Kiss of Snow – Nalini Singh

Published by Berkley Hardcover ISBN-10 0425242099, ISBN-13 978 0425242094

  • Kiss of Snow

Since the moment of her defection from the PsyNet and into the SnowDancer wolf pack, Sienna Lauren has had one weakness. Hawke. Alpha and dangerous, he compels her to madness.

Hawke is used to walking alone, having lost the woman who would’ve been his mate long ago. But Sienna fascinates the primal heart of him, even as he tells himself she is far too young to handle the wild fury of the wolf.

Then Sienna changes the rules and suddenly, there is no more distance, only the most intimate of battles between two people who were never meant to meet. Yet as they strip away each other’s secrets in a storm of raw emotion, they must also ready themselves for a far more vicious fight . . .

A deadly enemy is out to destroy SnowDancer, striking at everything they hold dear, but it is Sienna’s darkest secret that may yet savage the pack that is her home . . . and the alpha who is its heartbeat . . .

Nalini Singh was coming to our writers group to discuss world building.  So I thought I had better read one of her books.  Boy, did I pick a book!

The sexual tension alone had been swearing and cursing at the characters every time there was an interruption, or one of them pulled back.  I screamed at my book, I argued with the characters, I was so sucked into the whole story!

Nalini Singh can write a mean book, and I hope one day I could have half of her talent.

Sienna is fiesty Psy, one with a terminal condition, she could one day “implode” and kill everyone within a 1 mile radius.  What she fails to realise is that the time is coming sooner than she expected.  Sienna was a likeable character, misunderstood and unappreciated by the one man that she wants more than anything else in the world.  While he is attracted to her, he goes out of way to tell her… why?

Hawke doesn’t want a mate, he had one, and she died when he was 10 years old.  So he would never mate with another.  All he can offer Sienna is some pleasure.  I wanted to hate Hawke so much for being so self centred as far as Sienna was concerned, but I got to understand the character and what makes him tick.

On top of that, their small family group of shapeshifters is under attack from a known assailant, who will stop at nothing to obtain the land and wipe out all shapeshifters.

The story is fast paced, tension packed and totally swoon-worthy, and a highly recommended read from me.

My Lady… Series by Shirl Anders

My Lady Series Published by Allure Books ASIN B009OOVZ8O
My Lady Gambled ASIN B001OW60HK
My Lady combo My Lady Compelled
Lady Gabriella St. John is purchased, from a scandalous “wives sale,” by her long-ago admirer and now ex-spy the Duke of Kitteridge.

Lord Kitteridge intends to command and seduce his newly purchased lady away from her too strict English morals. Erotic passions battle amid adventure when Lady Gabriella’s husband returns, trying to steal her back. Old secrets are revealed and launch the Archangels into a new mission to save Lady Gabriella.

My Lady Enslaved
Captured between her deadly twin sister and Lord Ravenscar, Chloe finds herself kidnapped and imprisoned against her will.

The coldly handsome and sexually arrogant Ravenscar refuses to believe Chloe’s claims of mistaken identity as he propels her into the heady realm of submission. This dramatic and carnal adventure finds ex-spy Lord Harrison Ravenscar out for revenge.

My Lady Captive
Lord Wyndham Hawkenge risks everything trying to save Lady Orelan from the hedonistic clutches of an old revival, Alexei Tropov.

Orelan and Wyndham become ensnared within the decadent halls of Valcourt . . . unwilling players in Alexei’s wicked games as Wyndham battles wits and danger trying free the young widow, Orelan.

My Lady Taken
The Duke of Sutherlin’s spying career is over and the time has arrived for him to marry. But Radford isn’t certain he can find a hot-blooded lady like his ex-spying friends from the Archangels have.

Never daunted, he concocts a plan to find a passionate woman to marry by betting himself in marriage on the books at White’s. He is a Duke after all. What he doesn’t expect is the feminine artifice of Lady Nia O’Shea when she sets her witty, seductive, and scheming sights on him. But all is not what it seems in this erotic adventure

My Lady Enthralled 
This is an erotic romance chiller and not for the faint of heart. Saxonhurst embarks on a dark and very dangerous adventure.

He travels overseas, but from mischance, he becomes noticed by the depraved followers of a hedonistic cult. They covet his long river of maple-brown colored hair and his unwilling sexuality for their perverted ceremonies . . . Sexual sacrifices orchestrated by their evil leader, Lord Hellion. Saxon struggles to save both his life and beautiful Joelle’s life. Joelle who was captured with him in the salacious web. Yet, they will fight any way they can, trying desperately to gain their freedom.

