Erotic Romance

bookcover: 
Naked cover
Author: 
Raine Miller
Series: 
The Blackstone Affair Book 1
Publisher: 
Atria, Simon and Schuster
Romance_: 
Rating: 
5
ISBN/ASIN: 

9781476735245

Description of Sales Url: 
Amazon
Review: 

In Raine Miller's Naked, we meet Brynne Bennett American art student at the University of London and millionaire alpha male Londoner Ethan Blackstone. Not the brightest co-ed. She accepts a ride from a stranger, takes the Advil Ethan gives her and wakes up freaking about something we're not sure of. I'm not going to give away any spoilers except to say if Fifty Shades is a genre, this book is in it. Alpha male, sub female. The book lost some logic points for me since Ethan knows her American father but not that she is American. (And would you do this stuff with a friend's daughter?) Also, I really did not get the sense of London. The story felt as if it were set in the US.

As D/s stories go, this one fits the genre. The characters definitely have chemistry. The book is a quick read, and be assured it ends in a cliffhanger so as soon as you turn the page, you will want the next in the series. If you like Fifty Shades, you will like this book, especially if you're willing to take the character's location and nationalities with a grain of salt. They are engaging in the foreground, in spite of the background being off-center.

bookcover: 
The Dominant
Author: 
Tara Sue Me
Series: 
The Submissive Trilogy
Publisher: 
Penguin Group
Rating: 
7
ISBN/ASIN: 

9780451466235

Description of Sales Url: 
Purchase from Amazon
Review: 

Truth is, I haven't much to say about this one. Dominant is a fairly typical D/s romance.

Dominant Nathaniel West is the rich Dom, and Abigail King is on a path to becoming his sub. She's a newbie, which he doesn't like. He prefers experience, but is willing to make the sacrifice because he was gaga over Abigail before she conveniently applied to be his sub. Yes, applied. West has a matchmaker who gets these potential subs for him. I doubt the agent is listed in the yellow pages, but didn't examine that part too closely.

The story is written by Tara Sue Me, who is a woman; and the point of view character is Nathaniel West. I find myself getting off track in the book, wondering if she's got the internal mechanics of his head correct. Is this the thinking of a Dom, or an idealized Dom that the author is imagining. Since I have never fathomed what goes on in a dominant man's head in certain circumstances (beatings? whippings?), this becomes a story-breaker for me.

The story falls into the same category as Fifty Shades of Gray, which has a substantial audience. For those who want it, there is a lot of very explicit sex. There is also a whole lot of inexplicable wishy washy from the Dom, for whom the concept of developing a real relationship with his sub is an obstacle and something he can't quite understand. I take this whole overthinking of the plot with a grain of salt, because the publisher is mainstream, and probably required the Dom to be softened up to be relatable to mainstream values. This is a series, so there is more of this where this book came from, if D/s is your cuppa tea.