Review: It's Okay To Do What Makes YOU Happy!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 2, 2013
Platinum stars Althea Grant as the female leading character. She's a prim and proper lady with a gallery of pastel watercolor paintings that are not helping her pay the bills. She has convinced herself that she is happy and content with where her life is at this moment. She has a nice, sensible boyfriend, her art gallery is in the upper echelon of society, and as such there are standards that she has imposed on herself ~ most certainly due to her high class upbringing. When an artist know for his works with metal comes strolling into Althea's gallery she knows he's not a good fit with her style. His $10,000 offer to rent her basement for a few months, however, is very tempting and needing the money, accepts his offer.....with rules.Steel has just received a contract to create a huge metal piece of art. He's been given enough money to purchase all the supplies he needs plus just about anything else. In order to get the piece done he requires quiet space where he can work and create without being bothered. A high society gallery is right up his alley, and when the assistant to the owner of Chalkstone Gallery lets him know their gallery has a basement, Steel wastes no time introducing himself. He was not expecting the pale little owner, Althea, to light his fire. With the distraction in the gallery above, will Steel be able to concentrate on the artist piece he's been commissioned to create?The short story of 117 pages packs quite a punch; so much that it's almost overwhelming and rushed. In the time span of about a week a very prim and proper lady of society fully submits to a BDSM relationship with a person she knows absolutely nothing about. In fact, she doesn't even find out his real name until close to the end of the book? Who does that? Apparently Althea, a person who's spent her entire life trying to please other people while sacrificing her own happiness.I've read many reviews that state this short story doesn't have, well, a story. That it's all kink and sex and huge parts of the male anatomy. Well be that as is may, there is an underlying theme to Platinum. Yes, there is kink -- and lots of it. Althea gets tied up, spanked, ordered around, and used up sexually....but only in the safe zone that Steel created. Yes, there is sex - can't really have kink without sex - and lots of it. Yes, not only does Steel have a huge member, but apparently his new piece of art does as well. The underlying part of this book is the fire brewing within Althea that no one has ever allowed her to show.She doesn't always want to have sex, missionary style, in a bed. Deep down she always wanted a little more spice but lived with the manta that "good girls don't do that kind of thing." I can sympathize with Althea. But I digress....this isn't a review of me, my upbringing, or my sex life. She wanted to be comfortable in her own skin with the ability to date who she wanted, have sex the way she wanted, and with whomever she wanted. Steel helps bring her sexuality to the surface to be explored. She also wanted to have whatever career suited her fancy.Part of the underlying theme isn't strictly about the sex either. Althea is talked down to about the gallery by her father and put in a position that makes her feel not worthy or incapable of success. Steel brings out the woman hiding inside of Althea. He brings forth the artist she was meant to be and casts aside the artist that she ultimately came to be - the artist that she thought everyone wanted her to be; the artist that didn't do her, or the art world, any justice. This new Althea also takes the plunge and, one month later, completely changes the theme of her gallery.Back to the submission sex. It is very intense at times. There is one scene where Steel loses control and forces Althea to scream her safe word. It is a very hard scene to continue to read. But when she says her safe word, everything stops and Steel consoles Althea and apologizes for going to far. Ok, I'll buy that this time but if it became a habit - everything would end. Sexually abusing someone due to frustration, or whatever reason, is not acceptable.Overall, the story was pretty good. Jeffe Kennedy was very descriptive of each scene/character without going overboard. It didn't seem like filler like I've been subjected to in other books just so the author could make the book a bit longer. Steel is full of innuendos that cause Althea to blush constantly, which is entertaining. This story is hot, sensual, oh-so-very naughty.Review Copy Courtesy Of: Jeffe Kennedy, author, via Bewitching Book Tours, in exchange for an honest review.