Review: “Out of Bounds” by Julia Connors

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨

Steam: 🔥🔥🔥

Release Date: July 27th, 2022

Add to Goodreads | Amazon.in (Available on KU)

CW: infidelity, mentions of cancer and character in remission

I’m a type-A planner. Arriving at my best friend’s wedding newly single—not planned. Off-the-charts chemistry with her much younger brother—also unplanned. Agreeing to be his roommate for a few weeks—wait, was there a plan?

Jilted by my cheating ex-fiancé and left homeless in the process, it’s a no-brainer to take my best friend Jackson up on her offer to stay in her condo in Park City. The only catch? Jackson’s already agreed to let her younger brother Beau stay there for a few weeks.

Living with Beau short-term shouldn’t be an issue, except when we meet again for the first time in a decade, our chemistry is off the charts. But Beau is everything I’m not looking for in a guy: he’s unpredictable and self-centred, a known womanizer, and incapable of committing to anything besides travelling the globe snowboarding. Plus, no guy is worth losing my best friend over.

As barely tolerating each other turns to barely restrained attraction, our relationship is pushed far past the boundaries we’ve both erected. Can we keep it casual as our relationship heats up, or are we risking every plan we’ve ever made?

 

I read and loved On the Edge so much earlier this year and was really excited when Julia announced that book two would be about Sierra. Her kindness and genuine soul in book one made me love her so much, so obviously I was looking forward to what shenanigans she would get upto in her own book. And all of the feels I felt were unexpected, but so heartwarming anyway.

In Out of Bounds, you’ll find:

✨ best friend’s brother

✨ slow burn roommates

✨ childhood crush to lovers

✨ forced proximity

✨ an adorable foster puppy

✨ sexy, charming snowboarder

✨ beautiful, kind social media professional

✨ snow covered mountains

✨ a vegas hook-up

After catching her fiancé cheating on her with his assistant, Sierra shows up at her best friend’s wedding alone and with nowhere to stay. And thankfully for her, Jackson’s old condo is available and ready for her to stay in till she can get her feet under her. What she didn’t expect was to run into an old friend in the form of her best friend’s younger brother. Beau’s childhood crush on Sierra might not be as potent as it once was, but the sight of her when she arrives in Park City pretty much ruins any hopes he has of not wanting more. And then when he finds out he’s going to be sharing his sister’s condo with the woman he’s always liked, things get a little…difficult.

I absolutely loved Sierra and Beau and their relationship. Their banter and their chemistry was fantastic, and I spent the whole time waiting for one of them to make a move or say something. But they take their own sweet time getting there. As the ‘good girl’ of her friends group, Sierra’s never been able to separate love and sex, so a one night stand to get over her cheating fiancé isn’t really her style. But her attraction to Beau is something she can’t deny, even though they had a bit of a misunderstanding and confusion years ago. Beau is a professional snowboarder with a playboy reputation that follows him everywhere. He’s in town for his sister’s wedding and some rest before the X Games in Aspen. But being around Sierra really tests his resolve every single day.

“There are few things in life I know with absolute certainty, but one I’m ready to add to the list is this: I’ve never felt about anyone the way I feel about Sierra. I need her, in the physical sense, but more than that, my soul craves hers.”

I loved that Sierra wasn’t the only one distracted by Beau’s half-naked form through the course of their friendship, she gives him quite a show too and sometimes not intentionally. I enjoyed watching them go from avoiding each other to settling into a comfortable situation and then becoming something so much more. And when you add in an adorable dog, all bets are off. They tease and taunt each other, they flirt and banter. While the chemistry and tension is evident, they also have so many adorable moments together. I liked seeing them navigate these confusing and complicated feelings they have for each other, especially when they believe that it’s wrong to act on it.

While I wasn’t a big fan of the conflict and the way it was handled, I really loved how we get to see so many sides of Sierra and Beau. They’re not just the people their friends claim they are and the growth through the course of their story really makes you see them in a different way and I loved that so much. I’m a sucker for positive family dynamics, but seeing Beau and Jackson, and their parents, go head to head and deal with their issues and dirty laundry felt so real and honest that I appreciated those interactions so much!

Their relationship felt so authentic and real too. They’ve got history and they have a mutual connection in Jackson, but they still find other ways to connect and fall in love. Between fostering Winston, cooking together and just sharing quiet moments as a non-couple; I feel like Sierra and Beau’s relationship grew in the most genuine kind of way and I loved that so much about them.

Thanks to Wildfire Marketing Solutions for generously providing me with an advance copy. I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.