Enraptured: Book 3 in the Enslaved Trilogy

Enraptured: Book 3 in the Enslaved Trilogy
by Shoshanna Evers
Published by Pocket Star
Genre: erotica; BDSM
Thanks to edelweiss for the preview
3.5 / 5


We've gotten to know Trevor and know that he's happily married to Elisabeth. We became friends with Marc and know that he and Mistress Lauren are cozily in love. It's time to turn our attention to the baddest of the BAD Boys, Roman.

As a Dom, Roman has a reputation for lethal skill. Whereas Trevor and Marc are jovial and friendly, Roman is cold, forbidding, and ruthlessly focused on inflicting pain as a means of pleasure and punishment. He thought he found his dream sub in Elisabeth but had to watch helplessly as she married Trevor. And "helpless" is not something Roman knows or does well.

He tries to numb himself with nameless, virtually faceless women, but he knows that any relief is temporary. He needs a sub, and he needs one he enjoys on more than a physical level.

Enter Jessica, a twenty-year-old college student who works at the club Roman co-owns with Marc and Trevor. She appears servile enough, and she admits to curiosity. She's also attractive, and Roman feels drawn to her, even as he knows this will not be an easy relationship to undertake. The age difference, for one thing, will cause issues, and then there is the little matter of Roman's heart. Does he have it to give, or does Elisabeth still own it?

Getting Jessica to agree to be his sub is the first hurdle. Roman takes Marc's approach and begins with a bet with Mistress Lauren as to whether she can dominate Jessica. But we all know who wants to Dom whom, and it doesn't take long for Jessica and Roman to connect.

This one is a bit different from the first two installments in the trilogy in that we get to know a character's family when Jessica's parents come to visit. The real world also factors stronger here, as Roman and Jessica have to confront the challenges that their age gap will bring. But don't worry. The sexy times are very present.

I didn't enjoy this one as much as the first two, and I think it's because Roman was such a disappointment. I already was ambivalent about him because he seemed a bit emasculated after the whole Elisabeth thing. I wanted him to come out charging and never stop; the former occurred, but not the latter. He becomes domesticated by Jessica. One of the mandates in his home is that the blinds are always shut, keeping darkness in and light at bay. I realize this is a metaphor for Roman, but he caves in far too quickly to Jessica's request to raise the blinds. I expected him to be stronger, to make her pay for her cheeky request. I know he wants to feel love, but come on. This all happens too quickly, even for him.

The sex scenes also seem a bit redundant. I feel like we read very similar scenes in the first two books. Roman's thing is that he really likes inflicting pain, but with Jessica, he doesn't seem as passionate about it. I know she's young and lively and attractive, but it doesn't work. Roman just doesn't work, and I was disappointed by that.

If you read the first two, you need to read this one so you can close out the series. Just don't expect it to be as good as its predecessors.

The Pleasures of Summer

The Pleasures of Summer 
by Evie Hunter
Published by Penguin
448 pages
Genre: erotica; BDSM
Thanks to the publisher for the preview
4 / 5


Earlier this year, I read Evie Hunter's The Pleasures of Winter and enjoyed it a whole lot. Well, I enjoyed the sex scenes a whole lot. The plot? Fine, serviceable, whatever. Those sex scenes, though. Yum.

The Pleasures of Summer is not a sequel, so don't go into thinking you'll learn what happens next in Abbie's and Jack's saga. This one is more of a variation on a theme, specifically sexual domination.

Our hero is Flynn Grant, a burly Scottish soldier now working in private security. He is somewhat atypical for literary Doms in that he is not wildly wealthy and does not appear to live in grand splendor. He receives a job order: he must protect bratty society girl Summer (yep ... you're going to read about her pleasures) O'Sullivan from threats to her safety. Summer's dad owns an airline that has been targeted for revenge after a crash, and fears run amok that Summer will be used. Someone clearly is out to get her; she receives several threats and there was a kidnapping attempt.

Summer doesn't want a bodyguard, even if it is masculine ball of testosterone Flynn, largely because she has a secret interest she wants to pursue. Summer is drawn to the submissive lifestyle, even though she knows very little about it. She's trying to sneak off to an exclusive club so she can learn more and discover if this is what she truly wants.

Well, guess what, Summer. Good old Flynn here is a Dom! And he'd like to show you the ropes, as it were.

