Is it reckless for a master’s student to blur the lines with her hot, older professor—a legendary storm chaser?

Without a doubt.

But when a tornado strikes during Finley and Professor West’s first chase together, something far more dangerous than the storm pulls them in. Boundaries shatter, and so do their reservations.

Now, as they tear across Oklahoma with his famous storm chasing team, he’s adamant: they crossed a line that should never have been crossed. He’s her professor, and she’s his student—nothing more.

But with every storm they face, they’re drawn deeper into a whirlwind that threatens to consume them both.

Can they remain professional?

Or will the storms consume them?

My Review

I love the dedication at the beginning of this book, and the drink mix at the beginning was such a fun touch, especially with the recipes included.

Ryker is a professor at Midland Springs University. He knows the rules, but Finley makes him want to break them. Finley has earned the coveted spot on his storm-chasing team, which means forced proximity with her crush—and all the desires that come with it.

The story begins in Kansas, but the storm chasing takes us into Oklahoma. There is definitely a forbidden-romance element to this story, but honestly, I was here for the storm chasing. I loved the sound effects in the audiobook! They really helped bring the storms and action to life.

I adore how excited Finley is about chasing storms and doing research. Some of the concepts she talks about get pretty technical and wordy, but having the tornado vehicle, Thor, involved helped make all that information more interesting. Finley is a young adult college student, and there is a significant age gap between her and Professor Ryker West.

Normally, the age-gap plus teacher/student combination gives me the ick, and I usually avoid those tropes. But this one had storm chasing, and I just couldn’t resist. 😂 I will say, I didn’t love how often the story reminded me of the tropes I don’t particularly enjoy. It became a little annoying at times, even though those elements did piece together the overall story.

A lot of this book uses tornado-chasing terminology, so you may find yourself looking up some of the words if you’re not already a weather nut. The storm-chasing details were definitely a highlight for me.

Joey, though? I LOVE Joey. His completely outlandish personality was so much fun, and honestly, I enjoyed listening to him even more than the self-conscious student, uncomfortable professor, and awkward forced-proximity situation between the main characters.

This book is sizzling hot with plenty of steamy scenes. Personally, I preferred the tornado action to the random intimacy. The forbidden teacher/student romance is also very much part of the story, so if that’s a trope you don’t enjoy, there is no escaping it.

I found the side characters super lovable and fun to listen to. However, the main characters sometimes felt a little too caught up in their own world. They were technically part of the group, but they didn’t always feel like they were truly part of the group. I really enjoyed the ending, especially getting Joey’s POV.

I also appreciated the LGBTQ+ representation and the variety of characters included in the story.

Overall, though, this landed at 3 stars for me. The storm-chasing adventure, Oklahoma setting, sound effects, and side characters were the highlights, but the teacher/student romance and some of the repetitive forbidden-romance focus kept it from being a stronger favorite for me.

If you would like to listen or read Whirlwind by Kayla Grosse, you can find this book on Amazon. As an Amazon Assocaite I earn on qualifying purchase.

If you like this book you may also enjoy books with these tags and categories: Teacher/Student, Forced proximity and Audiobook.