Review: Another Hot Read from Nikki Sex
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 8, 2014
I'm chagrined to give a Nikki Sex book something other than a five-star review. This book has all the usual virtues of everything Nikki has published - a great story, well-developed and very likable characters who grow and change through the course of the book, good pacing, and plenty of sexy times. Oh, and a rarity in many e-books, excellent and skillful writing.So why not a five-star review?My bad, I guess - I'm just not a fan of BDSM. Okay, so you say "Well, what the heck did you expect in a book named "Kink" you dope?" And you'd be right, of course. I just really have enjoyed Nikki's work, and I knew this was a sequel to "Fate," a book I enjoyed a lot. I wanted to see what happened to Paul and Emily once life returned to "normal" - whatever that is.Have you noticed that the central characters in Nikki's books are in love with one another? Sure, there are characters who are brutal both physically and emotionally, who use sex for selfish gratification, or to punish or to humiliate. But the couples who are the focus of Nikki's stories don't use one another for sex ... they use sex for one another. This is what made "What WendyWants" for example, such a delight. If for no other reason, Kink deserves a high marks for remaining true to that pattern - passion in the context of love and respect.Paul, in Kink, learns the vital distinction between having sex and making love. This is a self-taught lesson driven by his stunned realization that he is actually in love with Emily, a girl he has known - and ignored - all his life. And we already knew that Emily, otherwise a level-headed and practical young woman, is loopy where Paul is concerned. It's fun to watch them do the dance of emotional adjustments that allow them to accept each other - as each really is. And that is the core of this book.Both Paul and Emily mature in this way: they learn that the other, the one that they love, may know more about who they truly are than they do themselves.Emily maintains an emotional reserve because, in spite of his protestations, Paul is an untrustworthy lover. Paul has to learn not just how to demonstrate to Emily that he is committed to her, which he insists that he is, but to change within himself to actually be committed to her. Can he do it? Can Emily guide him through his lust and his fear of his inner beast to real love?Emily, for her part, has to learn not only to trust Paul, but to see him for what he actually is. and this includes the scary dark side that Paul knows she's never seen.But, as in real life, circumstances don't quietly stand by while these two work on their relationship (although you will be delighted to know that "working" on one another occupies a good part of the book!). Rock stars, hot rods, mad women, jealous former flames, mercy killing, motorcycles, cut brake lines, unexpected relatives, fist fights, gang violence, shootings, and petty theft get in there, too. Awesome! Oh, and Andre Chevalier, too. Even more awesome!I love this book, except for one thing, and that is this: I'm still not convinced about how loving it is to beat someone up.But - that's just me.