Tag Archives: Sweet Series

Review: Sweet Seduction (Sweet #3) by Maya Banks

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Title: Sweet Seduction
Author:  Maya Banks
Publisher/Year:  Penguin Group USA  12/31/12
Length:  304 Pages
Series: Sweet #3

Overview

Salon owner Julie Stanford wanted Nathan Tucker ever since she gave him his first massage. Getting paid to feel every inch of his body, stripped, oiled, and spread out in front of her? Stuff dreams are made of. But the sexy guy was oblivious to the signals she was sending—until she finished off his final rub-down with something extra. In fact, the best extra he ever had. Unfortunately, he came around too late. Now Julie’s moving on . . .

The woman was driving him crazy. She lit fire to his insides then ran like a scalded cat. And now she’s going to someone else to have all her fantasies fulfilled? Over his dead body . . . He’s more than willing to give her what she wants, and as soon as he pins the little minx down, he’ll show her his own brand of sweet seduction.

My Thoughts

The story continues with this clan of friends, and I am happy to say that it took me MUCH less time to read #3 than it did #2, although i’m surprised why.  what we get here is the continued journey of all of these ladies and gents – with a hope at seeing what really lies underneath, and what kinks support that.

This third installment is all about Julie and Nathan – we know that Julie’s into Nathan, but she hasn’t had much luck – partially for lack of trying and partially cause they are both a bit too ‘dense’ for their own good.  It’s only after calling in a favor to Damon like Serena did that things get juicy.  See – we know that Julie’s really strong minded and independent, and when she’s decided that maybe she needs to fulfill her own fantasies instead of waiting for Nathan to come back to her (since he seems to have moved on) all bets are off.  Julie’s desires are in the realm of threesomes and Damon is the guy to set it up.  We know that Micah is in to them as well, and it’s just a matter of finding the other guy to work things out.

Where it gets good though is that we know that Nathan isn’t into kink AT ALL but since he learns of what Julie wants and won’t let another guy in on that, he gets involved – in a good way.  Julie’s dreams and fantasies are fulfilled – given that it’s not just a threesome, but she wants to be blindfolded so she doesn’t know who the guys are  – so the sex is amazing, and Micah and Nathan are good for her.  yet, she doesn’t know it’s them.

The question then becomes, will she find out that it was them, how will she find out and what will it mean?  The interesting thing separate from this is that she and Nathan start to do a little ‘dating dance’ separate from the sex club, so it’s definitely making things more complex.

True to Ms. Banks’ style – we get some vivid scening and some great depth of these characters and relationships.  One of the other great things that i LOVE about her style is that we never leave the other characters far behind.  Both Faith and Serena get big roles and their stories continue without taking away from Julie.

The other nice thing that i really like is that the lead in and teaser to Micah’s installment really makes you interested.  We never really got the full sense of his history and there in the one chapter that brought us there a bit – well i have to say that i’m really excited to pick up that book.  Enjoy!

Review: Sweet Persuasion (Sweet #2 by Maya Banks)

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Title: Sweet Persuasion
Author:  Maya Banks
Publisher/Year:  Penguin Group USA  12/31/12
Length:  352 Pages
Series: Sweet #2

Overview

The man of her dreams would give the orders. For him, she had two words that satisfied them both…“Take me.”

For five years, Serena has run Fantasy Incorporated and has devoted her time to fulfilling her clients’ fantasies. Never her own. Until now…

Her most secret desire is to give ownership of her body to a man. Someone who will command her, pleasure her, and have complete authority over her. So she seeks out Damon Roche, owner of an exclusive sex club and a man strong enough to make her do anything he wants. Anything.

Together they’ll journey into a world she’s only dreamed of. She’s given the opportunity to immerse herself in a different life while her normal one waits for her to return whenever she wishes. Damon has no desire to let her go, however. Serena is the woman he’s long searched for, and it’s up to him to convince her to stay when the game is all over with. He wants their fantasy to become their reality and for Serena to remain his pampered, cherished submissive.

My Thoughts

I have to admit that it took me the better part of the week to get through this book, and while i can’t fully blame it on the story, i feel like i might party do so.  This week has gotten away from me so apologies to all of you that missed seeing anything from me this week.

In any event, it’s been a while since i started this series, so i had even forgot a bit about what made it so good.  We had met Faith and Grey in their own story and it was hot and tension filled that i knew that there was something good to be said about the others that we met – Serena and Julie and even Damon, Micah and Nathan.  In this 2nd installment, we get  to become much better acquainted with Serena and Damon, and start to see what’s next for Julie and maybe Nathan….

