Title: Pushing the Limits (Secrets Kept #2)
Author: Riley Hart
Genre: Romance
Publisher: Amazon/Self
Heat: 4 Flames
Rating: 3.5 Hearts
Synopsis via Goodreads:
I was fourteen when my dad married Laneโs mom and our families became one, when my favorite moments were those spent staying up all night, talking or watching Lane create art.
There arenโt many things more inconvenient than loving your stepbrother. I know the limits, and thatโs pushing them too far.
Over the years Iโve pulled away from him. It was easier when he left for New York, but now heโs back, not only in Atlanta, but in my home, trying to get back what we lost.
How can I tell my own stepbrother that I want him in my bed? That I want to call him mine?
One kiss changes everything.
Our tight-knit family wonโt understand. Our friends wonโt either. But no matter how much I donโt want to disappoint them, now that weโre where we belong, I wonโt walk away. Even if I have to lose everything to keep him.
Review: As I’ve mentioned, Riley and I have issues some days. lol. I usually like her books. I’ve read probably 75% of them, so she’s usually a pretty safe bet for me. They can be hit or miss though.
Pushing the Limits is the second book in the Secrets Kept series. I did not review the first, because I found it meh, even annoying in parts. I liked this one actually, but something about the ending bothered me but I haven’t figured out what it is yet.
Isaac and Lane meet at fourteen years old when their parents get married. From that first day, there is something that draws them together but neither one really knows what it is at the time. Lane is the only one that Isaac allows to see the person beneath the facade he portrays daily. The bond they develop and share before they even figure it out is truly special.
“When someone who’s confident and bright enough to set the world on fire trusts you, it does something to a guy.”
Honestly, it’s what I loved most about these two and this book. Later, they made me swoon with hearts in my eyes in places. There are so many quotable passages that show the deep emotion that these two felt for each other. The heartache that Isaac felt over half his life at not being able to have Lane, never feeling that connection for someone else because his heart wasn’t his anymore. He even moves away to try and get over Lane and heal. He goes through life with empty hookups and superficial friendships, all the while, pretending that it was the way he wanted it. And then he comes home.
“I’d always felt safe with Lane in a way I never had with anyone else. After all these years, I thought this would have gone away. That keeping my distance and not trusting him with my secrets would sever this need I had for him, but it hadn’t. It was still there, as powerful as it always had been, simultaneously breaking me down and building me up.”
[…]
“The only thing I’d ever wanted was him, and he was the one thing I would never have.”
Isaac’s pain is palpable in places, hidden in others. And that kind of pain changes a person and their relationships, as it does with Lane, who harbors his own secret.
But there’s a little humor too. Isaac’s jealousy is cute when he meets one of Lane’s partners who we will refer to as fuckface, as Isaac does. lol
Overall, I liked this story, far more than the first in this series. I give the first 75% almost 4 stars, but somewhere towards the end something changed and I didn’t find it very believable maybe? I don’t know. Something was just off for me. I can’t pinpoint or explain it, it just was.
This seemed to get some high ratings on GoodReads so maybe I am just picky. *shrugs* I think most people will like it honestly. The epilogue gives our couple a HEA. It’s a slow burn, but when the heat finally does happen, the dirty talk is on point.
Purchase Link | Amazon
This title is available free as part of the Kindle Unlimited library.
