Review: 4.5 Second Chances & Spanking Stars!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 4, 2014
Before I get to Sean, let's cover Samantha (Sam/Sammy) because I might just forget all about her once I my brain starts to focus on Sean... See what I mean, still stuck on Sean over here....Sammy thought she knew what she wanted, in fact she had what she wanted, until she didn't. Making a choice ten years ago that that she was coerced into making, she still hasn't fully moved on. Her focus is her career. A proud member of the Chicago PD where her partner is none other than our favorite male stripper, Zander. Sam is fine with her life being focused on her job, she takes pride in it and it's the one area of her life that she's never allowed anyone to interfere. But when a call over the radio draws her to Throb, her past is crashing into her present and with a man like Sean; somethings just can't be avoided.Sean, former bed-buddy of Mac - attorney by day and sex club owner by night. Sean is dominant, he knows this and embraces it. But Sean is also aware that meaningless one night stands aren't going to give him his happily ever after. If his past taught him one thing, it's that when you find someone you can love forever - you don't ever let go of that. Sean had that once and ten years later he hasn't been able to love anyone like he did her. When his brother get's into a sticky situation, Sean's past returns and now that he's laid eyes on her again - he knows what he wants and he's not about to let her go...again.When I started the Bliss Series one man stood out for me. Sean. There was just something about him that drew me to him from the start... maybe it was because we got so little from him compared to the others, that he was just a tad bit more mysterious. Who knows, all I know is that I was craving his book. A common theme when the hero is a dominant is that he is often too hard or just hard on the outside and completely broken on the inside. Sean had his share of painful moments from his past - but he was not broken, nor was he so hard that he wasn't willing to know what his heart wanted. I loved the change up of a story with a man that was so willing to fall in love, that he realized his life needed more than just a warm body and sexual release.The theme of a second chance romance is always one that I enjoy. Sammy was so lost as to who she was in her youth that poor choices were made. She knew this, but it was slightly bothersome that even knowing that - she was still stubborn. I wanted to shake her and get her to wake up, eventually she does. And once she does, it's on. The tension finally exploded and there was no going back.BJ Harvey did a fantastic job in giving us Sean's story and making it so much more than just a hero with a kinky side. One of the things I absolutely love about her writing is that it is consistent. The stories aren't shifted for the sake of pure shock value. A pure romance read with a touch of drama and humor laced throughout and heat. Blissful Surrender certainly turned up the heat, Sean had no problem seducing Sammy with his words just as he did with his body. I loved the chemistry between these two and how heated the read got at times. But the one thing that I absolutely loved is that the focus of this story was the two of them, not her issues/insecurities and not his fetishes, they were part of the story, but they weren't the story.