CLAIMED

TITLE: CLAIMED

AUTHOR: STACEY KENNEDY

Pages: 244

Date: 04/09/2013

Grade: 4-

Details: No. 1 Club Sin

            Received from Random House

            Through NetGalley

Own / Kindle

The Blurb:

“Presley Flynn is ripe to experience her secret fantasies . . . and Dmitri Pratt wants nothing more than to fulfill them. Once inside the elite Club Sin in Las Vegas, Presley is nervous but excited—and determined to surrender to her every desire. Dmitri is her Master, and his touch is like fire. With each careful, calculated caress, he unleashes her wildest inhibitions, giving her unimagined pleasure.

Presley is different than the other submissives Dmitri has mastered. The BDSM lifestyle is new to her, and so are the games they play at Club Sin. From the start, Presley stirs emotions in him far beyond the raw purity between a Dom and the perfect sub. For the ecstasy they share goes beyond the dungeon igniting a passion that claims the very depths of the heart.”

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There are as many reasons to read as there are readers, or books. Sometimes you need to learn something, sometimes you want to be scared, there are occassions when it is all about the mystery and then there are the moments when all you want and need is a sweet love story. Today was one of those love story days for me and wasn’t I lucky that I decided to start – and finish – “Claimed” by Stacey Kennedy.

Because a sweet love story is exactly what we find on these pages. Yes, it is definitely an erotic story, and yes there is a strong BDSM theme to it, but neither the story nor the subject matter is shocking. In fact, I would call this BDSM light.

When we meet Presley Flynn she is a bundle of nerves about to meet Dmitri Pratt – on a side note, Pratt seems to be an unfortunate surname for this character since he is anything but incompetent and foolish. Aged 25, Presley has recently broken up with her one and only boyfriend of eight years after catching him cheating on her. When her friend and roommate, Cora, sees her devouring BDSM novels she decides to introduce Presley to the club she is a member of. While Presley knows that the stories excite her and is very curious  about the life-style, she is very nervous about acting on her feelings and even more scared about coming across as not good enough.

Master Dmitri is fascinated by the young woman from the moment he first sets eyes on Presley. Especially since he can’t quite get a handle on the combination of lust, fear, insecurity and determination she exhibits.

“He couldn’t tell who she truly was; the innocent little darling scared out of her wits, or the brave woman not hiding from her sexual desires but fighting to express them.”

Dmitri doesn’t only decide to allow her into his club, he also fast-tracks her application process just so that he can start training her as soon as possible; before Presley has a chance to second guess her desires and let her fear keep her away. And so begins Presley’s slow but very intensive introduction into the pleasures of Domination and submission.

“That, Presley, is what makes you a submissive. You find peace and happiness when you relinquish control.”

As Presley spends more time with Dmitri she not only discovers the delights of BDSM and submitting to a man who seems to know exactly what she wants and needs, she also discovers sides to herself she never suspected were there.

“She had thought she’d come to Club Sin with something to prove to herself, to be a different woman, but tonight she felt as if she had become the woman she was meant to be – free and calm.”

But Presley isn’t the only one with issues to overcome and lessons to learn. As much as Dmitri teaches Presley that it is not only ok but also good to stand up for herself and stop always trying to please everybody around her, she teaches him that he doesn’t have to carry the weight of the world on his lone shoulders. It takes a few lessons, but Presley and Dmitri soon discover that:

“Together, we’re better, aren’t we?”

Like I said, this is a sweet and romantic, not to mention sexy, story. And if it is BDSM-light it is also sexy light. And I have to say I’m glad about that. In this story, with this innocent main character, anything else might have stretched my willingness to suspend disbelief a bit too far.

There is of course something cute about Presley in this book, coming to the realisation that the BDSM she has been reading about in her romance novels isn’t quite like the reality she’s encountering. I read that and couldn’t help thinking that there must be a lot of (mainly) women out there who have discovered the joys of reading this genre and now think they know exactly what BDSM is. Chances are that most, if not all of them – probably including myself – would be in for a rude awakening  if confronted with the reality of the life-style.

This is a feel good book without protracted drama; a light and easy read and just what I needed today. I look forward to future Club Sin titles. There is always room for a good romance in my life.