Fiordiligii

After having consumed roughly 3000 romance stories, I can safely say that I have never read anything remotely resembling the Songs of Submission series by CD Reiss.

For a while "good girls gone bad" plots were all the rage - a trope I tried to avoid at all costs. Then, as the genre progressed, sexually confident women found their way into erotic romances. But more often than not, those women were full of bodily issues and insecurities, but abracadabra were able to loose their inhibitions with the "right" man. Monica Faulkner - this splendid series' heroine - is with no doubt my number one character when it comes to a truly intelligent, her sexuality embracing - and loving - woman. She is such a fresh breath of air, it is hard to give her wonderful character justice in a review with a view measly words. As her submission to Jonathan progresses, she experiences all the lows and highs that come with this kind of sexual fulfilment she has never experienced before. But she is a strong woman who doesn't need a man to talk sense into her. She takes an honest look at herself and her cravings and commits herself full-heartedly to this relationship. And let me tell you, the sex in this story is gloriously sexy and steamy, highly original and – my personal favourite – with little to no BDSM paraphernalia. Frankly, I prefer BDSM romances without the fetish gear, clubs, truck load of toys and special furniture. Jonathan is very creative with his hands – and is definitely a dom without the need for the whole get-up.

The fly in the ointment when it comes to my personal satisfaction with this story, is Jonathan's illness, which is the main subject in the final instalment of this romance story. Due to severe heart problems Jonathan receives a heart transplant. And let me tell you, this plot turn just about gave me my very own heart attack. I absolutely HATE reading about such stuff in my romances, especially about transplants. Its life span may be ten to fifteen years with excellent care. The amount of medicaments that are necessary in order for the body not to repulse the organ is horrendous and constantly weakens the immune system. And let's not start on the ethical question which is a completely different story. But I loved Monica's way of dealing with the situation. She is incredibly strong and would literally comit murder in order to save the love of her life.

Needless to say, I am not completely satisfied with the ending which is all the more sad as the Songs of Submission series definitely makes the top five of my all-time favourite romances. Because of this my final grade for the series is a B- and not an A+.

Wow, probably one of the first dark stories I truly liked and enjoyed. Sexy as hell, featuring some pretty gritty and nasty stuff. I preferred the first instalment to Torture in Her Soul. Not because of its darkness but because I kind of wished for more intimacy between the hero and heroine. I go with an A- for Monster in His Eyes and a B- for Torture in Her Soul.

The conflict seemed kind of blown up and annoyed me towards the ending. C-

Ermm, just bad and full of senseless misunderstandings that could have been solved with a proper sitting down and talking. F

I loved the whole idea and set-up of this book. Kind of a marriage of convenience plot in modern days with a yummi hero and innocent heroine thrown in. The sex between those two however felt so clinical, dry and boring that I couldn't bring myself to continue. DNF

I was quite looking forward to this novel and expected something a bit edgy, dark and not always politically correct - especially after reading a blog post from this author where she mentioned that she doesn't do one hundred percent perfect doms.

I discontinued 50% into the story, mainly because the dom, Julien, turned me off completely and fucking annoyed me to no end. I didn't mind the sixteen years gap between the heroes, heck, I love May-December romances, well, as long as one of the MCs isn't Hugh Hefner yet.

One of Julien's rules is no lying, and he punishes Shane several times quite strictly for doing so. (For a virgin boy who isn't even sure about his gayness and inclination towards submission, I didn't particularly appreciate his way of punishment with little preparation and no talk about boundaries). However, Mr. Proper himself is lying continuously as he uses subterfuge and tricks to bind Shane to him and to make him his boy.

What ultimately made me discontinue the story was their first anal sex together. I like reading sex scenes. Enjoy them dirty and dark, sexy and sweet and sometimes full of (good) pain. In this case it felt to me just as if Shane was being deliberately and clinically hurt. There was little preparation and comfort just a demand to endure. If he truly wants this boy so much, is it too much to ask to show some kindness? He knows he is only eighteen and comes from a rather strict and unloving home. DNF

This book is quite difficult to rate. On one hand it features a lot of guilty pleasure ingredients such as hot as hell sex scenes and a lovely and possessive alpha hero. On the other hand there were so many spelling mistakes in the story that I could barely continue reading.

My biggest problem, however, is the virginal heroine who does just about anything to please the hero and constantly worries whether she is "good enough" for him. She's barely out of high school and the "I have already banged 300 women" hero takes her pretty roughly on their first date. They have semi-public sex, even in a toilet and not once does she tell him to take it slower. She behaves like a seasoned hooker who is used to such a set up. And let’s be honest. Wild and rough sex is great, but which eighteen year old virgin would feel comfortable naked in a public restroom to perform porno-esque alike?

I don't mind insecure and young heroines who need time to grow but I just wanted to shake the girl to stop worrying about whether she pleases Gabe or not. This kind of lack of self-worth was pretty annoying.


The sex scenes itself were copiously to be found in the novel. I am not sure whether I will continue reading the series due to the sheer amount of spelling mistakes I have only encountered in this instalment. Also, I need to be in the mood to deal with this rather immature heroine. C-

The sex scenes were absolutely hot and captivating. As the story progressed the plot became kind of lame and I only read the truly sexy love scenes. The trilogy could profit from some serious editing as there are quite some spelling mistakes and drawn out scenes that need shortening. I go with an A for the hotness of the sex scenes and a C for the plot itself.

I totally wanted to read this story. Hunky personal trainer helps lushly built, slightly overweight woman to find her old self again and to recuperate from her mom's death. Unfortunately, I didn’t really connect with the author’s voice, hence the discontinuing. DNF

This novel was just plain boring. Maybe I am expecting too much in a BDSM novel nowadays, but after having struggled through half of the novel I started skipping large parts. D

The sex scenes were absolutely hot and captivating. As the story progressed the plot became kind of lame and I only read the truly sexy love scenes. The trilogy could profit from some serious editing as there are quite some spelling mistakes and drawn out scenes that need shortening. I go with an A for the hotness of the sex scenes and a C for the plot itself.

After having read a rather alarming number of average to bad stories, I turned to Samantha Young, in serious need of a comfort read. There is some stuff towards the ending of the book that could have been dealt with in a better way, but all together Echoes of Scotland Street was a truly entertaining and never boring nor dragging story. B-

When Lisa Kleypas started writing contemporaries I was a bit reluctant but her Travis series immediately landed on my favourite list and has since been re-read a number of times. All the more disappointing was Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor which isn't a bad novel, but about as average as possible without the charismatic and emotional storyline I normally can expect from this author. C-

I absolutely loved the writing right up to the middle when the heroine became pregnant, was brutally raped and the story needed another four years until hero ad heroine finally found together after a ton of misunderstandings. . There was so much potential to the story, but I am rarely happy with pregnancy plots and must have overseen this when I researched the story. Merde. Also I could have done without the happy ending regarding the alleged villainess. C-

Great and sexy as hell guilty pleasure kink story until the heroine became pregnant. *headdesk* B-

Wow, probably one of the first dark stories I truly liked and enjoyed. Sexy as hell, featuring some pretty gritty and nasty stuff. I preferred the first instalment to Torture in Her Soul. Not because of its darkness but because I kind of wished for more intimacy between the hero and heroine. I go with an A- for Monster in His Eyes and a B- for Torture in Her Soul