Review: Sexy Sports-Themed Romance
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 09 4, 2013
As a fan of sports-themed romances I was immediately drawn to this book and the nicely flowing collaboration from Ms. Harlem and Ms. Felthouse.  As both authors are known for their erotic works it was clear from the start that there was going to be lots of steamy interludes and these scenes in fact became quite frequent and veered into the realm of BDSM with some spanking and other play.  The scenes never became too overly intense though so readers turned off by this kind of play will still want to take a chance on this book.Travis is still recovering from an injury and has decided to start over in America, turning his back on the BDSM lifestyle he's found comfort in.  He's felt a bit lost since coming to America with tennis his only outlet.  To help him recover he's put in close quarters with the slightly staid sports psychologist Marie and it's not long before he introduces her to the BDSM lifestyle as they start mixing business with pleasure.  Travis was arrogant from the start but I still found myself drawn to him and his sexiness.  He can be sweet and playful one minute and domineering the next but he's still a good match to bring Marie out of her shell.  He claims to be a Dom but I was never fully convinced that he was in complete control in their play.  It was a very washed out form of BDSM that the two of them engaged in.Marie was dedicated to her craft but was quickly willing to do anything to help Travis' game.  To get him to heed her "psychobabble" she agrees to let him introduce her to BDSM and their on and off play soon becomes a real relationship as she blindly follows along towards their quickly rushed HEA.  Marie wasn't a complete Sub in my opinion with her questioning of his commands in their watered down BDSM scenes.  She was a supportive heroine, and though she enjoyed discovering the dark side, she was never completely comfortable in the Sub role.The tennis scenes were well-written putting me in the center of action.  I would've enjoyed seeing more of these vividly depicted scenes and been introduced to more players so as to broaden the scope of the story and make it more well-rounded though.  Even with these small quibbles I still found this an entertaining fantasy read where you don't want to think too deeply about consequences, just enjoy the erotica ride of these two apparent opposites coming together.3.75 STARS!!!