Review: Mine (Club Sin #7) by Stacey Kennedy

no-brainer

Title: Mine
Author: Stacey Kennedy
Publisher/Year: Random House 10/27/15
Length:   180 Pages
Series:  Club Sin #7

Overview

Dmitri Pratt is living out his dream. Not only does he own the ultimate playground, he’s found a special connection with his deliciously sexy sub, Presley Flynn, the woman who complements him in ways that go far beyond the bedroom. But when an anonymous blackmailer threatens to expose the elite, high-profile members of Club Sin in a notorious tabloid, Dmitri’s perfect world spirals out of control.

Before she met Dmitri, Presley never imagined she would find a Master who could deliver on all her hottest fantasies. Dmitri’s love and his sensual artistry surprise her every day, until he suddenly turns distant and cold. For the first time, Presley wonders where Dmitri’s heart truly lies: with her, or with Club Sin. As the life they’ve built together begins to crumble, Presley can only trust that Dmitri has what it takes—to defend what’s his, and win back the woman he cannot live without.

My Thoughts

Ahh how things come full circle in this finale of the series.  I’m kind of sad to see everything come to an end since i’ve been reading the stories of the club masters and their subs for so long, but i guess all good things come to an end.  What’s interesting here though is that i thought we’d get the story about Miles since he’s the last dom that didn’t get his story told, however that’s not what we get here.

Things seem to be looking all nice and rosy for everyone in the story, but of course that means that something horrible is about to happen.  There have been marriages, babies, pregnancies and the like, all things that Presley wants with Dimitri but things that she hasn’t gotten.  She’s feeling like something is missing and that perhaps she’s not going to get it.  So when catastrophe strikes, and someone has pictures of the club that now has the threat of being published in a tabloid that things spiral from bad to worse.

The journey in this final installment is that of Dimitri trying to make everything right by protecting the club and then figuring out how to make things right with Presley since she’s reached her breaking point.  He has taken on all of the responsibility of things and wants to protect all of the members, but it’s coming at the cost of his relationship.  The biggest question is of who’s behind it all and i’m sure all the readers like me knew exactly who to point the finger at immediately although it takes these guys a bit longer.

It’s a tough situation to be in, trying to keep things a secret from the public and keep the members happy while your life crumbles around you, and Dimitri has shown us that he’s not as perfect as we thought.  He reacts differently than the guy that we’ve known and his friends are surprised as well as Presley.  Its sad to watch how their relationship implodes because she’s not getting what she needs and it’s even more sad that it was coming for a while since she’s felt like he’s not quite understood what she’s wanted for the past 2 years.

The nice thing about how we resolve it all is that our author takes us on a journey of not only putting closure on things but setting the stage for a spin off – showing us that there’s a future for these folks that really makes us have hope for another exciting series.  The other nice thing is that while i was under the impression that Miles perhaps wasn’t going to get his happy ending, we see how that’s resolved in this final 7th installment as well.  It shows me that i need to have patience and faith in the author to really see that things can work out for the best.

So, on that note, i’m sad that this series is done with but i believe that there’s another series for me to pick up all around the DCs that we met thanks to Dimitri.  Enjoy!

Review: Commanded (Club Sin #6) by Stacey Kennedy

no-brainer

Title: Commanded
Author: Stacey Kennedy
Publisher/Year: Random House 7/7/15
Length:   195 Pages
Series:  Club Sin #6

Overview

dedicated cop, Sawyer Quinn blows off steam by immersing himself in his role as a Master at the hottest club in Las Vegas. But when Sawyer goes after the perp who brutally beat his sister, he teams up with Chloe Nash, a sexy private investigator who awakens a sweet new need: to keep her to himself, away from the dungeon of Club Sin. Chloe is beautiful, smart, and too innocent for the lifestyle. Sawyer’s never wanted a woman like this before. Is her love worth swearing off the one thing that keeps him sane?

There’s something different about Sawyer: a commanding strength that pulls Chloe into a vortex of heady desire. But when she learns about his double life as a Dom, she’s shocked—and afraid she could never complete him. Then he saves her life, and just like that, Chloe knows she will be able to give him anything he desires. She is his—wherever and however he wants to take her.

My Thoughts

we all knew this story was coming – There was a connection that we saw between Chloe (a PI who works for Porter) and Sawyer from their first meeting – so it’s interesting to see how that plays out in this 6th installment to the series.

What’s unique in this story is that we start off by learning that Chloe has been dating the same guy since high school and of course that creates a bit of a problem for her, while really none at all for Sawyer. he’s just THAT confident.  Luckily for the two of them, Chloe and her boyfriend realize that they aren’t meant for the long haul and break up amicably.

