REVIEW: Love By Design by Kate Hawthorne (Club Rapture: Risk Aware #1)

- August 28, 2025

REBOUND

by Kate Hawthorne

Club Rapture: Risk Aware - Book One

Release Date: September 8, 2025

Review

Kate is such a solid kink writer. And really good at creating relationship dynamics that are both dom/sub, but also just two men building a relationship.

Marshall is a solid and caring man, for all those he loves, and even young men who are talented and skilled but aren’t being respected by the father they work for?

And the way he helps Silas come into his own, giving him the space to be himself, and the care to let him be free of all that worries and stresses him.

It was a lovely (and spicy) journey, with some equally lovely side stories about brothers and best friends, all of whom I hope we get to see again soon.

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Synopsis

The first book in Kate Hawthorne's new series, Risk Aware, takes us back to Los Angeles and back to the club where it all began...Rapture. Love by Design: Risk Aware Book One is a dad's business rival (with a mouth on him), age gap romance, with power exchange, hurt/comfort, found family, and the kind of best friend you've always wanted.

And did I mention Marshall Covington has three brothers?

SILAS

There are ten rules to architectural design including, but not limited to, balance, harmony, unity, organization...variety. My love life has fewer rules, and it's no surprise I'm more successful at one of these things than the other. It's not my fault that my personal preference for keeping things fresh throws me headfirst into a less than ideal situation with a stranger, and it's definitely not my fault that the man who saves my ass—literally—the last man who should.

Marshall Covington, my father's business rival.

MARSHALL

I did not set out in life with the intention to seduce the son of my least favorite professor-turned-biggest business competitor, but on the back end of a confrontational meeting that has me desperate to blow off some steam, there's no denying how perfect Silas feels in my arms.

If I've learned one thing in my thirty-nine years, it's that secrets never stay secret for long. There's no hiding Silas' talent, there's no hiding his (platonic) affection for his best friend, and there's no hiding the way I'm absolutely head over heels in love with him.

Between his father and my brothers, the truth about us is going to come out sooner rather than later. We've reinforced our foundation with love, but is that enough?

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About Kate Hawthorne

With over two dozen published romances to her name, Kate Hawthorne has built a recognizable brand around telling emotional stories that pack a figurative (and sometimes literal) punch. Existing on a steady diet of wine and coffee, Kate spends her days dreaming up angsty stories full of heat, kink, and heart. Kate now lives in Louisville, where she spends her time writing romance, reading romance, and hiding from the humidity

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