Review of ‘The People we Trust’ by Donna Jay

Soraya doesn’t date, for many reasons, but the most recent one is her job. Not only does she work at Libellule’s, as both a beautician and a sex worker, she’s also the manager now. She’s surprised to realise that singledom doesn’t feel as fun as it used to. The rules of not dating coworkers or clients don’t seem to make so much sense anymore either.

The Secrets We Keep, book one in this series, is my favourite book by Donna Jay. I wanted to love this second book as much, especially as it’s Soraya’s story and she’s fantastic, but while I enjoyed it, I didn’t love it. Which is interesting – and ironic – in itself. What I usually look forward to in Jay’s books is the kink, and my favourite book ends up being the vanilla one.

The pace in The People we Trust didn’t always work for me. And some scenes I’d have liked to witness rather than be told about. I liked the characters however, including the pets, and I really liked Soraya’s journey to find someone she can open up to and trust. Trust is at the centre of the MCs’ relationship from the beginning, but there are various degrees of trust. There’s trust in giving your body to someone and a different kind of trust in giving away your heart. The two MCs interact in contrasting manners out of the bedroom and in the bedroom (or the living room, or Libellule’s) and Jay writes that dichotomy well.