A Little Too Far

A Little Too Far
by Lisa Desrochers
Published by William Morrow
336 pages
Genre: romance; New Adult
Thanks to edleweiss for the preview
3.5 / 5


Have you ever read a book that doesn't quite know what it wants to be? Perhaps you've read a Hot Romance Novel that attempts to address an issue. Abuse, hubris, societal prejudice. And it does neither very well. Or perhaps you've read a book that addresses one of those issues but decides to throw in some slapstick comedy. You're left trying to figure out what you just read.

That, to some degree, is the problem with this book.

Oh, it's fun, and the sexy times are very hot. But right when it finds its groove, it veers off into another type of book.

The basic plot entails Lexie Banks, an intelligent and gorgeous college co-ed, jetting off to attend a year of college in Italy within hours of rocking the headboard with her irresistible stepbrother, who also happens to be her best friend and confidante. Lexie struggles with guilt. Well, she struggles to a degree. How can she truly regret the vigorous and glorious session of headboard rocking when she would really like to do it again?

Trying to help her understand her conflicting emotions is priest-in-training Alessandro, every bit as irresistible as Lexie's stepbrother.

And here is where Lisa Desrochers seems to lose the script she started out with. There are chuckle-out-loud comedic moments involving Lexie making a confession, and then there are the question-your-calling moments with Alessandro. Lexie being the super swell girl she is appears designated as Alessandro's mother confessor of sorts, and that navel gazing bogs down the story.

The good news is that the storyline with Lexie and her stepbrother is quite well done. We empathize with the two of them and the mess that their emotions cause. They are siblings, but not really siblings. They are best friends and soul mates, yet they also share parents. They love each other, as siblings and lovers. Desrochers presents these complications truthfully and unflinchingly, respecting her characters and asking that we do as well.

Unfortunately, however, there is the secondary storyline. I liked that Alessandro questioned his clerical path; Desrochers unfolded his questioning in a natural, almost organic way. I suppose it is intended as a parallel storyline, with a character second-guessing something he's always assumed to be true. Much like Lexie questioning the platonic nature of her relationship with her stepbrother, Alessandro questions his with the priesthood. But then we wind up in a sort of comedic no man's land, with Lexie bumbling through Rome like a Keystone Cop.

Despite the occasional veering away, though, this is a fun book to read. Lexie is annoying and frustrating, but we like her. We want her to figure out her feelings and find peace in her life.