Restraining Reeba

by Nicolina Martin

[glowstars]

When a book’s blurb tells me that although it’s part of a series, it can be read as a standalone, I consider that a challenge. Despite having the West Coast Doms’ first book (Commanding Casey) waiting on my Kindle, I figured I’d test the theory and jump straight in with Restraining Reeba (book 4).

Challenge fulfilled. Yes, characters from the previous books play supporting roles, but never once did I feel like I needed to know more about them than Restraining Reeba told me. Well done, Ms Martin.

Now, let’s talk kink. There were three elements that originally drew me to want to read Restraining Reeba; the first is right there in the title. Second is the series name, West Coast Doms. The third was Nicolina Martin’s note that the “series contains heavy elements of power exchange”. Sounds good, right?

Not so much. While I can’t speak for the rest of the series, I didn’t find Restraining Reeba to contain heavy elements of power exchange. Yes, there were a few rope scenes and Ryder and Reeba definitely fall into some sort of D/s dynamic but it’s never explicitly discussed as such and the non-kinky in the library may not even pick up on a lot of the elements written into the story. I would say that while there are kinky parts, this isn’t a kinky book (not like books from the likes of Cherise Sinclair and Sierra Cartwright). It’s a regular romance with kinky elements.


Amazon's listing has Restraining Reeba in the multicultural romance category. It’s a tag I find interesting in relation to this book as, although Reeba is a black woman, very little is said about this aspect of her character beyond comments about her hair and how it behaves. If I’m honest I think this is either a mistake on Amazon’s part or a selling tact on the part of the author. Reeba could very easily be turned into Rebecca, Renata or Rafaella and it wouldn’t make a difference to the storyline.

None of these comments, however, tell you what I really thought of Restraining Reeba. In all honesty, I found it didn’t captivate me. It was an interesting storyline but slow-paced and the crafting of the characters didn’t make me feel invested enough in the outcome. It did pick up a little around the 75% mark but not enough to dramatically change my opinion.