B.J. Frazier makes the matter of consent, as some younger readers might say, hot AF and it shows.
This is a story within a story where the major characters find their happily ever after through being faithful to their true selves. They find where they fit in, be it through a vanilla relationship or a kinky female led one with power exchange. It pokes fun at the sappy Hallmarkesque holiday movies that are too sweet to handle at times and makes it into a journey where change happens on several levels between characters and within themselves.
It's high kink spicy, though it's not heavy erotica, and represents the importance of consent, discussion before playing out kink scenes and actions, and caring for one's partner after the play. For me the hottest parts revolve around the depth of communication and desire for consent and respect for personal limits. Sure, the scenes of physical intimacy have heat, though it's the depth of emotions and reflections about what a character feels about specific dynamics and the focus of giving permission that burn hottest.
Most stories I read, even vanilla romance ones, lack discussion between the characters about consent to do things to the other. Plot features such as the "surprise kiss" and alpha males deciding unilaterally what the female protagonist will or won't do with them turn me off. When you read this story things like that aren't a worry. The characters ask for consent, state enthusiastically they wish to do something without a direct question, and check in with each other when there's doubts about whether their partner is into something in that moment. Those are things I rarely see in other romances regardless of their spice level or interpersonal relationship type (MF, MM, FFM, MMF, MFM, FF, poly, etc).
I fixate on the consent so much because stories such as this one put it front and center. We need more stories with this aspect. From my point of view, the hottest parts of the intimate scenes between Memphis and Tessa aren't the physically spicy, steamy, kinky bits, its where they discuss their feelings, wants, needs, and the open discussion about permission. Even when consent is given, the partners still check in as the scenes flow to make certain the consent remains.
The only way the story could be even hotter would be increasing the narration of giving permission and the check in as a continuous flow of pillow talk/dirty talk. Sharing emotional intimacy, putting it front and center, describing how the scene and acts make each other feel would make things more intense.
The only quibbles I have relate to my personal quirks like matters of em dash/en dash usage or lack there of or perhaps some word choices within the dialog. There are some matters of author writing style that I might do differently, too. HOWEVER, as I write creative fiction myself, these items don't materially affect the delightful nature of the story and the richly done relatable characters, they are personal preferences only. I look forward to more stories like this one.