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The Locked Heart (2011)

by Christina Thacher(Favorite Author)

3.99 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

0984909710 (ISBN13: 9780984909711)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Harmony Road Press

series

The Aerie Doms

review 1: I was recently introduced to this author and wanted to see how her approach to a BDSM story was. I am happy to say I was not disappointed. She writes a story with detailed elements of BDSM, along with an education of the rules and expectations for the Dom’s and Subs, while giving us an interesting story with characters that are so developed you feel as if they have become your friends. Darby and Damien meet during a delay in flights. He is a successful business man and Darby was drawn to him but she didn’t know why. He asked her for a night and that one night changed her life. Feeling things for a man that she never had before she searched his name on the internet and found he was Master D at a BDSM club and highly sought after. Showing up in Denver to surprise h... moreim she was able to spend the weekend with him and explore her submissive tendencies. She learned things about her desires and body that she never knew she was capable of feeling. More than that, she realized how she wanted her future to unfold and that included being a submissive and Damien’s woman.Darby returns to Boston but doesn’t feel complete. There is a void there that only Damien can fill, but he doesn’t appear willing to give up his Master Dom role to settle for just her. Little did she realize it wasn’t he didn’t want to give up being a Dom, he didn’t want to play with other subs after his weekend with Darby. Something is holding him back though from admitting it. As she explores her heart to see if she could share him, does she really want this lifestyle she decides she needs to see him one more time. The event explodes and drama happens. Will the black hearted Dom be able to allow love in and admit he wants her? The story is short, under 100 pages but it full of excitement and passion. While we do see a lot of BDSM action, the main part of the story is the human emotions and connections between Damien and Darby. The balance is very well thought out and did not tilt to one side or the other. Even in the middle of a scene, the author did a wonderful job at reminding the reader that this is more than sex, this is involving their heart and soul. Along with Damien and Darby we met Kai and X, both doms and friends with Damien. I love that the next book in this series The Frozen Heart is going to be Kai’s story. Stay tuned to the blog for my review of that book.
review 2: Actually 3.5 StarsWhen Darby finds herself stuck at the Airport hotel, the last thing she expects is to find her hidden submissive side. When a dark and mysterious man approaches her in the bar, she feels sensations that she has never felt before and feels powerless to stop. She can’t resist when he tries to take her back to a room, can’t resist when he commands her to pleasure him. After she wakes up alone, she can’t get him out of her mind. He left her his card, left her a way of contacting him but never any actual encouragement to do so. Will she brave the fear of rejection to discover more about herself?Master Damien never expected his airport fling would turn into something so terrifying. He has always been the cold aloof Dom, the man who subs can expect pleasure from but nothing more. Darby turned him inside out from the second they met. Her willingness to submit, her complete innocence at what she was doing, left him with the overwhelming desire to possess. He runs from the hotel room, desperate to regain his sense of balance but he can’t get her out of his mind. When she flies across the country to the BDSM club he frequents, he can barely believe his eyes. Will he push her away to retain his status as the unavailable Master Damien? Or will he allow her to get closer to his heart than she managed in their first meeting?Ahhh this book has left me with so many conflicted feelings. I need to discuss the book in terms of before the incident and after the incident. The incident in question is one of the most annoying things that can happen in a BDSM novella; they don’t play safe. Maybe my version of BDSM is twisted by the books I have read, the mantra of “safe, sane and consensual” that is imprinted on my brain from various prologues, but I immediately fell out of love with Darby when she went to a room with a strange man and allowed him full control. I have always said that heroines like this are too stupid to live, too unconcerned with their own safety for me to actually care about. I want her to either know him well or be in a sex club with people to help her out; these are the only ways my mind will find BDSM sexy. To me, it’s all about trust and you cannot trust a stranger. I also raised a concern about the lack of sexual contraception used in the first scene BUT condoms were used throughout after this; people take risks and I’ll accept that. Again contraception with strangers for me is a must; too many horrible pictures from my biology degree I expect :D Myself and the wonderful author of this book have discussed this at length; I understand why she did it, but it marred the rest of an otherwise fabulous novella. I will admit that I put the book down at this point. However, I picked it up again and I’m glad I did. I will now talk about the book post incident. Man, I enjoyed the character of Darcy after her complete lack of judgement at the beginning. She didn’t run from her submissive nature, she researched it and came back for round two better prepared. She didn’t run from rejection because she simply had to know one way or the other; she was a wonderfully strong character. Damien was a big wuss and this made him act like a complete ass. He would rather face a lifetime of being miserable and lonely than face the fact he may have fallen in love. He is HORRIBLE to her at points in his attempts at pushing her away. Honestly, there is one scene where he was such a prat I had to go away and calm down a little. But, the bigger they are, the harder they fall as they say :D The sex in this was wonderfully smutty, incredibly arousing and more than a little kinky. I will put a warning here that Darby has a little of a masochistic streak in her so if you don’t like a little force with your BDSM, I expect you may find some of these scenes a little hard. The only other complaint I have is that I was unsure on the timing of the events in this book. I never was actually sure how long there was between each meeting and I got a little confused. A well written and sexy novella, starred at a 3.5 only because of a personal pet peeve of mine. If you don’t mind it, or can let it go easier than I did, I encourage you to try this book. The sex is hot, the Dom is bossy (and slightly stupid) and the heroine is fab bar one rather questionable decision. I particularly liked the masquerade ball. Put me down for Xavier’s book….I like the sound of him :D less

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