Series: The Auction Series #1
Published by CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform on September 28, 2016
Genres: Romance, Contemporary Romance, Erotic Romance
Pages: 180
Format: eBook
Source: Bought
Hannah is desperate. Her one shot at a new life and financial independence is slipping away unless she can come up with thirty thousand dollars, fast. When a chance comes to earn some serious cash in the world's oldest profession-in a single weekend, in safety and anonymity, and at an ultra-luxurious, exclusive resort-Hannah agrees to be auctioned off to the highest bidder. The catch? All the bidders are Doms, and Hannah will have to do whatever her master asks, when he asks for it, however he asks for it.
Drew is wiped. After two weeks from hell running a billion-dollar hotel empire, he needs to unwind with a weekend of anonymous, uncomplicated sex with a compliant submissive. And what better way than with one of the lovely subs at auction, who will cater to his every whim and ask for nothing in return once the weekend ends. But when Drew sees Hannah onstage for the first time, he is forced to question everything he thought he knew about himself and his heart. As their weekend together comes to a steamy conclusion, Drew isn't ready to watch this submissive walk away. But Hannah has a secret, one that even Drew's billions can't cow into submission."
Warning: This is a spoilery review. Read at your own peril.
So whenever I find myself in a bit of a rut I will spend a ridiculous amount of time trolling the library and Amazon for something new to read. The UTC blog has a tons of sales/freebies listed on their page so that is how I found this book and new to me author.
Now, I read my fair share of erotica and BDSM lifestyle books and was definitely in the mood for a sub auction. Hannah, or Scarlett, was a fairly bland character. Doe-eyed, gorgeous but doesn’t really know her worth with an air of innocence that makes her irresistible to the bidders. Drew is a Dom looking to blow off some steam, though we don’t know why his week was so rough, and is instantly attracted to Scarlett (Hannah).
Now novellas are tricky because it is tough to build characters with a solid background in 170 pages so I was willing to forgive skimpy background for both the hero and heroine. I didn’t particularly care about them but I didn’t hate them. And then, some red flags started popping up around 35%. Drew was hot and then cold, which isn’t necessarily an issue on the face of it. I had a problem with Hannah’s complete acceptance of his assholishness after he is sweet to her. “Oh, I shouldn’t have made him mad” sort of talk that instantly had my hackles raised. This pattern kept happening throughout the weekend culminating in a giant blow up when she refuses to share her private information with him because THIS IS A JOB, SIR. Instead, he explodes and says then “I better get my money’s worth” and starts to essentially assault her to the point where she has to use her safe word. Then he tries to apologize again and explain away his shitty actions. No thank you.
Here’s my biggest issue: This story is absolutely a poor reflection of the lifestyle and honestly it is the first time I’ve read a Dom that I absolutely couldn’t stand and felt was absolutely a caricature of what a true Dom is. I’m not even mad about the cliffhanger, though readers beware. Truly, this story is more harmful than sexy or romantic which is a shame. The sex scenes were delicious, if a bit vanilla, and absolutely what I expected. I suppose this should be labelled under Dark Romance simply because of the problematic relationship things I noted. Ultimately, I would try the author’s work another time but I am done with this series.
