Despite the cringeworthy cover (I’m sorry, I’m boring and hate ‘sexy’ covers), Furbidden Attraction by R O’Leary was so fun and exciting! I honestly did not expect to love it as much as I did and I cannot wait to continue the series! Fun characters balance out a darker mystery so that this isn’t simply a romance but romance mystery (romystery? romastery? mystermance?) Fun characters, budding romance, and an actual story – there’s nothing more I could really ask for!
I thought FMC Louisa was super fun and relatable. She moves to middle of nowhere town after losing her job and partner in the same go. Sadly, the clean slate she was looking forward to is marred by a slightly hostile town that doesn’t embrace her immediately, a job she dislikes, and apartment that is being grungy. All of this is so relatable and normal. Louisa is just a normal girl that is trying to get by as best she can. Enter, MMC Jack, a dog shifter that finds himself attracted to Louisa for reasons he can’t pin down. Jack’s a great, fluffy MMC. He is such a himbo and may not know how to do things “right,” but it won’t stop him from trying. It is beyond cute. That’s not to take away from him, however. Jack is talented at his normal person job, and the best at his shifter job. There are facets to him that I was excited to explore.
Things happen and for some reason, the best solution is kidnapping! Unlike other ‘dark’ romances where the FMC is kidnapped, Louisa puts up a fierce fight. She fights Jack, she fights his friends, she will not go down easily. I love this. Again, she reacts like a normal person. Of course that changes once more romance plot things unravel, but even then she worries that this is Stockholm Syndrome. Louisa provides just the right about of snark, sass, and comedic relief.
Plot-wise, we’ve got two great threads to follow. The first, of course, is the romance which was the main reason I picked this up in the first place! Jack tries to woo Louisa, who wants to fight against it due to the aforementioned kidnapping. Neither understand where this attraction is coming from, so they both try to fight against it. Well, against the love and romance part – not necessarily the sex part. The second plot we follow is untangling what happened to Jack, and what is happening to the shifters in his “Den.” It’s such an interesting storyline and much more than I expected out of a “simple romance.” It’s the main reason I can’t wait to pick up the second in the series, just to see how things unfold.
Furbidden Attraction by R O’Leary is such a well-rounded paranormal romance that had it all for me. A complete romance plot with well-fleshed characters, as well as a complete mystery story to solve and put together. I definitely would recommend this to anyone looking for open door romance with more substance than normal!