The downside though is where this story starts for Sawyer and it’s not a good place.  while mentoring another Dom in the club, he’s called away by his father after learning that his sister has been beaten severely, likely by her boyfriend, and is in the hospital.  So that’s where the biggest bit of the story takes shape.  Sawyer needs Chloe’s help to locate the boyfriend and that’s what she’s put out to do.

In being thrown together, Chloe’s forced to admit her feelings for Sawyer, feelings that as a Dom he’s quite aware of.  It makes the experience and the interactions so much more intriguing to watch because Chloe is quite vanilla and doesn’t seem to be a fit in the kink world that the others live in.  she submits to him sexually but doesn’t understand the allure of everything else.

This quest to find Travis, the boyfriend that beat up Sawyers sister turns up empty in a lot of cases, with every resources turning up with little to go on in the hopes of finding him.  he’s being hidden by his family and friends and while everyone refuses to give up in finding him, it’s not coming easy.

While all that is going on though,  at least it gives time for Chloe to learn more about Sawyer and vice versa to see what’s there.  Chloe’s very pure and innocent to a sense, and Sawyer has this fear of corrupting that and ruining it.  He even makes decisions for her that Chloe may not agree with in the hopes of keeping the essence that he loves about her intact.

So what this means is that we’ll have a lot of amazing sceneing, and lots of great make up anger sex and then hopefully in the middle of it all, they’ll catch a break and find Travis.

Where they come across him is completely unexpected and what happens from there is even more so a shock.  It prompts a lot of things to happen at once and a few changes that are quite shocking from what we know of the characters in the series thus far.  It’s left me wondering what the final installment can give us since this one shook me up a bit and thankfully i’ve got that last book handy so i can check it out now.  Enjoy!

Review: Tamed (Club Sin #5) by Stacey Kennedy

no-brainer

Title: tamed
Author: Stacey Kennedy
Publisher/Year: Random House 3/10/15
Length:   239 Pages
Series:  Club Sin #5

Overview

Porter Marshall has nearly achieved his goal of becoming a Club Sin Master, but his new sub poses a much bigger challenge than he anticipated. Despite their mutual attraction and red-hot dungeon sessions, Kenzie Hart plays her own games. Her bratty, you-can’t-break-me attitude masks terrible personal hurt—pain that only the exquisite touch of a skilled Dom can release. But when Porter suggests taking their connection to the outside world, Kenzie denies him . . . which only makes him want her more.

Kenzie can’t ignore the raw, fierce bond she has with Porter. But she can’t give in to his dangerous demands, either. Is the passion they share real, or is he using her to solidify his status at Club Sin? And yet, who else can she trust with the shattering secrets she holds within? As Porter expertly brings her to the point of no return, Kenzie surrenders her body—and, piece by piece, her heart.

My Thoughts

Finally – we get to see kenzie’s story and then see how it intertwines with Porter since that’s already been set up for us.  We all know and love Kenzie to be the bratty sub who gives doms a hard time, but clearly there’s something behind that which makes her who she is.  It’s Porter who’s job it is to figure out how to get through to her, partially because as a Dom he should but partially because that’s just who he is.

In Porter’s quest to be name a full master at the club, he’s taken on Kenzie for a month, and his personality is to go into it with the best of intentions.  We learn quickly on that he’s actually quite taken with her and has been for a while, but just never went there since he’s not really interested in taking on a sub that’s mouthy.

If that weren’t enough of a story line to keep us interested, to see who breaks first, there’s the added tension and anxiety that comes from a man who’s bought the block that Kenzie’s bookstore and apartment are on so that he can build a casino and he’s trying to strong arm Kenzie into selling so he can have the space.  Mind you, that’s not something that she’s open to as both belonged to her grandmother, the woman who raised her, and she needs to keep that one last great memory alive.

We see Kenzie get threatened and attacked and living her life in fear because she’s afraid to let anyone in to help her. It’s because Porter is so in tune with how she behaves that he notices something is wrong and pushes her.  We come to learn that the man who’s threatening her is untouchable by police and that he manages to get off of anything that’s brought against him.

It’s Porter and Sawyer who come to her aide, however what keeps coming back to Kenzie is that they are helping because they have to as Doms, not because they want to help her for her.  So that’s the round and round that we go on this one that keeps us interested.

