Grade: B-
Hotness Level: Inferno
Kink Level: Moderate Kink (BDSM)
Genre: ContemporarySeries: The Science of Temptation #1
Reviewed by Kate
121 pages
On Anne’s recommendation, I read the Seduction Hypothesis. (See Anne’s review here.)When I finished I had to go back and read Ivan and Cami’s story. I wasn’t too far into The Theory of Attraction before I realized I had read it before (evidently my poor memory could benefit from some sort of “books read” system as this is no where near the first time this has happened to me.) As I continued to read, I remembered how much I had enjoyed reading it the first time around.
Ivan is a man of routine and predictability. In the time Camilla has been his neighbor, she has learned his routines and fallen for him a little bit, even though they are just computer game playing, sci-fi watching friends. When Ivan needs to charm some bigwigs at an upcoming party he turns to Cami. Perhaps she can help him get past his awkward social presence. Cami jumps at the chance to help him (and spend more time with him) but gets more than she bargained for when she realizes there’s one thing about predictable Ivan she didn’t know — he’s a Dom.
I really like that this wasn’t a book about changing Ivan. Cami helps him understand the situations he’ll encounter at the party, but he doesn’t undergo a nerd-to-jock transformation. He remains himself. He continues his experiment on growing tomatoes, despite his his dislike for tomatoes. He still has a hangup about shower hanky panky (my favorite scene in the book.) And on the path to helping Ivan, Cami learns about herself too.
A strong start to a great series. Delphine Dryden has done for nerdiness what butter did for toast — made it yummy and scrumptious.
BDSM
Toy Box by Delphine Dryden
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.
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?
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