A review by briarsreviews
On the Edge of Scandal by Tamsen Parker

5.0

Surprise, surprise - I am reading another Tamsen Parker book. What can I say? I'm addicted, and Tamsen fills the prescription.

Oh man, oh man. Tamsen loves her taboos, and she doesn't let us down with a Mentor-Mentee relationship (well, coach and team member if you want to get really picky). Throw in a splash of angst with all the ooey gooey romance, and you've got yourself a home run (wrong sport, but you get the point).

This Snow and Ice Games book is all about HOCKEY. As a Canadian, I approve! Finally a book that I will understand all the sports terms and be able to identify if Tamsen knows her stuff or is just really good at making up sports terms! Woo hoo!

Bronwyn and Ash are another great duo. I have never been so happy in my life to see a couple break up in a piece of literature - because Brody drove me insane. Coming from a formal athlete, I HATED IT when male athletes put down us female athletes. Brody drove me up the wall and made me hate him, which might be one of the cons of this book? I wish I had reasons to like Brody, but I really didn't. I understood where he was coming from, but he just fell flat. Maybe one day Tamsen will give him a chance for redemption in another novel?

I loved Bronwyn - she is a strong woman who isn't afraid to give a piece of her mind. I was so happy and proud of a certain moment in this novel, because honestly I was rooting for team Bronwyn the whole time.

There were some points in this novel where I was a little...uneasy. Not with the content, but imagining it actually happening. Lying down and sleeping with your coach? It was consensual, but it seemed kinda...weird? I can see it happening, but at the same time it just seemed odd to me. Does this actually happen? I'm from a small town, so things like this rarely happen (the coaches are normally double the age of any of the participants) around my area. Maybe it's just my past experience clouding my vision.

I will say - this book is hot. It's steamy. It's sensual. It's racy. It's everything you want in an erotic romance and more. Okay, maybe it's not EVERYTHING (this isn't Tamsen's BDSM series, it's pretty calm), but it's still a quality romance novel (with some R rated scenes). I even felt my heart jump a few times thinking about how sweet these two are (and how they finally get together).

I like this series a lot more than a lot of the romances I used to read. The Snow and Ice Games just kinda click. They are sweet, short and sexy. Tamsen doesn't put in useless information, she doesn't lead you astray and she doesn't make you think to hard (Side note: don't you hate those romance books that throw in some "Inception" like plot but don't follow through with them?). Tamsen is the queen of easy, sexy reads! And probably the most important: her books aren't the same thing over and over.

I respect Tamsen so much (and I've said this in other reviews) on how she grows as an author. Some romance authors stick to the same story line over and over and over and over... It gets excessive. Tamsen might use the same premise (romance story, erotic, a little taboo) but she changes up the characters (M/M, F/F, M/F, etc), the plot lines (dramatic storytelling vs just a romance) and how steamy these books go, and so on. These books are all different and have their own identity, which is SO NICE TO SEE. I'm tired of reading the same book by the same author over and over again!

Overall, it's another hit for me. I'm having a hard time trying to figure out which book is my fave for far. I'll have to wait until I read all five to actually put them in an order of how much I enjoyed them, because the first three are all fighting for top spot and rotate depending on my mood (or the day).

Five out of five stars.

I received an electronic copy through Tamsen Parker and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.