REVIEW: Restrained Under His Duty (Dirty Little Secrets #3)

Restrained Under His Duty (Dirty Little Secrets #3), by Stacey Kennedy
Publish Date: April 4, 2017
Publisher: Loveswept
Format: e-ARC, provided by the publisher via Netgalley
Genre: adult suspense romance
To Buy: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Rating: 4 STARS

(Synopsis) As the chief of security for a prominent senator, Ryder Blackwood is stunned when an anonymous source sends him a compromising photo of his boss’s twenty-five-year-old daughter getting down and dirty in an underground sex club. If it gets out, the media firestorm could ruin her father. More troubling for Ryder is how arousing he finds the whole situation. He’s known Hadley Winters since she was a kid. And now she’s the woman in all his most private fantasies.

Wild behavior helps Hadley get through those painful, lonely nights, but she’s been waiting a long time for a man like Ryder to protect her from herself. Ryder is raw. He’s real. And he makes her feel safe. Now that they’ve both become pawns in a blackmailer’s dangerous game, there’s more at stake than her father’s political career. As the intimate threats tear apart a tender new love, Hadley is forced to trust Ryder with her life—and her heart.

Restrained Under His Duty is a great unrequited love story with a hefty dose of intrigue, suspense and danger thrown into the mix. And, of course, when you add those particular items, that unrequited love (which, actually, is completely requited, as it turns out) has no choice but to build into something pretty awesome. 

Ryder has a lot of reasons for not getting into it with Hadley, despite his desire to do just that. He's known her since she was just a kid. He's friends with, and employed by, her father. He's into some kinky stuff, as is evidenced by his ownership of a BDSM club. But, it's getting harder and harder to resist her when she keeps suggesting the opposite of a friends-only relationship.

Hadley has wanted Ryder ever since she knew what it meant to want someone. She trusts him. She's attracted to him. She thinks he can give her what she needs. She's been biding her time in one sex club or another, waiting for Ryder to wake up and claim her, but she's just about done waiting. I would be too, if I were her.

Unfortunately, she and Ryder are forced into close quarters when she's threatened in a horrible way and Ryder's caveman protector instinct kick in. It was a really beautiful thing when that happened. It was like, all those years of frustration and angst exploded into this crazy passion. But, that doesn't fix all their problems. Ryder still has his hang-ups, Hadley still feels largely unwanted, and there's still a guy out there blackmailing, kidnapping and attempting to murder, and no one knows who it is.

I really like this series about a bunch of sex club owners and BFFs who have these secret meetings and help each other out. I like how Stacey Kennedy has woven this over arching plot into all their stories, too. There's one final book left in the series, and I can't wait to see how it all comes together in the end. 

EARLY REVIEW: Bound Beneath His Pain (Dirty Little Secrets #1)

Bound Beneath His Pain (Dirty Little Secrets #1), by Stacey Kennedy
Publish Date: July 5, 2016
Publisher: Loveswept
Format: e-ARC, provided by Netgalley
Genre: adult contemporary romance
To Buy: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Rating: 4.5 STARS

(Synopsis) Real estate mogul Micah Holt exerts absolute control over all aspects of his life. He keeps his dark side hidden away from the press, who will chase down any hint of scandal. He’s always in command of his world, careful to expose his closely guarded secrets only to those he knows he can trust. Then Allie Bennett shakes his legendary discipline. She’s beautiful, pure, untainted. But is Micah willing to sacrifice her innocence for his own selfish obsessions?

When that sexy smile makes her body burn, Allie tries with all her might to ignore it. For one thing, Micah's her new boss. For another, he's as complicated as he is devastatingly handsome. Still, Allie can only fight so much before she gives in to his dangerous games. She knows he's got dark secrets. But when she discovers the true depth of his pain, Allie must decide how far she's willing to go to light the way for love.

What a great idea for a book. A group of enigmatic, kinky men who own the best BDSM clubs in the city meet regularly to talk shop, and they call themselves The Dominant Council, or the DC for short. Just that is sexy as hell, isn't it? Stacey Kennedy only briefly mentioned the DC in her Club Sin series, but now it's time to give these men center stage in a series of their own. 

Bound Beneath His Pain starts things off with the story of business mogul Micah Holt. He has acquired a small real estate firm, and its top seller Allie Bennett along with it. Although he's not one to mix business with pleasure, he decides right away that he might have to make an exception in this case. But, kinky play leads to actual feelings, and that crumbles Micah's carefully constructed walls. 

I'm a very character-driven reader. If an author can't make me fall in love with the main characters, I'll find it hard to love the story. It's even okay if I hate the characters a little to start with. Hell, sometimes it's better that way. Because, if I fall in love with them later, it's even better. Stacey Kennedy flawlessly drew me into this world of BDSMery and the DC and secrets and love and kink. 

