This is such a beautiful picture of two people, each with their own past struggles and history, coming together and figuring out how to love each other through the mess of life. I really loved how real the characters felt, it is obvious that a lot of care was taken with fleshing out their backstories and personalities! The portrayal of addiction was raw and heartbreaking, but the book is ultimately hopeful. I also enjoyed the exploration of the main character's faith and the ways that her relationship with religion shifted throughout her life.

I’m a fan of Victoria Lee’s writing and this book didn’t disappoint. I loved the characters and the conflicts and, most of all, how real everything felt. The pace was perfect to build the relationships between the characters and the subjects of mental health and addiction were very well developed. I felt that the author treated theses subjects with respect and sensibility, which is some thing I always look for in books - responsibility when approaching sensitive themes. The love story was almost poetic, as was the longing the characters had for belonging. Themes of found family and chosen support system were also big emotional plot points that hit the mark. One more favorite by Victoria Lee.

A Shot in the Dark is a book about a one night stand turned more when Ely sleeps with her professor. Though the dalliance has the potential to ruin her life on many levels, it doesn’t and, in fact, leads to Ely growing stronger and more stable, as well as gaining confidence in herself and her work as a photographer.

I enjoyed Ely’s experience in the Jewish community of New York. She grew up there and finds comfort in it, though she is reluctant to do so because of how she left almost a decade before. The community feels accepting and warm, like family, though none of the people she spends the holidays with are her family. Eventually, she realizes that she wants to rejoin the community, even if she never reconciles with her family. And she finds a community, one she only didn’t even have to search for and only has to accept, if she can get over her trauma enough to actually do it. She deserves to be happy.

Though this book deals with heavy topics like love and addiction, as well as relapse and recovery, and being essentially excommunicated, it never dragged or felt like too much to deal with. I wasn’t sure what to expect from Victoria Lee, after having read A Lesson in Vengeance. I kind of expected the book to take a darker turn into murder or something equally horrible. Instead, I got a lovely, almost forbidden romance between Ely and Wyatt, as well as a forgiveness arc and some beautiful character growth.

The plot sped up for the last quarter of the book, weeks and months passing over the course of a few pages, when some scenes took a few dozen pages to cover a couple of hours. It felt a tad unbalanced.

I recommend this book to people who need a better understanding of addiction and what it can lead to, as well as people who need to understand that falling off the wagon isn’t irreversible, and it doesn’t negate progress. I feel like some addicts see slipping up as an excuse to fall back into the hole of addiction, but that’s not true. And I think this book puts things in perspective.

One of the things I appreciated most about Lee's prose is that while it is quiet and, at times, meandering and slow moving, they are always capable of making every emotion between these two characters feel electric and intensely emotional.

The premise is simple enough: a one night stand goes wrong when one finds out the other is a renowned artist who is teaching her class–though I did feel this plot point was shoved to the corner and made significantly less interesting by the characters choosing to do the right thing, as funny as that sounds. The story really shines when it shines a light on Ely's morally complicated past and her determination to do better, and Wyatt's similarly family-related trauma that influences many parts of the story, including how their relationship develops and breaks apart and forms back together again.

While I felt some parts were slow, I can't say I didn't want to keep turning the page.

A Shot in the Dark is a stunning novel. It highlights heavier themes, and doesn’t shy away from the harsher details, but it’s written with nuance and compassion. It’s also a story of identity and trust, both in yourself and in a loved one. This is a romance not to be missed.

One of the first things that drew me to this book is the depiction of addiction, sobriety, and recovery. My father was an alcoholic for most of my life, so I’ve seen the effects that addiction can have on an individual and on their loved ones. And like the characters here, I have chosen complete sobriety. In A Shot in the Dark, both Ely and Wyatt are recovering addicts, not just of alcohol, but also of much harder drugs. This book really gets into the mind of someone who abuses a substance and craves it even years into sobriety, and how one small misstep can have such a big impact. It depicts substance use and addiction so well, and while it can make for difficult reading, it’s also wholly worth it.

