Tag Archives: The Submissive Trilogy

Review: The Chalet (The Submissive Trilogy #3.5) by Tara Sue Me

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Title: The Chalet
Author: Tara Sue Me
Publisher/Year: Penguin Group USA 10/21/14
Length: 122
Series: The Submissive #3.5

Overview

Submitting her body was only the beginning.

Abby King didn’t know true passion until she gave herself to Nathaniel West, one of New York City’s most eligible bachelors and desired Dominants. Now, on the eve of her marriage, she realizes all her dreams are coming true. And with a romantic honeymoon getaway planned at a secluded Swiss chalet, she’s sure Nathaniel will find even more fantasies to fulfill…

Nathaniel never thought he’d settle down until Abby broke down his barriers and changed his plans. With their wedding only weeks away, he can barely wait to possess her completely—heart, body, and soul—and show her the true meaning of being both a wife and a submissive.

Only Abby has one more challenge in store before she becomes his: no sex and no collar for one month before the wedding. Nathaniel is willing to give it a shot but he has one scandalous stipulation—once that month is up, anything goes…

My Thoughts

What a sweet novella to carry us over until April when the next installment of what i thought was a trilogy comes out.  We are reunited with Abby and Nathaniel – on the eve (sort of) of their wedding.  A month or so out to be exact, but still the timing is pre-wedding.  We see that things are settling nicely for them – they have found a rhythm to their life, a way to do the D/s thing on the weekend and remain happy and balanced during the week. They have been successful in finding time for each other – remaining calm and keeping the spark and sensuality alive when they are together.

Things seem to be looking up – Abby’s bestie Felicia seems to have warmed up to Nathaniel, her own marriage is in a good place – Abby feels like she’s kept true to herself, and life couldn’t get any better.  As the wedding comes and goes, we see that Nathaniel has settled into a good place.  He continues to push Abby in ways that she wasn’t certain about before, and we see that the biggest question is what they will do when they notice that the barrier between weekend play and the weekday starts to blur.  This is where things get interesting i think – since Abby was always clear before that she didn’t want to be controlled during the week, yet it’s something that Nathaniel is showing her that he enjoys and that maybe is actually for her.

It’s not until the end of this story that we see their play take on a more aggressive tone.  It’s always been hot, passionate and a bit on the naughty/dirty side, but things continue to be pushed – limits pushed and that’s always a fine line to walk with these 2 since Abby will just run.  The question becomes will she and what will happen?  The other piece of things is that you know that their happy bubble will have to pop at some point too – and i’m curious on what’s going to cause that to happen.  Will it happen in this novella or will we have to wait until the next installment of the series?  Your guess is as good as mine!  The good thing here though is that our author continues to give us what we want out of these 2 – a great dynamic, characters that remain true to who they were at the beginning and still at present.  The chemistry comes off the pages and you feel like you’re really in need of a cold shower after scening with them.  Enjoy!

 

Review: The Training (The Submissive Trilogy #3) by Tara Sue Me

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Title:  The Training
Author:  Tara Sue Me
Publisher/Year:  Penguin Group (USA) 10/1/13
Length:  336 Pages
Series: Submissive Trilogy #3

Overview

Now, in the enticing conclusion to Tara Sue Me’s Submissive Trilogy, the submissive and her dominant explore just how long they can make the pleasure last…

It started with a hidden desire.

Millionaire CEO Nathaniel West has always played by his own strict set of rules, ones he expects everyone to follow—especially the women he’s dominated in his bedroom. But his newest lover is breaking down all his boundaries and rewriting his rule book.

Abby King never imagined that she would capture the heart of Nathaniel West, one of New York City’s most eligible bachelors—and its most desirable dominant. What began as a weekend arrangement of pleasure has become a passionate romance with a man who knows every inch of her body and her soul – yet remains an enigmatic lover. Though he is tender and caring, his painful past remains a wall between them.

Abby knows the only way to truly earn his trust is to submit to him fully and let go of all of her lingering inhibitions. Because to lead Nathaniel on a path to greater intimacy, she must first let him deeper into her world than anyone has ever gone before…

My Thoughts

We’ve seen this couple go on quite the roller coaster throughout their relationship in order to get to the place that they’re at now.  They realized that they can’t live without each other, but they can’t fit into the same type of relationship as before.  There’s love there which is new for both, but there’s still the D/s side of things and they have to figure out how to make that work.

