Unlawful Temptations

The Star-Crossed Series, Book 1

De: Alexandria Lee

Narrado por: Kelsey Navarro Foster

Breaking the rules is never without consequence. That's what Dominic Reed was to me—a devastating consequence.

It seemed harmless when we met. He needed a nanny, and I needed a job. Badly. I was the only thing keeping food on the table and lights on in our not-so-happily-ever-after home.

I thought working for Dominic Reed would be easy. I thought very wrong.

It was the exact opposite of easy. In fact, it was impossible when he was my boss, and I was his employee, and fate decided it didn't care about professionalism or boundaries. It didn't care that I was ten years younger. It didn't care that I'd built the entire foundation of my adult life on the fact that love was poison and men were the devil.

And it certainly didn't care about the wedding band around Dominic's finger, either.

No matter how off-limits he was to me or how wild and rebellious I was to him, our chemistry was heroin, and it demanded our submission despite how hard we scrambled to stop it.

I needed to stop it because it wasn't just my heart in jeopardy if I fell in love with Dominic Reed. It was my life.

©2021 Alexandria Lee (P)2023 Podium Audio

waiting to read/listen to more

I am so grateful to have gotten 1 of 3 ALC for this book because my attention span for slow-burn romances is NOT great, lol. This book - or rather trilogy - is about Kat and Dominic, who meet when she interviews with him and his wife to nanny his daughter. The slow burn is definitely worth it, though Dom is still married by the end of this first installment. He has asked for a divorce. Kat takes care of her five-year-old sister and loses her previous job because everything in her interferes with it. Her decisions are questionable, and even if she is the "adult" in her household, she is still childish at times (which is understandable because she's young).

I will admit that Dominic was the better character in this book. I'm still waiting for Kat to grow as a character and be more mature. Dominic did everything to save his marriage before finally realizing that it had no return. He loved his daughter so much and showed it. He wants Kat to be safe, especially now that the criminal he's after is targeting her. Kat did make it difficult for him, but he persevered. Another character who made this book for me was his mom. Even when she discovered them making out and all, she saw that Kat was probably the better option as opposed to his wife. His wife is so detached from everyone and everything. she doesn't even take care of their daughter. Literally, she only made drama when she saw that Dominic and Kat liked each other.

Great story line

I absolutely love this series. It keeps you invested and entertained. I was not happy about the cheating originally but the story explains so much that you understand the main characters. I do not want to give too much away in my review. The chemistry is felt all the way through this book.

Phenomenal forbidden/age gap romance!

I am utterly obsessed with this series! I read it a while back, and now having the opportunity to listen to it on audio was a highlight! This is the first book in Alexandria’s Star-Crossed series, and what a roller coaster of emotions to experience on this journey with Dominic and Kat. This forbidden/age gap romance will pull you in and have you in a chokehold until the very end.

Kat recently lost her job and is in dire need to find work, so she is able to continue to care for her little sister Charlotte, since their mother is an addict and can’t seem to get her life together. When she interviews for a nanny position and is offered the job, things start to shift between our married detective and young nanny. The angst, drama, and slow burn left me enraptured and devouring these pages. Dominic and Kat deal with so many struggles and roadblocks, but their chemistry sets their life aflame. Will they be able to hold off on their attraction, or will they cave into the unlawful temptations?

This book is narrated by Kelsey Navarro Foster. This is my first time listening to a solo narrated book, and I was thoroughly impressed. It takes a lot of skills for one person to narrate all characters in a book, and Kelsey hit it out of the park. She did a phenomenal job with Charlotte’s voice and bouncing between the different FMCs in any scenes. Kelsey definitely encapsulated Kat’s smart mouth and daring attitude perfectly, and the slow kisses, tantalizing touches, and hidden conversations leave you wanting more. I forgot how havoc wrecking the cliffhanger is, and I’m already dying for the second book to come out on audio to get back into this intense filled story of Dominic and Kat.

Love this story and the narration!

This is one of my favorite series! Kelsey did a great job narrating! Looking forward to the rest of the books on audio! Congratulations, Alexandria Lee!

Great but to much fluff

I absolutely lovedddd this book but I feel like there was a lot that was added to describe things or fill in space that was unnecessary. 10/10 book but I wish there was more actual monologue and a lot less inner monologue, seemed a little to much at times.

So many filler words but good story

Enjoyed the story/plot. I just wish the author would tone down on super detailed smells, sights, feels and sounds. Could have probably shaved a good hour or two off the length by limiting the adjectives.
Narrator is okay. She sounds older than the characters age, but eventually I was able to get over it.
I know I sound like I’m hating the book… I really did like the story and did go on to book two because I was vested in the characters.

Narrator and the banter

So I have been completely stuck on duet or dual narration. I had been putting off reading because it is single narration. However, Kelsey Navarro did a phenomenal job narrating and making it easy to differentiate between characters. She completely nailed it with the MFC voice. The only things I was not impressed with was the spice. What little spice it had was good but it was more of a slow burn without ever truly catching fire. This was more angst and longing than spice. I also that the tug and pull moments were more intense for the MMC .Although it is stated he is not the “cheating kind” it would have been nice to hear more of a moral battle for him. Although it is narrated from the MFC POV… adding more of the agonizing moral dilemma from the MMC POV would have upped the angst a new level. The cliffhanger absolutely threw me for loop as that is not my preference. I am glad that this is a series and can immediately start the next book. Worth the credit. Btw if this was duet narration … Troy Duran would be a Kick ass Dom.

LOVED DOM…CAT IRRITATES ME

I really like this book a lot and will most likely finish the series the only thing that I’m struggling to get past is Cat’s whole personality…like I applaud her for stepping up to take care of her sister but my god is she insufferable in all other aspects of her life. I understand having trauma from childhood but the way she just blatantly does whatever she wants like genuinely doesn’t care what Dom says because she doesn’t want to be told what to do even in regards to her safety is beyond infuriating because she talks so much about protecting her little sister childhood but what does she think will happen to her sister if something happens to her?! Just a dumb way to go about things for someone that is so adamant about protecting her sister from trauma…

The plot is good...just long winded

I appreciate Dom and his discipline. I even understand the struggles that Kat was going through. (Obviously, I meant plot, not scenarios if it was real life.) What I didn't like was the overstatement of the most essential things. Yes, she was immature, but some things were too idiotic to enjoy. I am all for analogies in the right spots, but it was a bit overdone. I'm hoping the next one in the series will be better.

Don’t listen to the other reviews!

People are complaining it’s too slow but they are WRONG and I’ll tell you why.
Everyone complains about instalust and instalove and how contrite romance novels are. This one is not that.
The MMC is flawed and doesn’t make excuses. He’s not a billionaire and has legitimate struggles. People are complaining about the FMC being too immature but guess what? She’s 20 or 21 for the duration of the book and has a rough home life- of course she makes bad decisions and has moments of immaturity BUT she also has redeeming moments. She’s human- and she’s 21. Give her a break.
The story progresses organically, and the secondary plot doesn’t feel like a last minute add in for drama- it’s actually central to the story. It’s not just the romance. There’s some EXTREMELY character development going on, multiple facets of their lives are being explored and fleshed out the give us a truly well-told story.
And *spoiler* they haven’t really done the deed yet, though there has been some fooling around. If the spice and steam progresses the way everything else has, book 2 is not going to disappoint.

As for the narration: I usually stick to duets but I really enjoyed this one. She doesn’t overdo it with the male voice. Her comedic timing and sass bring charm to the FMC and she didn’t go overboard baby-voicing the kids.