Review: His Canvas

His Canvas by Tymber Dalton

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



The best thing about this series is that each book can be read as a stand alone, or you can only read select books in the series and still be able to keep up with the background characters. This series has something for every facet of the BDSM Lifestyle, touching on many kinks, kind of like a buffet, allowing me to pick and choose which story lines I want to read, and which ones I want to pass on.

I'm in the lifestyle, but there are some kinks that are definite hard limits. This book touched on a couple of them. Mainly cutting, although I enjoy knife play, I don't do blood. Needle play, I've seen some beautiful corset lacings, (up the back), but needle play and that kind of piercing is on my, "oh no! not going there" list.



But in the lifestyle there is a saying, YKIMKBYKIOK, "Your kink isn't my kink, but your kink is okay". These were not my kinks, so it was harder for me to get into this particular book, and I found myself skimming much of it.

I did enjoy the back stories about Mallory's uncle and figuring out why he was so adamant on her going for her Masters. I also enjoyed the story of Mallory and Kel and their journey. Kel and his method of picture taking kind of put me off when he was taking pictures of Mallory while she slept... that part just kinda creeped me out. But all in all, it was implied consent between Kel and Mallory. It was the story of them.

Another enjoyable aspect of this series is the Ms. Dalton does extensive research into each and every fetish she writes about. She understands the lifestyle and those in it, and makes sure that for those reading it, that may be "lifestyle curious", that her underlying story about the lifestyle is factual.

The only thing that keeps it from being a 5 star read for me, was the constant description of Mallory. I understand some authors not wanting to make the main female character flawless, I don't want to read perfect and flawless, but trying instead to make them more realistic. But what I'm finding as of late is the wide swing in the other direction. Making a point of saying the character is overweight, making that a focal point. Mallory was lovable, smart, and sweet, and it could have, and should have, just been mentioned that yes, she was overweight, and the struggles she had with that. But I felt that the book focused too *much* on her weight. Like it was a miracle that someone like Mallory could get someone like Kel.

Looking forward to reading the next in this series!

Solid 4 star read.



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Asylum by Lily White

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Okay.

So.

I'll just get right to it. What an anti-climactic ending for me..

Where was the twist?

Where was the mindfuckery?

I was actually waiting and guessing and excited to get to the end of this book.

I didn't *want* a HEA.. not from Lily or if it was a HEA I wanted it to be something that made me go.. "OMG! She did it to me again..."

But what she did to me was make me lay the book down and go... "ummm... meh."



I really felt like there was a big finish coming, but what I feel like I got was a rushed ending. Like Ms. White had to hurry and finish it with no time for her usual twists and turns.



The first 94% of the book was great, awesome in fact, as you can tell by my updates (see below) as I was reading. It had my mind going in all different directions. The last 6% just left me disappointed.

On the positive side, it WAS a great story, I was invested in the characters, all of them from the best to the worst. I was captivated by the story, I could picture it all. I thought the theme rooms were a bit far-fetched, but they still worked. I could see it all.

Would I recommend this book? Yes, if you're into HEA's and you like your reads a bit dark, but not too dark. Then this is definitely the book for you!

I'm going to give this book 3.5 stars, but rounding it up to 4. I liked it, I just didn't *love* it.

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Review: Determined to Obey

Determined to Obey by C.J. Roberts

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Determined to Obey is the last in the Dark Duet series from Kid's POV.. it was just barely Meh.. kinda fell flat for me. 2.5 stars.. i wish we could give 1/2 stars. But i rounded it up to 3.

The Dark Duet Series is one of my favorites. One that has never really left my mind, and one I can recall easily, more so than just about any other Dark Erotica I've read, but I think the series would have been much better if Ms. Roberts had left Kid as a background character instead of trying to spin him off.. and making Caleb and Kitten secondary characters really wasn't a smooth move. They were too important to the Dark Duet series, even though it gave us a glimpse of what was going on in the background of the Dark Duet series, it really didn't add anything to it.

While the cover is beautiful, as are all the covers in this series, Ms. Roberts has a real talent for picking them, Kid looks like a 15 year old boy. He's suppose to be a (somewhat reluctant) member of a motorcycle club. The picture on the cover and the character in the story were hard to reconcile as the same person in my mind. He just looks too much like a young boy to me and that makes it hard for me to connect to that character. I know it's suppose to make us feel... protective(?) of Kid, but for me, I just kept imagining these things happening to a boy.

Felipe and Celia.. who are suppose to be Owner and slave come off as quite the opposite. They come of, in my opinion, as equals to each other or with Celia topping Felipe from the bottom. Who really runs *that* show?

So yes, for me, it would have been much better if Kid's story were just left to my imagination.




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Review: Claim

Claim by Sierra Cartwright

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Claim, the second book in the Bonds series was a good, quick read... okay mainly because I've been anxiously waiting to read it, I read i!

This one, for me, started out a little slow, didn't keep me riveted from the beginning like most of Ms. Cartwright's books do, but after about the first quarter of the book, it picked up and I was again immersed in her story.

I enjoyed watching Kennedy and Mackenzie, or Zee as Kennedy likes to call her, develop their relationship.

Loved Zee's personality, she was witty and fun. And everything she said she wasn't, she became with Kennedy. Zee had been burned pretty bad in her marriage, and decided from then on, *no relationships*, period. Oh and no cuddly aftercare either, she didn't need or want that!

Kennedy feels pretty much the same way, no relationships, and definitely no matrimony. Didn't need or want either of those.

But all bets are off when they meet each other again after a few years.

Kennedy enjoys doing aftercare for his subs, and he enjoys a good cuddle, and he's the perfect Dominant to show Zee that, against her better judgement, she enjoys those things too. Zee's inner dialog, during those times, made me laugh out loud

Kennedy and Zee are just sexy-hot together. Watching them both progress into a relationship they both swore they'd never want was a fun journey.

The slow start to this one takes it down to a 4.5 star review. I'm looking forward to the next in this wonderful series!




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Master Over You

Master Over You by Ethan Winters

My rating: 1 of 5 stars




I really tried with this book but I couldn't get past the writing, it was so elementary... it was just off, and repetitive. I found myself skimming.

This is what happens when you have more than one author writing a story, something happens to one character, then it's told *again* from the POV of the other character... and it's the same.

This story could have been told with about 300 pages less than the 424 pages it turned out to be. It just rambled on and on.



I couldn't and didn't connect with a single character in this book.



After skipping to the middle of the book, then to about 3/4 of the way, this book became a..





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