This final installment opens up with Nathaniel and Abby trying things a bit differently.  They’ve decided that Nathaniel will continue to train Abby to be the proper sub, but on weekends only and they will try to have a ‘normal’ relationship during the week.  this is new since they will be forced to find the happy balance and manage to understand each other when the time proves itself.

this finale takes us on that journey, where they try to find what works for them, while trying to make sense of it in the real world.  Nathaniel wants to push Abby as much as he can without pushing her away, and Abby continues to feel like she’s going to let him down and therefore their relationship …

While this gave me what i was hoping for in closure of the story, i have to say that it wasn’t as great as the other books.  there was quite a bit of steam and passion, especially when Nathaniel introduces Abby into the lifestyle in more depth, bringing her to the edge and then not letting her fall over, but i think that there was something missing.  there wasn’t a lot of anxiety which is what i’ve come to love in final books of a trilogy.

regardless, if you want the smoky heat from Nathaniel, you get it.  if you want Abby giving herself entirely to her master, you get that too.  you also get to see the journey that Abby takes to become the perfect sub which is also a nice bit to read.

ARC Review : The Dominant (The Submissive Trilogy #2) by Tara Sue Me

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Title:  The Dominant
Author: Tara Sue Me
Publisher/Year:  The Penguin Group (USA) 8/6/2013
Length:  400 pages
Series: SubmissiveTrilogy #2

Overview

Nathaniel West doesn’t lose control.

As the playboy CEO of West Industries, he governs the boardroom during the day; as a strict dominant with exacting rules, he commands the bedroom at night. He never takes on inexperienced submissives, but when Abigail King’s application comes across his desk, he breaks his own restrictions and decides to test her limits.

Abby’s combination of innocence and willingness is intoxicating, and Nathaniel is soon determined to collar her as his own. As long as she follows his orders and surrenders herself fully to him, no one will get hurt.

But when Nathaniel begins falling for Abby on a deeper level, he realizes that the trust must go both ways—and he has secrets which could bring the foundations of their entire relationship crashing down…

My Thoughts

i’ve gotten used to the idea of installments coming out from the POV of the other lead, but i don’t know if that was necessarily what i was expecting here.  Granted with the title of The Dominant, there’s not much else to expect, i still didn’t think that it would be a carbon copy.  that being said, i actually enjoy the idea of seeing the whole story replayed through the eyes of Nathaniel and hear what his internal struggles were since we didn’t get a good picture of all that until the very end of Submissive

What we get here was actually a nice story showing us a more human side of Nathaniel.  I think that we’re typically accustomed to the Dom being more of a hard ass and really not having this internal debate from the get go on his relationship with his sub.  Nathaniel has a back story that we started to hear about in book 1 and really get into here in book 2.

The other really nice thing that was done here was that we got to know Paul, the mentor that showed Nathaniel the ropes 10 years ago when he was thinking about the lifestyle, and it’s really great to see a dom in one of these types of stories get a chastising and really see that it’s not something that you’re born knowing how to do – you actually have to have someone teach you the basics about how to be a good dom.  On top of everything else, that makes me like Nathaniel that much more.

So aside from all of that, we didn’t veer too much off of The Submissive, it’s only the last few chapters that really shape the story differently and set us up for a good finale in The Training.

There was a teaser of The Training at the end of the ARC that i read and i’m really looking forward to what’s to come.  i think that we see a big dynamic shift here, and we see that there’s going to be a bit of give and take, and both i think will be trained in some sense or another.

It’s Hot, and it’s Steamy and that’s one of the GREAT things that i’ve come to appreciate from Tara Sue Me.  Her scenes don’t disappoint, and i found that maybe i shouldn’t have been reading this and The Submissive on the Train while commuting since i felt like i was hiding a dark and dirty secret by reading this stuff and i felt my cheeks turn red (at least maybe i thought they were) because of the tone and verbiage that were used over and over again.

Here are my questions

1) what’s in store for Abby (Abigail) and Nathanlel?

2) will we continue the story with Jackson and Felicia?

3) Will melanie play a role at all in book 3?

4) who’s going to be trained and in what sense?

5) is there going to be some dark secret that comes out or some bit of angst or anxiety that makes the finale a tense one?

so, for those of you who weren’t lucky to get the pre-read, at least it’s less than 2 months until you’ll get to read it!