Reviewed by Larissa

TITLE: Off Limits

SERIES:  Secrets Kept, Book 1

AUTHOR: Riley Hart

NARRATOR:  Tim Paige

PUBLISHER: Self-published

LENGTH: 6 hours and 51 minutes

RELEASE DATE:  January 10, 2022

BLURB: 

It started out as a little fun. When there was a man in my building on a hookup app, why not message him? 

Only we didn’t meet. We just texted – one night after the other, after the other.

GoodWithHisHands was the perfect escape from my life, where pressure was always on my shoulders: my father’s expectations, the worry about my sister, Maddy, getting sick again, and her ex-husband, Ryder Lynwood, suddenly back and volunteering at the same hospital as me. 

It would have been smart to keep my distance from the man who came out as gay, tearing our close families apart and breaking Maddy’s heart. Except Ryder intrigues me. I like talking to him, the same way I enjoy chatting with GoodWithHisHands. 

They weren’t supposed to be the same person. 

I wasn’t supposed to fall for him. To want him. To need him. Maddy didn’t deserve to get hurt again, and I didn’t need another reason to feel like an outsider in my own family. Ryder was off-limits. I knew that. Still, I couldn’t make myself stay away. 

Off Limits is a sister’s ex-husband romance with banter, feels, and two men who are perfect for each other, even if they shouldn’t be. There’s no cheating.

REVIEW: 

Off Limits is the first book in Ms. Hart’s tantalizing new Secrets Kept series, and I refuse to keep secret how fantastic this book is.  Based on the forbidden romance premise, Ms. Hart tells the love story of Hutch and his younger sister Maddy’s estranged ex-husband, Ryder.  After five years of marriage, Ryder realizes he’s gay and comes out, asks for a divorce, and irrevocably changes the fabric of the relationship between the Hutchinson and Lynwood families.  Not only did Ryder make himself persona non grata because of how he hurt Maddy, his ex-wife and former best friend, but also because their break-up also fractured the relationship between Hutch and Ryder’s fathers, who were business partners.

After that, Ryder is taboo for Hutch.  Hutch should hate him for what he did to his baby sister, shouldn’t he?  Well, Hutch didn’t then, and he doesn’t now, having himself come out as bisexual and fully understanding Ryder’s dilemma.  In actuality, Hutch and Ryder are kindred spirits, both lonely men trying to live up to expectations and feeling the pain of failure.  

Hutch and Ryder coincidentally end up living in the same apartment complex, unbeknownst to either of them.  Ironically, they don’t run into each other in the building, though.  Instead, they improbably and unwittingly, anonymously connect on a hookup app.  Once TheDoctorIsIn (aka Hutch) and GoodwithHisHands (aka Ryder) begin chatting, it’s all over but the crying.  They don’t intend it to happen, but are helpless to resist the strong pull between them.   

Riley Hart consistently surprises me. Of course, since she does it with every book, you’d think I’d expect it by now.  But I don’t, and it’s because Ms. Hart recreates standard M/M romance tropes in ways I can’t predict, even if I go into the book expecting it to be different.

What’s different about this forbidden romance trope story is that Ms. Hart firmly roots it in real-world challenges and conflicts that lend authenticity to Hutch and Ryder’s relationship.  The story doesn’t focus on skulking around, histrionics, or manufactured angst.  It doesn’t focus on Ryder as the core character journey.  Rather, Hutch and Ryder’s relationship exposes family issues between Hutch and his father and the Catch-22 Hutch finds himself in. Ms. Hart spends time delving into the fractured and fraying relationships between Hutch and his father, Ryder and Maddy, and Hutch and Maddy.  She also unpacks the impact of Maddy’s childhood battle with cancer on Hutch, and the downstream impact of all of this on the fledgling relationship between these two men who fall desperately in love against their will. 

The Secrets Kept series lives in the same universe as Ms. Riley’s excellent Atlanta Lightning series, so we get some welcome cross-over cameos from the main characters in The Endgame and The End Zone.  We see those couples, happily ensconced in their lives after their HEAs.  It’s as warm and fuzzy-inducing as you’d expect.  It also provides a light-hearted counterpoint to a serious part of the narrative and also provides perspective for Hutch and Ryder.

Off Limits is a beautiful, impactful story on text alone, but the audiobook elevates the experience immensely.  Tim Paige narrates the entire book (no dual narration shifting back and forth), and it is certainly a treat for the listener.  His vocal performance here is the best I’ve heard from him yet.  It’s invested, absorbing, and creates an immersive story experience.

Mr. Paige’s voice is like a siren song.  Once you hear it, you can’t help but draw near and sink into his low, smoky tones.  His voice is velvety and smooth but with enough texture to it that it gives him room to explore the nuances of each character within the voice he gives them. Here, he marries that with clear and consistent delineation between his voices for Hutch and Ryder, with accurate interpretation of the text and intonations to match.  His female voice for Maddy sits in the alto range and has a bit of strain.  It doesn’t quite hit the mark for authenticity, but it works just fine in context, and he delivers it consistently.  

Overall, Off Limits is an audiobook I highly recommend.  It pairs Ms. Hart’s very well-written, engaging story with Mr. Paige’s top-notch narration, creating a wonderful experience you can escape in.  Seven hours will fly by and you’ll find it’s not enough.  Luckily, this is a story that calls for and stands up to repeated listens.  With Mr. Paige at the mic, repeat play may be the way to go.

RATING:

BUY LINKS: 

Audible  

Amazon