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chelsfoust's review against another edition
5.0
I really enjoyed this book. It started kinda hard with her thinking about falling for her dead husbands best friend, and they talked about the dead husband a LOT. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it was hard to here so much about a man that isn't in the book, so couldn't really get to know him. Then MAN wow what a book. They way Joss wanted to be needed and taken care of and loved, I think is exactly what every person wants. Maybe not the entire lifestyle, but the sentiment behind it, sign me up!!!
breezy610's review against another edition
4.0
I really like this book, but for me, I think it was Dash who could get over the fact that Carson was dead and not Joss. I mean of course Joss is going to be tore from moving on but at least she is make the effort, Dash on the other hand. He got all pissed when she mention his name. I mean, come on, they were married for three years. But anyway, good book, nice storyline, but the character kind of suck (no pun intended)
sierra_n's review against another edition
3.0
I will agree with Krys. I came in here to see if anyone else notice that she repeated everything multiple times. So, I guess I'm not crazy. I did not like having to listen to conversations twice; once in her head and once to Dash. it was quite annoying. Overall, I did like the book, but the characters seemed a little fake. He continued to call her honey over and over and over again in almost every sentence.
inked_bookworm's review
I’m done with alpha MCs. Characters kept talking of female gender roles in a very stereotypical way (a lot of talking about men providing and wanting their women to quit their careers) also one sexual act really irked me as bordering in NC having sex while female character is asleep also narration voice kept repeating the same trains of thought of characters over and over
rellimreads's review against another edition
2.0
Audio. Meh. This is one of those books where it feels like Banks is phoning it in. She has some awesome, in-depth, wonderfully conceived, amazing world building books. This isn't it.
I was super psyched about the premise too. Joss's husband was Dash's best friend. Carson died several years ago in a car accident and Joss is finally ready to move on. Her first step is to seek out a D/s sexual relationship which leads her to a club. Dash is there and when he sees her he jumps at the chance to finally be in her life on a level he never though possible. Yum!
Yes, it's erotica. But the plot should still feel like a plot. Or the length should reflect the amount of book. Instead, what we have is a LOT of repetition to bloat what might have actually been a decent shorter novel or novella. The internal dialogue was exhausting. AND the sex scenes are bogged down with Joss & Dash having really situation-inappropriate convos or Banks giving us their every last thought. It's not sexy and completely kills the mood for the reader. Joss has a thought. Then Joss tells Dash that thought. Then Joss thinks about how Dash probably thinks about her thoughts. It was literally COPY/PASTE throughout the book.
I'm all for an HEA. However, I don't think that 4 days after you have a HUGE knock down, emotionally eviscerating argument leading to one of the people moving out is the perfect time to propose.
I wasn't super impressed with Alix Dale here either. However, I've heard her in other books and liked her style ~ so I'm inclined to think that the material she was working with held the bulk of the responsibility. How interesting can you make the exact same sentence over and over again sound?
This is the only one of the series the library had on audio. I'm not sure I'm willing to devote time to reading the others. But maybe... because I'm a sucker for hoping some quality MB shows up.
I was super psyched about the premise too. Joss's husband was Dash's best friend. Carson died several years ago in a car accident and Joss is finally ready to move on. Her first step is to seek out a D/s sexual relationship which leads her to a club. Dash is there and when he sees her he jumps at the chance to finally be in her life on a level he never though possible. Yum!
Yes, it's erotica. But the plot should still feel like a plot. Or the length should reflect the amount of book. Instead, what we have is a LOT of repetition to bloat what might have actually been a decent shorter novel or novella. The internal dialogue was exhausting. AND the sex scenes are bogged down with Joss & Dash having really situation-inappropriate convos or Banks giving us their every last thought. It's not sexy and completely kills the mood for the reader. Joss has a thought. Then Joss tells Dash that thought. Then Joss thinks about how Dash probably thinks about her thoughts. It was literally COPY/PASTE throughout the book.
I'm all for an HEA. However, I don't think that 4 days after you have a HUGE knock down, emotionally eviscerating argument leading to one of the people moving out is the perfect time to propose.
I wasn't super impressed with Alix Dale here either. However, I've heard her in other books and liked her style ~ so I'm inclined to think that the material she was working with held the bulk of the responsibility. How interesting can you make the exact same sentence over and over again sound?
