Guest Review: The Dom Who Loved Me by Lexi Blake

Posted January 28, 2012 by Book Binge Guest Blogger in Reviews | 0 Comments

Genres: Romantic Suspense

Judith’s review of The Dom Who Loved Me by Lexi Blake

Sean Taggart is hunting a deadly terrorist, and his only lead is the lovely Grace Hawthorne. She’s the executive assistant for an employment agency Sean suspects is a front for illegal activities. To get the truth, he is going to have to get very close to Grace, a task he is all too eager to undertake when he discovers her deliciously submissive nature.

Soon, Grace Hawthorne is living a double life. By day, she is the widowed mother of two college-aged sons. By night, she submits to Sean’s every dark desire. She’s living out her wildest fantasies of pleasure—intimate acts of trust she’s only read about. As passion engulfs her, a murderer strikes, and Grace learns that Sean has a deeply hidden agenda. Will Sean choose his mission and break her heart or be the Master of her dreams?

Terrorism and war are familiar backdrops in novels that use the undercover operative as a hero, and in today’s world, that’s about as contemporary as you can get. I make no bones about the fact that I have always really liked suspense/mystery/undercover/espionage kinds of novels and I suppose the Robert Ludlum/Tom Clancy kind of novels still attract. Add in the very keen sense of the erotic and romantic that Lexi Blake brings to stories, and you have a novel that calls out to me loud and clear.

It’s always a struggle to have clear warm fuzzies about a hero who starts out seducing a “mark” as Sean does to Grace, using her trusting nature to his advantage, knowing that her ability and willingness to trust will be the inevitable victim when all is said and done. Yet the character of Sean still calls out to us as a man who simply must have some quality of good in him or else he wouldn’t be trying to get the bad guys. It is that need to like the hero that keeps us glued to the pages of this and other novels like it, wanting in the worst way to know that when it is all over, Sean can find a way to redeem himself in spite of the lying and subterfuge. Grace is an older woman, and as an older woman I am delighted to make her acquaintance. As a romance fan, I am happy to meet heroines who are at all stages in their aging process but encountering a woman of mature years is even better. I am especially delighted when the author puts that character into a situation where she can once again feel loved, cherished and valued, considered beautiful and sexy, upending the social “norm” that you have to be blonde, 105 pounds, and barely over 21 to be attractive to persons of the male persuasion.

This story is indeed about a relationship that is initially based on lies, but the emotions between Sean and Grace are not false. Identifying Grace’s needs is the task of an experienced and caring Dom, and in this instance, Sean comes through. That he is strict and overbearing is a part of who he is. That is why the BDSM way of relating, if nowhere but the bedroom, is a part of who he is. I could accept this in him. The person I really didn’t like and wanted to hit upside the head with a brick was his brother, the head of the Taggert Agency, the Dom who was so afraid of genuine emotional connection that he kept every sub he had ever had away with his need to control 24/7. In the end, he was the one I really felt sorry for.

This is a story of discovery on the part of several of the characters, about themselves and about those with whom they were involved. It had its nail-biting components, and some of the bad guys were really scary. I think crafting those kinds of characters has to be done with a deft hand. Lexi Blake pulls it off! All in all, it is a story that is full of unique people with all their human flaws and kinks, situations that force readers to face the reality of terrorism in American life, and the strength of love to keep individuals grounded and centered on what are the important things everyone should pursue and cherish.

I liked this novel a lot and found it to be one that kept me reading non-stop from start to finish. Can’t ask for anything better than that.

I give it a rating of 4 out of 5

This book is available from DLZ Entertainment, LLC. You can buy it here or here in e-format.


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