Beyond Breathless by Kathleen O'Reilly

I have a mixed history with Blaze books. Most of the time, I don't find them all that appealing. I enjoy a good sex scene, but I want it to be grounded in the characters and mean something to them - and the "first chapter sex scene" in Blazes usually leaves me cold. I find it hard to get past that. But the few Blazes that have worked for me, have usually really worked for me. I guess if an author can get me past my initial distate for "sex between near-strangers", she has enough talent to write something I'll enjoy!

Beyond Breathless by Kathleen O'Reilly (HB 297
(2007, Contemporary Series) 5/15/08
Grade: 4.5

After a power outage, Wall Street broker Jamie McNamerra finds herself sharing a hummer limo with a sexy stranger. Jamie lives for work and nothing else, but a little fling wouldn’t hurt, just this once... But when she finds out her anonymous paramour is a Wall Street wiz himself, can she see him as anything but a rival?

In most Blazes, the opening sex scene seems contrived, but in this case, it came across as sexy, but still grounded in the characters. I loved the way the author portrayed these two characters, who love their jobs and get turned on by things like pork futures. She really made them feel real, and they didn’t fall into the usual romance hero and heroine cliches. (She has a great way of conveying the characters in a few words - “Andrew was a walking, talking, six foot tall chocolate bar”.) I thought that the conflict between them seemed realistic and meaningful (how could she ever know her own strengths if he overwhelmed her?) although I wish she’d had them talk about them at greater length toward the end of the book. The book did lose some of its fizz toward the end, but the rest of the book was so unique and well written, I had to give it a grading boost because of that.

One reason I like contemporary books is that they can present characters and conflicts that just wouldn't work in a historical setting. These characters lived and breathed their jobs, and I loved how she stayed true to that, instead of using the typical romance "types".