Tag Archives: BDSM

Review: The Companion Contract by Solace Ames

Reviews, , , , , , , , , , , ,

This review originally appeared at Romancing Rakes for the Love of Romance.

THE COMPANION CONTRACT is the latest entry in Solace Ames’s excellent LA Doms series, and although it ended up being a good read for me, it wasn’t nearly as good of a romance as her previous stories.

In this story, we meet Amy Mendoza, who lost her entire family to deportation at the age of thirteen, forcing her into life choices that no child should ever have to make. Now eight years later, the world knows her only as the porn star Serena Sakamoto, and she’s made the most of what life has dealt her in order to stay alive and send money back to her family in the Philippines. But when Amy’s good friend Chiho needs rescuing from a Hollywood party gone wrong, the man who helps them out might end up being the one person Amy can count on to be there for her when nobody else ever has.

Emanuel de la Isla experienced the best and worst of life as he moved from a violent upbringing in South America to incredible success as part of the seminal rock band Avert. When he witnesses Amy’s strength in handling pressure under fire, he realizes she’s the perfect person to keep track of Avert’s problem lead singer as the band attempts a long awaited reunion album and tour. As Amy becomes indispensable to the success of the band’s future, it becomes all too obvious that she’s just as crucial to Emanuel’s happiness as he is to hers. But when the band’s planned future derails yet again, it remains to be seen if Amy and Emanuel’s love can survive outside the protected bubble they’d created together.

As with the other books I’ve read by Solace Ames, I was struck by the richness and elegance of how she structures her stories and develops her characters. No matter how unlike the events and people she writes about are with respect to my own life, I am always able to fully relate on an emotional level to what her characters are feeling and experiencing. In THE COMPANION CONTRACT, our heroine is a porn star who deliberately chose this career on her 18th birthday because she knew it was her best option to make enough money to support herself and her distant family. She falls in love with an albino Afro-Colombian who is the lead guitarist of the band she loved best as a teenager, and becomes the close friend of both the band’s lead singer, who has ongoing problems with drug addiction, and the trans woman he loves but cannot have. All of these characters are fleshed out beautifully and their interactions with the hero and heroine are both organic and essential. By the end of the story, each character is in a better place than they started, and optimistic that they will continue to be happy.

Yet, as a romance first and foremost, THE COMPANION CONTRACT missed the mark somewhat for me. Although I believed in Amy and Emanuel’s love, it was often pushed aside in favor of the various dramas associated with Miles, Avert’s unreliable lead singer, and Xiomara, the trans woman important to both him and Emanuel even as she was still learning how to live as her true self. And with the story told entirely from Amy’s first person POV, it was difficult for me to understand what motivated Emanuel beyond caretaking of his loved ones and a sexual pull toward Amy that she shared in return. That also affected my reaction when Emanuel and Amy were briefly separated, as she worried he wouldn’t return even though he swore he would, and I wondered why she didn’t believe him when I’d never seen any reason why he would lie.

Still, THE COMPANION CONTRACT is a lovely read overall and if you’re good with the romance being equal to other parts of the story, then you shouldn’t have any problems. Either way, I’m still a fan of Solace Ames and look forward to what she’ll be writing next.

Favorite Quote:

I wasn’t a beggar or a queen. I had room in my heart to love everyone who stayed behind.
I was only myself.
And that was enough.

View all my reviews

Review: The Virgin by Tiffany Reisz

Reviews, , , , , , , ,

As each book in the White Years portion of Tiffany Reisz’s Original Sinners series is released, we discover more about how this unconventional family came together as one. So if you’ve read the Red Years books, you can guess the outcome of The Virgin, even if you don’t know how you’ll get there. Yet that’s what makes each of these stories so remarkable, as Tiffany Reisz continues to capture the attention of readers who already think they know how everything will work out. With this latest release, THE VIRGIN, the story of how Eleanor ran away from the only man she’d ever loved and not only found herself, but helped Kingsley do the same, however inadvertently, and like the others, the story might not go quite as the reader might expect.

Eleanor could never have left Søren without being caught if she hadn’t had Kingsley’s detailed training on how to get lost and stay there. But once away, she needs a place where even Søren himself could not gain admittance. Her mother’s convent home may be an unlikely sanctuary, but just as unlikely is the one person who helps Eleanor find the strength to go on, with or without her only Master.

The moment that drives Eleanor away from Søren sets Kingsley on his own path in the opposite direction, unsure if he’ll ever return to his kinky kingdom. The despair of the woman he discovers outweighs his own, stoking his need to save them both. But as Eleanor and Kingsley both find new love away from home, will their individual travels bring them back to Søren or keep them all apart for good?

