Avoiding Temptation

I’ll admit, I side-eyed the ‘lecturer/student’ trope at first—it’s been done to death, often badly. But *Avoiding Temptation* surprised me by making the power imbalance the *point*, not just the conflict. Lorraine doesn’t let her characters off easy; their chemistry is electric, but so is the guilt, and Rachel Woods’ narration sells every second of it. Her performance is *masterclass* in unreliable narration: you can hear the protagonist’s pulse quicken when she’s lying to herself, her voice dropping into this breathy, almost panicked register that had me leaning in. Charlie Chesterfield’s deeper timbre as the student adds a layer of unease—he sounds *older* than his character’s supposed to be, which weirdly works, blurring the lines of who’s really in control here. The pacing is where things get tricky. The first half drags just enough to make you question if the payoff will justify the buildup (spoiler: it does, but barely). And while the London setting is vivid, some scenes rely too heavily on internal monologue—great for audio, less so if you’re multitasking. Still, the production is flawless: no awkward edits, no volume jumps, just two narrators locked in a verbal pas de deux. If you like your romance with a dash of moral ambiguity and narrators who *act* rather than just read, this is a standout. But if you need your HEA wrapped in sunshine and zero ethical gray areas? Swipe left.