- Jun 4
- 6 min read
If you handed me a checklist of romance tropes that shouldn't work for me, "student falls for her professor" would be sitting fairly close to the top.
And yet here we are! Because somehow Tessa Bailey took a premise that should have had me rolling my eyes and transformed it into one of those books that I kept reading in one sitting.
Part of that comes down to Ben Dawson. We know that romance has spent decades trying to convince women that men in glasses are irresistible, but Ben might be one of the few heroes who genuinely solidifies the argument. He's young, awkwardly intellectual, and carrying enough emotional baggage to fill an overhead compartment. The man spends most of this book trying to convince himself that staying away from Honey Perribow is the right thing to do.
Unfortunately for him, Honey has never been particularly interested in making things easy.
Honey left Kentucky for Columbia University with the plan to work hard, become a doctor, and build a future that looked very different from the life she'd left behind.
Falling for her English professor wasn't part of that plan.
But neither was locking lips with a mysterious stranger at a party only to discover later that the stranger was said professor.
From that moment on, Need Me becomes exactly what Tessa Bailey does best: two people trying, and failing spectacularly, to resist each other.
The chemistry in this book is absurd. It's not subtle, realistic, or remotely interested in restraint.
It's actually absurd. This is my second Tessa Bailey read as I'm working my way through the series, and she seems to understand that attraction isn't always elegant. Sometimes it's distracting, inconvenient, and so overwhelming that otherwise intelligent people begin making decisions that would horrify their future selves. Ben and Honey spend most of the novel trapped somewhere inside that reality, and it makes for a wildly entertaining reading experience.
What I found surprising wasn't the steam, (although by now, Tessa Bailey's reputation as the patron saint of dirty talk is well established), and I expected the chemistry.
But what I wasn't expecting was how much I liked Honey. She's earnest without being naïve, and Bailey has made her ambitious without becoming one-dimensional. There's a warmth to her that balances some of Ben's intensity, and together they create a relationship dynamic that feels playful even when the stakes become complicated.
That said, I do think the novel asks the reader to make a fairly significant leap emotionally.
I completely believed the attraction, but I occasionally struggled with how quickly that attraction transformed into life-altering devotion.
Ben's emotional journey sometimes feels as though it accelerates faster than the story around it., so there were moments where I wanted more development and fewer declarations. Not because I doubted their feelings, but because I wanted to sit with them longer and watch them develop before the book raced toward its next emotional beat.
The Kentucky section was also the weakest part of the novel for me. It isn't bad, but it lacks some of the sharpness and energy that makes the New York portions so addictive. The story never completely loses momentum, but it does feel as though it briefly wanders away from its strongest version of itself.
Even so, I had far too much fun with this book to dwell on its flaws for very long.
Need Me isn't attempting to be a nuanced exploration of academic ethics. Nor is it trying to dissect power structures or deliver a literary meditation on forbidden desire.
It's trying to tell the story of two people who want each other desperately, know it's a terrible idea, and keep finding reasons to move closer anyway.
And mission accomplished. this was one of the most effortlessly readable romances I've read to date, and I'm quickly becoming a Tessa Bailey fan. Her books move quickly, her dialogue crackles, and she understands exactly how to keep readers turning pages.
This may not be my favourite romance novel, but it has convinced me to read the next book in the series.
For readers who enjoy forbidden romance, high-voltage chemistry, and heroes whose internal monologues are one minor inconvenience away from complete collapse, this one is worth picking up.
Final Verdict
Need Me is funny, addictive, undeniably steamy, and powered by enough chemistry to make you overlook the occasional wobble in its emotional pacing. It won't work for everyone, particularly those who dislike student-teacher romances, but if you're willing to embrace the premise, there's a lot of fun to be found here.
