ARC Review: Honey and Heat by Aurora Palit
Romance
Honey and Heat
Book Info
Released Date: September 16th
Publication: Berkley
Pages: 368
Format: Paperback
As someone who absolutely adored Aurora Palit’s previous romance novel, I was beyond excited to dive into her latest release, Honey and Heat. Palit has a way of crafting emotional, character-driven love stories that stick with you — and while Honey and Heat does have its strengths, I came away with a few mixed feelings.
Let me be clear: I didn’t hate this book. There are genuinely enjoyable aspects — from Palit's writing style to the chemistry between the leads. The pacing is engaging, and the romance has its sweet moments. But there's a central issue that kept me from fully connecting with the story, and it revolves around the main character, Cynthia, and her deeply strained relationship with her father.
Cynthia is portrayed as an ambitious, hard-working woman who pours herself into her father’s company. She sacrifices, she leads, she excels — and yet, her efforts are continually dismissed by the one person whose acknowledgment matters most to her. Instead of recognition, her father promotes someone else — the love interest — to CEO, sidelining Cynthia without a second thought. This conflict is huge, and it's set up with a lot of emotional weight… only for it to be wrapped up with a brief, unsatisfying conversation near the end. Cynthia walks away with no promotion, no apology, and no real closure.
Because this emotional thread is so central to her identity and her arc, its unresolved nature made it hard for me to buy into the romance. It’s difficult to root for a love story when the power dynamics are so skewed — and when Cynthia is still fighting battles that should’ve been addressed long before the final chapter.
That said, Palit’s talent as a writer still shines through. Her dialogue is sharp, and her characters are layered. I just wish Honey and Heat had gone deeper into the personal resolution Cynthia deserved — both for herself and for the sake of the romance.
