Review originally posted at Ramblings From This Chick 
 Off the Record is the first book in K.A. Linde's Record series. I am a huge fan of Kyla's after reading her Avoiding Series, and I have loved everything I have read by her. I will warn you that her books often end with cliffhangers, and are usually filled with angsty love triangles. They are sometimes hard to get through, although I can never put them down. Off the Record was no exception, and I loved every bit of it even when I hated it. K.A. Linde is one of my favorite authors at this point and even when it seems as though things aren't going the way you want, I still have faith because she always does the characters justice. 
 Having just been promoted on her campus newspaper staff, Liz Dougherty had no idea that asking Senator Brady Maxwell would change her whole life. She has heard a lot about Brady and he has never been her favorite politician after he made a few choices that she didn't agree with. She thinks that he is all about himself and the power and money he gets from his position. But after her question to him, she finds herself being charmed by him with each interaction between them. Soon they decide to enter into a secret relationship in order to protect both of their careers. Brady and Liz have more obstacles than their political views though, and soon both of them discover that a relationship between them is harder than they both imagined. Liz must decide if she can handle being kept a secret and everything that dating a politician entails while also trying to figure out if her longtime crush on her editor Hayden is worth pursuing instead. Brady must decide if his feelings for Liz are enough to jeopardize everything he has worked for and how to possibly make things work when his campaign and job will always come first. 
 I liked Brady at times and really didn't like him at others. Brady was sexy and commanding, but he also had some really sweet moments. He was so determined and I loved that he was committed to doing right by his constituents. I did feel that he often treated Liz badly and even though he warned her it didn't excuse his actions to me. He expected a lot from her and made quite a few demands of her, and yet he really didn't offer much to her in return. Liz was smart and strong, and I loved that she went after what she wanted. She had always wanted to be a reporter, and she wasn't afraid to tackle the tough stuff. But I felt like she was pretty indecisive at times, and I didn't really understand it. She had wanted Hayden forever, but she had such a strong and instant connection with Brady. Hayden had ignored her for so long that it didn't make sense that she would struggle with who to be with as far as feelings went, especially when she said that she loved Brady. I felt like she had so much more chemistry with Brady than she did with Hayden, and it just seemed like Hayden was thrown in a bit for drama. 
 I will say that I didn't understand why it was such a big deal that Brady and Liz couldn't be together in public. Yes she was a student reporter and he was a senator, but they really weren't that different in age or anything that would have made it seem forbidden to me. I also didn't like that Liz continued to put up with everything that Brady put her through and then would get mad but not do anything about it. He would resort to using sex to make her change her tune and all of a sudden everything was better. While I feel like Liz and Brady were developing real feelings for one another and I did see a connection between them, I also felt like the majority of their time was spent just having sex. I wanted to see more of the emotional connection developing and how they connected beyond just physically. I am excited to see where things go from here though, and I know that I need to expect things to get worse for these two before than can get better. I think that they absolutely belong together though, so I trust that K.A. Linde will get them where they need to be in the end. I think that K.A. Linde writes fantastic books, and I am always so drawn in that I can't put them down. If you are a fan of hers, you won't want to miss this one. If you have never read anything by her before, I highly recommend that you give her a shot as you definitely missing out. 
 **ARC Provided by Montlake Romance**