Review: Taming Kalinda

Taming Kalinda by Dakota Trace
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When it comes to erotic power exchange, Ms. Trace is one tend to enjoy.  Returning back to the Chicago Doms series is like a homecoming.  Ms. Trace was one of the earlier BDSM writers who wrote realistic scenes with a good understanding of BDSM.  Almost a decade after I found her, her books still ring true for me.

In this follow up book, Kalinda, Caelan's sister from the first book is now in the lifestyle.  From a character perspective, Kalinda, Joshua and Dominic are all come across as real people... people whom I have met in the lifestyle.  These are people who are less than perfect and tend to do the wrong thing even if they should know better.  As a contemporary romance in the lifestyle, this story captures a more realistic view of how things can go so wrong through miscommunication.  And as with any relationship, communication is the key.  Even an experience dominant can have their best judgements clouded due to their emotional investment.  I have seen it happen.

From a writing perspective, Ms. Trace may need a better editor to help maintain consistency in her world building as well as her story flow.  There are a few times where the transition between scenes is a bit abrupt which can cause a reader to be pulled out of the story.  Since this is only the second book by the author, this is something that can be overcome with practice and experience.

The BDSM scenes are deliciously sensual.  The faded mentions of more intense scenes is a nice touch.  The poly relationship here is a closed Triad with two dominants and one submissive.  Not unheard of but sometimes more difficult than one dominant and two submissives.  I liked how Ms. Trace shows how this relationship can work and what can cause it to fail.  Nicely done.  

This erotic novel is recommended to kinky readers who enjoy erotic power exchange and MfM ménages.