In THE VIRGIN, as in the others before it, it’s the journey itself and not the destination, and the personal quests for both Eleanor and Kingsley make it all worth reading. And like the other White Years books, we have a present-day framing device designed to keep us guessing as to what is actually happening and how it will affect our beloved characters. All of these threads are expertly woven together in a tapestry of extreme emotions which will keep the reader bouncing about with anticipation as to how it will all come together in the end.

I was happily transported by the majority of THE VIRGIN, with only the part of the story featuring Kyrie, the young novitiate and title character, falling somewhat flat for me. I couldn’t help thinking that her presence was contrived solely for the purpose of helping Eleanor out of the safety of the convent back out into the real world, especially with regard to Eleanor’s future career as an erotic novelist. But that’s a minor quibble compared to the glory that is the sublime romance between Kingsley and Juliette, the heartbreaking angst as Søren and Eleanor struggle with what has driven them apart, and the joy of the first wedding between two of my most favorite Original Sinners.

If you’re a fan of this series, THE VIRGIN is obviously a must read, even though it also means there is only one more book in the series before it all ends forever. I’m sure I’m not prepared to face THE QUEEN, but I can’t wait to read it just the same.

View all my reviews

Review: Protecting Fate by Katee Robert

Reviews, , , , , , , , , ,

I’m a fan of Katee Robert’s romances but hadn’t read this particular series before reading the PROTECTING FATE novella. The good news is that it works well as a standalone without leaving the reader clueless or dumping unnecessary background information. It’s quickly obvious how the hero and heroine know of each other without having had the opportunity to spark any relationship before this moment.

Sara Reaver is still feeling the pain of her parents’ divorce and is trying not to resent her siblings for succumbing to marriage when they’ve all seen how bad it can be. Now that her own reckless actions have forced her into hiding with her brother’s best friend Zebadiah “Z” Loreto as protection, her deliberate avoidance of any emotional entanglements will be tested to the limit.

Z trusted a woman he loved, and nearly lost everything as a result. Sara needs him to be safe, but when he realizes there’s something more between them, it will take more than just their sexual connection to lead them to the happy ending neither thought could ever happen.

Although I would expect a reader familiar with the series to enjoy this story more than I did, there was plenty of romance to get me involved with the characters and root for them to succeed. The couples from the previous books work well as secondary characters here, and the initial danger to the heroine is resolved realistically, if somewhat preemptively. I was also gratified that the heroine didn’t just swoon into agreeing to marriage after her vehement objections to it for so many years. PROTECTING FATE is an intense and entertaining short read that I enjoyed enough to want to read all the previous books in the Serve series.

View all my reviews

Review: Red Handed: A Benediction Novel by Shelly Bell

Reviews, , , , , , , , ,

Anyone who follows my reviews at all knows that I’m not a big fan of serials, but one of the best romances I read last year was Shelly Bell’s four part romantic suspense serial, WHITE COLLARED. So naturally I was excited about reading her full length follow-up novel, RED HANDED. The previous story introduced us to the super exclusive BDSM club Benediction, and now in RED HANDED, we get to see that club’s mysterious owner Cole DeMarco find his own HEA with a woman we meet at the worst time in her relatively short but turbulent life.

Danielle Walker was still in shock after her father had gone to prison and died there soon after, apparently by his own hand. But now that Danielle’s seen her own stepmother kidnapped by the same people who’d helped send her father to jail, she has only a few short days to infiltrate the BDSM club of the only man she’d desired but could never have, Cole DeMarco. The kidnappers want whatever Cole’s hiding in his private office safe, and the kidnappers want her to get there by offering herself up to Cole as a sexual submissive trainee. So off Danielle goes into certain danger, never suspecting that what she’ll find along the way is her one true love.

Cole had known Danielle as the lovely but off-limits daughter of a man who’d gotten over his head with a dangerous crowd. Now that she’s old enough to be naked and under Cole’s control, he’s the one who’s over his head in what is definitely overwhelming sexual attraction but could also be the love he’s tried to avoid his whole life. With the impending danger to them both, there’s no time to take things slowly, and when everything Danielle believes in gets turned on its head, it’s Cole and Danielle’s love that will ultimately see both them and the reader through.

I love this author and this new series, but I’ll admit I was seriously put off by the initial premise of RED HANDED. Romantic suspense is always a bit tricky for me, as there’s only so much violence I can handle as a reader, so the opening scenes involving Danielle’s stepmother and the kidnappers’ threats were almost too intense. The idea that Danielle was being forced to participate in a 24/7 BDSM relationship under duress really didn’t sit well with me, but I continued on, trusting that the author would get me to the place where everything made sense. When that moment arrived, my relief was palpable, and my enjoyment of the story unconditional. Cole and Danielle are more than equally matched in both body and spirit, and as the story progresses, we see how their romance was inevitable in spite of the evil forces that had brought them together. The twists and turns are never too over the top, and the final HEA is well earned. If you love romantic suspense with a BDSM flavor, Shelly Bell’s Benediction series, including RED HANDED, is a must read.

