Rating: 2.5 / 5

It's rare for me to read an erotic romance that tweaks the wrong buttons, that inspires such conflicted feelings. This book definitely does that.

Series Note:
Second book in Banks's "Sweet" series...and erotic romance series with a BDSM theme among connected characters. You probably don't need to read the first book first.

Summary:
Serena James runs a business that caters to people getting their fantasies...whether it be to be a head chef in a top restaurant, or to be a princess on a cruise ship. But Serena has never delved into her own fantasies...until now. Her darkest desire is to be a man's slave, to cater to his every whim and be completely under his control.

Enter Damon Roche, a man who has searched for a woman to be completely his. He's almost given up hope until Serena enters the picture. He volunteers to give her her fantasy, knowing it'll only be for a short time. But once she's his, Damon doesn't want to give her up.

Review:
Hmmm...well...what to say about this book? I've read a lot of erotic romances with a lot of different kinks in them. And I'm generally not bothered by them. I have a high kink tolerance and like I said in my review for book 1 in this series: as long as everyone is consenting, of legal age, and not harming anyone else, I don't care what people do. So while I'm not going to say that the sexual element of this book is wrong, it definitely didn't do it for me and made me uncomfortable. And yet, at the same time, I liked the characters, thought there was still a decent romance and in a general sense, I liked the book.

The basis of this story is that Serena wants to be, for lack of better words, a slave to a man. I've read a lot of BDSM themed books before, but I think this is the first one that went full slave theme. And I can't say I liked it once I got into the story. Reading about a woman who is totally under a man's control - he told her when to dress, what to wear, how to act, etc - kinda skeeved me out. I mean, Damon has Serena sit on the floor with her head in his lap while he petted her and did his work. He even had a pallet on the floor in his office for her and all that. It just did not work for me. It was too much. It crossed a line for me from hot erotic romance to...something else. I wasn't turned on by it at all. And I admit I have a hard time understanding why someone would want a relationship like that. For me, it's one thing to want a take charge man, and another thing to be a man's slave.

And yet...like I said above...there were still things I liked about the book. Somehow, I still liked Damon. I liked him in the first book, and despite his need to be a slave master in this book, I still liked him. For the most part, he's a kind, generous, caring man. Who just happens to want a slave relationship with a woman. Weird.

Then there's Serena...hard to say what I thought about her. I'm not sure I ever was able to understand why she wanted to be a slave. I think the lack of understanding there took something away from the story a bit. But overall I liked her and I think Banks's did a good job exploring her conflict over what she wanted. And I liked the business she ran. Very unique

Plus, you get more of the secondary characters who are all fascinating. I'm really looking forward to seeing how things play out with Julie and Nathan. Should be interesting.

WARNING, this book contains: explicit sex, explicit language, anal sex, toys, BDSM...heavy emphasis on D/s slave element and bondage, spanking, whipping, public sex and D/s acts, involved of others in those acts, humiliation....definitely not a book for everyone. If you are even remotely not a fan of BDSM you will not like this book.