Ames‘ review of Pleasure Bound by Opal Carew.

When Marie meets Zeke—a tattooed, motorcycle-riding bad boy with a body built for sin—she’s swept up in a torrid affair that rocks her world. He’s so different from the dependable Mr.-Nice-guy-types she’s always dated in the past—and after a few nights in his arms, she vows never to go back.

Little does she know that her best friend Ty, the quintessential Mr. Nice guy, is gearing up to make his move and finally admit his true feelings for her. When Ty learns that Marie thinks he’s “too nice” for her, he sets out to prove that he can be the overpowering dominant she wants and overwhelm her senses in ways Zeke never could.

What Marie never expected to discover is that Zeke and Ty share a secret history together—one that changes everything she thought she knew about both men. A past that went far beyond the bounds of friendship…and now they’re about to take Marie beyond the bounds of pleasure…and into a world of soul-shattering ecstasy.

Pleasure Bound was a frustrating book for me to read. Labelled Erotic Romance, there is an HEA, but the focus was too much on the sex so when it came time for the emotions, I didn’t really believe them.

Marie has just broken up with her latest Mr. Nice Guy boyfriend and she decides she wants her next man to be a bad boy. Someone to dominate her. She meets the perfect guy in Zeke at her friend’s cabin. He knows exactly how to please her and dominate her at the same time. After going out a few more times and getting to know him, she realizes he’s practically perfect. Especially when she lays down the law that she only wants that dominance in the bedroom – and Zeke is ok with that. He realizes that the games they play are for their mutual benefit, not power games.

Marie’s best friend and neighbor, Ty, has been in love with Marie for a while and he’s just been waiting to make his move (but not in a skeevy way). But when Marie comes home from her weekend at the cabin with a new guy, Ty realizes he’s missed his chance again. What Marie doesn’t know is that Ty can be just as dominating as Zeke, but that something happened in his past to make him lock down that part of himself.

Then Zeke and Ty accidentally meet in the hallway of Marie’s building and this is where the real sexual hijinks kick in. You see, five years ago, Zeke and Ty were best friends but when Ty’s girlfriend wanted a threesome with Zeke, their friendship went down the tubes. Ty’s girl actually wanted Zeke, not Ty, and used the threesome to get to Zeke.

Zeke has been guilt ridden ever since and he misses his best friend. He’s willing to step aside and let Ty have Marie if that’s what Ty wants. But what about what Marie wants? She wants both guys…but can they put aside what happened in the past and be friends again?

Where to begin? First, I guess with the reconciliation between the guys. You know how Zeke reconciles with Ty? To set it up so that Ty gets to sleep with Marie, while Zeke watches. Yeah….there was really no discussion on the guys’ part about what went down and to put aside those old feelings of resentment. Everything was answered with sex. Whenever the guys would start discussing stuff, before anything would get resolved they’d start having sex with Marie.

And that happened a few times – sex would trump the emotional discussion that was about to take place. Frustrating!

That was my main beef with Pleasure Bound. The sex was hot and plentiful though, so if you want a book that’s more focused on the sexin’ than the emotional connection, PB is the book for you. This was one hot book!

Pleasure Bound gets a 3 out of 5 from me.

This book is available from St. Martin’s Griffin. You can buy it here or here in e-format.

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