Author Mia Sivan’s third book in The Women of Tel Aviv series, Pulling Her Resources, has her signature blend of accounting and finances with love and sex. The not-so-subtle references to characters from her other book gives the added, strong flavours of nostalgia and fanservice.
Pulling her resources is a later-in-life romance novel set in the startup landscape of the city of Tel Aviv. The story revolves around Dafna working with an ambitious startup. The baggage of her past defines her as much as her professional success. In Erez, she finds a companion younger than her and a mature partner who helps her get over her past.
But Erez is also the accountant hired for the due diligence of Dafna’s firm – fact the both of them learn only after they have made a connection and crossed the thresholds of their respective comfort zones.
With a clear conflict of interest, Erez’s ethics are on the line, as is his dream job. And with this starts a narrative of internal struggle, emotions and love. The author treats us to some of the raunchiest encounters put on the page in this genre. (*Wink Wink: Whisky Tasting!)
Dafna’s past play a huge role in the story. So much so that one might say this was more Dafna’s story than Erez’s. Dafna’s family life is complicated even if you take out her divorce. And it helps that she is rich and she has maintained her body even in her forties.
So, this novel not only veers into the later-in-life romance trope but also a reversed-age-gap. And this is a unique aspect of Mia Siva’s writing. In her first book she ventured in the oft misunderstood area of BDSM, in the second, she took on the body image issue with her plus size protagonist. Here in her third book we have an older woman testing the waters with love that follows a ridiculous formula that tells her what is the lowest age of a man she is allowed to date!
I loved the narrative as a whole but there was a certain, understandable element of predictability in the second half of the novel. Even though the climactic confrontation of the good guys and the bad guys was an elaborate set piece like a movie, it still didn’t send my heart racing.
But the book did provide several avenues which can send anyone’s heart in overdrive with the steam it packed in its pages. And kudos to the character of Erez! It takes a certain level of maturity and self confidence to be with a woman who is not only older and with her own scars, but also rich and earning a lot more.
So, overall, Pulling Her Resources is a fun to read steamy romance worth your time.
Read the book now: https://amzn.to/4aKshml