The two wind up in an isolated cabin in the north of Scotland, and, well. When you've got a man oozing sexual promise and a woman tense with sexual curiosity, you know there will be some serious headboard rocking.

Sure, Flynn is conflicted. Summer is a job, and he's not one to mix his personal and professional lives. She's just so darn attractive though, and so willing, and so open to instruction. In one particularly squish-inducing (and you know exactly what I'm talking about, girls) scene, Flynn guides Summer through the oral pleasure process.

The story gets occasionally repetitious, but that's because it's somewhat too flimsy to stretch over 400+ pages. The sexy times, though, are outstanding. Evie Hunter knows her way around describing headboard rocking, and she will leave you panting. As for Summer and Flynn, they are capably written. Summer is a rich girl with brains, and we understand her frustration with being treated like an imbecile, just as we recognize (as does Summer) that some of her problems are of her own making. Flynn is not as well rounded; Hunter gives us an occasional glimpse into his military background, but we know very little about his path to becoming a Dom. What we do know is that he's a very good bodyguard in every sense of the word.

I look forward to the next installment. Will our pleasures be Spring or Fall?

The Submissive

The Submissive: The Submissive Trilogy
by Tara Sue Me
Published by NAL Trade
304 pages
Genre: erotica; BDSM
Thanks to edelweiss for the preview
3 / 5


I am starting to develop a Pavlovian response to BDSM-tinged trilogies. That response is a throat scarring, "PLEASE STOP." Why are erotica writers like lemmings? Why must they follow a trend? Good grief, people. Just write a damn book. Don't make it about the trilogy. Make it about the characters and the story.

Okay. I'm through. On with the review.

Unlike others of its ilk, the happy couple in this book meets when she approaches him. That right there makes it different, in a good way.

Abby King has long suspected that she has submissive yearnings, even if she wasn't quite sure what it meant. She knows she needs a Dom to guide her through the lifestyle, so she quite literally interviews with the one she hand picks: Nathaniel West. He's hot, he's rich, he's successful. (Apparently those three qualities are necessary in a Dom because every one of the literary variety has them.) He also is very attracted to Abby.

Did I mention that Abby is a librarian? Yep.

She and Nathaniel decide to give this arrangement a weekend-long test drive, and if after that Abby wants to continue, she can sign on the dotted line.

Well, of COURSE she will want to continue, because HELLO, Nathaniel is HOT. And he knows how to please a woman. And he knows how to give the spanky panky in a way that elicits certain responses. Certain delicious responses.

Yum.

Yeah, it's predictable. Yeah, you've read it before. In fact, supposedly this series sprang from the same fan fic site as Christian Grey. So, yippee for that.

Is it good? Ehhhhhh .... well .... the sex scenes sure are. Tara Sue Me (I'm sure it's a pen name) can write about some headboard rockin', faithful readers. She will have you either reaching for a fan or a man, depending on what's available. Will I read the next one? Of course I will! I am weak and powerless against these books.

I'll give it this much: what it lacks in originality, it makes up for in writing. Tara Sue Me is a far stronger writer than E. L. James.

Claim Me (Stark Trilogy 2)

Claim Me (Stark Trilogy 2)
by J. L. Kenner
Published by Headline Pb
Genre: erotica, BDSM
Thanks to edelweiss for the preview
4 / 5


Picking up right where Release Me left off, we return to Nikki Fairchild and Damien Stark, two BDSM-crossed lovebirds who just want to be happy. And have tsunami-causing sexy times.

Nikki, she of the former beauty pageants, and Damien, he of the former tennis championships, each know something about pretending to be what you aren't. Nikki can paint a smile on her face, pirouette, and appear to look happy. Damien can conquer and vanquish and appear to be satisfied. What they see in each other is a kindred soul, someone who has ceded control to others and chafes against it.

Their relationship, begun in Release Me, continues here. You don't need to have read the first one to pick up this one, thanks largely to Kenner's occasional summaries. I do suggest reading the predecessor because of the sex scenes, if for no other reason. Nikki and Damien continue to chart the course of their relationship, each trying to establish autonomy while also relying on the other. They crave independence, but they crave each other more.

