BOOK REVIEW ~ CLAIMED BY STACEY KENNEDY

Title: Claimed (Club Sin, Book One)

Author: Stacey Kennedy

Expected Release Date: August 5, 2013

ARC provided by NetGalley

Presley Flynn is ripe to experience her secret fantasies . . . and Dmitri Pratt wants nothing more than to fulfill them. Once inside the elite Club Sin in Las Vegas, Presley is nervous but excited—and determined to surrender to her every desire. Dmitri is her Master, and his touch is like fire. With each careful, calculated caress, he unleashes her wildest inhibitions, giving her unimagined pleasure.

Presley is different than the other submissives Dmitri has mastered. The BDSM lifestyle is new to her, and so are the games they play at Club Sin. From the start, Presley stirs emotions in him far beyond the raw purity between a Dom and the perfect sub. For the ecstasy they share goes beyond the dungeon igniting a passion that claims the very depths of the heart.

Book Review

I love the idea of a character who has a little dose of healthy fear, but isn't afraid to step outside her comfort zone and try different things. Presley Flynn is that kind of character. She has read the erotic book or two that focus on the power exchange of a BDSM relationship and it turns her on. So much so, that her friend convinces her to apply for membership at Club Sin--a very elite and highly secretive BDSM club owned by three sexy Doms. 

After meeting with Presley, Dimitri wants to be the Dom who will train her. Her innocent nature and the way she responds to his slightest touch intrigues the Dom lurking inside him. And Kennedy does a good job of making their developing relationship more than just sex. 

Dimitri shows Presley  that a woman can submit to a man without losing a part of herself  in the process, resulting in becoming a doormat to those in your life. Something that the tender-hearted Presley needed to learn after a terrible breakup with her ex-boyfriend.  

But Dimitri has an important lesson to learn himself...and Presley is the one who opens his eyes up to what is lacking in his life. 

Claimed is a great erotic journey of two people who stumble through the intricacies of starting a new relationship. I will definitely read more books about the Doms of Club Sin. A must read for fans of the BDSM genre. 

BOOK SPOTLIGHT ~ IF WISHES WERE SHADOWS BY A. SANGREY BLACK

Title: If Wishes Were Shadows

Series: The Shadows Series, #1

Author: A. Sangrey Black

Genre: Paranormal, Erotica, Menage (m/m/f), BDSM, Vampire

Publisher: Cobblestone Press

Ebook

Words: Approx. 14,000

Purchase at Cobblestone Press 

Book Description:

Calinda Byer is all assertiveness in her daytime life, but when it comes to the bedroom, she leaves her will at the door with her clothes. Her vampire Dom, Adam Straton, refuses to turn her until she has witnessed the darker side of immortality and the true depths of his sexuality -- including his male vampire lover.  A weekend at his country estate promises dark, twisted delights the likes of which Calinda could never have imagined. All she has to do is use the safe word, and she can return to the "normal" world alone. But will she?

About the Author:

Alexia enjoys the darker side of entertainment, including literature from the classic gothic style to the modern horror novel, erotica and romance that walks in the shadows off the beaten path. She loves horror movies both psychological and gory, and nurses a fascination for and dedication to the rights and practices of alternative lifestyles. What two or more adults do in the privacy of their dungeon is her... rather THEIR business. Vampires are her great fictional (or are they?) love, but all things that hunt the night, human or otherwise, forever capture her imagination and demand that she tell their stories. A denizen of the Adirondack Mountains of New York, there are plenty of legends, ghost stories, and creepy happenings in the deep forests and abandoned caves to keep her writing for the rest of her life. 

A. Sangrey Black also writes more mainstream paranormal romance and urban fantasy as H.A. Fowler. She loves to hear from readers of both styles, so feel free to drop her a line or visit her blog or Facebook.

Author Links:

Blog / Facebook for author / Facebook for If Wishes Were Shadows / Twitter

 Book Excerpt:

“Are you certain you wish to go on?” he asked.

Calinda grinned in spite the horror-movie air and his grim demeanor and nodded. There were no shadows dark enough that would keep her from taking this journey with him. Nothing she wouldn’t do if he asked it of her, just as she knew he would, if he hadn’t already tasted all of her secrets.

Satisfied, Adam took her hand, pressed a small switch on the wall beside them, and led her down a narrow set of stone stairs, now illuminated by a dim red light. The stairway curved sharply, and he was guiding her down and down forever, circling into the depths of who knew what. She had learned from experience that the border between the heavenly and hellish was very fine indeed. She liked it that way.

