The X Ingredient by Roslyn Sinclair
- Publisher: Ylva Publishing, October 1st 2019
- Genre: Romance, LGBTQ+
- Format: eARC
- Page Count: 285 pages
- My Rating: ★★★★★ (5/5)
Content warnings: non-consensual kissings between the main characters, one instance of bi-erasure from a minor character, underlying misogyny from antagonists. Note that ableist language is also present in the book (crazy, insane, mad, blind).
Sinclair definitely surprised me with The X Ingredient. I don’t normally do well with ice-queen, age-gap, office romance, but I wanted to try anyway. And I am so glad I did.
Part-time student Laurie Holcombe (25, lesbian) is not like previous PAs Diana Parker (43, half-Vietnamese), S.J.D. had hired. There is something about the young woman that piques Diana’s interest. Then jealousy burns in Diana when Laurie openly admires another older woman. But Diana is straight, married, and Laurie’s supervisor. There is nothing she could do, right?
The story is told in both Laurie’s and Diana’s first person viewpoints. Both of them are very intense characters and I absolutely love that. Diana is a workaholic ice queen who shows no emotion to anyone, including her husband. And Laurie is very direct, passionate, and speaks so genuinely my heart aches.
“You’d be lucky to have me.” This single sentence issued from a twenty-five-year-old to a senior partner in a law firm is powerful, self-assured, and determined. It shows what kind of person Laurie is, and though sometimes reckless, she is a very capable PA. Then we have Diana, the supposedly put-together superior who is struggling with her own sexuality at the age of forty-three. The unconventionality of Laurie pricked a hole in Diana’s armor, and we see both women make a lot of questionable but totally understandable decisions.
Nothing, and I mean nothing, in this book feels contrived. The plot flows perfectly and the sex scenes are off-the-charts hot. Immediate attraction between main characters seldom translates well on paper for me, but this time, I really feel Laurie and Diana’s tension and love.
I love the power balance between the mains. Their dynamics during work and sex are very different, and it works wonderfully. I also love all the detailed descriptions in non-sexual settings as well as sexual ones.
The only confusing thing of this book is its title. With “X” showing up exactly once, I am still unsure if that is why it is named so.
The X Ingredient is the ice-queen, age-gap, office romance with morally gray leading ladies I did not know I need. After finish reading this one, I am very interested in trying out its audiobook version. I think it would work amazingly, even though I have never listened to wlw romance before. If you want hot sex scenes with dominance and submission (D/s) scenes, this is a good one.
I have yet to read Sinclair’s debut The Lily and the Crown, but if it is half as good as The X Ingredient, she will be on my list of auto-read authors.
I received an electronic review copy from Ylva Publishing in exchange for an honest review.