My lady GambledMy Lady Gambled
Kit Montoya fears that the lethal Order of the Satyr has caused her brother’s disappearance. She will gamble everything to find her brother, and then she discovers the Archangels interest in The Order and she offers herself as bait. Lord Brynmore Duneagan disagrees with the idea of using her and putting her into danger. Yet Kit will try to infiltrate The Order with or without the Archangels help.

This erotic romance pits the all Archangels and their ladies against evil as they try to find and destroy a serial murderer. Brynmore and Kit are in the lead as they challenge each other. Exciting love scenes and challenges involving each one of the Archangel men and their women that run the gambit of sexual adventures from spanking and bondage to a veil dance.

I loved… no I LOVED this series.  I brought the first book, and couldn’t stop reading it.  It is about a group of men, who in a previous life were spies for the English King.  Once the Napoleanic wars are over, there services are no longer needed, however each and every one of them find themselves in love with a woman they didn’t expect to be in love with.

Each story has erotic elements but the storyline is completely readable and enjoyable.  The men live life hard, the women fight harder for their men.  The stories all culminate in the final book My Lady Gambled, where all of them work together to bring down a serial killer.

The storylines are thrilling, suspense filled and full of wonderful feisty characters.  A must read if you like erotica and action all rolled into one compact book.

 

Cover Reveal – Ghost Hold by Ripley Patton

As many of you know, Ripley Patton’s first novel, Ghost Hand, is also the first book in a series known as The PSS Chronicles. While Ghost Hand has been getting rave reviews on Amazon and was recently chosen as the June Book of the Month for a Goodreads Book Club with over 1300 members, Ripley has been hard at work writing the second book, Ghost Hold.

Ghost Hold is in the final stages of publication, which will ultimately be funded through the GHOST HOLD KICKSTARTER PROJECT, just as Ghost Hand was funded last year. The current Ghost Hold Kickstarter project was 41% funded in the first week, and when it reaches the halfway mark of $1250, Ripley is going to release the first chapter of the new book to all backers, with more chapters to come later as funding builds.

So, in order to celebrate, and perhaps entice you to back the project and help make Ghost Hold a reality, Ripley is revealing the cover of Ghost Hold this weekend here and all over the internet.

AND HERE IT IS!

ripleypatton_ghosthold_ebook_final

This compelling cover, featuring main characters from the book, Olivia Black, Marcus Jordan, and Passion Wainwright, was designed by Scarlett Rugers Designs of Australia. 

Curious to know what the book is about? Here’s the blurb:

Olivia Black is back.

Only this time she’s not the one in need of rescue.

Samantha James, rich, popular, and an award-winning composer at age seventeen, is the next target on the CAMFers’ list. And in order to convince Samantha to come with them, Olivia and Passion must pose as cousins, blend into the most affluent high school in Indianapolis, and infiltrate a mysterious cult known as The Hold.

Olivia doesn’t expect it to be easy, even with the PSS guys backing them up. But what she discovers over the course of the mission will call into question everything she ever believed about herself, her ghost hand, and especially about Marcus, the guy she is undoubtedly falling in love with.

Be sure and visit Ripley’s Kickstarter Project and let her know what you think of the cover there, or here in the comments. But don’t delay. The project ends July 1st and is the only way to pre-order the book before its September release.

Haven’t read the first book, Ghost Hand, yet? Well you’re in luck. Ripley’s gift to you, 6/14/2013-6/18/2013, Ghost Hand is FREE for Kindle, so please go grab a copy.

Unknown by Melissa Pearl

Melissa Pearl, who brought us Golden Blood, Black Blood and Pure Blood has put her hand at Fantasy and created the Elements Trilogy – the first book is Unknown, with Unseen and Unleashed coming out later this year.

UnknownDarkness is covering the land. As the city of Mezrah grows with power and greed, the rest of the world can only stand by and wait for their inevitable destruction. The only hope against this growing power is an ancient prophecy that people have stopped believing in.

Then a star begins to fall.

Princess Kyla of Taramon stopped believing in the power of light the day her father died. Trapped in a city she does not care for, under the watchful glare of her mother, the queen, she struggles to accept her fate.

Then a star begins to fall.

Jethro has loved Kyla for as long as he can remember. Learning that she was to marry his cousin drove a wedge between him and the feisty princess. Watching her from a distance is a torture he is unable to free himself from.

