Grade: B
Hotness Level: Inferno
Kink Level: Moderate Kink (BDSM, D/s)
Genre: Contemporary
Reviewed by Kate
Toy Box by Delphine Dryden
48 pages
I really enjoyed Dryden’s recent nerd romance stories, so I thought I’d try some of her backlist.
Rafe and Lauren started their relationship as Dom/sub, but everything turned vanilla when their first child arrived. Now the kids are spending the weekend with the grandparents and Rafe decides it’s time to step into his Dom role once more.
Ahhhh. I love a good husband and wife reuniting story and I really liked that there wasn’t any real conflict in this short (such as overcoming infidelity). It was all about them connecting with their Dom/sub relationship again. I highly recommend this quick read.
B Reviews
With This Collar by Sierra Cartwright
Grade: B+
Hotness Level: Inferno
Kink Level: High Kink
Genre: Contemporary, BDSM
Series: Mastered #1
Reviewed by Kate
174 pages
When Julia attends her friend Lana’s wedding at a private residence, she is shocked to discover that the vows are quickly followed by a collaring ceremony. Lana is not just becoming a wife, but her husband’s slave as well. Julia and Lana have been friends since their girl-power college days and Julia can’t believe Lana would willingly submit to a man.
As Julia’s about to protest, fellow wedding attendee Marcus, a Dom, stops her. They talk after the ceremony and Marcus challenges Julia to submit to him for the night. Julia accepts his challenge as a way to understand her friend a bit better, and because she just can’t say “no” to Marcus. But one night is all she wants, her last boyfriend was a domineering jerk and Julia’s determined to stick to the nice guys from now on. Marcus has been in a 24/7 master/slave relationship that was too draining for him. He’s not looking for anything more than one night either.
One night turns into an every weekend relationship. When Marcus pushes for more, Julia runs. But can any of the nice guys measure up after Marcus?
Marcus came across as a bit arrogant in the beginning. But I suppose every good Dom must be a little arrogant and confident. I appreciated that he was the one looking for a more permanent relationship.
Julia is very strong and independent. She struggles with combining her independence and her new found enjoyment of submission. Her responses to Marcus made me laugh throughout the book. She may be submissive, but never a doormat.
The only negative I had happened right away at the beginning. Lana invited Julia to her wedding and simply warned her that it would be “a bit untraditional.” It seemed far-fetched to invite your vanilla friend to a collaring ceremony without more of a heads-up. Anything to get a newbie to the dungeon, I guess. Makes me wonder though-what other ways have you seen authors use to get a newbie into a dungeon?
Stranded with a Billionaire by Jessica Clare
Grade: B
Hotness Level: Inferno
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: ContemporarySeries: Billionaire Boys Club #1
Reviewed by Anne
So, there’s this billionaire (Logan) who doesn’t really do relationships. He’s in a secret billionaires’ club. (The club is the secret, not their billionaire status.) He buys a hotel and goes to visit it. While he’s there a hurricane blows in. He ends up stranded in a hotel elevator with a woman (Bronte) who giggles when scared (and the hurricane is scary!) Also, Bronte thinks he’s the hotel’s manager, not the owner. Logan’s never met a woman who didn’t know who he was. And every woman who has known who he was has wanted him for his money. So it’s very refreshing to him to spend time with someone who thinks he’s a regular guy and still likes him.
Logan falls for Bronte pretty quickly. She’s falling for him as well, but is thrown for a loop when he reveals his billionaire status. While she’s still reeling from that reveal, he also shows her he’s an ass. And while he’s reveling in being an asshat, patting himself on the back for how lucky she must feel now that she knows he’s loaded… Bronte takes action. And her action really, really surprises Logan. And the story takes off from there. Logan is stumbling over all the problems having money has brought to his life. Bronte is struggling with not being overwhelmed by Logan and all his bags of money. It’s a romance, so it’s a given that these two will work things out, but *how* they work them out was delightful to read. My favorite line sums it all up:
“I’m serious, Logan. I want to date like normal people. Not like a billionaire and the waitress he just bought.”
There were some weaknesses. Honestly, I didn’t really get the significance of the super-secret billionaire’s club. I’m not sure what exactly they did, and if what they did was legal or illegal. There were times where Logan was downright stupid about their relationship. I wasn’t always happy with how Bronte handled things either. But while I was reading it was very believable, and even looking back, it strikes me that this is pretty much what it would be like if *I* were dating a billionaire. Seriously, I gave it some thought, and I hope I would handle things as well as Bronte! So, despite some weaknesses, this was overall a very good book for me.
Also, besides Logan and Bronte, there is plenty of sequel bait in Logan’s secret billionaire club. The set up between the very scarred Hunter and Bronte’s writer friend have me itching to read the next book in this series. I’m not a big billionaire book fan, but I really enjoyed this one!
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