ARC Review: Convincing the Secretary by Ava March

“I wanted to like CONVINCING THE SECRETARY but it left me unsatisfied.”
~ Under the Covers

You what I hate?  I hate being in a position where a book doesn’t do it for me.  I’ve been wanting to try this author for a while and I finally took the plunge.  I know I’m coming in out of order, but frankly I don’t think that had much to do with my feelings on this book.

Here’s the thing.  I found CONVINCING THE SECRETARY was not very historically accurate to begin with.  No, I am the farthest thing from a historical buff nor do I comb through historical romances looking for accurate depictions of use of pencils or types of fabrics.  What kept drawing me out of this story was stuff like… The fact that a sex shop was a common store in London that our male secretary just happened to wonder in and browse through anal plugs and the likes.

So that aside, we get to the main characters.  And as far as the romance and the connection I have to say this was mostly physical for me.  I don’t think I felt that deeper connection and the love that they professed for each other.  Edward Fenton is young and inexperienced, and not only dealing with the fact that he’s attracted to men, but also the fact he gets off on being dominated and humiliated.  Which in his mind equals to him never finding a happily ever after.  Until Lord Grayson comes into his life.  But to me, it felt as if he was grabbing that rope like his only lifeline.  Love?  I don’t think so.  Lust?  Absolutely.

And yes, I did say dominated.  This book touches on some light BDSM.  I always love to delve deeper into the emotional aspect of BDSM when I’m reading, not just the physical.  The push and pull of the play on the mind and body.  But here I felt it was superficial.  Resulting in some hot sex, yes.

I wanted to like CONVINCING THE SECRETARY but it left me unsatisfied.  With my feelings on this short sampling being a bit all over the place I’m not sure if I’ll give this series another try.

[about-author author=”Ava March”]

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