Title:  Crash Into You
Author: Roni Loren
Publisher/Year:  Penguin Group (USA) 1/3/12
Length:  336 pages
Series: Loving on the Edge #1

Overview

Brynn LeBreck has dedicated herself to helping women in crisis, but she never imagined how personal her work would get, or where it would take her. Her younger sister is missing, suspected to be hiding from cops and criminals alike at a highly secretive BDSM retreat-a place where the elite escape to play out their most extreme sexual fantasies. To find her, Brynn must go undercover as a sexual submissive. Unfortunately, The Ranch is invitation only. And the one master who can get her in is from the darkest corner of Brynn’s past.

Brynn knows what attorney Reid Jamison is like once stripped of his conservative suit and tie. Years ago she left herself vulnerable only to have him crush her heart. Now she needs him again. Back on top. And he’s all too willing to engage. But as their primal desires and old wounds are exposed, the sexual games escalate-and so does the danger. Their hearts aren’t the only things at risk. Someone else is watching, playing by his own rules. And his game could be murder.

My Thoughts

I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect on this one  – especially based on the description of the story, but i’m always open to story lines that cross more than uncertainty in sexual situations.  What i’m learning though is that Erotica/BDSM goes really well with murder so that’s what we get here.

The style that this story is written, we get the ‘now and then’ formula which works, especially since it ends about 2/3 of the way through.  What we also get is some great insight into the relationships that we’re seeing evolve throughout and that’s a nice twist.

Our leading lady, Brynn comes from a rather colorful past – her family life isn’t the healthiest given that her mother was a hooker and her sister is now a stripper and somewhat ex drug addict.  Brynn however always managed to look out for the best for herself, held good jobs and tried her best to keep her family afloat.  She meets Reid while she’s working at the campaign office for his uncle – and that’s where her life changes forever .

Reid we learn has a dark past of his own, yet we don’t learn what that really means until more than half way through the book.  We just know that he’s afraid of what he’ll become based on his family and his past.  that’s what his fear is with Brynn since he considers her to be on a pedestal even though she’s kind of experienced it all through what her mom does. They try their hand at a relationship which is quite taboo and that of course does not end well.

we’re fast forwarded quite a few years when they re-meet one another through professional means and that’s a prescription for a complicated story.  There are still feelings and hot chemistry between these 2, yet there’s a bigger story here.  Reid was the lawyer defending the man who was jailed for Brynn’s mother’s murder and while Brynn feels that the right outcome came along, Reid is certain that there’s another person responsible.  Kelsey, Brynn’s younger sister is the one person that would be able to discover the truth, and she’s now gone missing, gone in hiding at a very private and very exclusive BDSM club where Reid gets Brynn entrance in to look for her.

Being there allows Brynn a chance to get over her fears of past demons (from a rape that happened years earlier) while allowing her a chance to see what’s really going on emotionally with herself and Reid.

I like that we have twists and turns, some that i was quite on top of throughout the story and figured out (which i’m happy that i did) and then a big loop hole at the end that was a complete surprise.  (although thinking back, i really should have picked up on it).  Anyhow, i think that this was a nicely paced story and it was nicely intertwined with some great heat, passion and steamy scening, and i can’t wait to see what comes next in this series.

My Questions:

1) what’s going to happen now that Brynn knows the truth of her parentage?

2) what’s going to happen with Reid and Brynn?

3) Do we get to see more of Jace?