It’s so unusual to have a character realise who they are and come out later in life, that i felt this could have been exploited much more on an emotional level – particularly given that Diana’s parents are portrayed as being potentially homophobic. To push this story to the next level, i really wanted to see the author explore Diana’s soul searching on a deeper level for a reader to be able to not only see her inner turmoil played out during sex scenes, but actually feel it as well. Meanwhile, married to a straight man, Diana’s anguish in finding herself attracted to Laurie is keenly felt by way of her internal dialogue. Right from the get-go Diana and Laurie’s desire for each other is palpable, but with Laurie smarting from a previous relationship and in desperate need of this job, she works to ignore the growing attraction, until that is Diana makes the first move. The X Ingredient focuses on 46 year old Diana Parker, a high powered attorney with her own law firm and 25 year old Laurie Holcombe, her newly hired assistant. And without a solid foundation, the sex can be as hot as hell, but it won’t negate a readers lack of connection with the characters and plot.įrustratingly, the elements of a great ice-queen, age-gap romance are there on the page, but the story just doesn’t quite hit its mark. But the rest of the story falls a bit flat, with little in-depth character development and a plot that had the potential to give a lot more than it did. Don’t get me wrong, The X Ingredient is a fun read if you want to indulge in some seriously steamy sex scenes. It features two of my favourite tropes in romance – age-gap and ice queen, and so i had high expectations particularly given the sheer number of reviews and ratings for this book across all platforms.Īnd whilst i didn’t super dislike it, it didn’t win me over either. As such i suspect i’m reviewing this from a very different stand point to other readers.īased on the blurb, i so wanted to like this story more than i actually did. The X Ingredient is my first read by this author and prior to picking up this book, i had no idea that the story had its origins in fanfic.

The x ingredient by roslyn sinclair pdf