It was well written, sexy, erotic and down to earth, but something about the characters and their interactions just didn’t hit all of my hot buttons. ~ Leigh, Guilty Pleasures
Description:
What would you do if someone offered to fulfill your wildest fantasies?
Seductive.
Charming.
Dominant.
Dean Sova is everything Maya Clery craves. From the first touch, their connection is intense. After leaving her troubled past behind, Maya thought she was happy—she is happy—but meeting Dean forces her to acknowledge dark needs she longs to explore yet has never had the courage to face.
Her perfect match, Dean encourages Maya to set loose the submissive urges inside her in a series of assignments intended to open her mind and test the limits of pleasure…but Maya isn’t sure she can fully let go of her inhibitions.
What would you do if someone offered to fulfill your wildest fantasies?
The answer seems obvious. You take the offer and hope the price isn’t too high.
Book one of Lessons in Control
ARC provided with no expectations
I went into this book hoping for an edgy story of a man bringing a submissive into the world of BDSM, but maybe I’ve just been reading too many dark stories lately. “The Assignment” was well written, sexy, erotic and down to earth, but something about the characters and their interactions just didn’t hit all of my hot buttons.
Dean and Maya meet and hit it off immediately. But I’m not sure what that connection was based on other than physical attraction. Not that there is anything wrong with that and I’ve certainly read (and loved) a number of stories where the relationship started with insta-lust and grew from there. However, here it just felt off.
Dean pulls Maya into a relationship based on assignments he gives her. But for some reason, they felt more awkward than sexy to me. Perhaps it was because Maya overanalyzed them. Perhaps it was because she constantly alluded to her past relationship which dabbled in BDSM and went wrong and the repetitive references became tiresome. Whatever the reason, I didn’t feel the eroticism that the assignments were supposed to elicit. When Dean and Maya were together they were scintillating. But the tasks felt forced.
I also felt that there was a larger story I was missing. There was an undercurrent running through the book that I felt I should be picking up on, but just couldn’t grasp because I wasn’t given enough information. Dean constantly referenced his mentor, but I couldn’t understand if there was supposed to be more than met the eye there. Maya’s best friend warns her off of Dean, but never gives her a clear reason why. Maya’s past relationship keeps popping up as a large part of her past, but it seems as if her ex is just a jerk and there is no reason why she couldn’t have walked away. The story dragged in parts for me and I’m not sure if it was because this book was just setting up the remainder of the trilogy which would answer these questions.
Also, when I read BDSM, I like to see a true alpha-male and that was not Dean. He was dominant in the bedroom and nice and considerate, and I liked all of those things in him. He was a good guy and always making sure that Maya was comfortable and saw to her needs. He came off as the perfect hero in a romance, with just a side of kink. But I felt he was the wrong guy for a story based on commanding the heroine to take on kinky assignments to push her boundaries. Both of these characters were exploring their dominant and submissive sides and it was a journey they were traveling through together. This is completely a personal opinion, but I just like my story men that dabble in BDSM to be more experienced. Many people will enjoy watching Dean and Maya grow together as a couple. It just wasn’t my cup of tea.
Overall, The Assignment was a decent read. It was sexy and sweet. But it just wasn’t the right fit for me.
3.25 stars
Thanks Leigh for the review