Then a star begins to fall, sparking an ember of hope and sending two seekers on a treacherous journey into the unknown

Exercept

“Nikara?” Mordekai poked his head into the room, he saw the small lump in the bed and hurriedly approached his apprentice. “Nikara, my dear.” He shook her shoulder.

She let out a soft groan and turned towards him. “Morning already?”

“No. No.” He shook his head. “Sorry to wake you, but this is of the utmost importance.”

Her wide, slanted eyes looked dry as she gazed at him. He knew she would never have the impudence to consciously show it, but he could sense her reticence.

“Please, child. You must see this.”

Biting her rosebud lips together, she slid out from beneath the covers and took the candle he held out to her. Throwing a robe over her shoulders, Mordekai danced like an excited child as he beckoned her to follow.

Her steps were too sleepy and slow for his liking, and he found himself dragging her through the streets. She knew not to question him before she must and stayed silent throughout the short journey. They reached the top of the stairs and stepped out onto his small perch.

“Mordekai, what are we doing up here?”

He turned away from the inky blackness below and gazed up at the sky. His white teeth beamed through his grey beard. “Look through the telescope.”

Nikara covered her yawn with delicate fingers. “Mordekai…”

“Just look, child.”

She blinked slowly. He knew she didn’t like him calling her child anymore; she was nineteen years of age and quite a beauty. He noticed how men now stopped to glance at her, something he was struggling to adjust to. To him, she would always be the little waif he found bleeding on his doorstep.

He bit his lip as she stepped towards the telescope he had spent hours gazing through. He knew the night sky better than anyone in the city.

Nikara squeezed her left eye tight and peered into the lens.

“Do you see my star?”

Her small fingers swivelled the telescope to the north. “Yes,” she mumbled.

He watched her in agitated silence. Her body was rigid, her fingertips turning white as they pressed against the smooth wood.

Had she noticed? Why wasn’t she saying anything?

Finally unable to bear it, he whispered, “Do you notice—”

“It’s moving.” She glanced up at him, her lips parted. “I thought I was seeing things, but…” She bent down to have another look. “It’s…” Stepping away from the telescope, she leaned against the wall. “Mordekai, is it falling?”

He let out a chuckle. “Look for a diamond glowing in the north, though it falls, it will not fail.” He quoted the second part of the prophecy with a laugh.

“What does that mean?”

“It means I was right. The diamond of the prophecy is not the crystal in Taramon Tower. It is this star.”

The one he had discovered sixteen years ago.

Nikara swallowed. “Mordekai, it’s been too long. No one believes the prophecy anymore.”

“Well maybe they should.”

Her lips pressed together in a tight grimace as she looked out into the inky blackness. “Do we tell—?”

“No. No, we mustn’t. He forbade talk of the prophecy years ago; we must keep this to ourselves.”

His face scrunched in thought as he turned his gaze to the far borderlands.

“Mordekai?”

The tremor in her voice was hard to miss, and he felt a touch of guilt as he turned to her. “Pack your things, child. It’s time to leave Mezrah.”

Review

Unknown is a book about a Oron, a God of Light who destroyed darkness, but was destroyed himself.  Whispers of a prophesy have been building until a new star is discovered in the night sky by Mordekai and a new adventure begins.

I love the characters in this story, their flaws are so completely human and normal, the twists and turns are fast moving and head turning.  There are some great characters in there, from Mordekai, the wise man, to Kyla the princess, Asthra, the fiance and the elements themselves.  I can’t wait to see more of the others in this series.

For a fantasy, it is easy to read, no heavy description, no long winded explanations, it is a story that flows quickly and ends way too suddenly.  Can’t wait for Unseen to come out.

The exciting thing is, this book is being released today!  So you can get your hands on a copy over at Amazon and Smashwords

Wild Men of Alaska by Tiffinie Helmer

Publisher The Story Vault ISBN 0615736114

IMPACT…Intense
He arrested her five years ago and has been waiting for her ever since. She’s vowed never to lay eyes on him again. Wrecked in a small plane, with an arctic storm bearing down, they won’t survive if they don’t survive each other…

MOOSED-UP…Rugged
He’s big and hot and hungry for a mate, but has a secret that seems destined to ruin his chances at love. She can’t trust herself when it comes to men and knows next to knowing about surviving Alaska. The moose are loose and the men are hungry…

DREAMWEAVER…Sexy
He led a charmed life until he was murdered. Now he’s a desperate man who can only touch her in her dreams. She’s a tempted woman who thinks she’s going crazy when she starts having out-of-this-world sex with a dream lover. Is their love real? Or is it just a dream…

BEARING ALL…Untamed
He’s lured her to the edge of Alaska, hoping enough time has passed that her heart has softened and her knives have dulled. She’s been sent to assassinate him. Again. This time she intends to succeed without ending up in his bed. They’ll be stripped bare before the night is over…

4 great stories all in one book.  I really enjoyed reading about these stories, and most of them were all damsel in distress / hero rides in to rescue type of stories… except perhaps for Dreamweaver and Bearing All.

