Judith’s review of A Dom is Forever (Masters and Mercenaries #3) by Lexi Blake

A Man with a Past… Liam O’Donnell fled his native Ireland years ago after one of his missions ended in tragedy and he is accused of killing several of his fellow agents. Shrouded in mystery, Liam can’t remember that fateful night. He came to the United States in disgrace, seeking redemption for crimes he may or may not have committed. But the hunt for an international terrorist leads him to London and right back into the world he left behind.

A Woman Looking for a Future… Avery Charles followed her boss to London, eager to help the philanthropist with his many charities. When she meets a mysterious man who promises to show her London’s fetish scene, she can’t help but indulge in her darkest fantasies. Liam becomes her Dom, her protector, her lover. She opens her heart and her home to him, only to discover he’s a man on a mission and she’s just a means to an end. When Avery’s boss leads them to the traitorous Mr. Black, Liam must put together the puzzle of his past or Avery might not have a future.

This third novel in the Masters & Mercenaries series is a stand alone novel but it is, in many ways, a return to the world of the Taggert-McKay security team.  The first two novels contained numerous references to Liam O’Donnell and his place and function in the team, but he was always a solitary figure, taken up with his work and feeding his personal need for companionship at Ian Taggert’s BDSM club.  It appears that all the members of the team are into BDSM on some level, some more intense than others.  But this story really focuses on the emptiness of Liam’s life, the loneliness of his heart, and basis for the high walls he has put around his feelings, and his reasons for feeling like he no longer has a soul.

Liam was a former British operative whose mom had been a confirmed IRA terrorist.  That was not where he was, and together with a wayward brother who gravitated toward more trouble than Liam could handle, he ultimate found himself in deep trouble,  accused of murdering six people–a crime he didn’t commit–and designed to “take him out” permanently.  All of it was the work of a rogue CIA operative who was also responsible for nearly killing Ian Taggert’s brother and his soon-to-be wife.  All in all, it was a messy business and Liam O’Donnell was smack dab right in the middle of it.  The action in this novel takes place when it became known that the rogue CIA agent–Mr. Black–was again in London and Ian Taggert and his team saw their chance to take him out for good.  In the midst of all this, Liam was assigned the task of seducing the administrative assistant of one of the business men Mr. Black seemed to be involved with.  As luck would have it, Liam not only seduced the lady, but she managed to crawl right under his impervious Irish backside.  It sure made for some hot loving and some dangerous high jinks before it was all over.

Lexi Blake writes one heck of a story and she has managed to write stand alone novels that are also closely connected to the previous novels in such a way that they are skillfully continuing the tale of the Taggert-McKay security team while featuring individual members of the team.  I have no doubt that Alex McKay and Eve, a couple who have been divorced for years but who can’t seem to disconnect from one another, will get their own novel as will Ian Taggert, the enigmatic and unreadable leader whose story is deeply buried behind walls of CIA silence and Black Ops history.  Suffice it to say that Liam’s story is filled with danger as well as old sorrows over the death of his brother, frustration that he can’t remember what really happened the day his brother died, or his growing sense of being at loose ends personally.  He is slowly but surely becoming weary–actually bone weary–of having no family, no connections, no one for whom he is truly important except the team.  As much as they are his family of sorts, he still lacks that intimacy and closeness, even while the thought of feelings and emotions scare him to death.

This is a novel that is erotica wrapped in suspense and danger, under cover operations that take the reader into the bedroom often, a little bit of BDSM mixed in with the comraderie of friendships that have been forged in the crucible of danger and near-death.  It is a book that will rivet the reader’s attention to the page from the start, especially those for whom the spice of intrigue and deep cover operations are important, even addictive.  Even though there is a very intentional reference to the D/s lifestyle in the book’s title, the actual content of the book is quite mild and certainly does not overwhelm the romance and other aspects of the story.  It is truly a spicey read and one that will certainly raise the room temperature a few degrees while entertaining and stimulating the mind and imagination.  I think the overriding characteristic of this book, though, is that sense of aloneness that is so deeply a part of Liam.  He’s terribly good at what he does except when it comes to taking care of himself emotionally.  And it is that lack of self-care that is catching up with him in this novel.  I think even those readers who have not read the first two books will connect with that quality about Liam and recognize that this is really about a man who needs to wanted and needed for himself and not just for the skills that make him an indispensable member of the team.

I had previously read some of Blake’s work as a co-writer with another author, but she certainly holds her own in this series.  I think she is rapidly becoming one of my favorites and a writer who can be trust to give her readers a wild and woolly story that is well conceived, well-written, and truly a piece of very good romance fiction.  This is not one you are going to want to miss.

I give it a 4 out of 5.

The Series:

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This book is available from DLZ Entertainment, LLC. You can buy it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher for an honest review.