View all my reviews

Review: Unraveled by Lorelei James

Reviews, , , , , , , , , , , ,

One of the best things that can happen in an ongoing series is when the author can redeem a mostly unlikeable character from an earlier book as the winning love interest in a following book. In UNRAVELED, Lorelei James has taken Ronin Black’s sister Shiori Hirano, a woman I initially disliked and only begrudgingly came around to liking, and made her the best heroine yet in the MASTERED series.

Now that Ronin is off on a trip to Japan to continue his martial arts training and spend time alone with his new wife Amery, his Black Arts dojo is temporarily in the hands of his sister Shiori and his right hand man Knox Lofgren. On the surface, this combination seems like a disaster in the making, since all Shiori and Knox ever seem to do is fight for domination. Yet there’s a deeper attraction under all the sparring, and when Shiori discovers Knox’s true nature, it’s all she can do to keep from immediately claiming him for good. Knox wants to be the man that Shiori believes he is, but it will take more than irresistible sexual desire to help them get past all the obstacles between them and happiness, not the least of which will be Ronin’s reaction to all that’s happened in his prolonged absence.

The ongoing transformation of Ronin’s sister Shiori from interfering and unapproachable to supportive and emotionally vulnerable without losing her innate strength has been a big draw for me in the MASTERED series and it’s a joy to see it come to fruition in UNRAVELED. As strong as she has needed to be from the start, it’s only when Shiori lets down her guard with Knox that we see the full person behind the facade. And when Knox trusts her with his newly discovered submission, the results are exhilarating. We see so much more of both characters and what’s shaped them into the people we think we know today that when they come together, it’s seems impossible that they could have ever resisted each other before. Even when the dreaded black moment of big misunderstanding arrives like clockwork, we see that neither of them is really ready to give up for good, and it makes their final HEA all the sweeter.

UNRAVELED is a solid entry in a series that keeps getting better and better for me, and I can’t wait to see how Lorelei James is going to keep it going next.

View all my reviews

Review: Vanilla by Megan Hart

Reviews, , , , , , , , , , ,

When I pick up a Megan Hart erotic romance, I know I’m going to get my heart broken, and all that’s left to discover is how, and whether or not she’ll put it back together again by the end of the book. What I got with VANILLA was heaping helpings of everything I love about her books, with a heroine not quite like any other she’s written and a hero who more than lived up to that definition by how he overcame his own fears and misguided notions to be the man most worthy of the heroine’s love.

Elise knows who she is and what she needs in the bedroom, and she’s not going to give that up for any man, not even one who might be her best shot at true love. After all, the last time she let love overrule her best judgment is still an open wound on her heart, and the last thing she needs is another one.

Niall wasn’t expecting to fall for his friend’s older sister, let alone have her push him into a sexual role he’d never ever thought about, let alone considered as something he could enjoy. But Elise is different and special and that one woman who just might be able to show him another way of making love, and in the process, find the self he didn’t know he’d had.

Any preconceived notions of how a Megan Hart book will go and what you’ll get by the end should always be thrown out, as anyone familiar with her books should already know. When we first meet Elise, I made assumptions about her based on the way she still couldn’t let go of the man who had hurt her even though he’d let go long before. Yet as her on again, off again romance with Niall progresses, I could see that the strength she shows in the face of his initial derision and resistance was a direct result from her previous emotional damage, and how it was Niall who needed to decide if what she offered was what he could take without losing what he’d always thought was his sexual identity. I was so proud of them both for working through the conflicts that threatened to separate them even though they loved each other so much, and how their happy ending was about more than just love and acceptance of the other person, but also of themselves. VANILLA was a perfect Megan Hart story for me and I’m so glad I was able to read it.

View all my reviews

Review: Never Let You Down by Joely Sue Burkhart

Reviews, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Never Let You DownNever Let You Down by Joely Sue Burkhart

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A copy of this book was provided by the author for an honest review at Night Owl Reviews.

Review Excerpt:

Much like the unconventional relationships highlighted in each of the previous Connagher books, NEVER LET YOU DOWN also features an unconventional way of telling the multi-layered story of Virginia and Jeb’s romance. We have a view of the present day as Jeb returns to woo the woman he’d never stopped loving. We also view the past, as all the questions about how he is inextricably linked to Virginia and Ty are eventually answered in full. And then, as the past and present wind their way around each other toward the anticipated HEA, a third voice enters the story in the form of a book within the book — a slightly over the top erotic western romance with a more than passing resemblance to the love story being told in the rest of the book. This manner of storytelling is risky with the danger of confusing the reader, but I was able to easily keep the three portions separate while appreciating how they all fit together as closely as Virginia, Ty, and Jeb did by the end of the book. It’s a beautiful love story in all its combinations, and a wonderful addition to one of my favorite erotic romance series.