She made me love Allie right off the bat. She's my favorite kind of female character. She has money because her family is wealthy, but she doesn't use it. She decided to make her own way in life and is very independent. She picks her battles, stands up for what is right, and goes after what she wants. And, she was the perfect match for Micah.

Micah is mysterious. It's obvious he has secrets and that there's a story behind why he remains alone, even while surrounded by people as he runs his empire. He's also a good man. He treats his employees well, he's fair, and he's generous with his time and money. It's his heart that he's not interested in sharing. And it was obvious right from the start that Allie might be the right woman to change that. 

For a book about a council of BDSM club owners, there wasn't actually all that many BDSM club scenes to be had in Bound Beneath His Pain. The main focus wasn't on the kink, but rather on the demons in Micah's past that are causing him to make the choices he's making now. But, it was okay. I didn't miss the club scene all that much, because I was totally caught up in Micah's and Allie's story. 

I'm assuming we'll get a book for each of the members of the DC in this series, and it sounds like Darius will be next. Based on Bound Beneath His Pain, I can't wait for the next book. 

BLOG TOUR REVIEW & GIVEAWAY - Werewolves Be Damned

I'm excited to be a part of the newest paranormal romance novel by Stacey Kennedy, Werewolves Be Damned (Magic and Mayhem #1). Read on for my review of this cool book, plus a giveaway for a $100 gift card from Amazon or Barnes & Noble!

Werewolves Be Damned (Magic and Mayhem #1), by Stacey Kennedy
Published April 15, 2013
Publisher:  Entangled Publishing
Format: e-book - provided by Entangled Publishing
Genre:  adult, paranormal romance
To Buy:  Amazon  * Barnes & Noble * Kobo * iTunes

Rating:  3.5 STARS

(From Goodreads) Nexi Jones—part witch, part guardian, and wannabe kick-ass warrior—can’t throw a punch or conjure the simplest magic. But that doesn’t stop her from hunting the werewolves who slaughtered her human family. She’ll have her revenge, but only if Kyden, the elite guardian, would get the hell out of her way.

Kyden can’t decide if Nexi wants to get herself killed or if she just has no clue what she’s doing. But her father made it clear: keep Nexi safe…or else. Of course, the more Nexi runs toward revenge, the more she needs Kyden’s aid, and as she grows into her power and confidence, so does his desire to protect her. The only problem? She’d rather he dropped dead.

But when a vampire paints a bull’s-eye on Nexi’s back, she’s hard-pressed to deny Kyden and the help he’s offering. Even if it means getting her revenge will be a little bit harder. At least it will still be as sweet.

Werewolves Be Damned had so many things in it that I love in books - a kick-ass heroine, a hot bad boy, werewolves. Even a little bit of the boarding school aspect. Plus, I had a bit of cover love going on too. It's pretty cool, right? 

Let's start with the heroine. Nexi Jones starts out pretty rough around the edges, not having been brought up knowing she had a supernatural bone in her body. Once she's brought online, however, she shapes up pretty quickly. She's got tons of attitude and a desire to learn about what's going on with her abilities. She's not without fear, but I appreciate how she tries to tramp it down in the face of danger. Nexi is a pretty cool chick. And, she's got a pretty hot boyfriend, so... yeah. 

Speaking of the boyfriend, Kyden is my favorite character in Werewolves Be Damned. He never changes. Never waivers. He's brave, has a big chip on his shoulder, and he takes care of those he cares about. It takes him awhile to warm up to Nexi, but when he does, warm doesn't even begin to cover the depths of his emotions and actions for her. I love when big, bad, brave guys get all overprotective when it comes to the women they love. 

The Earthworld and Otherworld aspect of the world that Kennedy has created is both interesting and yet slightly confusing. It wasn't explained too well, and although I think I grasped how it all fit together and worked from context, I'm not entirely sure. 

After an explosive and exciting first chapter, the momentum was kind of lost. Things slowed down for awhile, and I kept waiting for it to pick back up. It did, about halfway through, and then I had a hard time putting it down until it was over. I also had a hard time believing that it would take Nexi only a month to get over the death of the only parents she has ever known, to come to grips with meeting her birth father, to find out there's a whole Otherworld out there, and to find out that she's half guardian (a warrior with supernatural strength and speed), half witch. Sorry, but I don't really buy that. 

Despite those problems I had, I ended up liking Werewolves Be Damned when it was all said and done. Although it doesn't end on a cliffhanger, I am looking forward to the next installment of the Magic and Mayhem series.   

About the Author

Stacey Kennedy is an urban fantasy lover at heart, but she also enjoys losing herself in dark and sensual worlds. She lives in southwestern Ontario with her husband, who gave her a happily-ever-after. Together, they have two small children who can always make her smile, and who will never be allowed to read Mommy’s books. If she’s not plugging away at a new story, you’ll find her camping, curling up with the latest flick, or obsessing over Sons of Anarchy and Game of Thrones.

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