I also loved the chance to get to know these characters in terms of their religious and gender identities. Ely grew up in an Orthodox Jewish family, and though she’s been apart from it for the past eight years, a part of her still wrestles with her religious beliefs and practices. I loved learning more about Judaism and the different Orthodox Jewish branches in particular. For his part, Wyatt grew up in a military family in North Carolina, but was dishonorably discharged and kicked out of his childhood home upon coming out as transgender. It was affecting to see his experiences and how his identity plays out in his relationship with Ely.

Both Ely and Wyatt have traumas relating to their addictions and to their families. Both lost that family support and structure as teenagers, and neither has had basically any contact with their families in the many years since. As much as this book is about recovery from addiction, it’s also about recovery from family divides and past mistakes.

Even with all of those weightier themes, A Shot in the Dark also has levity and joy. Amidst the inner turmoil, there’s a sweet story of two people connecting on a deeper level. Ely and Wyatt are both photographers who express so much through their art. I loved seeing how they found their way to each other, despite the student-professor issue and their worries of potentially being bad for each other. Through it all, their bond as photographers, friends, and eventually lovers keeps the story hopeful.

If you want a romance that’s complex and explores profound themes—from addiction recovery and family divides to faith and gender identity—A Shot in the Dark is a must-read. It’s moving and will stick with you. This is a book I will be recommending far and wide, and I look forward to reading more from Victoria Lee.

For whatever reason, romance novels aren't usually my sweet spot, but I'm always happy to make time for something with LGBTQ+ representation. I put some trust in the publisher that recommended this, as I've had good luck in the past, and again it paid off.

Ely Cohen is a young photographer who is just beginning to generate some LA art scene buzz when she lands a scholarship for an incredible opportunity to study under her photog hero, the notoriously private Wyatt Cole. Ely was somewhat nervous to head back to New York for the scholarship, as she was shunned from her orthodox community for an unthinkable teenage mistake nearly a decade earlier and had not been back since the incident.

It doesn't seem so bad once she's back: she ended up with a pair of impossibly cool roommates and a great inaugural night at their favorite gay bar, complete with passionate hook up. The bar was loud and didn't quite catch his name, but she's sure they'll see each other again and she can suss it out when they're not screaming over the music. After rushing home to grab her things and begin her internship,

Ely barely makes it to her first day on time. What could be worse than being late for the class taught by your idol? You know, the one you completely uprooted your life for? Probably nothing...except maybe catching his eye as he welcomes his class for the term. Yep--the killer hookup was none other than Wyatt Cole. After he came out as transgender, Wyatt was dishonorably discharged from the military and his family turned their backs on him, which partially led to his security blanket of privacy that prevented essentially any photos of him in mass circulation.

A Shot in the Dark volleys back and forth between Ely and Wyatt as they try to work together without being in an inappropriate student-teacher power dynamic. They discover that not only is their physical chemistry still electric, but they are on somewhat parallel paths, both working their way through addiction recovery, coping with the trauma of being disowned by their families, and trying to blend the two into some kind of meaningful art. What unfolds is much richer than a romance: A Shot in the Dark is a devourable tale of finding your chosen family, learning to forgive yourself, and sharing your fragilest parts with another person.

The beautiful thing about reading books by authors yet unknown to me is that I undertake the reading journey with the publisher's description in hand, absolutely no preconceived notions of how the experience will go, and a dream. "A Shot in the Dark" is, as I've come to find out, a superbly crafted and intricate novel that follows two individuals with shadowed, still-raw pasts whose paths cross one fateful evening and intertwine over the course of a charged summer in New York City. This novel deftly explores themes of gender identity and sexuality, trans- and homophobia, mental health issues, substance abuse and addiction, religion, and intimate relationship dynamics while maintaining a pulsing momentum until the very end. I am admittedly not a die-hard fan of the contemporary romance genre, but of the contemporary romances I've read, this is indisputably one of my favorites.

Well, this was heartbreaking and beautiful. A love story, yes, but also a story of loss, pain, evolution, and growth.

