An Inappropriate Affair by Lyn Denison is an ice queen, oh look only one bed, romance between a woman and her boss.
All Flynn Fox has ever wanted is to be accepted for what she is. In her family business, that means being treated equally to her brothers instead of shunted off to lesser positions. Personally, she wishes she didn’t have to worry about the repercussions of being a lesbian in a family hostile to even the idea.
Everyone important in Gian Crane’s life knows she prefers women, but her workplace is a different matter. When she suddenly finds herself elevated to personal assistant to the new manager, she hopes no one notices how absolutely smitten she is with the icy Ms. Fox.
They have both been devastated by love before and are hesitant to lose their heart, but neither wants a simple fling either. While navigating the restructuring of a company on the brink of failure the women try to hold back their feelings for each other, without much success.
Writing
Mildred: The author spends a lot of time in the head of Gian and Flynn, so we well understand how they feel and why they feel that way. There is a lot of sexual tension between them that both think can’t be acted on, though not for the same reasons. There are a lot of characters and lots of backstory between them and the two main characters. Sometimes the other characters are tooth grindingly villainous, which adds a lot of tension to the story.
Rachel: As Mildred has said the author spends a lot of time in the main characters’ heads. This is a very character driven book, and the writing reflects that. There is also a lot of dialogue in this book and the author ensures you get the difference between what the character is thinking vs what they are actually saying.
Pros And My Favourite Parts
Mildred: I liked the business mystery of how an office in the large Fox corporation could be failing and why that may have happened, for a long while even more than the romance aspect of the story. When the two women’s relationship finally began to snowball out of control, through, I enjoyed watching them come together. Gian has huge self doubts that Flynn can kiss away, and Flynn has been terribly hurt by love before. I really enjoyed Gian’s healing powers on Flynn. Also, can we all have a best friend like Maddie?
Rachel: I enjoyed the dual aspect of this story. It’s not just a romance. It has a good business storyline; I’ll admit I worked out why the business was failing and who was behind it easily but still enjoyed watching it unravel for the characters in the book.
The romance is lovely, there is a lot of longing and self-doubt for both characters and the author give’s plenty of back story as to why this is, which is great.
There was something bothering me about this book, so I stopped reading and thought about it. Here’s my thoughts.
Flynn is presented as an ice queen, and because of this I wanted more from her! Flynn is standoffish and reserved but for me she’s not an ice queen, and as soon as I stopped thinking of her in this light, I enjoyed the story so much more. I’ll explain a bit because this is not a criticism- Ice Queens are typically self-assured, confident, controlled, cutting, and believe in themselves. They rarely allow themselves to see their own weakness never mind others. They tend to let past hurts make them stronger, more cutting and put on a mask for themselves and others. Flynn is troubled. Her past has made her loose her fight, she allows the people in her life to dictate how she should present herself (especially the men in her life- father, brother, ex-husband) and where she should work. An ice queen would have cut them all off at the knees. So, once I stopped thinking of her in this light I loved her, Flynn is strong and resilient, she is working as best she can with the card’s life has dealt her and damn it, she deserves to be happy.
Gian is one of those sweet characters who is just too good for this world. I wanted to both shake her and shield her. She has such promise and is just gorgeous. At times I felt stupidly proud of her for going after what she wanted. She has the most amazing best friend and as Mildred has said can we all please have a Maddie in our lives.
Heads Up
Mildred: There is suicide, infidelity, and homophobia.
Rachel: I’d add bullying to that list.
The Conclusion
Mildred: An Inappropriate Affair is what happens when corporate scion Flynn Fox falls for her curvy young personal assistant Gian Crane. Both women are cautious about affairs of the heart, but their physical attraction is off the charts. Flynn feels a huge need to hide a relationship from her mostly awful family and Gian has issues of self doubt that make her question Flynn’s motivations. If Flynn can’t save the company Gian works for, though, their secret romance may be the least of their problems.
Mildred: For a reader looking for a deep dive into the psyches of two women who are very different but totally made for each other, this is a fine read. I enjoyed the business mystery aspect of the story very much until that was taken over by the romance.
Rachel: Mildred has pretty much covered it. However, I’d like to add that if you’re wanting to read this book for the ice queen then you may be disappointed. That’s not to say this isn’t a great read with a great romance, characters, and plot, for me thinking of Flynn as an ice queen distracted me, as soon as I stopped, I loved it.
It’s a great character lead book with lots of dialogue and fun side characters. The romance is slow but lovely and the epilogue leaves you feeling like Flynn and Gian got exactly what they wanted and deserved.
Excerpt from An Inappropriate Affair by Lyn Denison
Time raced by and when they walked into the meeting room just before ten o’clock Gian was relieved to see it was over half full, and it was standing room only. No seating had been provided. Surely that meant this was going to be a short meeting.
Gian nervously bit her lip. She shuffled herself to the back and stood behind a tall, grey-haired man who she knew was one of the accountants.
Everyone collect your personal items from your desks and leave the building. Severance pay will be in your bank accounts by Friday. Gian imagined she could hear the words and she moved just slightly so she could see the heads of the three people who stood on a small raised dais. Of course, her gaze was drawn immediately to the woman.
Oh my God! Gian bit back a moan. It hadn’t been a dream. She was beauty personified. Her photographs didn’t do her justice. She knew Flynn Fox was in her late thirties but she certainly didn’t look her age. Her skin was flawless. Her bearing commanding. Her outfit cried money. Overall, she simply screamed success.
All of a sudden Gian realised her traitorous body was sending her urgent messages. Interested, authentic messages. Her nerve endings took to a long dormant track, careened downwards, and ended low in her stomach. She grew hot and wanted to escape the room. It was definitely interest. She recognised the feeling. Her slumbering libido was showing definite signs of life, interested life.
No. No. No way was she going to allow herself to venture into that dangerous place. It had been years since she’d felt this way about anyone. Not since Angela— She stopped those thoughts. She wasn’t going there again either. That way led to all manner of anguish.
Robert Fox raised his hand and the murmuring stopped. ‘Good morning, everyone,’ he said cheerfully. ‘I suppose you’re wondering why we’ve gathered you all here. Well, I won’t keep you in suspense. My not-so-best-kept-secret is that I’ve decided to retire.’
The roomful of people murmured appropriately.
‘I want to improve my golf game while my old bones let me. And I also want to spend some time with my new grandson.’
There were warmer murmurs.
Gian was watching Royce Fox and she thought she saw a momentary expression of disgust on his face before he schooled his features. Although not in his sister’s league he could have been attractive if it wasn’t for his almost bored persona.
He was probably as tall as Flynn, but allowing for her high heels, or the authoritative way she held herself, she looked taller. It was difficult to say as he had positioned himself away from her, standing on his uncle’s right hand side.
Get It Online
When you use the links in this review and buy within 24 hours of clicking then we get a small commission that helps us run the site and it costs you nothing extra
Series: Friends and Lovers
Friends and Lovers
Safely Home
Sweet Sweet Revenge
An Inappropriate Affair
Bits and Bobs
ASIN number: B0BNJDH5XN
Publisher: Indie Author
If you enjoyed An Inappropriate Affair by Lyn Denison then you should also look at
Note: I received a free review copy of An Inappropriate Affair by Lyn Denison. No money was exchanged for this review. When you use our links to buy we get a small commission which supports the running of this site
