Book Review: Pushing the Limits

Synopsis from Amazon:

He’s my art professor.
I’m his student.
With an electric connection and undeniable chemistry, I know it won’t be long until one of us cracks.

When the opportunity arises to pose naked for the entire art class, I can’t help the thrill of knowing he’ll be watching me.
While they all look past me with their eyes narrowed and concentrated, drawing only the lines and angles of my body, he sees right through me down to my vulnerability.
He sees more than just the physical aspects—he sees me.
That’s when I see the struggle in his features as he tries to stay in control.

How do we keep our distance when everything seems to be pulling us together?
What feels so right can only go wrong if we keep pushing the limits.

Based on the synopsis you’d think this novel starts with the protagonist, Aspen, posing nude in front of her class and professor, Morgan. But that’s not the case.

Told in alternating point of views, between Aspen and Morgan, there’s a lot of build up before readers even get to that scene and there’s way more to this story than just a student/teacher relationship, which I liked.

Both Aspen and Morgan are suffering depression due to similar circumstances but they handle it in very different ways. Aspen’s identical twin sister, Ariel, passed away six years ago and Aspen’s still dealing with the guilt about what happened the night her sister died. Morgan’s brother, Ryan, died a few months ago and Morgan has his own guilt to deal with while also being the guardian for Ryan’s daughter, Natalia.

Both Aspen and Morgan are hurting and they discover solace and more importantly, understanding, with each other. Also, Aspen’s a 21-year-old adult, which makes me feel way more comfortable with her relationship with Morgan. I will say I thought Morgan pushed his boundaries as a teacher way too early and I would’ve liked it more if Aspen initiated the relationship more. Still, I fell in love with Morgan just as much as Aspen did.

He’s smart, funny, artistic, and an all around good guy (besides the fact that he dates one of his students of course). I also really liked Aspen and felt so bad for her. I hate her parents and I wish we could’ve seen more of her brother, Aaron, who seemed like an okay guy.

I also really liked Aspen’s friends, Kendall and Zoe. Especially Kendall. She’s hilarious and added much needed comic relief to this novel. As did Aspen’s classmate, Ellie, who’s so blunt it’s a bit unbelievable but also very funny.

And of course the erotic scenes were very steamy. At some points the sex scenes got a little too repetitive for me so I started skimming them but eventually the author, Brooke Cumberland, skipped over them, which was good. I actually really liked the plot of this novel and at some points just wanted to get back to that so I was glad when she did.

Overall, BookBub once again gave me a great deal on a book I probably would’ve never discovered on my own. This is definitely a good read.

Borrow or Buy: Buy! It’s literally only 99 cents on the Kindle. Just buy it. You won’t regret it!

Stars: