Vonna Harper's twelve books at Ellora's cave get consistently high reviews. In most of her Romantica, at least in the ones I've read, he rescues her--through bondage. No doubt there are some which work in the reverse. On her website, she invites readers to join her "brave new world" of erotica.

This is the initial scenario of Dangerous Ride, Maita Compton is a rodeo rider who specializes in competitive riding of a most dangerous kind: bareback broncos. In her day job, she's a trainer with an extra gift of horse sense, and she's very good at what she does. Her new boss Rylan McDermit is as rich and mysterious as is his neighbor Kade Severn. Both men are involved in the rodeo, and both have ranches, other women, and an interest in Domination. Maita is a strong, independent woman whose strong sexual interests do not include responding to certain unnerving vibes. Rylan supplies Maita's day to day job; Severn supplies the wild rodeo stock she rides, and both men have a kinky BDSM sideline that is within her reach if she so chooses.

Maita's lifestyle is as transient as that of the captured horses she trains--except that the horses have lost their freedom. It is clear that in losing their freedom, the horses will gain a cushy lifestyle where they will be pampered forever after. The symbolic question becomes obvious. Will Maita lose her independence? Will she be hurt by these strong, competitive men? Will she risk her independence in search of something more?

For people who don't get bondage, the appeal might be hard to explain without reading these books. It's as if there is an extra zone of communication that can only be accessed with that particular mode of communication. In Dangerous Ride, Harper displays a bit of her usual magic in the way she puts together damaged people with battered pasts and allows them to find their own salvation. What makes it work is that--although her characters do not cut themselves any slack--the reader can sense Harper's compassion and sensitivity to the character's struggles and dilemmas.

Harper promises that through her writing something amazing happens, "extraordinary lives . . . grand adventures . . . mind blowing sex" and as grandiose as that claim is, she delivers.

Reviewed By Maitresse
(c) April 2005