The first book hinted at some of Damien's past struggles, and here they are laid to bare, so to speak. He confides everything (or apparently everything) to Nikki, which further cements her affections. Not that all goes smoothly. Of course it doesn't. They get angry with each other, she leaves, they reunite, rinse, repeat. When she heads home, even she knows it isn't permanent. She needs to be apart from him to find her bearings, but just as a compass always points north, so does Nikki's vagina point to Damien.

For reals.

And it should, because MY GOODNESS, Damien Stark can please a woman. There is some BDSM here, but nothing as extreme as what Christian Grey, Nora Sutherlin, or Gideon Cross enjoy. The headboard rocking with Nikki and Damien is, however, extremely passionate and extremely luscious. You will want a Damien of your own.

There is a third installment, due out later in July. I can't say that Damien and Nikki stick with me the way Gideon Cross or Nora Sutherlin do, but I look forward to continuing to read about them.

Enamored: Book II in the Enslaved Trilogy

Enamored: Book II in the Enslaved Trilogy
by Shoshanna Evers
Published by Pocket Star
Genre: erotica, BDSM, romance
Thanks to edelweiss for the preview
4 / 5


When last we saw the BAD Boys, Trevor was happily engaged to Elisabeth, Roman was brokenhearted, and Marc was ... uh ... where was Marc again?

Oh, yeah. Marc was there, aiding and abetting his friends. But in Enamored, Marc gets to aid and abed (GET IT?) Mistress Lauren, whom he has lusted over for quite some time.

Marc and Lauren are besties, and, as two Doms, they understand each other. But Marc has a secret wish: he wants to dominate Lauren, and he wants to take their little friendship and escalate it a bit. A really big bit. When the opportunity arises to become romantically involved with her, Marc jumps at it. Granted, the "opportunity" is one he manufactures to his own advantage, but if he didn't, he wouldn't be a BAD Boy, now, would he.

Whereas Enslaved occasionally made too much of Elisabeth's background, Enamored plays all the right notes with Lauren's. The more we get to know her, the more we like her, and the more we want her with Marc. I didn't see Trevor's attraction to Elisabeth, but I sure can see Marc's to Lauren. She's hot, he's hot, and together they claw, rip, snarl, bite, scratch, and bed each other with roaring hot passion.

The sex scenes ... they are goooood. Also good is the story. It doesn't feel as forced as it did with Trevor and Elisabeth, perhaps because Marc and Lauren are far more kindred souls than their friends. Roman's still around and still brooding (WHY? Elisabeth is NOT THAT FABULOUS, Roman!), and we'll get to him in the third installment.

This is the sort of book that you read for its hotness, and it provides quiet nicely. With characters you enjoy and an entertaining story line, it's a good book.

Beyond Eden

Beyond Eden
by Kele Moon
Published by Ellora's Cave
404 pages
Genre: erotica, BDSM
Thanks to NetGalley for the preview
4 / 5

Strap on your vibrators, girls, because this one is indescribably hot.

Danny appears to have everything. He's rich - wealthy enough that he doesn't really have to work - super good looking, and can have any woman he wants. He also has a roommate, his best friend Paul, and the two share a - um - close relationship.

Wink wink.

Years ago, when the two were in high school, Paul was wildly in love with Eve. After graduation, she decamped from Tampa and headed to New York to pursue art school. But now, ten years later, she's back in town, dumped by her fiancé and ready to make changes in her life. When she bumps into Danny in a grocery store, he invites her for a visit.

Yes, Eve and Paul dated, but Eve and Danny have undeniable chemistry. They are attracted to each other, and when they act on that attraction, you will need to take a cold shower just to finish reading about the action.

But wait. What about Paul?

He still loves Eve, and she still loves him. But she also loves Danny, who also loves Paul. And Paul loves Danny too. So these three crazy kids ought to be happy together, right?

Well ... Paul is engaged.

Not that it stops the three from enjoying each other's company.

Boy, do they ever. To say that they are a passionate threesome is to drastically underplay what goes on between them. Danny is the puppet master of sorts, but while he presents a stark, domineering persona, we know that his heart beats tenderly and lovingly for Eve and Paul. He's a bit of a bastard, but he's likable, and we worry for him.

The story line is entertaining enough to keep us going between sex scenes. We learn about Paul and Danny's history together, and we understand - if not exactly relate to - the closeness they share with Eve. But what controls the book are the sex scenes.