The nice thing about this couple is that from what we know from previous installments is that Kenzie loves pain and needs it to get off.  Porter however pushes her so far that we see that maybe that’s not what she needs and he takes another approach.  Seeing how masterful he is at this makes you so excited to see what’s next.  The writing here is so vivid and exciting and i think that’s part of what carries us through it so quickly.

So much to wonder about in this book 5 both with relationships with kenzie and Porter and the broader D/s relationships, It’s a nice family that we’re seeing come together here and i think that there are just a few more masters left for us to meet to have everyone’s stories complete. Enjoy!

Review: Freed (Club Sin #4) by Stacey Kennedy

no-brainer

Title: Freed
Author: Stacey Kennedy
Publisher/Year: Random House 11/4/14
Length:   192 Pages
Series:  Club Sin #4

Overview

Mary Schmidt knows only too well how thrilling a Master’s touch can be. Her husband, Charles, had been her ultimate fantasy, a seducer in the dance of dominance and submission. She misses the sensual lifestyle they shared, but mourns him so deeply she cannot bear to embrace her submissive needs with another Dom—until a man who exudes temptation reawakens desires she can no longer deny.

Elliott Foster is dazzled by Mary. He instantly knows that she’s the woman he’s been waiting for—a woman who turns games into need. As her Master, he dares to unlock the deepest pleasures of her flesh, releasing her from pain and healing her mind. When Mary’s lithe body comes to life under his, he knows their connection goes beyond sex. Now that he has found the perfect woman, the perfect partner, the perfect submissive, he desires only to give her everything she craves.

My Thoughts

I love this series, and what i’m actually really appreciating from our author is that she’s not giving us the expected path of stories, and keeping us on our toes.  Personally i thought that this 4th book was going to be Kenzie and Porter, yet what we get instead is Mary and Elliott. Mary – a character that i didn’t necessarily think was going to get her own story and Elliott, a guy who we never heard of before.  That’s original!

So we know a bit about Mary and her background from when she met Presley in the first book.  From there, we have come to really respect and love her since she’s like a mother figure for Dimitri yet she’s got her own life.  She’s still mourning her husband who passed away and from that, we see that anything resembling moving on is not an option for her.

So when Elliott enters the picture, he’s bringing up feelings and emotions that she was never expecting and kind of not open to, that any sense of a relationship between them is really a huge question mark.

They meet at a dinner at Dimitri’s house and he invites her to a play party.  there she comes alive under his guidance and has a night that she’s been waiting for, yet the emotions that come to the surface in the morning and the conversations that follow make her want to run.  and that’s what she does.  This frustrated Elliott to no end since he sees inside her when she’s just not looking.

The journey of this story is one where Elliott continues to push her to be the woman that she should be and to live her life for her.  Mary fights him at every turn and essentially makes it impossible for them to have a relationship.  Even with their chemistry and the way that he’s able to dominate her to bring out the best in her, we continue to see the memories of Charles her husband come up and it shows even the reader that there’s no chance that she’s going to move on.

Elliott being ‘seasoned’ knows when to cut his losses even if it pains him and sends her one last message in the hopes that at least she will heal herself, and it’s sweet to see that he’s willing to do something for her to help her get over everything even if it means that there’s little chance that he’ll find happiness.

Personally i think that it’s nice to see that there’s an installment peppered in that has these older characters – that aren’t directly tied to the goings on at Club Sin.  It gives you a different perspective on things and also shows us what life is like after you’ve found your perfect D/s relationship and age and illness take you and there’s one person left to pick up the pieces.  All in all, a nice 4th book to the series.  Can’t wait to get into book 5 now.  Enjoy!

Review: Desired (Club Sin #3) by Stacey Kennedy

no-brainer

Title: Desired
Author: Stacey Kennedy
Publisher/Year: Random House 7/22/14
Length:   292 Pages
Series:  Club Sin #3

Overview

Kyler Morgan, Master at the legendary Club Sin in Las Vegas, knows how to give women what they want—too well. He hasn’t had a real challenge in a long time. Then Ella Snow enters his life. Beautiful, inhibited, and innocent in the ways of submission and domination, Ella is the new blood he’s been lusting after. Soon, the thrill of training her to embrace his world brings forth desires Kyler cannot control.

After ending an abusive relationship, Ella makes a promise to herself to start living life to the fullest. It’s one of the reasons she seeks out Club Sin. Here, Kyler’s every touch is a lesson in liberation, stirring passions that have no bounds. But as she falls under Kyler’s command, Ella discovers that some secrets are so dark they must come to light. Submission alone may not be enough to save her, leaving her Master with only one question: How can he help Ella heal while unlocking the deep pleasures she craves?

