Black Light: Wanted
(Black Light Series Book 22)
by Maren Smith
She needed to tell him no, for her own sake and survival.
And yet, what finally came pouring out of her was very different.
“I’d like that very much.”
She wasn’t just playing with fire.
She was dousing herself in gasoline first.
This is a touching story of two damaged individuals, one broken in body the other in mind. Together they form a connection, a bond, that brings about their healing, though the journey is a difficult one and there are many bumps on the path to happiness. It took no effort whatsoever to read, in fact I simply flew through the pages and was surprised when I found I had neared the end of this.
From the very first moment he appears in the book I loved Marcus, with all his sexy dominance and tough love attitude. My heart went out to Anna, so broken, despairing and unable to function or to think for herself. Not only had she reached rock bottom she had sunk into the very bedrock below. Yet somehow this damaged young woman turns out to be the cure for a Dom who has lost all his hope. Watching them both find their way back to who they truly are and what they wanted, needed, to be was so heart warming.
The emotion in this book was less in their love story and more about their healing. Anna had already been through so much that we didn’t need any artificially generated angst. It would be easy to assume Anna had latched onto Marcus as a Dom in an “any port in a storm” way. However the scenes at Black Light made it clear that it was the man, not the Dom, who was her anchor. I would have liked to be more convinced that Anna was more independent, more in control of her own life and not just allowing another Dom to run it for her. The timeline jumps, whilst clearly stated, also didn’t help in showing the pair of them building a connection. It fell more into tell than show a few times.
The most emotional scene for me was the reunion between Cynthia and Anna, I didn’t realise how much I needed to see that happen. In fact I would have appreciated more scenes of Anna with other people, especially fellow submissives as well as the other coterie girls. There wasn’t a lot of BDSM play in this, but it wouldn’t be appropriate for the story. Don’t worry though, it still has plenty of hot moments to enjoy!
Whilst this is a stand alone book reading the previous 3 stories, which feature the other three victims of Ethan’s coterie, allows one to build a much deeper understanding of why Anna is the way she is. In Black Light: Brave Anna doesn’t come across all that well, but here we truly get to see the wonderful and caring submissive who just wanted to be wanted and would do anything for her Dom’s approval. TL:DR This is a lovely romance that rounds off this series-within-a-series perfectly.
Erotica BDSM Romance
Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57827726-black-light
Synopsis
He had her the longest… he hurt her the most…
Anna “Pony” Mitchell should be dead. Abandoned by her Menagerie sisters and shot by the only man she’s ever loved, now the hospital has declared her “unfit.” She has thirty days to prove them wrong or spend the rest of her life hospitalized.
He lost his leg, his job… and almost his life.
Marcus Hawke knows he’s not much good to anyone anymore, but when an old friend calls in a favor, he doesn’t say no. It’s been years since he’s deprogrammed anyone this badly wounded, but for every inch of progress she gains, he soon realizes he’s got bigger problems. It doesn’t matter what lies he tells himself, she isn’t just a job anymore.
He wants her…
But after all she’s been through, she deserves better than what a half-man can give.
She wants him…
But after all he’s been through, he’s made it clear he’ll never be her dom.
For two people at rock bottom, there’s only one choice left to make: Do they help each other heal… or drown?