Shelly's Reviews > Belong to Me

First, let me start with what was good. There's no doubt Shayla Black is a decent, I'll even say good writer. Her books flow pretty well, and she writes some of the best and steamiest sex scenes that just about set the whole book on fire. It's why I want to read her, the erotica is sexy as hell and it seems she knows her stuff when it comes to the lifestyle (I couldn't say otherwise, not knowing anything really about it). If you're ever looking for a scorching read with beautiful heroines and uber alpha usually military type males and awesome sex between them, I'll point you to Ms. Black's books, especially Wicked Ties, as it's my favorite and the first of her books I read. Granted, I've pretty much only read the Wicked Ties series, and I think one other. I'm thinking this is my 6th or 7th of her books. I really do enjoy her writing. But. . .

And this is a big but - it feels like the exact same plot like, same sequence of events happening every time. It's really not, because her plots are varied, but it just feels the same. It's always the same tone, always the men taking care of the women, always two men to one woman, always the uber alpha man is a Dom, always the heroine who thinks she's not into being dominated but the hero knows her true feelings better. Always the woman eventually giving in, giving up the fight and becoming the hero's dream submissive, after lots of sex and attempts of the hero trying to subdue her, always calling it a 'pretty pussy,' always granite hard muscles on the men. It's very formulaic in that way. These books are suppose to be sort of a romantic suspense in a way, but it's always obvious who the villain is. It's growing tiresome for me, and I wish the author would expand her horizons more. I know she has a paranormal series out, and I haven't tried it, but PNR is not my thing, I can read it only every once in a while. I want the sexiness the uber hot alpha heroes, but give me different emotions, different plot lines and a heroine with a backbone would be nice. I noticed in the author's notes/acknowledgments she really tried to develop 'Cherry' into a much more emotional character. I'll admit she's got some depth, but the constant back and forth in Cherry's mind was annoying. Even after she found out why Logan left her, she couldn't trust him. It was 'should I or shouldn't I trust him?' when I think it would have worked better as 'how am I going to reconcile the bastard I thought he was to the decent man he is.' When you hold such deep resentment for someone for 12 years to where your first meeting has you fleeing, then something's wrong and you obviously still have feelings for him and should be able to recognize that, instead of throwing a temper tantrum. If he didn't mean that much to you, you wouldn't be turned on by him, and it would hella awkward to be so intimately involved with him on a case.

Speaking of the case, I may not be privy to what sort of under cover missions the FBI has and what they really require of their operatives to bust up a sex ring, but somehow I don't think this type of case would fly. If so, I found the way it was discussed childish and more like how a 16 year old boy would talk about it, instead of how a professional would. It seemed very 'on the surface' and trite. And I don't think it's the first time this author has used sex clubs, BDSM and the like to put an FBI agent into this kind of lifestyle. Please pick something different!

If you like this series, I think you'll like this one. It really does have all the hallmarks of the typical book in the Wicked Ties series, so it'll be jumping into something familiar. But if you're like me and kinda tired of the same 'ol same 'ol, well, you'll still enjoy the scorching sex scenes, as Logan is hot and Cherry is to be envied. If you haven't read any in this series, I suggest you start with the first one, Wicked Ties, even though you don't really have to read this series in order, they are very easily stand alones. I just like it the best.