Review: What a nice change of pace!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 28, 2013
I really like hot erotica that shows something other than what I experience every day, and I also like romance.  But after several books in a row that seemed to equate BDSM with dysfunctional relationships and authors who really didn't seem to be able to figure out that manipulation and deception are not romantic, I was really ready to throw my kindle out the window.  Seriously, nobody starts a happily ever after by tricking their dream guy into sex (that's a hint to all the girls out there who are just starting out).Anyway, I didn't have a lot of hopes for this one, because I have given up on ratings when it comes to BDSM novels (they seem to be directly proportional to the number of sex scenes and how hot they are, and have nothing to do with the quality of writing or even how enjoyable the story is).  But this book really pleasantly surprised me.  Not only is the writing really quite good (I am not a trained critic, but I do tend to notice when an author has poor grammar, or the pacing of a book is off, or the characters are not well developed.  This book seemed to have all of its ducks in a row), but the story was cute as well as hot.  I mean, it was very sexy, but you could really imagine the couple making it in the end, which always makes a romance for me.  You know, when you're writing a romance I think you have to start with two people who are compatible, rather than two random characters.  This couple seemed to fit, and whether or not you could buy the one night stand/accidental pregnancy story, you found yourself believing that they wanted to be married.  I don't think that can be easy for an author, to develop two independent characters who also read as being compatible in that way.I think I am going to get the book she teases at the end of this one, because I really like her writing and that couple sounds cute too (I read a LOT, and am always needing new authors, and even tend to exhaust genres now and then).The biggest critique I have is the cover- in my opinion, it doesn't really fit the book very well, and I think the book would sell better (readers who would enjoy it would recognize it as something they would like) if it did.  One of my complaints of a lot of the BDSM and erotic romance is that it objectifies men in an unpleasant way- they are portrayed as having no feelings.  I prefer books in which the men are feeling human beings, and as this book does portray a very human and feeling man, maybe a man with a face on the cover would be more descriptive of the book's theme.  Since many readers are intelligent, educated women who wouldn't consider sex with a man without a brain the least bit hot, the headless man thing doesn't do much for some of us anyway ;) (I do understand that cover artists don't come cheap, and the perfect stock photo isn't always available, but covers do matter a great deal!)