Ely has just moved back to New York to pursue her art, despite telling herself she never would. She left New York to embrace who she really is and to leave her very sheltered upbringing and her biggest mistakes. On her first night out with her roommates, she goes home with an incredibly handsome stranger. The club was so loud she didn't catch his name and in the morning he was gone, though he left his number.

Later that day, she is shocked to see him again - as he is her professor and the reason she applied to this particular art program.

Usually, romances that deal with a power deferential, particularly teacher/student or teacher/student are not for me as I can't get over that dynamic. But this handled it well, and really dove into these characters. They are complex - Ely is a sober bisexual woman who is estranged from her orthodox Jewish family. Wyatt is a sober trans man who is estranged from his Southern family after he came out. We learned what brought them to this point, what drove them to sobriety, and the pain they still deal with every day.

I've always loved stories that feature characters who are messy - it is real and authentic. And this one nailed it.

I will post this review on goodreads, retail sites and my bookstagram @scottonreads

From the very first page, I was hooked by Ely. These characters were gripping and I found the way they fell into each other while also growing into themselves was beautifully portrayed.

Thank you NetGalley for the arc!

To say I’m obsessed is an understatement. This was the first book I’ve read from Victoria Lee & I am already a huge fan. I always know that a book is going to have me in a chokehold when it’s got me smiling like an idiot at my kindle. All of that aside, this book does cover heavier topics like addiction, familial struggles, and challenges on the road to recovery. Victoria Lee does an impeccable job at telling Ely & Wyatt’s story with grace & poise. Even though many aspects of their story are so different from my own experience, I found myself relating to Ely in so many ways.

Thank you, Victoria Lee for an amazing story that I wish I could re-read for the first time all over again!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶🌶

I ABSOLUTELY LOVED THIS BOOK!! I got this as an ARC from NetGalley. Ely moved to New York from LA. She moved into an apartment with roommates that were already living in the apartment. She went out to a club with her new roommates. Ely met a guy at the club and went to a hotel with him. Well it turns out that the guy was her Professor Wyatt Cole. Professor Wyatt pulled her aside after class and told her to switch class but he promised her that she could still do his project and that he would help her pass. They struggled with addiction. They are both in recovery. Ely has been in recovery for 4 years and Wyatt has been in recovery for 10 years.

Wyatt tries to be professional with Ely. But they both can’t help it. At one point Ely has a slip with alcohol. I felt bad for her when that happened but I am happy that Wyatt was there for her when she did that. I was also happy when Ely was there for Wyatt when his dad died and he went to North Carolina for his funeral and he saw his mom and brother for the first time in very very long time. I just loved that they were there for each other. By the end of the book they both finally say “I love you” to each other and it was so sweet.

Favorite Quotes:
“But it wasn’t just that. It’s more. I—I love you, Ely. Goddamn it, but I do.” He laughs, a desperate, broken sound. “I love you, and that scares the shit out of me.”

I love you too, Wyatt. More than anything.”

“Ely, I really do . . . I care about you. More than you can imagine. You mean the world to me, and I almost lost you. I never want to make that mistake again. I promise you I won’t.”

I think that this is a really good book and simultaneously a deeply average romance novel.

Allow me to elaborate: in the synopsis you’re sold on this premise of a queer student teacher romance and while there’s some of that certainly, I think veteran readers of the romance genre will be expecting something a little different than the narrative that unfolds on page.

More to the point of it being a good book, it’s a very emotionally evocative story about two artists who are recovering addicts and who find great solace in each other, their connection is almost inexplicable and so the story unfolds with them often by each other’s side helping one another navigate their recovery, family drama, religious trauma and artistic journeys. As fascinating and well rendered as all that is, going back to my first point there’s a real lack of relationship development and intimacy building and tradition romance structure in the way that i think many romance lovers will be accustomed to. It’s sorta just understood that there’s something there, and that their relationship os headed somewhere but it’s an understated sort of romantic journey, with Ely’s artistic journey and her recovery and reconnection to her religion taking center stage while Wyatt stands supportively by her side and occasionally brings up the inappropriateness of their interactions.

