EBookObsessed
Written on Aug 27, 2013
Ash is crossing through the park when he sees the woman who will turn his world upside down. He sees her sketching people in the park. More surprising, it seems that she is as aware of Ash as he is of her since she is sketching Ash. As he gets closer to her, he also notices that she is wearing the collar of a submissive. Now Ash is intrigued and determined to find out everything about the pretty little artist in the park.
By the time Ash is finally able to track down the gallery where Josie Carlysle displays her art, he is determined that Josie will be his, especially after he sees her latest painting; an erotic self-portrait, or at least he hopes it is a self-portrait because Ash wants to trace his fingers and his lips down that tattoo winding down her side.
When Josie finds out that all of her art at the gallery has been sold to a private collector, Josie finally has the confidence to accept Ash’s offer to become his submissive. Yet Ash realizes that if Josie ever finds out that he was the one to purchase her art, she might not see it as a compliment to her talent, but as Ash’s total manipulation to simply get her in his bed.
THOUGHTS:
This was definitely my favorite story of the series. During this trilogy, Ash came off as the more laid back partner, but there was a charm and a manipulation that made sure that Ash always got what he wanted. Since we had a taste of Ash’s sexcapades in Jace’s story, we also learned that there was a darker desire to Ash and definitely a manipulative side. He got Bethany to have a threesome with Jace and Ash and he pretty much orchestrated what was happening between the three of them.
So when I started this book, I thought this would be the more adventurous of the books. I believed that the majority of Ash’s story would involve sex and bondage, etc., etc. But in fact, I felt that there was much more storyline in Ash’s novel than in the previous two.
I also felt less awkward with the story itself and the connection between Ash and Josie. Although Ash had more money than Josie, she is an independent woman even if she was a starving artist. Josie also had a previous dominant/submission relationship which was less balanced than the one with Ash. So Josie blossomed with Ash and learned the true nature of the D/S relationship.
With Book #1 and Book #2, when you looked passed the superficial stimulation of the erotica, Book #1 involved an older man who becomes involved with his best friend’s sister who he watched grow up from a child and who he has had an interest in long before it was appropriate. He also to some degree punishes her and humiliates her for his strong attraction and feelings for her, i.e. stripping her and tying her naked to a table and then inviting business associates to touch her.
In Book #2, I was a little wary of the storyline of Bethany being homeless. Although Jace wants to take care of her and gives her a place to live, she doesn’t have the independence that Josie has to fall back on and her choice becomes more put up with Jace and his jealousy and his mood swings or live on the streets. I was disappointed in Bethany that she didn’t take the opportunity to find a job while she was living with Jace so that she could save her own money and be able to afford an apartment and get off the streets if things with Jace ended. She was content to stay home and be his plaything.
Maya Banks always writes such passionate characters, but this was the only book of the trilogy where I felt that the players were on a more equal footing going into the relationship and although Ash was dominant, he was not as hard core as I believed he would be from the previous stories.
I thought this was the best of the three.
Received an ARC from netgalley.com courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Thank you.
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