I received a free copy of this book from Author for an honest review.
This does not affect in any way my opinion of the book nor the content of my review.

Dark Blue by Natasha Bond
Series: Study in Seduction #1
Published by Samhain Publishing on September 24, 2013
Genres: Erotica
Source: Author
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WARNING: This book contains sensitive material such as sexual content, abuse, and/or violence.

Five years after losing her husband, Carla Jonas has finally decided to go for her dreams—all her dreams, from studying literature at Oxford to exploring a secret desire to be dominated and disciplined. A desire she never knew she had until six months ago, when a mysterious masked man pleasured her at a fetish party.
She’s stunned when she meets her new college professor. Not only is the gorgeous French academic, Alex Lemaitre, notoriously strict, this isn’t the first time they’ve met. She’d know that exotic accent anywhere—he’s her masked lover. Except he won’t even admit he was there that night.
There’s no mistaking the sexual attraction smoldering between them, and when he issues her a challenge, she’s more than up for it. Even when his unique tutoring methods drag her far beyond her comfort zone.
But as he leads her on a journey of sensual discovery, she’s not sure if any degree of submission will find its way into his guarded heart, or if she’ll end up with her own heart broken.

This was an unexpected fast read that kinda brought me back to University. Now, I didn’t have any professor/student cliché, but I did experience panic when sending/presenting an assignment (who didn’t?). Anyway, Carla’s agitation might have been of a different kind . . .

Alex and Carla are an interesting couple, they intrigued me from the moment (and circumstance) they met but, I must say, the D&S part didn’t completely convinced me. Alex clearly wants to discipline Carla and that seems to play well at the beginning, but then dominant and submissive don’t appear to stick to their roles and they certainly don’t follow the basic rules. The sex is steamy—especially when you include a motorbike in it!—no doubts on that, I just couldn’t quite picture this couple having a real D&S relationship. I also had an issue with time jumps. Days or even weeks regularly go by and the events that happen in those time frames are often skipped, leaving the reader with perhaps just a vague idea of the facts. I couldn’t help but feeling a bit lost . . .

Overall, I did enjoy the book, there were twists that together with some erotic poetry made me particularly eager to keep reading and I’ve reached the end pretty quickly. I’d be curious to see what else is at play and for who.

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