Review: So Awesome and Different!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 22, 2012
DESCRIPTION: Black secretary, Lisa Tyrell, is just about to quit on her domineering half-Japanese boss, Mr. Yamamoto, when he confesses that he's not just domineering, but a conflicted Dom. Can she help him navigate his emotions without losing her heart.THE GOOD: HARDER is my favorite of Ms. Tabu's IR novellas. This is just a really smart romance. Ms. Tabu is very concerned with her characters' emotions, which makes them feel like living, breathing people, and the situations she sets up for this H/H just blew my mind. At one point, I found myself nodding and saying, "Respect, respect" out loud. Also, her dialogue is crazy-solid. This novella, in particular, is really funny and really different.THE BAD: The cover for the individual novella is not great, and even misleading at first glance. I didn't realize that the cover model was wearing a stocking, and thought that I'd be reading an IR romance, involving a white woman and her PoC boss.Though I loved the heroine's POV, the hero was so compelling that it felt weird that he didn't get one of his own -- especially since the heroes of DEEPER and LOUDER got their own POVs. The ending is extremely abrupt. Luckily it's given a sequel inHARDEST, which feels more like the ending this novella should have had.EDITING ISSUES: A few typosLength: Novella (20,000)FINAL GRADE: AHappy Reading,Theodora from irbookreviews.com