Temporary Slave [Paperback]

It's very unusual to find BDSM stories that can be at the same time exciting and amusing... Temporary Slave is the first story I read that fulfilled both qualities. Reese Gabriel writes with a special emotional intensity, Marshall and Meridian are an amazing couple, he is the perfect alpha male that I would love to meet, dominating, charismatic, careful, kind and she is incredibly imaginative, funny, sensual, strong and vulnerable. The BDSM is well-delineated in a soft way the heats your feelings without scaring you, the plot is simple, I would have prefer more depth but I loved this book!

Beautiful Meridian Hunter craves the touch of a strong, masterful man. She wants to experience the bliss of surrender, the feel of chains on her wrists and ankles, the sting of a flogger, and the sweet pleasure of being ordered to please.

Her search leads her online, where she discovers the Master of her dreams. What she has no way of knowing is that her new Master Nightshade is really Marshall Wilder, the gorgeous, exasperating new CEO of the company where she works.

Marshall Wilder is a born Dominant, but has given up the search for his perfect slave. All of his D/s relationships have ended in disaster and disillusion. He has decided that a true D/s relationship is impossible to find in his day to day life.

Wilder discovers Meridian's secret, and poses as Nightshade in order to prove to her how easily one can be fooled online. Wilder still hopes to dissuade Meridian from living the BDSM lifestyle, though he is torn by his desire to possess her, and his own dark fantasies.

He takes her away to his remote cabin to give her a taste of temporary slavery. The lesson soon becomes complicated as the pair end up in bed, living out their mutual fantasies of Dominance and submission. When he forces her to submit to his every whim, instead of being discouraged, she wants more and more.

The pair must resolve their differences and find their place as Master and slave or they will be destined to remain mere players in a game neither can win.

Hmmm. I don't know if I liked this or not. I know I didn't like Wilder for the most part. This guy was seriously bitter and had a humongous chip on his shoulder. Meridian wasn't much better. She was a walking talking rape victim just waiting to happen. If you met her on the street you would probably be tempted to wave your hands in front of her face to see if anyone was home. Even though she's supposedly an excellent businesswoman, she can't seem to stop fantasizing during business hours and stupidly agrees to meet a stranger for rough sex without telling anyone. Reading that made me want to reach into the pages of the book and start choking this nitwit. I don't blame Wilder for feeling like he needed to scare some sense into Meridian because it was obvious she wasn't thinking with her brains.

Despite my agreement that Merrie definitely needs a wake up call, Wilder stepped pretty close to my comfort zone. The guy was a jerk. An a**hole. A bitter bast*** who needed a swift kick to his rocks. He had gotten a raw deal from his ex wife and since he's a rich, arrogant, type A king-of-the-hill sort of guy, he did not take it well and he's obviously still struggling with knowing he got rolled by someone he thought he had under his control.

Wilder is trying to scare Merrie off from the BDSM lifestyle so he acts like a dominant bast*** with her. After he humiliates her at their arranged meeting, he follows her to her home and of course our weak willed heroine can't help herself and all but trips and falls with her legs open. The following morning Wilder sneaks off and bars her from the office so he doesn't have to face her. Coward. When he catches her trying to mangle his property he forcefully persuades her to spend the weekend with him in order to get a real taste of the M/s lifestyle with no romantic filters. Before they head up for their weekend of debauchery, they make a quick stop to the sex shop which turns into an exciting yet humiliating time for Merrie. *snort* Two hundred dollars for all that stuff they bought? Pffft. What kind of cheap a** toys were they buying? This guy was supposed to be a gazillionaire. Humph.

Unfortunatelly that big huge chip on his shoulder is a problem with his dealings with Meridian. He's not the gentle, loving, supportive type of Dom. He's more of a tough love kind of guy. Temporary Slave was pretty close to hardcore but it didn't bother me. What bothered me was that I felt like Wilder didn't even like women. I hate that. You have to like women or at least enjoy them to do this type of thing correctly. Or else you're just a bully who has found a way to let out some aggression and who in their right mind would bend over and grab their ankles for someone who despised you? It's all summed up when Wilder explains to Merrie that while his ex wife was a messed up, useless, parasitic fake, he doesn't blame her because, "I can't blame her for being a woman." F********* You!! Throughout the whole book he keeps thinking about his ex wife and what a raw deal he got. Merrie is giving him his first BJ and he's busy thinking about his ex wife! He even calls Merrie by his ex wife's name, Jenifer. First of all, who spells Jennifer with only one n? That should have warned him right away that there was something not right with that woman.

Their weekend activities will definitely scare off some people. In the beginning of a master/slave relationship you usually try to strip away the sub's pride, their dignity and their control over their own body. You're supposed to put all control in the hands of the master and in this book it's no exception. While it wasn't very sexy, it was certainly interesting. I rather enjoyed it. But this type of stuff doesn't bother me. What bothered me was when Wilder started drinking before he picked up a crop and it bothered me when he put stipulations on Merrie's use of a safeword.

Wilder isn't all bad, though. He does have his moments when he knows he's pushed her too far and he does offer comfort. But it doesn't last long. Even though he's a jerk, I've read books where the guy is much, much worse. My problem lied with Wilder's rotten attitude.

I almost stopped during the middle of the book but I kept with it and I'm glad I did because I was rewarded with a seriously cute HEA. It was so cute that I ended up closing this book with a lighthearted grin. It was so cute it was if it had been written by a different author. It washed away all my bad feelings and made me feel much more magnanimous towards this book. This author is a guy and so far the books that I've read by him definitely lean towards a guy's perspective and male driven fantasy about female submission. His style steers clear of any frilly romanticism. Meridian just can't help herself and the cruder and rougher Wilder gets the more she likes it. Again, I have no problem with it but I wish he could have lightened up.

Maybe I'm easy to please but I really enjoyed this short, sexy novel about a smart lady executive who longs to feel a Master's commanding touch and the boss she fantasizes about. I liked the heroine, she knew what she wanted and went after it. She was strong and intelligent but not annoyingly perfect. The hero was hot but I couldn't quite grasp why he continually felt he needed to dissuade her from the BDSM lifestyle. Just go with it dude! There are some nice explicit scenes and some humour too. Cute HEA. An enjoyable romp for them and for us!

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