Let me warn you that if Fifty Shades of Grey was too much for you, then you need to avoid this book. If you're in the mood for some screaming hot headboard rockin', then this is the one for you. Danny is a Dom, and Paul enjoys it when Danny inflicts pain, so be prepared for some fairly graphic BDSM scenes. Actually, the scenes are graphic, period. But oh so very very hot.

Don't be surprised if you require a certain release after reading those scenes, though.

All In: The Blackstone Affair, II

All In: The Blackstone Affair, II
by Raine Miller
Published by Atria
256 pages
Thanks to NetGalley and edelweiss for the preview
4 / 5 cupcakes

When we left off with Brynne and Ethan, our happy couple was left torn asunder, Brynne having run off due to Ethan's "lies." But were they lies? Really? Or just certain omissions? See, Ethan was hired by Brynne's father, an American politician,  to protect her, only Ethan wound up "protecting her" with his penis.

If you know what I mean.

So, anyway. Ethan, Brynne, broken up. But do we think that will last? Seriously? How can you have a series if they stay broken up?

The lovebirds reunite, as we could predict, only love does not present an easy path. Naturally, there are complications a plenty. And, naturally, Ethan screws up as much as he possibly can.

The first book in the series, Naked, was told from Brynne's point of view, which perhaps is what made it feel so hackneyed. This one is told from Ethan's, and Ethan - well, in addition to being seriously smokin' hot - brings an element of freshness to could be a trite, predictable plot.

Brynne is at risk, or continues to be at risk, because I'm not sure that situation has changed much from the first book. Having a politician for a father undoubtedly makes her safety unstable, at best, and Ethan is determined to protect her.

There is some plot advancement in this one, but in terms of action, you'll find that most of that occurs between the sheets. Or up against walls. Or in other locations.

The one place where Brynne and Ethan connect, free from any outside stress or worries, is in the metaphorical bedroom. When they have sex, they open themselves to each other, and their mutual trust is clarified. Ethan is a Dominant, and he enjoys having Brynne as his submissive. Brynne happily acquiesces, which is a smart move on her part, because Ethan is HOT. He's intelligent, successful, protective, loving, and he knows how to please a woman. You will find yourself searching for real-life Ethans. (If you find one, please let me know. I'm convinced that none exist.)

As with its predecessor, this one ends with a cliffhanger. We now know more about Brynne's Issues, and a little more about Ethan's. Even though the story is told through Ethan's eyes, however, the focus here is squarely on Brynne: what has happened to get her in these precarious straits and what has happened that makes her trust waver as far as Ethan is concerned.

This is a better, stronger book than Naked. Like I said, perhaps that is due to it being told through Ethan's eyes. Or perhaps it's due to Raine Miller settling in with her characters. Either way, I look forward to the third book. I want Ethan to be happy, and if happiness is with Brynne, then so be it.

And I'd also, uh, like more of that headboard rockin'.

Naked: The Blackstone Affair, Part I

Naked:  The Blackstone Affair - Book 1
by Raine Miller
Published by Atria
192 pages
Genre: erotica, mild BDSM
Thanks to NetGalley and edelweiss for the preview
3 / 5 cupcakes


Do you ever read a book that you know, deep down, is not all that good, but yet you can't put it down? What does that say about us? I know when I read Twilight and Fifty Shades, I felt dirty and ashamed. But I couldn't stop reading either, which made me feel even more ashamed.

Enter Naked, the first in The Blackstone Affair series. While not as awful as either of the aforementioned literary train wrecks, this book certainly is nothing you'd be proud to be seen reading.

Yet again, we have our sweet damsel, Brynne, a part-time lingerie model with a Scandal in her Past. Bless her heart. Our hero, Ethan, is one of those corporate titan-types who buys one of Brynne's portraits and becomes obsessed. He must have her, dammit. HE MUST.

And of course he does.

And it takes him less than a week to do so.

Brynne doesn't put up much of a fight. Her handwringing would be precious if it wasn't so far-fetched. Yes, she's running from some horrible secret that makes her fragile and scared. Unlike others in its family tree, however, this book does not have a scarred hero, at least not a terribly scarred one. Ethan has it reasonably together, insofar as he's a romantic hero in an erotica novel. I mean, he has issues, but more attention is given to hers. He falls completely for Brynne; he's all in, and he wants her all in too, even if it means dragging her in with him.

