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.
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| 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.
