Guest review by Jen

TITLE: Out of the Ashes

SERIES: The Game Series #5

It wasn’t until I stood there alone in the ashes, raw, naked, enraged, and in more pain than I could handle that I realized we’d been wrong from the beginning. I saw our history in the rubble—all our memories, the pictures filled with devotion and laughter, my wholehearted submission to him. And we had to rewrite the ending. We had to. Kingsley and I couldn’t be over. I missed him so much that it hurt to breathe. But we had burned out.

We will burn again, baby.

Our biggest mistake had been to put an expiration date on a love destined for eternity. We’d been blinded by our kinks not lining up perfectly. We’d let fears and insecurities rule in silence, and it was time to confront them head on. We were going to expose ourselves, push every limit, and reignite. Because Tate and I belonged in the fire. We played hard and loved even harder. I wouldn’t allow the unknown to terrify us, to restrict us, even if our new path was…unconventional. Even if we brought in help from someone who turned us into possessive animals.

Let’s hurt.

REVIEW:

Each book in this series has shown us different kinks like chapters in the book of House Mclean, the club estate for one of the kink communities.   Each has had its own difficulties to overcome, but they all seem to realign once the miscommunications are cleared up.  There are a myriad of relationship configurations, and this story is no different.  Here, one is the dom/sadist and the other the sub/masochist, who also happens to be a switch at times, which becomes their biggest issue.

Miscommunication, or lack thereof, seems to be the main detriment to Kingley (Lee) and Tate’s relationship woes, and those continue when Tate’s friend, Franklin, becomes more involved.  Franklin is going through a divorce, has a special needs child and his newly discovering his interest in men and kink through his discussions with Tate.  Turns out, his interests work well with both Tate and Kingley, although it takes some time to get there and not without more miscommunication.  The scenes with Franklin were my favorite part of this story.

Then we come to the last part of the story where it is back to just Tate and Kingsley and I found myself struggling again.  Perhaps I need to just stay away from the BDSM stories for a while.  I’m sure I’m in the minority in not completely loving this story, but I never really felt a connection with the characters, and when it seems as though one was beginning, the dynamic changed and it was like starting over.

Breathless was, by far, my favorite of this series, and I must be a bit of a masochist myself, as I just continue diving in thinking I’ll end up with one of the book hangovers of the past that I could count on from Ms. Dee’s books.  Unfortunately, while these were enjoyable, they just didn’t carry that weight for me.  Again, this seems to be an “it’s not the book, it’s me” issue, so I will continue to recommend all of Ms. Dee’s offerings.  While hesitant, I’m looking forward to Greer’s story and won’t hesitate to dive in again, albeit with fingers crossed.

RATING: 

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