Review: A review of the series
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 20, 2012
I have finished the series now & am struggling with how to review it. First off, I really enjoyed these books but they are flawed so I had to hold back on the 5th star.Things I liked...- I really liked the characters. Their personalities, insecurities, interactions etc, etc, etc.- Kim has the ability to write BDSM in a gentle, loving way. Sometimes this is what I'm looking for in a story.- I like that Kim doesn't incorporate humiliation into the BDSM scenes. It is the aspect of BDSM that I least like reading about.- I like the dynamics of the Dom/sub relationships that Kim writes. The Doms are always bigger physically than their subs & this 'fits' the mental images I conjure as I read.- Kim's books can tend to be a bit formulaic at times & although that can be a bad thing, I sometimes like to know what I am going to get out of the reading experience. I like reading with the expectation that there will be a HEA to satisfy my inner sap.Things I didn't like/had problems with...- The Dom/sub relationships felt rushed. I see collaring as a commitment similar to a marriage & as such I was sceptical that 3 Doms would all rush to collar subs so early in their relationships.- The time-lines were too tight. Carl helped Floyd with intricate bondage when he had only been a sub himself for less than a month according to the storyline. This set my male-cow-excrement metre off.- Kim needs to use more personal pronouns. Some of the descriptions were cluttered & spoiled by the constant use of words like "the dominant"; "the submissive"; etc etc. I was itching to re-write some of these passages (arrogant I know) because the 'tone' of the writing became immature & amateurish with the over-use of certain monikers.- there were a couple of consistency issues between books. For example, in book 1 the glass in the door of Floyd & Clark's office was opaque but was clear in book 3. These things are minor but I find them irritating.Overall I really enjoy Kim's books. I would have liked to read longer versions of these three stories because I feel that the brevity of the word count short-changed the characters. I will probably re-read them at least once more but after that, I will possibly find the lack of plausibility too difficult to ignore.