☾ Dαɴιyα ☽'s Reviews > Naughty Wishes Part IV: Soul

This isn't really my review of Naughty Wishes Part IV, but my thoughts about all parts.

A few months ago, after Knight Nostalgia: A Knights of the Board Room Anthology reminded me of how much I love reading BDSM romances penned by Joey W. Hill, I just had to read something else she wrote. Naughty Wishes was the logical choice. After all, I had read the first novella way back in 2015, and for whatever reason hadn't read the rest. It was a lapse on my part I was finally going to rectify.

I started with Part II, thinking I remembered enough from the first part not to get lost. Wrong! So I went back to Body to refresh my memory. Aaaand.... this time around I wasn't so into it. I've left the rating and the review I wrote back when I first read it, but now it would be three stars, the same rating I gave to the rest of the novellas. Three stars is far from being a bad thing — it means I liked it — but I am used to giving Joey W. Hill's works a higher rating than that. I expected to like this series more than I did is what I'm saying. I certainly expected it would be a much quicker read. I can't blame real life for the amount of time it took me to read these four novellas. No, real life can't be blamed in this case, but I think I've figured out what can.

Geoff, Chris, and Samantha had been friends for years, and for years they'd all wanted to be more than friends, none of them daring to take the leap in fear of spoiling the friendship they shared. Sam was the one to make the first step to change that. That happened in Part I: Body. In each part these characters were figuring out their relationship: in the first part, it was Sam and Geoff, in the second, Sam and Chris, the third was focused on Geoff and Chris, and the last one was about the three of them together. Figuring out how to make a relationship work is something I've rightfully come to expect from Ms. Hill's romance books. That is what they are about — two (or more) people learning how to be together described in great detail. I know not to expect a plot with lots of twists and turns, and I didn't expect it or want it when I started Naughty Wishes again. However, that changed at some point while I was reading it. I got an itch for a book with twists and turns, and this one couldn't scratch it.

Another thing is that Geoff, Sam, and Chris were all BDSM newbies, so they were not only figuring out how to make a functional relationship, but also learning the BDSM ropes. The whole situation was an unknown territory for them. They had to tread carefully, I know, and good for them. It would just seem that at this point I would prefer to read a BDSM romance with characters or at least one character who's had experience in the world. That's why whenever Logan, Troy, and Madison appeared, they would steal the show.

Overall, I liked Naughty Wishes, but I did not enjoy it as much or read it as quickly as I thought I would, and I've explained why that was, but there was something else. I felt like something was missing in that relationship Geoff, Sam, and Chris were building. I just couldn't put my finger on it... I can't put my finger on it...