Book Details
Need Me — Tessa Bailey
Paperback ISBN
978-0062369086 (Avon/HarperCollins edition; varies by region)
Hardcover ISBN
978-0062369093 (original hardcover edition; varies by retailer and region)
eBook ISBN
978-0062369079
Genre
Contemporary Romance; New Adult Romance; Romantic Comedy; Adult Fiction
Subgenre
Forbidden Romance; Student-Professor Romance; New Adult Contemporary Romance; College Romance; Age-Gap Romance
Tropes / Literary Threads
Student-professor romance; forbidden romance; age gap romance; college setting; intellectual hero; bookish hero; dirty-talking hero; good girl heroine; opposites attract; academic setting; secret relationship; teacher/student attraction; emotional repression; forbidden desire; workplace power imbalance; obsessive attraction; Southern heroine; city girl transformation; fish-out-of-water; New York City setting; protective hero; emotionally guarded hero; ambitious heroine; pre-med student heroine; hidden vulnerability; first serious love; self-discovery; emotional healing; trust and sacrifice; career versus love; romantic obsession; emotional awakening; chosen family; roommates-to-family dynamic; fear of scandal; public versus private identity; class and cultural adjustment; personal growth; vulnerability; longing and temptation
Publisher
Avon Books / HarperCollins (US)
Series
Broke and Beautiful Trilogy (Book 2)
Formats Available
Paperback, Hardcover, eBook, Audiobook
Audiobook Narrators
Jill Redfield and Adam Gerber
Release Date
21 April 2015
(Reissued by Avon in August 2023)
Page Count
Approximately 288–320 pages (varies by edition)
Setting
New York City; Columbia University; Manhattan; Kentucky
Primary Setting Details
Contemporary New York City; Columbia University campus; college classrooms; student housing; Manhattan apartments; bars and parties; academic offices; libraries; rural Kentucky farmland; family farm settings that contrast Honey's new urban life
Main Characters
Honey Perribow; Ben Dawson; Roxy Cumberland; Louis McNally II; Abby Sullivan; Russell Hart; Brent Mason; Belmont Clarkson
Cultural & Literary Influences
New Adult romance trends of the 2010s; forbidden romance traditions; "hot for teacher" romance conventions; contemporary academic romance; Cinderella-style self-reinvention narratives; urban-versus-rural identity stories; romantic comedy dynamics; modern coming-of-age fiction; college romance conventions
Major Themes
Forbidden desire; temptation versus responsibility; ambition and self-determination; emotional vulnerability; trust; self-worth; identity and reinvention; class and cultural transition; personal growth; romantic obsession; fear of repeating the past; career versus love; emotional intimacy; sacrifice; maturity; independence; family expectations; shame and redemption; learning to accept love; chosen family; resilience
Content Warnings
Sexual content; explicit language; student-professor relationship; power imbalance dynamics; age-gap relationship; emotional manipulation; family trauma; references to sexual scandal involving a minor (historical backstory only); alcohol use; jealousy; emotional distress
Comparable Titles
Beautiful Player by Christina Lauren; The Deal by Elle Kennedy; Off the Clock by Roni Loren; Misadventures with a Professor by Sierra Simone; Kulti by Mariana Zapata; The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood; Hook, Line, and Sinker by Tessa Bailey; Fix Her Up by Tessa Bailey
Ideal Readers
Readers who enjoy contemporary romance, forbidden romance, student-professor relationships, intellectual heroes, strong romantic chemistry, New Adult fiction, college settings, spicy romance, emotionally charged relationships, witty banter, protective heroes, ambitious heroines, and character-driven romance with high emotional and physical tension.
Rating
★★★★☆ (4 Stars)
Spice Level
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️½ / 5
Where to Buy
Print Editions
Dymocks (search "Need Me by Tessa Bailey")
Angus & Robertson
Target Australia Books
Big W Books
eBook
Apple Books Australia
Audiobook
Library Availability
Available through many Australian public library networks via:
Libby by OverDrive
Danielle Robinson is a literary critic and writer whose work explores literature through the lens of atmosphere, memory, culture, and emotional experience. Holding a double degree in philosophy and theology, she combines academic insight with a deeply refined aesthetic sensibility shaped by more than three decades working across the creative industries as an internationally published, multi-award-winning makeup artist, fashion stylist, and interior stager.
She reads widely and rigorously, reading and reviewing more than 200 books each year as both an ARC reader and commissioned critic. Through Silk & Sentences, Danielle approaches literature as something immersive and lived with — not simply stories to consume, but works that shape the way we think, feel, and move through the world.
She writes from her rural Queensland home, where she lives with Alex, her husband of 33 years, their dog Oscar, and an ever-growing library of books.
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