The men in these series of stories are all ruggedly handsome out doors type of men, all of them working one way or another with nature.  The heroines are all lovely girls who have left behind lives to restart their lives in Alaska, perhaps not expecting to be finding themselves loving men.

I enjoyed all of the stories, but I think my favourite would be Bearing All, about a spy who was trying to kill a man that she should have killed years before, but just couldn’t do it, then he betrayed her.  Turns out that he was sent to kill her too, and had done his best to try and defuse the situation.  What she fails to realise now is that he is protecting her, and loving her all over again.

Owning Arabella by Shirl Anders

Publisher: Allure Books (January 31, 2010) ASIN B0036OSBZ8

Owning ArabellaAgainst her will, Arabella is gambled by her stepfather in a card game and won by the fiercely scarred Lord Darth Peregrine. A man who believes that no woman could desire him.

Lord Peregrine holds Arabella captive to his sexual desires. He is the lord and master and she is naked to his control. In the end Lord Peregrine saves Arabella’s young brother … and he saves himself. This story is an erotic regency romance with Gothic appeal and a happily-ever-after. 
Another erotica story.  I discovered Shirl Anders when I purchased her “My Lady” series, and enjoyed them very much.
Arabella stepfather uses her as collateral and he loses.  He takes Arabella back to the dark Lord Peregrine and gives her to him.  The Lord Peregrine looks at this pathetic excuse for a girl and decides that perhaps she is just what he needs.
He didn’t expect to actually want her.  But when she eventually falls for him, it takes him a while to realise that it is because of his personality, and has nothing to do with his looks.
Arabella is a lovely character, soft, gentle and terrified of this man who has blindfolded her and then uses her body.  She is innocent and naive and when she does discover what he looks like, she isn’t terrified.  She is fascinated by this man.
Lord Peregrine is a man who thinks he doesn’t deserve love.  He thinks that he can only get sexual gratification through taking it, yet he cannot take Arabella as he would like, her innocence has affected him.  And when he finally works out that she loves him, he stands up for her and protects her against the one man that could destroy them all.
A lovely whimsical gothic erotic story.

Skin Deep – T G Ayer

Publisher T G Ayer Books ISBN: 1484836707

Skin DeepPanther Shape-shifter Kailin Odel just wants to be normal. Leaving her clan, and her Alpha responsibilities, to live with her grandmother in Chicago had been the best thing for her. Only then did she discover her ability to track and kill the soul sucking undead creatures called Wraiths. Now she protects the humans, and has something to be proud of. But, when she discovers the body of a murdered shape shifter, Kailin has to come to terms with the reality that her own kind are just as vulnerable as the humans.  

Enter Logan Westin, an agent that investigates the strange and unusual; a cop and a Human…. Can Kailin ignore the attraction between them, can she keep him at arms length before he finds out exactly what she is? 
The closer Kailin gets to the killer the more she has to face the intricacies of her people. When the time comes can she accept who and what her real purpose is? And can she finally allow herself to trust Logan?

Skin Deep is the newest offering from T G Ayer, one of my favourite NZ authors.  Kailin is a shape-shifter, and she kills wraiths, something that her family doesn’t know, and if they did… her life wouldn’t be worth living.

Kailin is a strong person, who ends up in all sorts of trouble after she discovers the body of a fellow shape-shifter – he has been murdered, and the murderer’s know that she has seen the body.

Not only has she got the murderer’s after her, but she also has to deal with a missing sister, and an Uncle who is estranged from the family, and then there is her mother…

Logan has his own skills, he is able to burn things.  His attraction to Kailin grows stronger with every interaction he has, yet neither of them can explain why.  It isn’t until Kailin is kidnapped by her Uncle that puzzle pieces start falling into place.

New Release – Seeing Ghosts by James Garcia Jr

Now, isn’t this just a gorgeous cover!

