The Tryst

Lauren Blakely has built one of the more dependable catalogues in modern contemporary romance, with novels that move quickly, lean into banter, and put two people in a situation where the chemistry is going to win whether they like it or not. The Tryst, by its title alone, signals the kind of premise her readers come to her for. A short term arrangement, a hotel room, a moment that was supposed to be a moment and turns out to be something larger.

Blakely is good at writing the tension between people who have agreed to keep things simple and then realize they have already failed. Her heroes tend to be successful men with one specific blind spot the heroine is going to expose. Her heroines are usually competent women dealing with one specific situation that has knocked them slightly off their game. The combination is reliable in the best sense, because Blakely knows when to lean on the trope and when to subvert it.

Her pacing is brisk. She does not write the longest books in the genre and her chapters end with hooks. The dialogue carries most of the romantic chemistry and her couples 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.

Readers who enjoy Christina Lauren, Helena Hunting, Tessa Bailey, or Lauren Layne will find familiar pleasure here. Blakely’s standalones can be read in any order and she keeps her wider universe loose enough that crossovers feel like bonuses rather than required reading. The Tryst is a comfortable, well crafted entry into her work.