MasterSal's Reviews > Dangerous Cravings

I read a small little novella, Masks, by this author which had been on my Kindle for ages. I was impressed by it enough (see: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...) that I decided to give one of the author’s full length books a try. Since Paranormal Romance and I are on a break these days (don't ask - I am looking at you Ms. Singh and Ms. Briggs).

Knock me down with a feather - this was good. The story revolves around two homicide detectives trying to stop a serial killer. The twist - if it can be called that since it’s in the blurb - is that he is killing erotica author and our heroine is one herself. Cue dramatic music (and my wish that the blurb had kept some of this out of the synopsis. Even though the book makes the connection clear I didn’t like learning about it from the back of the book. Since that has nothing to do with the author I am giving this a pass).

The story has light BDSM elements, mostly around accepting your desires and not shaming yourself and others. This was probably the healthiest representation I’ve read in romance. I am also cognizant that this came out before Fifty Shades of Grey which made BDSM such a prevalent trope. It was interesting to see some topics explained which have now become pop culture staples (doms/subs etc.). This does date the book a little but again, the concept of a couple, exploring was refreshing. The heroine called the hero out on kink-shaming which I cheered for.

I’ve noticed in recently written romance novels where an experienced hero initiates a naïve heroine into the BDSM scene and she takes to it like a duck to water. This is basically a variant of the rake-virgin stereotype which annoys me. Thankfully, this book avoids this; there is an actual teacher here - imagine that. Who would have thought that magic-romance-dom-mental telepathy powers (because that would be the only thing that would explain how the heroes know their lady loves are into the hard core BDSM which starts on page 2) are not needed.

So the romance worked for me but the real surprise was that the mystery worked as well. It’s a simple enough mystery that it doesn't overwhelm the romance or frankly make all the canoodling inappropriate (there is no “let’s stop for a quick while people are dying” scene here - I’m looking at you Sarah J. Maas). The activities actually spend a decent time in the book working. I’d recently read another ostensible romantic suspense novel, I Thee Wed, where this wasn’t done half as convincingly (see: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...) that I couldn't help but be impressed.

In the end, I am giving this 5 stars for the treatment of BDSM adding to the romance and the balancing of the mystery. The writing was tight and kept me reading (to the detriment of work). I now wonder if I should give Paranormal Romance another try - hmmm.