It was an interesting read, one that sorta defies a rating because I enjoyed it to some degree definitely, I found it quite poignant and touching with intriguing themes, and fascinating characters but as a romance it didn’t necessarily wow me. I think this is better labeled as Contemporary rather than Contemporary Romance

Victoria Lee can do no wrong—remember how I shoved A Lesson in Vengeance in your face? Well, here’s another one I’m throwing at you!

I don’t read many contemporary romances, but when I saw the author I knew I had to read it. And it didn’t disappoint! This was way more than your standard romance and instead deals with addiction, family trauma, emotional baggage, and religion. It’s a story that showcases the hardships and realities of certain situations like being a recovering addict, asking for help, and learning to trust yourself. It’s a story many of us have either experienced ourselves or know someone who has.

The characters Ely and Wyatt are so well done I could FEEL their pain, their frustration and their anger. And while they may have failed at speaking some things aloud early on, it wasn’t due to miscommunication, but rather their own inabilities to accept certain truths about themselves and the world. They had to deal with their own emotional trauma in order to grow and communicate what they needed in a relationship and I found that beautiful.

And all of this is while navigating personal goals/dreams at making it as an artist. Ely loves photography with a passion and it becomes an outlet for her emotions as well as a consistent reminder of all she has accomplished despite her past.

In this book you’ll find:
Trans MC
Professor/Student
Addiction
Family trauma
Emotional baggage
Religion (Jewish FMC)
Spice

I requested this book on Netgalley because I really liked Victoria Lee’s YA book A Lesson in Vengeance. I like their writing and I like their character work and I wanted to see what they were doing next, especially since this one is a genre shift.

A Shot in the Dark is a queer romance (NOT a romcom) between a pan FMC and a trans MMC. I did like the romance for sure — I thought it was believable for both characters, I understood their connection, and the sex scenes were steamy and well written. But I think what I liked most about this book were the parts that steered it closer to lit fic territory.

I found the exploration of substance abuse interesting to read about, especially because both Ely and Wyatt are clean by the time of the book. Even more than that, I enjoyed reading about Ely’s experience growing up in an orthodox Jewish community. I know very little about it aside from the basics and I didn’t know anything at all about Chabad before this book. While reading, I had to frequently google things and I ended up learning a lot. Really appreciate that Victoria chose to do minimal explanation in the narration; it was enough for a non-Jew like me to grasp what was going on, but I had to look it up if I wanted to know about something more specifically. (Again, I like that.)

And I thoroughly appreciate that Wyatt is from NC! More to the south than me, but it was recognizably North Carolina. I do wish we got more Wyatt and more of his story, but I did like what we got. Just wish there was a bit more time with his mom and brother once they reconnected. Those scenes in NC were very emotional for me.

Overall, very much enjoyed this one and I’m happy to see another queer and trans book out in the world! Also always happy to support queer North Carolina authors. Can’t wait to see what Victoria comes out with next!

I thought this book was great. New to me author, not a new to me subject. At least the judaism part. I grew up in an orthodox school, household, and really related to that aspect of this book. This story is not an easy one to read. Addiction, shame, being disowned by your family, there are some heavy topics here.

It's written in such a way that you can't put it down, you want to know what happens to Ely and Wyatt. I think there are some deep dives that might not have enough explanation, for instance, some words used to describe the jewish aspects of this story, if you're not familiar with them, you're going to want to look them up, as explanations aren't given. I was familiar, so it worked for me, but I feel like that could be a frustrating distraction for some.

I almost put this book down on the third page. Ely has just landed at LaGuardia airport and her bags are missing. She's waiting so long for her bags that the next flight comes in, and it's from Berlin. Nope. Not at LGA it isn't and I almost stopped right there. I am so glad I didn't. There are story lines in this book that I've never read before, and I am glad I can't say that anymore.

"A Shot in the Dark" is the kind of romance novel I am always excited to discover—one in which the main characters have some past trauma to deal with before they can reach their HEA. I like protagonists who have some rough edges and have had to go through some stuff in their lives. It just makes the ultimate destination even sweeter.