In Shades of Christian Grey, Ethan fancies himself a bit of a Dominant, although his practice doesn't seem to get as heavy as Christian's. Not yet, anyway. There are more books to come in this series. These two do have some good, hot, sticky sex, and those scenes are pretty well written. Nothing out of the ordinary, especially BDSM-wise. Nothing we haven't seen before.

And yet ... heaven help me, I couldn't put the damn book down. I think it's Ethan. Yeah, he's imperfect, and yeah, he's somewhat predictable, but he's also so freaking likable that I can't help but be drawn to him. I can see why Brynne agrees so readily to be his. I would too, Brynne.

Sadly, the book ends on a predictable note, but it's enough of one that you will pick up the next one.

Release Me

Release Me
J. Kenner
Published by Bantam
352 pages
Genre: erotica, some BDSM
4 / 5 cupcakes

I guess we can thank E. L. James for mainstreaming BDSM-laced erotica, because it seems as if a new series crops up (no pun ... okay, pun intended) as often as vampires sprung from Stephenie Meyer.

Stop me if you've heard this before: a young, career-oriented woman meets an older, searingly attractive multimillionaire as drawn to her lush innocence as she is to his sexual (and entrepreneurial) allure. They embark on a relationship, made a bit more challenging due to the battles he wages with his demons. But she is convinced she can "cure" him, even if doing so means allowing him to dominate her sexually.

Sound familiar?

Sure, it does.

A recent entry is Release Me, which is the first of what appears to be a trilogy. (Yes, a trilogy. I'm sure you're shocked.) Young Nikki is fresh off the plane from Texas, trying to use her corporate ambition to help her succeed in business in Los Angeles. She attends a cocktail party and meets Damien Stark and immediately feels a pull toward him. He's hot, no doubt about it, and he makes his interest in her known. The pursuit begins, and, over the course of about four days, the two embark on a romance.

Unlike the Fifty Shades heroine, Nikki actually has something of a backbone. She's feisty, and her reluctance to give into Damien has less to do with moral superiority than with a need to be independent and prove herself. She also has her share of Issues, namely her not-so-loving mother. As for Damien's struggles, you need to keep reading. We get hints, and we get bits of information, but clearly his go much deeper than hers.

What you really want to know about is the sex, though, right? OF COURSE YOU DO. We don't read stories like Release Me because we crave literature or Pulitzer-prize winning writing. We read them for the sexy times, and in that respect J. Kenner does not disappoint. These two scorch up those sheets and rock that headboard straight into the stratosphere. The sex scenes are HOT, people. If for no other reason than that, I look forward to Capture Me.

So here's where we are with this book: it's hot, fun, and has a hot hero. Kenner seems to embrace what she's got on her hands, even if Damien's turmoil seems a bit forced at times. (Just like Christian Grey's, but I need to stop comparing everything to him.) If nothing else, Nikki is a LOT more enjoyable than Ana Steele ever was.

Like I said, the sex scenes are hot. Bring on Capture Me.

The Pleasures of Winter

The Pleasures of Winter
by Evie Hunter
Published by Penguin
400 pages
Genre: erotica; mystery
Thanks to edelweiss for the preview
4 / 5 cupcakes


Who knew that a plane crash in Honduras could lead to some hot - and I mean HOT - jungle sex?

It sure does in this book, my friends.

Abbie is a reporter fleeing some bad guys, winds up having to interview Hollywood hottie Jack Winter (GET IT? The PLEASURES of WINTER?). Their chat is off to a less than stellar start when the plane they're on plummets to the ground in Honduras. Jack, Abbie and two other survivors wander around in search for help, and along the way, Jack and Abbie take a liking to each other.

Jack, in particular, thinks Abbie would make a great sub.

Yes, he's a Dom, and he likes it his way, girls. The good news is that Jack's way is all kinds of awesome, if Abbie's reaction is any indication.

There is a plot here, superfluous though it may be. Actually, it isn't all that bad. Abbie's bad guys keep turning up, and she and Jack have some issues to work through if they're going to have a relationship outside of the headboard rocking. It turns out that there is a lot more to Jack than Abbie supposed, and as a movie star, he has an image to protect. The truth about his life cannot be exposed. Then there is the fact that Abbie doesn't want to think of herself as submissive, so Jack has to tame that. (GET IT?)