Seeing Ghosts, FINAL, RGB, Front Cover, 6 x 9Paul Herrera finds himself bequeathed a mysterious old house near the California central coast by a deceased aunt he never knew. The woman who shows it to him is the spitting image of his wife, taken from him three years before in a senseless car accident which also took his unborn son. While he deals with the ghosts of a past he cannot let go, there are new ghosts Paul must deal with – alone for the week in the expansive two-story house that he will soon discover holds many secrets. Eventually, he will see that he is surrounded by ghosts as he struggles to hold onto the only thing that he has left in this world – his sanity.

Excerpt:

I suppose you can say this whole thing began and ended with ghosts. Not all my life, of course, but only all that ever really mattered. Everything before meeting Angie happened simply to get me prepared for our life together. No real living had occurred until that moment. After Angie died, I was left only with ghosts. Now tonight I lie beside another woman who is not my wife, and who I have yet to touch. I marvel at her even, peaceful breathing as I stare at the awful ghost that sits calmly, but menacingly, near the foot of the bed.

Aunt Flora is dead and has been for several months. There’s really no reason on God’s green earth why she should be here, in my home, a place she’d never visited in life, but here she sits just the same, and I’m sure I know why. Perhaps it has everything to do with her not having a home of her own any longer, or because she’s lost her husband once again. She seems to grin at me as if she can read my thoughts.

Now she nods dramatically to say that she can, indeed.

“What do you want, Flora?” I finally ask, whispering. I try to be as quiet as possible. It seems like a useless proposition. Peace is an illusion to me at this

point; like something so far out of my grasp as to be laughable.

“You know what I want, Paul.” Her voice is low and calm, but seems to reverberate against the walls. “You know very well what I want,” she says as the all-too-familiar lightning flashes outside probe into the bedroom and illuminate her. A gust of wind rattles the window briefly. It must’ve been the reason I awoke in the first place. I’m pretty sure it was just wind, but who could know at this point? In any event, there’d be no more sleeping.

I see Flora’s terrible features—that aged and deep-wrinkled skin pulled over high cheekbones; and that profound smile that brings no pleasure, but only sets me on edge. Thunder doesn’t accompany the marvelous light show. It would seem strange to me had I not been intimately familiar with this particular storm. Both it and Flora seem to have followed me.

“I can’t help you with that, Flora,” I say.

“Yes, I know. All you can do is bring everything to ruin.”

I stare at the ghost and say nothing further, taking in the sight of her with her long-sleeved white blouse,

dark slacks and black shoes. It’s incredible to me that I’m having another conversation with my aunt. It’s clear she holds me to blame for what’s happened. If I wasn’t afraid before, there’s no denying it now.

Flora reclines against the winged-back chair that was Angie’s favorite and smiles. Her arms remain atop the arm rests, the perfect picture of quiet. Another bolt lights up the sky and my eyes immediately find her claw-like fingers as they seem to be digging into the upholstery. Now I know better and I shiver at this apparently perfect culmination of events.

“It’s not over, Paul,” Flora says. Her tone is firm and reminds me of a wild animal’s growl. “You know damn well what I want! It is all that I have ever wanted. But you have taken that from me. You have taken far too much. Now I shall do the taking. Do you hear me, Paul? Do you understand what I am telling you?”

Now I’m the one who leans back. I sit up first, positioning myself against the tall  headboard. Here is a trend I can’t shake free of—me being awake as the night wanes. Another burst of lightning flashes across the Central California sky and then disappears, casting the room back into shadow. I say nothing more as I recline and simply stare at my dead aunt who sits and stares back, composed for the moment. It would seem I’ve become quite comfortable with ghosts, doesn’t it?

 

Review

This is a strange tale, and it takes a while to get to the crux of the matter, but eventually the story unravels enough for us to know what is going on.

Paul is haunted by his past, his beautiful wife, Angie died in a car accident when she was 7 weeks pregnant.  He lost his wife and child.  Three year later, he inherits a house from an Aunt he didn’t know.

It isn’t until he moves into the house that Aunt Flora has an agenda for him, and she intends to make him pay for giving him the house.

Add to the mix, Anne, the lawyer who handled the aunts estate, who is a deadringer for his dead wife, a pastor who has secrets that he isn’t willing to share, and a strange woman who lives in the house on the same property, a woman who is helping his Aunt Flora to bring back the dead.

