Nothing Denied Book

Disappointing, anticlimactic, formulaic and really just same old (**sigh**), same old (**sigh sigh**) and that's just too bad because this is one top notch series. There isn't one ounce of emotion in this story. The h/h are unlikeable characters who never connect on any level apart from sex and even that isn't engaging. I'm not a fan of the dom/sub theme and sure there are no whips and chains and what have you for it to be a true BDSM novel, but why the author felt the need even to add that psychological element of master/slave I don't know. It's almost as if she had to fit into "the erotic historical box" that has to have these components while all too often skimping on the story when that's what she does best. It just gives the feel of "here we go again/seen it all before/when's the anal part coming" (**sigh sigh**).

The story itself is very thin. Beatrice Albright isn't the most agreeable or friendly person in town and she's been shunned by everyone in the ton since her coming out around eight years ago because she has such a caustic personality. Of course behind the shrew the author wants you to believe that there's a misunderstood woman and to some degree her bitchiness is a cover but she's still a bitch, a pain in the ass, a witch with a chip on her shoulder whatever you want to call it. I couldn't believe that she liked to be dominated by Garreth and that's what made her truly shine. It was all such an uneven playing field given her personality that I couldn't buy the love story. She gets together with Garreth by proposing that two try to see if they're compatible because everybody hates him too and if they're a go then they should get married. He agrees on the condition that she becomes his sex slave because he's a man of "unusual tastes and proclivities". What he really is is an idiot. Right off the bat he's that "I'm Mr Hot Dominant Male. You can't come until I say so or you'll be punished" -eesh. I hate those stories. Where's the trust building? Where's the getting to you know you part? It's just bam in your face I'm the wannabe Marquis de Sade and you'll like it muahahaha --whatever :-/ Ok, he isn't that extreme but he is annoying with his master/slave bit as is she. I just don't see how the reader can buy into it.

Now there may be readers who enjoy all that but there are still too many parts of the story itself that are missing to like it as a whole I think. There's no passion between the two. It's like they meet, they agree to get down and dirty, down and dirty turns out to be dom/sub-like (reader doing the ol' eye roll because you can pretty much see how the rest of the story is going to pan out), she likes it, he's surprised, then the stupid caper happens and then love and the sickly smelling barf epilogue. End of series.

I just wanted this book to finish which was really frustrating because Jess Michaels is a great writer who pens excellent erotic historicals that give a nice dollop of emotional depth and sex. Well here she's like everyone else. Boring and unimaginatively blah.

There are appearances by some of the other characters from previous books, mostly Miranda and Ethan from book 1 but nothing exciting there. The sudden caper felt like filler and lacking in subtlety as to why it's there and the reader knows exactly why the story veers that way too which gets the eye rolling in full swing --again. There are many aspects of romance novels that tell the reader what's going to happen because they've seen it X number of times but it's how the writer writes the scene that makes you like it, love it or just plain want to chuck the book out the window. This was a "chuck the book" for all the reasons already listed.

So this was a dud read for me. 2.5 stars because unfortunately I've seen this kind of cookie cutter/connect the dots read too many times before and coming from Jess Michaels just makes it even worse.