The Palace at Dusk

By: Angela Terry

Many thanks to Love Books Tours for the gifted copy of this book and the stop on the book tour!

ABOUT THE BOOK

Harvard-educated corporate attorney Jasmine “Jae” Phillips promised herself that she wouldn’t date anyone at the office. She’s too focused on the job, and her meh dating history can be summed up with a shrug. Then came Brad Summers. 

When Jae’s colleague Brad enters her office—boyish and handsome with his tousled hair and sparkling green-gold eyes—and asks if she’d like to grab a drink, she’s flattered. Their conversation makes her feel alive, fascinating, and fun, and the lonely Jae can’t help but bask in Brad’s attention. Soon Jae is breaking her never-date-at-the-office rule. And when she later discovers that Brad has a wife and child, she finds herself breaking a much more serious rule. 

After Jae spends years in love with a man who isn’t hers and jeopardizes her career in the process, a series of unexpected developments shake her awake and force her to confront the cost—and the future—of their affair. She needs to make a choice, but love stories are rarely black and white, and the right path isn’t so clear. With her head and her heart pulling her in opposite directions, Jae must somehow chart a course between them in order to find her happily ever after.

MY REVIEW

While this deals with the cheating trope, and it’s not a trope that I love, I believe these situations are very real to life. Told in three parts, we know how everything started between Jae and Brad and how things progress. While I did struggle with Jae as a character (not due to the writing, but due to her being the other woman), it was nice to see her progression of growth. And while she was emotionally growing, her career growth seemed to go in the opposite direction. But she eventually brings it around and it was nice to see that as well.

It’s hard to trust your instincts and Jae had to learn to do just that. It’s hard when you love someone to make a decision with your brain instead of your heart and Jae has to learn that as well. I really felt Jae’s internal struggle.

Now, with the trope aside, if there was no cheating to make me feel eh about Jae and Brad, I would have loved their love story. It is very well written and you could tell that they love each other. This was a very good read.

If you’d like to check it out, you can do so here.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Angela Terry is an attorney who formerly practiced intellectual property law at large firms in Chicago and San Francisco. She is also a Chicago Marathon legacy runner and races to raise money for PAWS Chicago—the Midwest’s largest no-kill shelter. She resides in San Francisco with her husband and two cats, and enjoys throwing novel-themed dinner parties for her women’s fiction book club.