Laid Bare is the first book in Lauren Dane's Brown Family series. It was also the first book I read from the author. I always love finding new-to-me authors to add to my life, and this book was something I was looking forward to reading.
Female Protagonist: A successful rockstar with her family, Erin Brown ends up hooking up with her next-door neighbor, but he gets scared and leaves. Fast Forward and Erin have been married with a child. She's been through a lot, so she's dealing with PTSD. I felt for her character in this book and wanted her to have a HEA.
Male Protagonist: Todd is a former police officer and now works at his security company with some of his friends back home. At the beginning of the book, he's scared of what he wants in a relationship with Erin Brown, which made me question him. He changes, though, after he comes back home and makes me like him. He fits very well in the dominant role in the relationship.
Storyline: The series will follow along with the Brown Family siblings. This family has been through a lot. In this book, though, it follows along with Erin Brown. Erin Brown has gone through the unthinkable that no one should ever have to go through. I'm getting ahead of myself, though. At the beginning of the book, the main characters meet each other, which is very steamy. Todd gets scared off because of what Erin and himself want from each other sexually. Fast forward years later, they end up back in each others lives after divorces and tragedies. They end up coming back together, and it's getting hot between the two characters. There are BDSM and other things. They are the perfect dom and sub. By the middle of the book, though, they involve another person in their relationship who happens to fit well. This book is very steamy, but it had a good mixture of drama in it too. Erin has to deal with what happened to her in the past, and she has the help of her brothers, Todd and even Ben. I won't go into much more because I don't want to give it away, but Lauren Dane did a great job with the storyline. There were some issues I ran into when reading the book, but as I'll state below, I think it's due to the reading slump I was in, and I couldn't give the book my full attention. I also tried it in audiobook format, but that didn't work out for me. I needed to read this book.
Steaminess: Very Steamy. This book includes BDSM and Menage (M-F-M).
Standalone or Series: It's part of a series, but I believe each could be read as a standalone.
HEA: Yes.
Would I recommend this book? If you are a fan of Erotic Romance with BDSM and Menage elements, this book is for you. This book is also an emotional rollercoaster, so be prepared to have some tissues. Overall, this book gets 3.5 stars from me. I may go back to re-read it later since I was dealing with a reading slump at the time I was reading this book, and it took me longer than usual to read a book at that time.
I couldn't get into any book. :( I will give it another try because Lauren Dane deserves my full attention. I did enjoy the steaminess of the book between Todd, Erin, and Ben. I wanted more Ben, though. He was my favorite in the book. :)