Ely Cohen definitely has a complicated past; raised in a close-knit Orthodox Jewish community in New York, her drug addiction and the way she betrayed her family in order to feed it caused her to cut ties and move to California. A few years later, Ely is sober and hoping to build a career as a photographer. She is accepted into a prestigious program in New York, and while she feels some trepidation about returning to her former home, the opportunity is too good to pass up.

Out for a night on the town with her new roommates, Ely meets and hooks up with an attractive man—who turns out to be one of her professors. Wyatt is appalled when he finds out that he's just had sex with one of his students, seeing it as an abuse of power. While at first it seemed like their one-night stand would turn into something more, their intimate relationship comes to an abrupt halt. However, Wyatt and Ely can't stay away from each other; they are so mutually supportive in a moving, beautiful way.

Like Ely, Wyatt is in recovery; he's been sober for 10 years. His father threw him out of the house when he came out as trans, which caused him to spiral into addiction. Everything in this book is just so sensitively handled—Wyatt's gender identity, Ely's desire to find a way to reconnect with Judaism, their shared sobriety and how they both have to work to maintain it. On the lighter side, I appreciated the fact that one of the barriers that stands in the way of Wyatt and Ely getting together is the fact that she lives in Queens while he's in Brooklyn. Nothing says "true love" like being willing to take 3 different trains, or a very expensive Uber ride, to get together with somebody!

I don't even know where to start.

A Lesson in Vengeance was my favourite read of 2021 and solidified both itself, as well as Victoria Lee, in my favourites list beyond just that very year. I fell in love with how they wrote, and knew as soon as I saw this book that I needed to read it and see if it was a fluke or if they just captured characters and narratives in a way that pulled me in.

I'm happy to report that it wasn't a fluke in any way, I devoured this book.

It wasn't an easy read, addiction and religion were almost their own characters in this story rather than things we got to see Ely and Wyatt struggle with, but I couldn't stop reading once I started. I was reading on the train, at a little cafe on my lunch break, and curled up in my chair until I got to the conclusion, and got to see how it all got tied together.

The book was devastating, but it was beautiful and parts felt like they were going to stick around, haunting crevices of my brain for as long as their story lingers in my mind.

The romance, while I expected it to play a bigger part, felt just right to contrast what the real narrative was trying to say. Any more and any faster and it wouldn't have been right for them. Any less and it would have been a waste of a beautiful journey for them.

I adored this book, and I mean it when I say I can't wait to see what they do next.

A SHOT IN THE DARK by victoria lee was an absolute marvel. the exploration of ely & wyatt’s characters—their addiction, their pasts, and their journeys finding where they belong within their family & the world—was just as well-written as their love story. ♡

4 stars

Both parts literary fiction and romance, A Shot in the Dark is a deeply poignant love story that examines the intersection of religion, addiction, and love amidst the photography scene of New York.

Both of our protagonists, Wyatt and Ely, are recovering addicts who have found solace in their work after having been kicked out of their homes (Wyatt for being trans and Ely for violating the strict rules of her Orthodox Jewish community). Lee does a wonderful job of demonstrating that while this pair clearly has explosive sexual chemistry, their shared trauma is a double-edged sword that bonds them emotionally while also providing an immense hurdle to jump over. There are very few easy answers to the problems being presented in this novel and Lee never forces you to take sides as the characters grapple with their past, present, and future.

While I really enjoyed the exploration of these moral questions and the examination of forgiveness throughout, I did find that the book was a bit overstuffed in terms of characters and plots to the point where certain emotional moments didn't always feel earned. I could have done with a few things getting cut so that the rest of the novel could have had a little more room to breathe. However, I still found myself immersed in and moved by this story despite a few gripes with the execution.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dell for an ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review!

This book is everything I always hope! I’m really in love with the characters and the writing. It’s a story so cute and so sharp at the same time! It’s a caress and a punch in your stomach! I love everything about it, I want to read again and again and again!

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the Arc!