My Thoughts

I really enjoy this series – i think that there’s such an interesting dynamic among all of the main characters that there’s always something great to see in the various installments that we get.

So it’s about time that we got to see Kyler’s story.  He’s one of the masters in the club and he not only showed that he’s an amazing friend to Cora (in book 2 if you’ll recall) but he’s an all around great guy to everyone.  So you want to see the best happen to him right?

It’s the day of Aiden’s wedding to Cora where we pick the story back up and at the wedding Kyler is quite taken by a really pretty blonde at the reception, who turns out to be none other than Ella Snow – the assistant to Aiden that we met in the last book.  Personally i had a spidey sense that we would see her come up again and here she is.

Ella has her own story that’s definitely complicated enough and it seems like it’s the perfect situation for Kyler to take on.

So at the wedding it begins.  Kyler makes his move and approaches her, with the warning from Aiden of course to handle with care – and we see that there’s a mutual instant attraction.  Ella feels like there’s something amazing right there in the moment with Kyler and the fact that she’s made a decision to live life like she’s going to die in 6 months means that she’s open and willing to do just about anything.

After a whirlwind weekend with him at the wedding, we see them come back to reality once the work week starts.  Kyler made it clear that he wants to see more of Ella but she’s not ready or open to a true relationship right now so she keeps him at arms length but they agree to see where it goes.  This of course making life even more interesting for Kyler as he knows that she’s ‘vanilla’ but he senses that maybe there’s a natural sub waiting to be woken up.

We see how Ella thrives under Kyler’s attention and how his dominating nature seems to be exactly what she’s never realized that she needed.  He hasn’t told her that he’s part of a BDSM club nor that he’s a true Dom but they seem to find a good middle ground for a while in the hopes that he can break through to her that it’s ok to be interested in that lifestyle and that maybe she wants to explore it.  I think that it’s such a sweet approach and journey in how Kyler begins to get Ella to open herself up and it’s so passionate and sweet.

If that weren’t exciting enough you know that we have to add in something from someone’s past to make life that much more exciting.  In this case, we know that Ella ran from something in Savannah to make her move to Vegas.  While it seems like it could have just been a life change since her parents and grandparents were no longer alive, we come to learn that she was married and that she is going through a divorce from a man who abused her and sent her to the hospital during a drunken rage.  She’s trying to get him to sign the papers but he’s not really willing to do it.

We see him creep in at first in texts trying to get her to call him back.  then he calls and then he shows up.  It’s a big issue given that she’s got a restraining order, but when he shows up one night drunk, that takes things to another level quickly.  Ella wants no one to know about her past and that’s fine except for the fact that she’s with a dom who’s job it is to be super perceptive of everything and then add in the fact that Kyler is a cop, well you know that he’s bound to find out everything.

So what happens when he comes to her house to confront her and what happens when Kyler learns of everything? That’s something that you’ll have to find out when you read the story.  That and what Ella’s reaction is to the notion of Club Sin and the other masters and their subs.

All in all it’s a nice continuation of the series and i think that through Ella’s story and cora’s experience, we begin to see more into the hearts of the other ladies and that helps  carry the series through to book 4.  I hope you guys enjoy and have a great day!

Review: Bared (Club Sin #2) by Stacey Kennedy

no-brainer

Title: Bared
Author: Stacey Kennedy
Publisher/Year: Random House 2/10/14
Length:   256 Pages
Series:  Club Sin #2

Overview

At Las Vegas’s exclusive Club Sin, Aidan Knight is the Master, unleashing the erotic yearnings of his submissive lovers. But his dominant façade conceals a devastating loss—something he instantly recognizes in his personally trained submissive Cora Adams. Sworn to unearth her secrets, Aidan uses his seductive skills to ignite her wildest desires until Cora yields to the pleasure she can find only with him.

Cora came to the BDSM club to act out her sub-and-dom fantasies without ever revealing the heartbreak that haunts her. But Aidan’s masterful touch is bringing her closer to the edge . . . and deeper into a world of control and surrender. He refuses to allow her to submit to any other man—nor does she want to. It’s a dangerous game they’re playing. For as they give in to passion, they must lay bare their souls for a love that could heal—and free—them both.

My Thoughts

The series continues with the Masters of Club Sin – the exclusive BDSM club in Dimitri’s mansion in Vegas.  We met the masters in the first book and now it’s time to get to know another one a bit more – Master Aiden.  His past is one that’s bitter sweet.  He’s been in the lifestyle for quite some time now, and had the most amazing and loving D/s relationship with a woman named Lily who was killed in a car accident several years ago.  Since then, his heart has been closed off since theirs was a once in a lifetime sort of love.