What you really want to know about are the sexy times, right? They are good. And by "good," I mean SCORCHING. Jack is breathtaking in both his stamina and his ability to please. Jack may like it rough, but I'll take his kind of rough any day. If only he could give lessons to Christian Grey ...

In a nutshell: read it for the sex.

The Siren

The Siren
by Tiffany Reisz
Published by Harlequin MIRA
432 pages
Published on Amazon.com.
Thanks to Net Galley for the preview
4 / 5 cupcakes


Those of you whose kink was tested by Fifty Shades of Grey can go ahead and skip this review, because if you thought Christian and Ana were edgy and disturbing, you have no idea - NO IDEA - what BDSM is all about.

If you're still here, it's because you want to find out about this hot, dark and passionate book. And it is ... hot, dark and passionate.

We first met Nora Sutherlin in Seven Day Loan, in which her lover loaned her for one week to his friend. Nora was a submissive to her Dominant lover, and if he wanted to share her, he shared her.

In the previous book, Nora's name was Eleanor, but here, she changed it for several reasons. First, she has left her Dom, a man she deeply loved (and who loved her in return) but with whom she felt a future could not exist. There is a reason for this, which was first revealed in Seven Day Loan. Nora also has become an author, having written several best selling books about - you guessed it - characters who engage in BDSM.

When we see her again, Nora has been assigned an editor, Zach Easton, an Englishman not too fondly known as the London Fog. Zach demands that Nora make wholesale changes to her book, but he assures her that if she tweaks it as he asks, she will write something extraordinary. Yet Zach strongly disapproves of Nora's BDSM dalliances, causing her to keep a secret from him: she has become the number one Dominatix in New York City.

The Siren is all about double lives. Each character has one, and each must come to terms with which life is real.

First, there is Nora, author by day, dominatrix by night. But Nora, overachiever that she is, has another double life, if not a third. She develops feelings for Zach, just as she tries to understand her feelings for Wesley, a nineteen year old college boy she hired as a sort of manservant. Wesley is a virgin, and he and Nora care about each other quite a bit. She sees herself in him, even though he clearly is more of a vanilla guy than one interested in BDSM. Then there is her former Dom, whom she can't let go. She submits to him, yet earns a tremendous fortune as a dominatrix.

In the case of Zach, we have the stereotypical stuffy Englishman who is shocked and disturbed by bondage and dominance. Yet he lost his virginity at age thirteen, seven years younger than Nora was. He is married, but his marriage is troubled; he left his wife in England to come to New York (next stop, Los Angeles). He is married, but he isn't. He is appalled by BDSM, but drawn to it.

Then there is Wesley. Young, sweet, HOT Wesley. He is a solid Christian boy who studies hard in college and is devoted to Nora. Wesley must watch his insulin, because he is a severe diabetic. He says he wants to wait and have sex with someone who loves him, yet he is so determined to not be a romantic part of Nora's life that he fails to see that she does love him. He is a virgin living with a slut.

But what you really want to know about are those sexy times, right? Tiffany Reisz can write some sex scenes, people. They are not wildly graphic (they are far, FAR less graphic here than in Seven Day Loan), and for the most part, there is a tender romance behind them. For all of her worldly experiences, Nora still wants what most of us want: to love and be loved, and to be allowed the freedom to experience those things.

Her relationship with her former Dom clearly is intended to shock us. Yet he, too, leads a double life (boy, does he ever). What is striking (no pun intended) about him, though, is the depth of his love for Nora. He really does love her, and when he tells her that he wishes she was still his, you feel it. Despite the dissolution of their romance, he nonetheless advises her on Zach and Wesley, and his observations are astute.

This is a good book. If you are curious about BDSM, please do not use Fifty Shades of Grey as your idiot's guide. Instead, read this one. There are some wonderful explanations of the lifestyle, what draws people to it, what keeps them entrenched, and how it affects them. There also are some interesting discourses on erotica, which is the genre Nora writes. While there are not a lot of sex scenes, and those present are relatively tame, it's because the focus here is the characters. In Seven Day Loan, the focus is a sort of sexual awakening.

And now I must go get ready for Angel, which is the next book in this series.

