Review: What a fantastic start to the series!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 1, 2014
Cali is forty-four and divorced. She’s also sitting in an office being interviewed, not for a job but to become a member of The Den, the exclusive BDSM Club. It wasn’t that her marriage wasn’t a happy one, it was – it gave her lovely children and her husband was her friend. But there was nothing else. No spark, no sex. Years of feeling undesired, years of feeling ashamed for the way she wanted a man to touch her – the things she wanted done to her... these things all led her here.Jake is one of the owners of The Den. He may be a Master, but he prefers having clients rather than having a submissive of his own. He’s not the kind of guy that ever stays put or looks forward to a future beyond the present. But when he sees Cali he knows that he has to be the one to gain her submission.As Jake takes Cali on her journey of sexual awakening, he experiences his own needs being met in a way he never expected. As he breaks Cali down and exposes her true need for submission and her need to feel a man’s touch it wakes up something in him that he never knew existed. His need to claim.Just as Cali begins to embrace the relationship she has formed with Jake, an event occurs that brings back all those feelings of shame for her desire. Jake finally let someone in, he was ready to do the one thing he was sure he would never do; and in one moment everything crashes down. These two both came so far, both teaching one another about intimacy, trust and love; all these things came easily now they both must fight their own doubt to regain it all.I’ve sat on this series for a while and wasn’t sure what to expect from it. I figured this would be just another BDSM story where the D/s fall in love and all is cured... but I was not expecting her story. Cali’s story was heartbreaking and in the moments when she was able to voice her true feelings; being broken down in a way to finally admit the things she never gave a voice to before, was beautiful.Although this is a BDSM romance, the whole D/s was done in a subdued way. I never felt like I was reading something that was just filled with kink for the sake of kink. The story really fell to the forefront of this and the erotic nature of the scenes were done in a way that kept it steamy, but allowed the story to really remain the focus.Since their story ends with book one of this series, I would have liked a bit more story on Jake – his past is touched on briefly but not elaborated on. He seems to be the more unsettled out of the three men, so I was expecting more a holy s*** moment when it was revealed.The other characters remained cloaked enough to offer some intrigue but I did not find myself really caring about anyone outside of the bubble of Jake & Cali. I usually love it when I can connect with all of the characters of the story, but in this case I really didn’t need it. I am looking forward to continuing this series, and love that these are companion novels rather than continued character novels.