There’s also Cora – Presley’s best friend, and the one who introduced her into the lifestyle.  Cora herself is a tough one to get to figure out.  We don’t get to dig too much into her past to understand what’s made her into the woman we know but we know that she got into the lifestyle through a project for school when she was researching the mindset of a sexual serial killer who apparently had a thing for BDSM.  She was in a rather committed D/s relationship with a guy named Porter at her old club but when she realized that he wasn’t who she needed long term for love, she left him and moved onto Club Sin.

For the past 2 years, Master Aiden and Cora have been playing together exclusively and to them and everyone else, their pairing in the club works perfectly.  The issue though is when Cora gets to the point where the feelings that she’s developed for Aiden over the past years are so strong that she can’t bear to be around him in the same way since he’s still mourning his past love.

Aiden of course is incredibly obtuse to it all which of course is interesting for a Dom since we know that it’s their job to hone in on emotions and everything but he still doesn’t get it.  The journey that we go on in this 2nd installment of the series is seeing how they find themselves at an impasse of sorts and how it affects just about everyone in the club.  Porter is brought back in, in the hopes that he can sort things out for Aiden, and Master Kyler proves to be an amazingly sweet and sensitive support system.

Woven throughout are some incredibly sexy scenes.  What Cora loves is so different than what we saw with Presley and the way that those scenes are written shows us that there’s a diverse dynamic in the club and it’s hot.  I can’t wait to see which is the next Dom and sub that are featured.  Enjoy!

Review: Claimed (Club Sin #1) by Stacey Kennedy

no-brainer

Title: Claimed
Author: Stacey Kennedy
Publisher/Year: Random House 8/5/13
Length:   230 Pages
Series:  Club Sin #1

Overview

Presley Flynn is ripe to experience her secret fantasies . . . and Dmitri Pratt wants nothing more than to fulfill them. Once inside the elite Club Sin in Las Vegas, Presley is nervous but excited—and determined to surrender to her every desire. Dmitri is her Master, and his touch is like fire. With each careful, calculated caress, he unleashes her wildest inhibitions, giving her unimagined pleasure.

Presley is different than the other submissives Dmitri has mastered. The lifestyle is new to her, and so are the games they play at Club Sin. From the start, Presley stirs emotions in Dmitri far beyond the raw purity between a dom and the perfect sub. For the ecstasy they share goes beyond the dungeon, igniting a passion that claims the very depths of the heart.

My Thoughts

I don’t even know how i found this series – sometimes it’s the wonderful suggestions that come from the nook app that get me to find authors that i don’t know.  In any event, this is the first installment to a series where we get to see the happenings of Club Sin – a private BDSM club in Vegas, housed in the Mansion of Dimitri, our leading Master and alpha male.

This story takes us on a journey with Dimitri who is not ownly the master and owner of the club, but a guy who has everything and yet is still kind of lonely.  The other part of the journey is with Presley, a girl who moved to Vegas to be with her boyfriend of 8 years only to find that he’s cheated on her and she has to start her life all over again.  It’s because of her friendship with Cora who is now her roommate that she’s able to open up to some of the hidden secrets that it seems that she enjoys both in being a submissive as well as in reading a LOT of erotica.

Where we go with these two is really an evolved journey.  Presley walks into Dimitri’s office at the club without any real knowledge of what it’s like to actually BE in the lifestyle and Dimitri takes it upon himself to train her because he feels some instant connection with her.

True to the form of the genre, what we get in the ensuing chapters is an education on the entry into the BDSM lifestyle – and seeing what Presley is comfortable with an not.  We learn that she’s only willing to do things with Dimitri as he makes her feel safe and the feeling seems to be reciprocated.

If only that were the simple plot line right?  Of course things have to get complex with the entry of Steven, Presley’s ex boyfriend and a guy who seems to want to cause trouble.  He texts her and calls her and resorts to stalking her and issuing an ultimatum.  There’s a lot that he’s asking her to give up again and a lot that’s at stake since he’s got information on the secrets of the club that could do a lot of harm to a lot of people.  So that’s really where the story leaves us since it’s hard to say what is going to happen.

While this is a similar tale and story as a lot of other series that i’ve read, i think that there are some interesting twists in how everything was established as well as the threat of what’s going to happen in the coming installments.  I think that we see there’s promise for this couple if they continue to blend well, and with the introduction of all the other masters in the club, i think that there’s great opportunity to get to see their stories as well.  I can’t wait to see where this takes us.  enjoy!