Review: Changing Roles

Changing Roles by Ellie Masters
My rating: 2 of 5 stars


Kate loved her job as a cop. She was one of the best. She also thrived in the kinky lifestyle as a dominant. When her private life is exposed as deviant and disgusting, this rising star because a shooting star. Kate is not a phoenix who rises out of flames reborn. She is now barely surviving as a private investigator. She has also run far away from the lifestyle because of all the trouble it has brought her. When she is offered a chance to cover her bills and work on an investigation with the police, she has mixed feelings. To come in contact with her old colleagues as well as re-entering the lifestyle may the final act to her destruction.

The setup of this story is intriguing and caught my attention. This sordid tale of betrayal turned out just okay for me. The characters did very little to draw me into the story; I felt nothing for them. Kate has issues--issues that launched her to be a service top in my opinion, not a dominant. There is nothing wrong with this, just not my thing when the story twists her into a reluctant submissive. Pet peeve of mine--taking dominant women and showing them what they really need is the right "man" to bring out their sexy submissive nature. I know many switches; I myself am a switch. However, I decided to be a switch, no one had to convince me. Kate's situation is different and I understand it is a plot device to cause tension, conflict, angst, etc. For me, it did not work well and I am not impressed.

Let's talk about Jake. Jake is an arrogant pushy asshole. He can be charming but his attitude and how he corners Kate into being his submissive is appalling for me. Regardless of his supposed intent, I did not buy what he was selling. Have I seen this in real life? Definitely. One of the male dominants I know is known for picking on completely dominant women and trying to "show them the errors of their ways". I do not like it in real life and it carries through to how I felt about it as it was executed in this story.

The BDSM club is a nice romanticizing of a club. Definitely what I consider glitterkink. I wish clubs like this existed for me but then again, I probably couldn't afford it. Still, it is nicely described and I could visualize the club with the vivid descriptions. From a suspense and romance perspective, this is a nicely written erotica tale. From BDSM perspective, it did not work for me because of my pet peeves. This erotic suspense is recommended for kinky readers that enjoy an alpha males who know how to put a female in her place - on her knees begging.