Review: What About Love
What About Love by Maddie Taylor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Exclusive BDSM clubs and a company staffed with dominant males from a law enforcement or military background - be still my beating heart. Ms. Taylor is a new to me author I wish I picked up earlier. This book is the last installment in her Club Decadence series. It is also the only book in this series I have read. This can be easily read as a standalone. However, I believe reading the previous books in this series would make a more pleasurable experience. This is because there are characters from the previous books showing up in here. Ms. Taylor does a good job of a quick summary in reference to each character so it isn't too confusing for those who choose to read this book out of order.
This book is a great romantic suspense. This is a two for one as readers experience a good suspense and a great romance. For those who are looking for an equal balance of the two genre, this book will do it for you. I am surprised at how good the suspense part is written. I am delighted to find out that the suspense part resolved, I still have a half the book to enjoy. I am delighted because this story goes on past the suspense and then focuses on the romance part between the two main characters. The character development in this story is well done. Angela Hixson is a jaded cop who busted open the corruption in her own department. Her department already against her for being a female, Angela makes the right move and joins the private sector. At Rossi Security, the rules are different. Angela finds her place with her first big case to hunt down a murderer kidnapping and killing submissives from a BDSM club.
I liked Angela a lot. I did not like Antonio "Lil T". He is a rat bastard and does not deserve Angela. His treats Angela poorly and I do not understand how Angela can ever trust him. Three times he screwed her over. Three times he behaved abominably. There is no way I can fathom trusting him as a dominant. He is not trustworthy and this is one part of the book I did not enjoy. I felt badly for Angela each time.
The BDSM in this story is mixed for me. From a glitterkink perspective, it works. I love the club. I enjoy the BDSM scenes. I loved the carousel. Now, keep in mind, I am a jaded reader and the lifestylers I am around are heavy into bloodplay and pretty much everything dangerous. This much alluded punishment carousel was a bit of a letdown as far as intensity. As for a fapping good time, the carousel will now feature in my dirty fantasies. I would be one of those submissives eagerly signed up on the volunteer sheet, waiting months until I could get a spin on it. I am glad Ms. Taylor used L.A. for the venue because the kink groups in L.A. are edgier than the ones in San Fran. I digress.
I also enjoyed the BDSM mixed with work. This is totally wrong in many ways, but it works well for me. I realize in real life with my handy HR background, Rossi Security is a sexual harassment suit waiting to explode. Lucky for them they only employee males and one female. Still, the way T trains Angela is messed up. It does make for a very smoking hawt scene. Ladies, make sure your vibrators are charged up and ready to go for some of the ending sex scenes.
So where was the disconnect making me wince? I did not like T as a dominant. Some of the things he said and did bothered me. Now from a realistic standpoint, T is probably pretty accurate of some real live dominants. None of them are perfect. T just grated on my nerves because for some reason, he thinks he is a really good dominant and he is not. Sure he admits he does not know ropes and would be willing to learn for Angela, but the way he behaves and treats Angela is not cool for me. Perhaps Ms. Taylor does this on purpose to show how twisted he is inside between his past and wanting Angela. I just know for me, T is a dominant I do not want to have anything to do with because he harms people emotionally.
The ending does bring a rushed happily ever after. It does feel a little forced. The epilogue is nice as it brings all the different couples in this series together and shows how they triumphed over hardships. This romantic suspense is recommended for kinky readers who enjoy maledom.
*ARC provided by Blushing Books
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