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Review: Dominated

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Review: DominatedDominated (The Enforcers, #2) by Maya Banks
Series: The Enforcers #2
Published by Berkley on May 3rd 2016
Genres: Contemporary
Pages: 352
Goodreads
two-stars

“Evangeline. His angel. He’d found her. Finally.”

FINAL DECISION:  I loved the first book in this series and had high hopes for this second book.  Unfortunately, I didn’t feel that the relationship between Evangeline and Drake developed at all and Drake’s poor treatment of Evangeline never really gets better.

THE STORY: Beginning right where the events of MASTERED ended, DOMINATED tells the story of Drake and Evangeline. Drake has devastated Evangeline with his treatment of her.  Trying to protect her, Drake savaged her emotionally in front of his business rivals. Evangeline has left Drake and now Drake is determined to find her and get her to forgive him.

OPINION: I had high hopes for this book.  I really loved the first book in the series and couldn’t wait until this book came out to complete Drake and Evangeline’s story.  Unfortunately, I was deeply disappointed.  The problem for me was that Drake and Evangeline’s emotional story didn’t progress at all.  It has seemed at the end of MASTERED that Drake had reached a crisis point.  After his treatment of Evangeline, it seemed like once they were back together that he would change, that she would change, that their relationship would be different.  Instead, Evangeline forgave Drake too easy and once again in this book he treated her abominably.

I don’t mind alpha dominate jerks as heroes as long as they end up treating the heroine with love and respect. Drake never learned this lesson.  While the two reconcile at the end of DOMINATED, I had no confidence that he wouldn’t go off the rails and treat Evangeline terribly again. I never felt that his characters made any changes that would justify a belief in an ultimate HEA. I ended up liking his “brothers” more than him because they believed in Evangeline while he immediately distrusted her without much reason.

For me, this book felt like an afterthought that was no necessary.  I don’t think that this story needed two books to tell and probably would have been better as one book.  Too much of this book felt repetitive of MASTERED both in the story and also emotionally. The characters relationship seemed to stagnate and I lost interest.

After enjoying MASTERED, I was highly disappointed because not only was this book not what I had hoped it would be, but also it lessened my enjoyment with MASTERED because that book needs a conclusion.  Sadly, that conclusion is not worthy of the first book in the series.

WORTH MENTIONING:  There is a MMF menage scene in this book but no emotional menage relationship.

CONNECTED BOOKS:  DOMINATED is the second book in The Enforcers series.  This book is the second part of the romance between Drake and Evangeline and should be read after MASTERED.

STAR RATING:  I give this book 2 stars.

two-stars

Review: Mastered

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Mastered
Mastered by Maya Banks
My rating: 4.25 of 5 stars

Good Beginning to the Romance — But It is Only Part 1

“You only have one job, my angel. Obey.”

FINAL DECISION:

THE STORY: Evangeline Hawthorne has just given her virginity to an absolute jerk who gave her no pleasure and then insulted her. Her friends convince the innocent, naive and sweet 23 year old that she needs to dress up and go to the exclusive club that her ex attends and show him that he has not damaged her and that she is fine without him. When she gets to the club, she ends up meeting Drake Donovan who owns the club. Drake is ruthless, cutthroat and lives his life with no regrets and no weaknesses. He decides that he wants Evangeline for himself. In exchange for her complete surrender, he will take care of her and introduce her to pleasures that she never dreamed up.

OPINION: This book is only the first half of the romance between the main characters. It ends on a cliffhanger. Banks explains that this book was too long and she didn’t want to cut it so it was divided into two books.

MASTERED has a Fifty Shades feel to it, but with much less kink. Evangeline aka “Angel” is incredibly naive and innocent. I did, however, like her character as she is also genuine and compassionate. Through this book we see that she gains the respect and caring for Drake’s partners (who definitely all need books of their own). Evangeline’s motivations are clear. She is a good person who will do anything for Drake.

Drake remains mysterious throughout this book. He has some trauma in his past, but nothing is revealed here. The most about this character is revealed at the end where he does something pretty unforgivable to the heroine. At the end of this book, he needs to seek forgiveness from her so maybe we will learn more about him in Part 2.

As might be expected with a Banks’ book, this book is scorching hot. While Drake participates in the BDSM lifestyle, the depiction here is pretty tame if compared with Fifty Shades. (I also liked the characters more here).

WORTH MENTIONING: This book includes a sex scene between the heroine and another man while the hero watches. This is part of the hero and heroine’s sex play.

CONNECTED BOOKS: MASTERED is the first book in The Enforcers Series. It is also part 1 of 2 of the romance between Evangeline and Drake.

STAR RATING: I give this book 4.25 stars.