Middling books are the hardest to review because what is bad about them isn’t awful, and what is good about them doesn’t transport them to great. The Dating Prohibition is a very middling book.

Kendra Porter has come home in disgrace. Well, not in disgrace, technically speaking, but she had hoped to travel, discover amazing new cuisines, and return to Washington, D.C. dripping with accolades. She did learn quite a few tricks that will aid in her fusion-style cooking and mixology, but it is her brother Logan who is dripping in accolades; He’s opening a new restaurant the family is certain will be a success, while they think Kendra’s business plan for a speakeasy supper club, which combines soul food with Asian and Hispanic influences, sounds risky and naïve. The more affluent members of the clan refuse to invest in her dream, and she feels like, once more, she is KeKe, the kid sister who never quite measures up. She’d give a lot to shed that childhood nickname and be seen instead as Kendra, the successful adult.

Her brother’s best friend, BJ, has long been her champion. A full-time professor of history and part-time gym rat, he’s a mix of hot body and even hotter brain that draws all the ladies’ eyes. The pair always had a good relationship, with him treating her as much like a beloved younger sister as Logan did, but now Kendra senses there’s heat whenever he looks at her, and their conversations are loaded with innocent phrases that double as flirtations. And best of all, BJ takes her seriously and treats her like a capable adult. He listens to her dreams and even agrees to help her scout for locations. A man who’s easy on the eyes, smart, kind, and supportive? Kendra knows she can’t let BJ keep them in flirt mode forever. She wants to build now that she’s back in DC – build a business and hopefully, a meaningful relationship with her long-time crush.

But BJ, rational adult that he is, insists he won’t go there with Kendra. Her family has long treated him as a second son, and his main friendship group is made up of her brother and cousins. He’s too enmeshed with the Porters to have all that go up in smoke just because he wants to get frisky with Kendra. She respects that, until one night, a bit too much to drink has them questioning all the choices they’ve made while sober.

I checked multiple times to make sure this wasn’t the second or third book in a series because I definitely felt as though I had landed in the middle of something. The opening scene at Logan’s restaurant involves many, many people whom I thought I should have some understanding of, and didn’t. This set the tone for the whole book. Kendra and BJ have a lot of history, which they share with us occasionally via memories/anecdotes, but their present-day relationship is less about getting to know each other than it is about falling back into their old ways and adding sex to the mix. This didn’t work for me since I felt I was missing large chunks of what had made them friends in the first place and what attracted them to each other now. I also felt that Kendra, who has apparently spent two amazing years abroad drifting from place to place and learning a new set of skills, should have changed a bit. Instead, she easily falls back into the relationships she’d always had as if there had been no time away or new life experiences at all.

Like most contemporary romances these days, The Dating Prohibition is a hybrid of women’s fiction and romance, where the majority of the page space is spent on Kendra. We see her interacting with her sister in law and cousin, aka best gal pals, her extended family, and putting guys who think they have a shot at the awesomeness that is her in their place. We also see her making decisions for her business. But we don’t see much of BJ. He only floats onto the page when interacting with Kendra, which left me dissatisfied. For me to root for a couple, I have to see who they are as individuals rather than just who they are together, and that simply doesn’t happen here. The only things I knew about BJ are that he’s attractive to other women and good at historical research.

Another downside to this style of writing is that it makes Kendra seem very self-centered, which is never a good look on anyone. BJ seems to exist just to cheer her on, not to be a person in his own right.

This is a personal pet peeve, and I didn’t downgrade the book for it, but if you, like me, don’t like relationships that start with drunken sex where one of the characters barely remembers it happening, be warned that it occurs here.

The novel’s positives include the fantastic food and drinks we read about, the detailed descriptions that showcase the effort required to open an eatery, and the mutual respect/sibling love Logan and Kendra show for each other. I also appreciated that Kendra gives BJ the space he needs to figure out what he wants, and he (not always, but mostly) clearly articulates his thoughts. The novel highlights functional adult relationships, showcasing how love, understanding, and respect go a long way towards building unity in any situation. I also liked that the leads are a bit older than the norm (late thirties for Kendra, a few years beyond that for BJ).

The Dating Prohibition is based on familiar tropes – brother’s best friend, heroine opening an eatery after a career change – but the fleshing out of that premise doesn’t do much to elevate it above all the other romances using the same toolkit. If that is a storyline you absolutely love, then I might recommend this for its unique look at Black entrepreneurship. If you are tired of these tropes, this tale probably isn’t for you.