A NIGHT OWL REVIEWS BOOK REVIEW | Reviewed by: Terri
Lyssa Lawrence wants a child and had been told by her doctor that she hasn’t a lot of time to have one. Lyssa, at 40, has started early menopause. Lyssa has been checking into her options such as artificial insemination but would prefer to get pregnant the old fashion way, even if it is a one night stand. With that in mind, she’s going to attend the Diablo Blanco Club’s Halloween masquerade party with a few doctored condoms and her eye on one of the local Doms.
Mike has wanted Lyssa for 12 years but she always pushes him away as being too young. He knows that isn’t the real issue. The real issue is Lyssa’s upbringing and being told that she isn’t lovable. When Mike gets a call from a friend that Lyssa has shown up at the Club, he quickly gets over there to make sure the only Dom that she touches will be him. It doesn’t look good when he finds her chatting up another Dom and it looks like he’s going to claim her for the night. What can Mike do?
The Rite of First Claim has only been used a few times in the long history of the Club but Mike uses it to keep Lyssa his for the next 30 days. Surely, in that time he can get under all the walls she has erected and finally claim her as his own.
Mike has more than Lyssa’s walls to climb. She has a secret from when they were together 4 years ago and she’s sure that it will drive Mike away permanently. When she tried to tell him then, she got another woman on the phone. When that woman shows up to live with Mike, he has some quick explaining to do. It’s going to be an explosive 30 days with secrets coming out and emotions running high.
This is the fourth book in a series based around the Diablo Blanco Club. You do not have to read the previous books to enjoy this one though characters from the previous stories are in this story. (I’m stating this from my experience. I haven’t read the previous books and I’m assuming based on this story that several of the characters had their own story previously.)
The characters in this book were awesome. Lyssa had a lot of psychological issues from her childhood. She even admits that as an adult she knows that her thought process is flawed but she can’t seem to put all the things that had been drummed into her away. To keep herself safe, she thinks pushing men away will work and never trusts her emotions. Mike loves her and knows that if he can get over those walls, Lyssa will be happier. He has lots of patience and determination but wonders if that will be enough. The primary secondary characters, Lyssa’s neighbors, Mike and Lyssa’s family and a few other Club members, are more than just there. They take an active role in shaping this story and don’t let the main characters get away with anything. This give a realistic feel to these characters making it easy to believe that they are real.
Location is everything and the locations that are given throughout this story are wonderful. Descriptions of everything from the main road to the Club to the houses where the characters live to Mike’s studio are done so they can easily be visualized by the reader. Yet, these descriptions aren’t long and tedious but incorporated into the story allowing an easy flow of words.
The sex in this story is graphic and does have a BDSM element to it. There may be things that make some readers uncomfortable such as Mike taking picture of his brother and his wife having sex. Yet, the love and care that is shown between the characters comes across. There is also a gay couple portrayed though there are no sex scenes involving them in this book.
I really enjoyed my visit with Mike and Lyssa. Their story let me dream and imagine. It let me feel as if I were getting a glimpse of a real couple with their real problems and how they worked them out. I fell in love with them and many of the secondary characters and want to visit with them more often. Ms Rain took a very real problem and made it into a very enjoyable book.
I’ve read other stories by Ms. Rain and this series has intrigued me for a while but I never had a reason to start it. In my usual fashion, I started in the middle and found that I loved it. Of course, now, I must go buy the first 3 books! This is a caution in case like me, you start with this book.
Dec 06, 2010 | B004ISLP40
5 - Rare Top Pick | 4.5 - Top Pick | 4 - I Liked It | 3.5 - Enjoyable | 3 - OK | 2.5 - It just didn't click
Book Blurb for Rite of First Claim
What’s a Dom to do when the submissive he wants runs from the feelings between them? From the moment he met Lyssa Lawrence, Mike knew what he felt was love -- not lust. Convincing her has been an uphill battle even after the two steamy hours they’d shared at the Diablo Blanco Club four years earlier. Lyssa Lawrence wished the man who claimed to love her wasn’t so damned appealing. Twelve years of denying the pull of her submissive nature almost went up in smoke four years ago, but she’d gathered the nerve to tell him 'no' when he asked for more. She’d have stayed away for good if her biological clock hadn’t hiccupped, threatening her dreams of motherhood. In the same way she’d strategized her success in fashion design, Lyssa worked out a plan to get the baby she wanted. The Diablo Blanco Club’s annual Midnight Masquerade would provide a number of potential donors to choose from. What she hadn’t bargained on was Mike’s interference through an arcane Club rule. When Mike invoked Rite of First Claim, Lyssa finally became his. Now, he had one month to prove that the role of his submissive was one she was born to play.
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