Calinda’s heart thundered, her stomach fluttering with nerves, and she relished each sensation, tucking it away in her memory like some women might keep tickets to a show she’d attended with her lover. She had been an adrenaline junkie since the day she was born. Instead of drugs, she far preferred driving fast cars, jumping out of airplanes, and dating ancient, sadistic vampires than pills or needles. This occasion, with its mysteries and uncertainties, was better than any shot of pure heroin straight into her system, and the vampire she loved was giving it to her. He had become so many things to her in the two years they’d been together, and adrenaline dealer had been one of the greatest of them from the moment they met.

She remembered with an electric shiver through her system the first moment when she realized what he was, when she invited him home knowing what he could do to her. The biggest charge of her life. She gave his hand a squeeze in thanks. No, she had no difficulty in taking this journey. There was only one thing that could be at the bottom of this staircase, spiraling them into the depths of the earth together: the darkness he kept talking about, made manifest. The deepest shadows inside him. She was so eager to see it she was already wet.

BOOK REVIEW ~ NOBODY'S PERFECT BY KALLYPSO MASTERS

Title: Nobody's Perfect (Masters At Arms, Book 4)

Author: Kallypso Masters

Release Date: September 16, 2012

eBook Format

Reviewer purchased copy of eBook for review

Blurb from Goodreads

Savannah Gentry, now Savi Baker, escaped the torture and degradation forced upon her by a sadistic father for eleven years and has made a safe life for herself and her daughter. When her father threatens her peace of mind—and her daughter's safety—Savi runs to Damián Orlando for protection. Their one day together eight years earlier changed both their lives and resulted in a secret she can no longer hide. But being with Damián reawakens feelings she wants buried—and stirs up an onslaught of disturbing flashbacks that leave her shaken to the core with little hope of ever being a sexual being again.

Damián has his own dragons to fight, but has never forgotten the one perfect day he spent with Savannah in a cave at the beach. He will go to the ends of the earth to protect Savi and her daughter, but can never be the whole man she deserves after a firefight in Iraq. Besides, the trauma of war and resulting PTSD has led him to find his place as the Masters at Arms Club's favorite sadist. Savi needs someone gentle and loving, not the broken man he has become. But he sees that the lifestyle he's come to embrace also can help Savi regain control of her life and sexuality. How can he not help redirect her negative thoughts and actions if she needs him?

Kally girl, you had me at Adam Montague, but HOLY HELL--Damian is hands down HOT and DELISH with a sinfully bold D!  I now have a new favorite Dom.

I knew there was something special about Orlando when he first made an appearance in the MASTER AT ARMS series. His wounded soul called out to me and I wanted to hear his story like yesterday, lol. 

Kallypso is the Master at writing such emotional, heart-felt erotic romance and she had me weeping in sympathy for these two characters. Of course, I managed to laugh a few times with the humorous dialog in between the crying jags as well. It was like a freakin' Steel Magnolias moment for me.

Savi's story is not one that I think is for the faint of heart. At the age of eight, she is sexually molested and sold as a sex slave by her very own father. She is brutalized in some unfathomable ways that will stun you--beaten and used as a pain slave for years until Savi thinks that suicide will be her only escape.

One night she is brutalized by two strangers who have paid her father for the use of her body and her screams catches the attention of a young man that works at the hotel. Damian is disgusted by what he sees and rescues her from the violence and gives her one night of pleasure; a consensual pleasurable experience that forever resonates with both over the next nine years. 

Savi, newly pregnant with Damian's child, escapes the horrible life her father has imprisoned her in and takes refuge in a neighboring church. Her sole reason for living is the child within her belly. And she will protect it at any cost. Even if it means searching the child's father eight years later when Savi's father locates her and threatens to return her to his abusive, sick and sadistic control.

What follows is a slow growing relationship that builds over time. Savi has long buried the pain of her abusive upbringing--unable to cry, unable to feel. Numb to everything, even the feel of her child's arms when she envelops her in a warm hug.

With Damian as her Top, Savi  is able to break through some of the emotional walls --one brick at a time -- that she has encased around her. Kallypso does this slowly, realistically, and the pacing is spot on. Their relationship is not rushed and is at times tearfully touching.

There is even humor in this tragic story. Their playfulness lightens the tense moments of such a serious matter. It gave me the warm fuzzies and giggles as Damian nick named his penis, Chico. Savi shows her humorous side when she reciprocates by naming her vajay-jay, Chiquita...

"Hell, I'd die a happy man if you just let me kiss Chiquita at least once a day." -- Damian.

Damian's unending patience is just what Savi needs in order to heal. And she is able to reconnect to her sensual side and actually feel things for the first time. These two souls are perfect for each other--providing what the other needs, while loving the person as they are--faults and all.

This story is on my keeper shelf, Kallypso!