This is the only one of the series the library had on audio. I'm not sure I'm willing to devote time to reading the others. But maybe... because I'm a sucker for hoping some quality MB shows up.
nickyfox13's review against another edition
3.0
This is one of my first steps into erotica, and I'm glad it was recommended to me because I'm not sure I would've been able to find this book on my own.
The story itself is pretty straight-forward: widower Joss and her dead husband's best friend Dash enter a Dom/sub relationship, but Joss struggles with moving on and Dash must face insecurities. Although I understand that erotica focuses on the sexual aspects of a romantic relationship, I felt like their buildup went by too quickly and so I felt like the relationship was based upon mutually enjoyable sex that was always mind-blowingly fantastic.
Most of my complaints were minor but were somewhat distracting, mostly due to the pacing. I found the middle of the book to lag due to lack of external conflict. The main conflict was Joss' emotional struggle to accept her husband's death despite wanting to move on and Dash not understanding Joss' struggle at inappropriate times; since this was the only main plotline, it came off as repetitive, as nothing was discussed in depth about how this one struggle could be solved in a healthy way. I found it boring. As a result, Joss seemed too focused on sacrificing her own happiness for Dash's comfort, when in reality I felt she should've seen a therapist for her depression. Dash came off as needlessly cruel and unintentionally callous; I hated that he was aware of his "bastard" behavior, yet didn't do much to change.
Chessy's (Joss' friend) subplot of wondering why Tate (Chessy's otherwise loving and hardworking boyfriend) was so distant seemed shoehorned in, and I felt it didn't anything to the main plot.
The characterization was pretty weak because characters had few personality traits that felt exaggerated. As a result, character growth didn't exist much. The minimal growth that went on felt unrealistic.
Maya Banks has a way of writing that's unflashy; however, her word usage was repetitive to the point of heavy-handedness, which made the book come off as juvenile. However, she is an amazing storyteller which makes the book addicting, which is where most of my enjoyment came from.
A solid novel: not groudbreaking nor awful but enjoyable.
The story itself is pretty straight-forward: widower Joss and her dead husband's best friend Dash enter a Dom/sub relationship, but Joss struggles with moving on and Dash must face insecurities. Although I understand that erotica focuses on the sexual aspects of a romantic relationship, I felt like their buildup went by too quickly and so I felt like the relationship was based upon mutually enjoyable sex that was always mind-blowingly fantastic.
Most of my complaints were minor but were somewhat distracting, mostly due to the pacing. I found the middle of the book to lag due to lack of external conflict. The main conflict was Joss' emotional struggle to accept her husband's death despite wanting to move on and Dash not understanding Joss' struggle at inappropriate times; since this was the only main plotline, it came off as repetitive, as nothing was discussed in depth about how this one struggle could be solved in a healthy way. I found it boring. As a result, Joss seemed too focused on sacrificing her own happiness for Dash's comfort, when in reality I felt she should've seen a therapist for her depression. Dash came off as needlessly cruel and unintentionally callous; I hated that he was aware of his "bastard" behavior, yet didn't do much to change.
Chessy's (Joss' friend) subplot of wondering why Tate (Chessy's otherwise loving and hardworking boyfriend) was so distant seemed shoehorned in, and I felt it didn't anything to the main plot.
The characterization was pretty weak because characters had few personality traits that felt exaggerated. As a result, character growth didn't exist much. The minimal growth that went on felt unrealistic.
Maya Banks has a way of writing that's unflashy; however, her word usage was repetitive to the point of heavy-handedness, which made the book come off as juvenile. However, she is an amazing storyteller which makes the book addicting, which is where most of my enjoyment came from.
A solid novel: not groudbreaking nor awful but enjoyable.
laceyfrance's review against another edition
1.0
I usually LOVE Maya Banks. This book is long winded and repetitive. She generally used four or five sentences to say something she could have in only one, and did this about the same subject over and over and over. I thought they'd NEVER get to the sex. Geez. The conversation leading up to their arrangement made me want to bang my head against the wall multiple times. I doubt that I will bother with the other books in this series.
jodeezle's review against another edition
3.0
This book was slow and hard to read. I had to force myself to finish it. I do not think I will be reading the next one. I will not be referring this book to friends.