contrived drama was way over the top.

All in all I’m happy I tried this because I found a new author, but overall, it was an average read.