Vicki Kent has had her life mapped out since she was a small child. It has always been her and her parent’s dream for her to become a criminal defense attorney, and it seems that this lifelong dream has finally been realized. Vicki is now a top notch defense lawyer with the prestigious firm Lowell, Manchester and Lowell. She is on the verge of an engagement to the son of one of the firm’s founding members – and she has just won the Ed Turner trial, a massive case that garnered much media attention. Everything seems to be perfect, except Vicki’s now having second thoughts about her job, about her near-engagement to Lowell...about her life.

Confusion and panic sends her running to her parents' holiday home on the Cape. She seeks solitude, a quiet place where she can work through the confusion in her mind. What she gets is John Paolillo, a hardnosed, burnt out detective from New Haven on a forced vacation. Having run in a blind panic in the middle of the night, Vicki didn’t stop to consider or check whether the holiday home was being rented, the result being she comes face to face with John and his 9mm pistol almost as soon as she walks through the door. Attraction is quick to spring to life between them, but they each have enough on their plate without trying to add a relationship they both know would never work. Over the coming days they become friends, but find it harder and harder to resist the attraction between them. Eventually they give in, but neither of them speaks of the future, nor of compromise. Is their relationship at a stalemate or can it move forward into a future together? Will either of them be able to see a path through the obstacles in their way?

Love At Your Own Risk is my first tale by Blair Bancroft and I enjoyed it so much that I will most definitely be reading more. These two characters each face their own problems and demons that they need to work through, before ever setting eyes on one another. Once they meet, their problems are only added to, for the draw between them is so strong that they are unable to resist it, even knowing that giving in is far from the wisest thing to do, as their careers are diametrically opposed to one another’s. He is a detective; she is a lawyer for the defense. Taking a chance on getting together is a risk, a very big one, yet one they seem compelled to take. The characters are well developed, and I loved the glimpse of John’s close family, brief though it was. This story truly does demonstrate that love must be worked at and compromises must be made if a relationship is to succeed. The characters do have sex, but whilst the lead up to their sexual encounters is detailed, the sex itself is not. This is an excellent romance, perfect for contemporary romance fans.


Reviewed by: Elizabeth