View all my reviews

Review: Nothing Between Us by Roni Loren

Reviews, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Nothing Between Us (Loving on the Edge, #6)Nothing Between Us by Roni Loren

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for an honest review.

I’ve been a big fan of Roni Loren’s Loving On The Edge series since CRASH INTO YOU, but as the books moved farther afield from the core characters at The Ranch, I was concerned that the distance might have a negative effect on the series. I’m relieved to confirm that this latest book, NOTHING BETWEEN US, proved to me that I needn’t worry, and that the same details which made all the previous books great reads are still fully present here in book 6.

The last time we saw Colby Wilkes was in NEED YOU TONIGHT, when he was the third in a special one night threesome with Kade and Tessa as they found their way back to each other after years apart. But we never really knew much about him other than he performed as a local bar singer and as a house Dom at The Ranch, the BDSM resort which serves as the focal point for this erotic romance series. After a traumatic experience as a high school teacher when he was blamed for a troubled student’s disappearance, Colby vowed to be more prepared in the future and is now a fully trained therapist at a different school miles away. When he discovers his new neighbor lady is a voyeur enjoying his sexual activities through her bedroom window, Colby is intrigued but willing to wait until she makes the first move. But when Colby’s past comes crashing back into his life, he’ll need all his training as both a Dominant and therapist to handle what comes next as the frightened woman next door becomes an essential part of the relationship he’d never dreamed he’d have.

Georgia Delaune used to have it all – a great career as a mystery writer, loving family and friends, and a man who gave her all the attention any woman would want. But it was the man who was the snake in her garden, causing her great sorrow as he worked to isolate her from everyone else by any and all means necessary. After the tragic death of her beloved sister, Georgia has fled from Chicago to this quiet Texas town in the hopes of laying low until her ex-boyfriend goes on trial for murder. The terror she feels any time she hears a strange noise or attempts to leave her house is real, yet she can’t resist watching her sexy neighbor Colby Wilkes with binoculars through her bedroom window at night. As events draw her out of her house and towards his, Georgia will find the strength to face her future with the support of not just one, but two amazing men to help bring the happiness she never thought she’d have again.

What I loved the most about NOTHING BETWEEN US was what has made Roni Loren’s Loving On The Edge series a must-read for me. It has a deliciously Dominant hero who knows what he wants but would never abuse a woman to get it, a heroine who works through her past issues while embracing this new relationship opportunity for as long as it lasts, and in this particular instance, an additional hero who realizes his own worth even as the other two discover he is the missing third they need to complete their happiness. The way the three became one was steady and convincing, with several steps back and forward as each learned to trust the other. And the individual dangers hanging over both Georgia and Colby were resolved in due time without taking focus away from the romance between all three main characters on the way to a lovely happy ending. It’s another worthy addition to Roni Loren’s series and gives me confidence that the next books in turn will be just as good.

View all my reviews

Review: Illicit Activity by J.R. Gray

Reviews, , , , , , , , , ,

Illicit Activity (Bound #3)Illicit Activity by J.R. Gray
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A copy of this book was provided by the author for an honest review.

This review contains spoilers for BREACH OF CONTRACT, the second book in J.R. Gray’s BOUND series. If you haven’t read that book, don’t read this.

ILLICIT ACTIVITY is a fast but fierce novella that takes place during the time between the nominal end of BREACH OF CONTRACT and its explosive epilogue. It provides examples of just how painful the forced separation of Jesse and George has been for both of them, and how the actions of the vengeful blackmailer in that story are still causing reverberations in their community after his capture. There are several scenes with many of the characters from the two previous books, and more of the wonderfully intense BDSM encounters that have made the BOUND series such a compelling read for me. If you’re a fan of this series, ILLICIT ACTIVITY is a must read.

View all my reviews

Review: Only For You by Beth Kery

Reviews, , , , , , , , , , ,

Only for YouOnly for You by Beth Kery

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Full review available at Night Owl Reviews.

Everything I love about Beth Kery’s erotic romances is here in ONLY FOR YOU. Readers get a quietly dominant hero determined not to let himself be hurt again, a heroine bent on showing him they are meant to be together without ever losing sight of her own wants and needs, a burning passion between them that never dies even when they are apart, and just enough drama and suspense to keep the path to their HEA interesting without overdoing it. Both Seth and Gia have let pride and misconceptions stand in the way of their love and as the threat to Gia’s life remains ever present in the background, they learn to trust and compromise so that everything can work out for them exactly as it should.

View all my reviews