An interesting and complex story, filled with romance, suspense, horror and downright humour.  Worth a read if you like a mix of genre

Pure Blood – Melissa Pearl

Publisher – Melissa Pearl ISBN

  •  1475027605

It is only a matter of time before Gemma’s parents find out she traveled through time to bring Harrison back into existence. The fear of being found out is a heavy weight on her shoulders, but she refuses to give up on everything she’s fought for. Harrison is worth the risk.

The couple draws closer together as they battle opposing forces from all sides. They stay strong until Gemma’s parents welcome an exchange student into their home. Simeon, a gorgeous Californian, is as smooth as coffee and, supposedly, a fellow time spirit. Gemma’s parents expect her to take him everywhere and, of course, fall in love with him. After all, he is the boy they have chosen for her. 

No longer able to sneak off alone, Gemma must watch every step as she waits for the inevitable nightmare to catch up to her. Her parents ultimate goal is to get that last necklace and open the box hidden in their safe. If they do, Gemma knows her entire world will unravel.

As the danger mounts, Gemma must decide if she has the courage to make the ultimate sacrifice to save the ones she loves and stop to her parents’ destructive plans.

I have read Golden Blood and Black Blood and this is the final in the series.

Gemma has learnt that her parents are not who she thought they were, and they aren’t nice at all.  Harrison is doing all he can to protect Gemma, but it just doesn’t seem to be enough, especially when she escapes her parents, but decides to confront them.

Gemma must go back and save herself from her “parents” so that she can live a normal life with her parents, but is it the answer?  Her parents died protecting her, can she prevent them dying a second time.

Harrison and Gemma are faced with the ultimate sacrifice, and I really don’t want to spoil it for those who haven’t read it yet, but the ending made me cry.  I won’t say if it was because I was happy or sad, but I think everyone will be shocked by the realisation of the full impact of the sacrifice that Gemma has to make.

I love this series, and highly recommend it to anyone.

Purchase Golden Blood through Amazon for free for a limited time.

With This Collar by Sierra Cartwright

Publishied by Total-E-Bound Publishing ISBN 1781845832

With this CollarJulia Lyle will have nothing to do with domineering men, no matter how tall, dark, and sexy. But Dom Marcus Cavendish will be satisfied with nothing less than collaring the fiercely independent Julia.

Nothing could have shocked her more…

Julia Lyle is invited to her best friend’s wedding and is stunned when Lana kneels to accept her husband’s collar. When Julia starts to object, firm, relentless hands land on her shoulders. The man behind her threatens to turn her over his knee if she interrupts. She’s outraged, but there’s no doubt he’s serious.

After the ceremony, he offers her a glimpse into her friend’s lifestyle, if she’s brave enough to accept.

Master Marcus Cavendish is everything she doesn’t want in a man—dominant, self-assured and arrogant. So why can’t she resist him?

Telling herself that learning about the lifestyle will make her a better friend, Julia agrees to submit to Master Marcus, but only for the evening. Firm and unrelenting in his handling of her, he introduces her to his tawse and the pleasure/pain of a spanking delivered by a competent Dom. The experience unnerves her, making her question everything she thought she knew about relationships, and his forced orgasms leave her shattered.

No doubt the scene seduced her, and that makes her doubly determined to avoid him. She has fought hard for her freedom and vowed only to date nice men, and Master Marcus is anything but safe.

Marcus is undeterred. Julia is a natural sub. The way she responded to his touch, his voice, his punishment proved it. Now he has to convince her to yield to him, submitting to his tawse as she kneels to accept his collar.

A very interesting story.  I went through a phase of reading erotica and this was one of the ones that I chose.  And I am surprised to admit that I really enjoyed it.  Yes, there was erotica in it, but there was a lot of explanation about it too, without info-dumping.

Julia was shocked that her friend would submit to being someones “plaything”.  When Marcus explains to her that it was a loving relationship and that Lana is safe, she doesn’t believe him.  Julia was a strong character, and I loved that she had her own point of view.  It took a fair amount of persuasion from Marcus before Julia would give it a try – “just for the night”.

Marcus wanted Julia, he wanted to show her that submission was safe and healthy, yet he didn’t count on falling in love.  Domination and submission isn’t necessarily about sex, and Marcus was someone who didn’t fall in love easily.  But he is captivated by Julia and her resistance.

Marcus’ character is strong also, but he is willing to give Julia the space she needs to make up her mind, and make up her mind she does.

What people fail to realise is that Domination and Submission is about trust, communication and respect for each other.  If you want more information, then you need to read this book and the others in the series.