Under Control by Shannon Stacey ★★★★ (Boston Fire #5)

Business consultant Olivia McGovern and firefighter Derek Gilman find themselves trapped in a stalled elevator. They’d checked each other out right before entering and their attraction was undeniable. They went their separate ways following rescue but days later had an unplanned reunion at a charity meeting. This time they wasted no time in moving forward after having failed to exchange contact information the first time. So what could go wrong?

Olivia’s highly successful and her lifestyle is proof of that. Derek is divorced with two young children and lives modestly. Even though there’s an obvious income disparity, these two have a lot of interests in common and genuinely like and enjoy each other. I liked how Olivia didn’t shy away from the issue, embracing her accomplishments without diminishing Derek and he didn’t fall into that trap of believing his manhood was threatened. They confronted the real issues a single father faces in co-parenting and introducing a new relationship to his children, as well as those fears and concerns a woman would experience walking into the situation. It was refreshing to not see manufactured drama, just the small things that can place strain on a new and developing relationship, figuring out how to communicate and handle them.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story about two people from different socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds (she was from Virginia, he from Boston) who focused on what really matters in a relationship but weren’t unrealistically oblivious to the differences. While both were appealing, they weren’t perfect, had some missteps and behaved maturely and honestly. The narrator seemed to capture their personalities really well and delivered a strong performance. This is one of my favorites in the series.

Book Info

• Release Date: August 28, 2018
• Narrator: Tatiana Sokolov
• Audio Length: 6 hours, 32 minutes

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(I received an advance copy from the publisher in exchange for an unbiased review)