Beautiful, curvy, Ravyn
Templeton saw Zane Ramsey in a BDSM club in Houston three years ago. He’s haunted
her dreams ever since.
Zane is an Assistant District
Attorney but he’s also a co-owner of Club Mystique, the BDSM club he and his
brothers built on their Texas ranch. When Ravyn’s ex-husband is arrested for hiring
an assassin to kill her the case is assigned to Zane.
The moment they meet, Zane wants
Ravyn and even though he knows having an affair with her will jeopardize his
career he can’t resist her. When Ravyn is accused of laundering money for a
drug cartel, and she refuses to answer Zane’s questions, he leaves her.
Fate steps in and brings them
together again. Zane has the power to save Ravyn but he’ll have to choose her,
and love, over his career.
Zane’s
Choice proved
to be quite the action-packed thrill ride as Zane wars with himself over his
professional obligations and his love of a woman who may be guilty of some
rather egregious crimes. That Ravyn is a feisty woman who has cultivated a
take-no-prisoners personality to protect herself from the world her father and
husband thrust her into just means that the sparks are flying. Of course no
Ramsey courtship would be complete without Addison’s meddling, so we are
treated to plenty of her shenanigans as she does her part to see Zane find his
happily ever after.
I think I finally figured out what’s
missing from this series that is keeping it from being a 5-star read for me.
There seems to be very little attention paid to teaching the ladies about the
D/s lifestyle. Granted, it has been a while since I read the first two books in
the series, but as I recall all of the heroines have little to no experience
with the D/s lifestyle. While they had a tendency to be submissive (in the
bedroom, at least), none of them were experienced subs yet they were all
expected to act accordingly. As such, the Ramsey brothers come off as demanding
men rather than commanding Doms. While this may seem like semantics, it’s a
missing ingredient for me that causes them to be good books rather than great
books. Zane is no different in this respect from his brothers and it is his
desire for a Master/slave relationship that was the “light bulb moment” for me.
I do believe that Zane says they’ve talked about what he wanted in an M/s
relationship, but there was little more beyond that discussion-wise. Ravyn
seemed to be expected to know what Zane wanted from her. Not including the
negotiation and “training” scenes is most likely why I’ve found the D/s
relationships lacking in this series.
That said, Ms. Maxwell clearly made up
for that with the amount of action, romance, and suspense she includes in this
installment. Ravyn proves herself to be a strong character with her refusal to
take the easy way out. Fortunately for her, the Ramseys are a protective lot
once they’ve claimed someone, so Ravyn gets the helps she needs without asking
for it. The twists and turns are aplenty and the level of suspense is what made
Zane’s Choice such an enjoyable read
for me. And I just gotta say, THAT was an unexpected bomb dropped at the end of
the book! I can’t say I saw it coming either, but it certainly bodes well for
the next book in the series as do the numerous new characters that were
introduced. Let the stalking for book five begin.
I was born in Utah but I’ve
traveled throughout America and lived in sunny California, hot and dry west
Texas, and the mountains of Colorado. I wrote my first erotic romance in the
summer of 2013. It was accepted and published that same year. Since then I’ve
written three more books in the Doms of Club Mystique series. At this time I’m
busy writing the fifth and final book in the series. My heroes are tough
cowboys with military backgrounds and my heroines are strong, sassy and
submissive. I like my readers to laugh, and cry, so I put a lot of emotion in
my books as well as suspense and happy endings.
Other than writing, I
love to read, travel, garden, swim with my family, and go to the local drive-in
movie with a carload of friends and a huge container of home-made cheese
popcorn.
Angela, thank you and you are so right! I appreciate that you took the time to read and write suck a great and constructive review of Zane's Choice. :-)
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