NAKED

TITLE: NAKED

AUTHOR: RAINE MILLER

Pages: 208

Date: 03/03/2013

Grade: 4-

Details: No. 1 The Blackstone Affair

            Received from Atria Books

            Through NetGalley

Own / Kindle

The official blurb:

“Brynne Bennett is living the good life. An American art student at the University of London and part-time photographic model, she’s putting her life back on track with school and lots of hard work.

When ultra successful London businessman, Ethan Blackstone, buys her nude portrait, he isn’t taking ‘no’ for an answer. He wants Brynne in his bed and makes plans to keep her there no matter what. His dominant nature captivates and ensnares despite the demons she carries inside her.

 But there are secrets in this relationship. Huge ones. Can Ethan free Brynne from the past that has marked her? Will Brynne let him or will the specters tormenting her resurface to destroy them both…”

Sometimes I wonder if maybe there is a manual on how to write erotic novels. A lot of the books I have been reading recently seem to have been written based on the exact same premise with story-lines similar enough to make me think there must be hard and fast rules as to what should be in these books, up to and including the fact that they should be trilogies. So this book gives us:

A rich, powerful and controlling man, Ethan Blackstone;

A younger girl, Brynne Bennett, somewhat out of her element;

Two main characters with issues and the scars to prove them;

Both characters refusing to share their past with each other;

Attraction between the two characters which is instant, undeniable and impossible to resist;

A sexual relationship taking off almost as soon as the two main characters meet each other.

I could go on but I won’t, you get the idea; this is a story I have read before, several times, even if the setting and the names of the characters are different.

Having said all of that, I did enjoy reading this book. It seems that these dominating men manage to capture my imagination every time and, more surprisingly, that the women who allow themselves to be ruled by them irritate me far less than they should (or would if I ever met them in real life). The writing in this book is good and smooth enough to make reading the book really easy. The story flows easily with hardly any dead moments and lots of heat. The descriptions of Ethan and Brynne coming together were rather breathtaking and the passion between them once they are intimate was positively steaming.

From Korner Kafe Exposed

I should probably add that although Ethan is a very dominant character he is not a Dom. This is not a BDSM story and neither does it try to be one. So there is no spanking, no pain and no kinky sex. The sex in this book is feverish and frequent but very much of the straight-forward, vanilla variety. The safe-word Brynne is told to have and ultimately uses has nothing to do with Ethan pushing her sexual limits. But then again, those are not the only limits we have and maybe we should all have a safe-word we can use when our significant others push us too far in any way.

I’m having a hard time explaining myself in this review. In fact, I’m having a hard time explaining to myself why I enjoyed this book as much as I did. But I can’t deny that I found this a very enjoyable story and that I’m glad that I already have part two. It won’t be too long before I turn to “All In”, part two in The Blackstone Affair because I did enjoy spending time with Ethan and Brynne and look forward to a bit more time in their company. And yes, I do have a pretty good idea how the story is likely to develop – although I can always hope that I will be proven wrong – but even that doesn’t stop me from being curious. And when it comes to rating the qualities of a book that is really what it boils down to: would you, based on what you’ve just read, pick up another book by this author? If the answer is yes than the book you’ve just finished must have been, at the very least, decent. And with that, I rest my case.