This all starts when Serena who has a company that’s job is to fulfill people’s fantasies (on the clean side that is) and she realizes that she has her own fantasy – one that’s a bit more naughty.  She goes to Faith for help and the outcome is so much more than she ever expected.  Serena wants to be someone’s sex slave and she’s directed to Damon who owns ‘The House’ a BDSM club and someone who’s well versed and capable of finding her a partner.

That partner turns out to be none other than himself since she’s exactly what he needs, and his job to role play with her turns quite real. The issue of course in this story is that the lines become blurred between reality and fantasy for Serena while for Damon it’s always real.

What i liked about this story is that Ms. Maya Banks, our lovely author stays very true to her writing style in the sense that we get great back stories on the characters and very good scening.  I think that the downfall for me is that at times they were really predictable and i felt like i could have just fast forwarded a bit to get on with the story.  again though, i think more my problem than a problem with the book.

What keeps the story going is that we see Serena challenged by what Damon wants her to do and what she admits to herself that she wants, and it’s hot.  It’s always intriguing to me to see a strong woman acknowledge herself as a submissive and then to see what happens when the power is handed over to someone else.  Damon clearly knows his way around a woman and around domination and that’s really amazing to see here.

The best bits start to happen towards the end when you’re not sure who is going to compromise on what – and what will happen.  we see that a death becomes the downfall of things for Serena and it means that things will become so much more challenging.  She feels like she has to walk away from everything that she has and knows, and it becomes a fight for her to keep going.

I’m really excited now to see who’s next in the series and how it will play out since it seems like Julie has a plan for how to get her man, or to get another man, and it’s nice to see that they are all stretching themselves past boundaries that had been set up to see how sexual and passionate they can be when someone else is in control.  Enjoy!

 

Review: Sweet Surrender (Sweet Series #1) by Maya Banks

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Title:  Sweet Surrender
Author:  Maya Banks
Publisher/Year:  Penguin Group (USA)  12/31/11
Length:  320 Pages
Series: Sweet #1

 

after reading Rush, the first book that i think i’ve come across by Maya Banks, I decided that she was well worth another read if she continued on the contemporary erotica route that she seemed to do so well, and in Sweet Surrender we’re not only met with quite a bit of erotica, but her entrance into the world of BDSM was right up my alley since Cherise Sinclair’s series still owes me a next installment.

so, in this series, we are introduced to Gray (Grayson) who is a cop in Dallas and he’s dealing with the killing of his partner Alex, the department isn’t hot on the trail of any suspects and even thinks that Alex may have been at fault.  His father Mick has asked Gray to get on the trail of someone that he suspects to have been the killer, and that takes Gray’s journey to Houston and introduces him to Malone and Sons – a security business run by Pop, Conner (his son) and Nathan and Micah – 2 other guys.  His adopted daughter Faith also runs the office and he’s the connection to the thought to be killer

Faith’s connection is that her mother (with whom she’s estranged) is currently with Samuels, the guy that they think killed Alex, and Mick’s theory is that if Gray gets close enough to tap the phones and befriends Faith that they’ll be able to lure him out and nab him.

What no one expects is that innocent Faith has these fantasies of the kind of man that she wants, and that Gray is just that kind of man to show her that what she wants is real and can be had.

This story takes us through quite a roller coaster where you know that there’s an underlying ulterior motive, you don’t know where Gray’s mind really lies for most of the book, and Mick is just a loose cannon.  We get to sit by and watch Faith come into her own, realize that she’s able to take control over what she wants, and grows up quite a bit.  a lot of the time i forget that she’s just 23 or so.

compared to other erotica and BDSM type books, what we get here is pretty decent.  While we get a glimpse into the private world of BDSM clubs, we don’t get too deep there – just a glimpse and education of what can be had.  We get to be a part of some raunchy sex though – those scenes were pretty well written although there was the occasional slip into vocabulary that i think dumbed it down a bit.  all in all though it didn’t take away too much.

in any event, in true form of all these types of story, there’s quite a bit of anxiety in the last few chapters, someone dies, someone gets shot, trust is broken, trust is never fully regained among some….and the best past is that I know that there are several more books in this series to keep me going, it’s just a matter of determining who’s story will be next.

1) What’s next for Gray

2) What’s next for Faith

3) I’m in love with Damon – what is his deal? (i know i didn’t mention him at all above, but he’s the owner of The House – the BDSM club that’s in the story)

4) what’s next for Micah because we sure did learn a lot about him