Power Play: Awakening

Power Play: Awakening
Rachel Hamowitz & Cat Grant
Published by Riptide Publishing
256 pages
Available on Amazon.com Kindle
Thanks to NetGalley for the preview.
4 / 5 cupcakes


When we last we left off with Jonathan and Brandon in Power Play: Resistance, their Dominant/submissive relationship had gone through a bit of a rocky patch. Brandon realized that he wants to be with Jonathan, Jonathan realized that he needs to treat what they have as a relationship just as much as an opportunity to exert his Dominant side, and those two crazy love birds decided to give it another whirl.

But of course it does not come easily to either of them.

Whereas Resistance focused on Jonathan breaking down Brandon, Awakening is the story of building Brandon back up. It's also something of Jonathan's story, as we get to know him better. We meet the man who introduced Jonathan to the Dominant lifestyle, and we also meet a female ex-sub of his. Whereas Brandon's issues were obvious, Jonathan's are more subtle; he has to change every bit as much as Brandon if their relationship is going to work.

If Resistance was the set-up, Awakening is the payoff and the love story. As Jonathan and Brandon come to terms with themselves and each other - as they  fully trust each other with all that they have and are - their feelings intensify. Brandon begins to understand that with submission comes power. The power to overcome everything that has held you back, the power of confidence and trust. He also comes to see the power in giving himself to Jonathan for the latter's sadistic needs.

This is an unconventional love story, to say the least. And not because it's about two men. It's more the way they come to love each other, through domination and submission, through pain and pleasure. Unlike Resistance, there are moments of sweetness in this book, of courtship and love.

About the sexy times: they are every bit as graphic and brutal as those in Resistance. But they are not repetitive; Jonathan takes Brandon through different experiences, and because of the love story aspect, the headboard rockin' takes on a different sheen. It's still about power and submission, but it's also about love. You know, feelings and all that stuff.

Will you like Brandon more? Eh. I don't know. I still am not a big fan of his, although goodness knows the man fully gave of himself to Jonathan. I just couldn't warm up to him the way I think I was supposed to. Now, Jonathan, on the other hand? I love him.

If you read Resistance, you must read Awakening.

Power Play: Resistance

Power Play: Resistance
Rachel Haimowitz & Cat Grant
Published by Riptide Publishing
254 pages
Available on Amazon.com.
Thanks to NetGalley for the preview.
3.5 / 5


If Fifty Shades of Grey was too hardcore for you, let me just say that (a) the BDSM community finds you precious and (b) don't even THINK about reading this book, especially if the spectre of gay lovin' scares you to death.

Brandon "Bran" McKinney is one of those men whose rough and tumble background has caused him to be arrogant, tough and unyielding. So why Jonathan Watkins thinks Brandon will make a fabulous submissive is a bit mysterious. Yes, Brandon drops to his knees during their first assignation, after Jonathan kind of forces him to do so. And, yes, Brandon does not unlock the cuff that Jonathan puts on him. So those two slim artifacts appear to be enough to convince Jonathan that Brandon will be the sub to his Dom.

Well, as anyone could have told poor old Jonathan, Brandon is a tough nut to crack, and he does not go willingly into the sub lifestyle. He agrees to a six-month contract, only because he wants $3 million to buy his own contracting company. But Brandon turns out to be woefully naive, because the whole "You are mine and you must do as I say" thing rubs Brandon the wrong way. No pun intended.

Brandon puts up a mighty fight, so much so that Jonathan finds himself at a loss. Brandon won't use his safe word, won't leave the contract, but also won't submit. What is a poor Dominant to do?

This book, folks, is raw. The sex scenes are severe, brutal and graphic. Brandon has Issues, and Jonathan is determined to beat them out of him, so to speak. Can this relationship be saved? You need to read to find out. (But here is a hint: there is a sequel.) Brandon is such a pig that it's difficult to sympathize with him, even from the standpoint of his shock at Jonathan's proclivities. Jonathan, on the other hand, is adorable, and he's the reason you will keep reading this book. Unfortunately, the focus tends to be on Brandon.

The thing about this book, though, is that ultimately it is the story of trust. How can you get someone to trust you? How can you learn to trust when doing so has brought you nothing but agony?

Give this a whirl if you have a hankering for some gay lovin', bondage styles.