The Thrill of It

The Thrill of It is one of Lauren Blakely’s contemporary romance novels, working in the territory she has built her career around. Blakely is one of the most prolific writers in modern romance, with a back catalogue that runs into dozens of standalones, novellas, and series across contemporary, sports, and rom com territory. Her readers come to her for fast paced, often funny novels that lean into banter and slow burn tension, with male leads who are usually emotionally available and willing to actually communicate.

The thrill of it premise hints at the kind of high heat romance Blakely does well. Two people drawn to each other for reasons that go beyond the obvious chemistry, a slow build of tension that becomes harder to resist with each chapter, and a payoff that arrives with the satisfaction of having been earned across the page count rather than handed over too easily. Blakely tends to write male leads who are accomplished men with one specific blind spot the heroine is going to expose, and her heroines are usually competent women dealing with one specific situation that has knocked them slightly off their game. The combination is reliable and her audience returns for the consistency.

Blakely writes short and tight. Her novels move quickly, her chapters end with hooks, and she does not waste time on subplot threads that will not pay off. The dialogue carries most of the romantic chemistry, and her couples tend to talk to each other like adults rather than miscommunicate their way through three quarters of the book. That alone puts her ahead of a lot of contemporary romance writers.

Readers who enjoy Christina Lauren, Tessa Bailey, Helena Hunting, or Mariana Zapata’s lighter work will find familiar pleasure here. Blakely’s standalones can be read in any order. The Thrill of It is a comfortable, well crafted entry into her catalogue and a fair sample of why her readers keep coming back.