Maggie Reads Romance

I read a rough snippet of this book when Joely Sue Burkhart was in the very early stages of writing it and I knew right then and there this was a book I HAD TO read! So when an early reading copy was offered to me I grabbed it faster than a kid in a candy store!

This book was everything I expected and more. I read it in practically one sitting because I just couldn't stop reading. Lilly and Donovan were awesome characters and I loved reading their journey to the HEA. These two characters were layered and I thoroughly enjoyed peeling those layers off to get to their cores. Donovan's struggle with his needs and his search for the woman who could give him what he so desperately needed had me captivated. Lilly's needs were more subtle but not less present. She was strong and vulnerable at the same time. Together they set the pages on fire with the scenes and had me choked up with the powerful emotions the writing evoked.

Joely Sue Burkhart's style of BDSM-writing is one I've always been drawn to and in making the billionaire a submissive instead of the dominant as the majority of authors do, she's already quite ahead of the others in my book. Also, I found the tiny nudge to the Connaghers series and it warmed my heart as that series will always have a special place in my romance-lover's heart. And have to say that this first book in a new series is right next to it.

Memorable Scenes:
- the one with the contract negotiations > that chair scene was hot!
- the one with the cherry pie > Wow!
- the one with the secretary > Go Donovan!
- the one with the Hamiltons > *fans self*

Favorite Quotes:
Donovan was sweating enough that his crisp white shirt stuck to him beneath his coat despite the air conditioning blasting. In just a few minutes of casual interaction, she’d managed to thaw him. He wasn’t frozen any longer, but burning up. Raging out of control.

“What if I say no?” She kept her voice light and soft, watching his reaction.
His eyes locked onto hers. “Then I’ll find a way to convince you to say yes. I might be submissive, but I’m not the kind of man who’s ever going to settle for no.”

She looked at him in all his arrogant pride and explosive temper, and saw a man she’d love to muss up. She wanted to knock him off balance and watch him stammer. She wanted to make him so furious he’d explode with lust. And then she wanted to bring him to his knees with the force of his need.

Dear God. A corset. Stockings. If she pulls a crop out of her bag I’m going to pass out when my dick explodes.

His words fell off and he cracked open an eye to see her reaction. His face stilled into the more guarded mask of privileged indifference, hiding the fragile glimpse of raw lust trying to burst into life in his eyes.

Her gentle words tore through the last bit of his reserve and he shook in her arms. Great, racking sobs wrenched from him like she reached inside and yanked them out with her fist. Everything dissolved inside him. Everything he would have sworn he believed or knew about himself. Gone. Everything he’d fought his whole life to obtain. Worthless. Everything he’d ever wanted or felt with another woman paled in comparison.