Do you have Hard Limits when it comes to reading books?

I am thinking of stuff like “cheating” and similar… – well I have – for one there is cheating … and the other big one is the need of a “HEA” – and while the “HEA” is a clear one – already the lines around “cheating” are blurry at times.

Until now it never even crossed my mind that Hate and Sex might also be a hard limit for me – not on their own but when they join forces and become HATE-SEX. I read tons of enemy to lovers books but still, I was really thinking very hard with all the stuff I read (and trust me I read a LOT) if I ever encountered a book before today where I could really feel the hate of two persons having sex.

Vi Keeland actually made me feel the hate – and the confusion about the sex of the main leads. And while I definitely made up my mind that this is a hard limit for me – I also could not stop reading in this specific case as it was Ms. Keeland making me feel al these things while following the journey of Weston and Sophia.

And it was interesting to experience how my thoughts about the characters changed while reading. While I struggled to understand how two persons can hate each other that much in the beginning – during reading that transformed to an understanding that if the hate is based on something that is ingrained in you from birth and not by personal choice anything can become relative when the chemistry between to persons is strong.

 This is really a great example of a book where the right kind of writing can change your mind about almost every kind of plot or hard limit. (I repeat ALMOST because for some plot’s I personally have not found the book  to do that but probably just because non of my go-to authors have attempted to write them)

So I would like to give 5 stars to “The Rivals” by Vi Keeland for a book that made me feel hate and that surprised me a lot.  For writing a believable journey from enemy to lovers – well done …