The Agreement (Unrestrained #1)

When you read a story in the erotica genre, there are only so many twists that are plausible enough to get into the story line. Otherwise, you\’re just reading for the thrill of the sex scenes, which is ok too, if that\’s what you like. One of the reviews of this book points out all the similarities between this and FSOG. OK, it\’s true, there are similarities, and it wouldn\’t surprise me if nearly half the BDSM/Romance books that have come out since FSOG are also very similar. In fact, I\’m reading another one now. Some of the knock-offs might be better than the original, which had some now-famous problems itself. I\’d say The Agreement is readable. If you like to read this genre, you probably have a favorite formula, and this one is a favorite of mine. I don\’t like hard-core SM (although a little bondage and spanking is A-OK!), so the plight of a Dom that has trouble controlling his sub and ends up falling in love with her is fine with me. I find it amusing, and I\’m a sucker for HEA. Six months from now, I\’ll have to check my library to make sure I haven\’t already read this one. But while I was reading it, I enjoyed it. Except for the interfering friend, who I wanted to slap.

I received this book for free during a BookBub offer, if memory serves correctly. I did verify that the purchase amount was $0.00. While this book wasn\’t terrible, it wasn\’t one that hooked me. I forced myself to finish reading because I thought there would be a twist at the end. SPOILER There was all this lead up with the antagonist that amounted to absolutely nothing. The ending was weak and simple. I just couldn\’t get into the sex; the two leads just not a good couple for me and the fact that Katherine constantly asks the same questions over and over, it was like she never learned about submission. I found myself constantly skimming over the sexual scenes due to the fact that I just wasn\’t interested in them. No chemistry meant boring scenes. While this series does continue, I would likely only look into reading more if the items were made available on Kindle Unlimited. As it stands right now, I have no desire to spend any money on this author.

OK, first let me say that if you are reading this book because you think it is a Fifty Shades copy, you\’re probably right. But if you are reading this book because you think Fifty Shades AND this book are about BDSM, you are kidding yourself. It isn\’t bad, but please don\’t mistake it for a well researched book either. NO ONE starts off by wanting to write an article and all of a sudden decides they are submissive. You either ARE or you ARE NOT. And it isn\’t just saying \”yes sir\”, believe me. In this book\’s case, it was just ok. The story was a little questionable in places (a friend of her father\’s?? Really? Ugh). In any of the \”copy cat\” books since FSOG came out, you have lots of sex, lots of steam, and very little of anything else. I\’m of the opinion that everyone and their sister wants to write billionaire BDSM books now because they think they\’re popular. What is popular is the sex (and the idea that BDSM is a \”forbidden\” activity). Reality Check – there are many practitioners of BDSM who would never read these books.

If you\’re looking for a light-bdsm book, or want something the presents pros/cons/whys of this kind of lifestyle, this might be a good one to read. I wasn\’t looking for that, so I found this book to be okay….not great, not completely horrible. The story goes from the heroine wanting to write an article about BDSM, and needs a Dom to help her. Then suddenly she\’s looking for an experienced Dom to treat her as a submissive; I\’m not sure where she went from writing an article to wanting to participate, that transition just seemed to happen out of nowhere. There\’s a whole lot of repetitive internal dialogue from the heroine, and honestly it gets rather tedious. Her previous boyfriend was interested in BDSM, but she was so shocked and horrified by it, she couldn\’t deal. At all. Now suddenly, she\’s being told that she\’s a submissive…and is presented with a billionaire, handsome neurosurgeon who also happens to be very good friends with her father. (Eeeewww much?) The heroine is pretty emotional, she does a whole lot of crying throughout the book. She also questions her Dom constantly — which is fine except that she chooses to ask questions at the most inappropriate times. As in, not when they sit down to discuss things, but in settings that quite frankly would have driven me crazy if I was him. The two of them do have long, long discussions regarding BDSM, and I felt some of that was actually well done. It\’s not insta-love or even insta-lust for them, but, during some of those talks, I felt like he was trying to get her to believe that it\’s society\’s norms that make her reticent and shy, and that without society\’s influence, she would have been embracing her sexuality more openly and willingly. Since he\’s a good 10 years older and is incredibly accomplished, it seemed a bit like manipulation to me. (Not even going to get into the whole thing of why such an accomplished man would be interested in a weepy, unsure, repressed girl) *possible spoilers* When they do finally get to an agreement, what follows is him telling her to get undressed, and then having what would be considered vanilla sex. There\’s one scene where there\’s a spanking, and only one I think of very light bondage. There is a scene at a club, which I think evolved into tears…because of course. Otherwise, there\’s not much BDSM happening except in the dialogue. On top of the constant back and forth between the H/h, there is a very creepy \’best friend\’ who is more stalker than friend. She is so completely against the hero, that she takes to threats and sitting outside the heroine\’s apartment just to be sure the two are not together. The heroine tried to distance herself from this friend, but it never lasted long. It was another very frustrating and unbelievable plot element. Apparently there are more books to this series, but I won\’t be reading them. I feel bad for the hero that he\’s staying with the heroine, she\’s way too emotional and wishy-washy. And for her, she needs to find some nice, stable, vanilla guy and let this other stuff go.

I REALLY enjoyed this book. I was worried it was going to be too much like Fifty Shades of Grey, which don\’t get me wrong I absolutely loved, but it wasn\’t like it too much. The author did really well writing an exciting, touching and very endearing book. The main characters were Katherine, a beautiful and intelligent young lady who works hard and lives a quiet and happy life. Drake is a charismatic and gorgeous brain surgeon, who happens to be loaded, kind and into BDSM. Drake is an experienced Dom and literally the stuff made out of your wildest fantasy. Katherine and Drake meet when she literally falls into his arms at her fathers fundraiser for Doctors without Borders. There is instant chemistry and attraction that neither can deny and here begins their passionate and tumultuous adventure. Drake introduces Katherine to his shady world of BDSM as his Sub and Katherine gently and persistently shows him that he can have a \”vanilla\” relationship without all the kink. I really did find this story endearing and quite arousing in places as the sex scenes were written lets just say very well. Praise to S.E. Lund and I eagerly look forward to reading the next installment.

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