Show Me, Baby: 1001 Dark Nights by Cherise Sinclair

 A Masters of the Shadowlands Novella

After his last lover chose her career over him, Jake knows he wants a woman who will put him at the top of her priorities—as he would with her. One of the trainees, Rainie, has caught his attention. Lush body, a gift for living life to the fullest, always laughing or smiling. Yeah. She trips all his switches. But she’s never given him a second look and that’s damned annoying.

Rainie has been burned enough times that she’s not going to get serious about any man. Sure, the BDSM club trainees are supposed to be looking for a permanent Dom, but no harm, no foul—they don’t need to know she lied. Trainees get to be involved in everything—and with everyone. But there’s one she avoids. Master Jake is always frowning at her. No matter how gorgeous he is, she doesn’t need any disapproving Dom up in her business.

Unfortunately, her best friends are having a double wedding. Little hearts are floating in the air. Every breath is filled with romance. Rainie is doomed.

Ms. Sinclair has delivered yet another pleasurable story in the Shadowlands series. I had preordered Show Me, Baby back in January and woke to a delightful surprise on my Kindle yesterday. Unfortunately I hadn't planned for its arrival and I had other reviews I needed to complete. And while I tried to stick to my schedule, I just couldn't do it ... Ms. Sinclair proved to be too much temptation and I bumped it to the front of my reading list last night and I am so glad I did. I absolutely loved Rainie and Jake's story.

Like many of the women from previous installments in the series, Rainie is a bundle of insecurities and has major self-esteem issues. She has a bad past and has made mistakes that she regrets, but she has worked hard to rise above that and has just completed her MBA program. She plans to move out of state so that she can start fresh where no one knows her or her background as there are so many people in her life who refuse to let her forget it. Enter Jake, a Master at Shadowlands who indirectly affected her life years ago and whose entry into her life was unfortunately paired with a rather traumatic event, so Rainie does her best to avoid him whenever possible. But torrential rains, an irresponsible driver, an injured dog, and fate have different plans in store for her and shove her right into Jake’s path.

I must admit that I don’t recall meeting Jake prior to this book. Normally I would have reread the last book or two to get me back in the Shadowlands, but as I didn’t realize the release date was NOW, I didn’t have time to do so. Fortunately, Ms. Sinclair does a great job of writing this series as stand-alone books that are enriched when read together, yet completely enjoyable if you read them out of order (but why would you want to). Needless to say, it was easy to fall for Jake – who had his own baggage despite his more privileged upbringing. He’s a nice guy who is down-to-earth and respectful of others, which is why he hasn’t pursued Rainie despite his attraction. But as they spend more time together and he realizes that she is attracted to him, all bets are off and Jake shelves the nice-guy persona and introduces Rainie to his full Dom persona, Master Jake. Of course, she finds she can no longer deny him and doesn’t that just make for some spontaneous-combustion level sex scenes. Oh if only the Shadowlands were real.

As something worth having is worth fighting for, Jake does what all good Masters of Shadowlands do and fights for his girl with everything he’s got, thus making Show Me, Baby a book I enjoyed from beginning to end. Ms. Sinclair has given her fans an excellent addition to the series with Jake and Rainie’s story. While Rainie shares some of the characteristics and similar history with the other ladies of Shadowlands, I never felt like Ms. Sinclair was recycling another character. She manages to make all of her characters individuals despite their similarities to others within her books, just like people in real life. And her ability to create such realistic characters is what makes her books so enjoyable. As I expected, Show Me, Baby has been added to my re-read list and I am looking forward to the next book in the series already … Uzuri or Anne, Uzuri or Anne, Uzuri or Anne, oh it really doesn’t matter, just please write quickly.

Amazon US