Review: Emotionally charged with great growth of flawed characters
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 02 10, 2014
My love for this series and its author continues with the second book about Master Aidan and his sub, Cora. They first appeared in Claimed, and back then I was ensnared with the brief glimpses of this couple. Everyone around them kept alluding to the fact that they would make a perfect pairing outside of the club. Cora was already in love with Master Aidan and Aidan seemed to adore her. They didn’t play with anyone else but one another. For two years! So what was holding them back? Altruism and a ghost.I was pleasantly surprised that Cora wasn’t a heroine who backed away from giving her heart to Aidan for selfish reasons. She was an altruistic individual which seemed to stem not only to her true nature but also from her profession. As a social worker dealing with troubled teens, she liked helping people, she knew when to push and when to back off. When it came to Aidan, she wanted him to come to the realization on his own that they would be good together, that he could confide in her, and she wanted him to finally see that she was in love with him. She didn’t want to tell him for fear that he might see it as an ultimatum to put a label on what they had and scare him away. All because she felt he was still mourning the submissive he had once loved and lost. Thanks to Presley’s well-meant meddling, Aidan became suspicious that Cora was keeping something from him, something troublesome. He suddenly felt like he didn’t really know her, and that bothered him a lot.My first impression of Aidan was that he was a stern Dom, one who took himself a little bit too seriously but would never intentionally hurt Cora. As the story unfolded, it became clear that Aidan wasn’t just mourning or stubborn. He really was oblivious to her feelings. It was both endearing and frustrating. One might argue that a Dom would or should intuitively know what his submissive was thinking or feeling, and the fact that he couldn’t even read some pretty obvious, in-your-face comments from his friends was a little startling.Normally I loathe circumstances where a problem could be solved with communication and honesty, however this was an exception. I know how important honesty and trust is in a D/s relationship, and they had that but only within the dynamics of giving and receiving pleasure. Not everyone in the lifestyle has to have a romantic relationship or divulge matters of the heart, so this problem of theirs felt believable. Cora was simply too caught up in her fear of losing Aidan completely to be honest with him, and Aidan was unconsciously craving control at all times. The ‘box of tissues moment’ happened for me as soon as their misguided methods of trying to help one another blew up in their faces.Aside from this couple’s very emotional journey, the rest of the gang was there to lend support and run interference. What the author has done very well was to show that the bonds of friendship extended well beyond just the shared interest in a kinky lifestyle. They ran interference where necessary, took sides and gave sound advice. The story had a nice pacing and flow, the characters were fleshed out as they moved from through emotions, delusions and epiphanies, and the emotional connection was off the charts hot. As soon as I finished, I went back to re-read the first book and then read this one more time. So would I recommend it? Absolutely.Disclaimer: I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley for the purpose of an honest review.