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A review by colossal
The Boss of Her: Office Romance Novellas by M. Ullrich, Aurora Rey, Julie Cannon
3.0
This is an anthology of three lesbian romance novellas with the theme of workplace romance. In order they are:
Lead Counsel by [a:Aurora Rey|13652923|Aurora Rey|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1439239232p2/13652923.jpg]: Elisa Gonzalez is an attorney determined to maintain a work-life balance, in sharp contrast to her new lead counsel and former crush Parker Jones. The story is mostly them reconnecting through their shared history and misunderstandings. This was ok, but very light with the central conflict more around a misunderstanding than anything else. As a personal preference I was a bit put off by head-hopping in the narrative, but I do understand it's more of a thing in romance novels.
For Your Eyes Only by [a:Julie Cannon|3400476|Julie Cannon|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1478028488p2/3400476.jpg]: Riley Stephenson is the CFO for her company considers herself to be serious, thoughtful and stable. So when she encounters an off-the-charts attraction to Jess, a stripper that she meets at a friend's fiftieth birthday party, it takes her completely by surprise. What she does subsequently is anything but serious and thoughtful as she continues to see Jess. It's all in jeopardy when Jess shows up at Riley's workplace as a new Financial Analyst under her real name Dana. My favorite of this collection with the staid Riley on a roller-coaster of passion and confusion as she deals with her feelings towards Dana, and Dana's growing attraction to her mysterious client turned boss. Unfortunately it feels like the story cuts off just as it gets interesting and it doesn't really deal with the central premise of the anthology at all, that of a relationship between a boss and a subordinate, as the action stops once they get together.
Opportunity of a Lifetime by [a:M. Ullrich|14161854|M. Ullrich|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1452487494p2/14161854.jpg]: Probably the least believable of the three with some truly outrageous Devil Wears Prada shenanigans between the boss forensic accountant Stephanie Austin and her new assistant Luca Gardner. Somehow Stephanie's growing respect for Luca's tenacity and Luca's determination to handle anything that Stephanie does to her translates to a relationship rather than lifelong enmity. I didn't really buy it, although the story did have entertaining parts.
One of the reasons I like to read LGBT fiction is that I find relationship dynamics outside of traditional male-female roles quite interesting. Add in boss-employee dynamics to that and the relationships should become fascinating, and a bit of an inherent minefield. It's probably a shame then that only the third story really delivers on what I was looking for here, and that one was a bit spoiled by relatively unbelievable behavior on the part of the boss character. Still, I enjoyed the collection overall, even if it wasn't quite what I was after.
Lead Counsel by [a:Aurora Rey|13652923|Aurora Rey|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1439239232p2/13652923.jpg]: Elisa Gonzalez is an attorney determined to maintain a work-life balance, in sharp contrast to her new lead counsel and former crush Parker Jones. The story is mostly them reconnecting through their shared history and misunderstandings. This was ok, but very light with the central conflict more around a misunderstanding than anything else. As a personal preference I was a bit put off by head-hopping in the narrative, but I do understand it's more of a thing in romance novels.
For Your Eyes Only by [a:Julie Cannon|3400476|Julie Cannon|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1478028488p2/3400476.jpg]: Riley Stephenson is the CFO for her company considers herself to be serious, thoughtful and stable. So when she encounters an off-the-charts attraction to Jess, a stripper that she meets at a friend's fiftieth birthday party, it takes her completely by surprise. What she does subsequently is anything but serious and thoughtful as she continues to see Jess. It's all in jeopardy when Jess shows up at Riley's workplace as a new Financial Analyst under her real name Dana. My favorite of this collection with the staid Riley on a roller-coaster of passion and confusion as she deals with her feelings towards Dana, and Dana's growing attraction to her mysterious client turned boss. Unfortunately it feels like the story cuts off just as it gets interesting and it doesn't really deal with the central premise of the anthology at all, that of a relationship between a boss and a subordinate, as the action stops once they get together.
Opportunity of a Lifetime by [a:M. Ullrich|14161854|M. Ullrich|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1452487494p2/14161854.jpg]: Probably the least believable of the three with some truly outrageous Devil Wears Prada shenanigans between the boss forensic accountant Stephanie Austin and her new assistant Luca Gardner. Somehow Stephanie's growing respect for Luca's tenacity and Luca's determination to handle anything that Stephanie does to her translates to a relationship rather than lifelong enmity. I didn't really buy it, although the story did have entertaining parts.
One of the reasons I like to read LGBT fiction is that I find relationship dynamics outside of traditional male-female roles quite interesting. Add in boss-employee dynamics to that and the relationships should become fascinating, and a bit of an inherent minefield. It's probably a shame then that only the third story really delivers on what I was looking for here, and that one was a bit spoiled by relatively unbelievable behavior on the part of the boss character. Still, I enjoyed the collection overall, even if it wasn't quite what I was after.