This is a free novella revisiting the characters from the Knights of the Board Room series, specifically Hostile Takeover, Book 5. It is posted on Joey W. Hill's website under http://storywitch.com/series-cantrips. Two volumes containing ALL the novella and short story character revisits written through 2016 are available for sale in ebook and print, but you can scroll below Cantrips 1 & 2 to find the individual stories still available as FREE downloads in the most common ebook formats.
This story is a prequel about Ben of Hostile Takeover (Book V) and Celeste of Soul Rest (Book VII).
A submissive herself, Hill brings authenticity to her intensely emotional BDSM love stories. With over fifty titles and seven series, her contemporary and paranormal romances feature everything from billionaires, bikers, SEALs, firefighters, cops and housemaids, to vampires, mermaids, witches and angels.
"Joey translates the world of BDSM with such intense power and exquisite beauty. LOVE is the most powerful element entwined through the Dominance and submission.” –Goodreads, Pink Lady
Joey is the recipient of the RT Book Reviews Career Achievement Award for Erotic Romance, and she loves to hear from her readers!
Retribution is a vignette about Celeste and Ben and is utterly sexilixious and KINKY!
I LOVE the work of this author. Her writing is eloquent and truly sublime. It's laced with edgy hardcore BDSM qualities so an open mind is essential to appreciate the beauty within.
Retribution is a MUST READ for fans of the Knights of the Board Room series.
Note: In terms of timeline within the Knights of the Boardroom series the main thing to know is that it's a prequel to Hostile Takeover and is probably best read any time after Hostile Takeover but before Soul Rest.
I don't know if I've been living under a rock but I had no idea this novella even existed till about an hour ago so ... I had to drop everything I was doing/reading at the time because anything by Joey W. Hill, especially with Ben O'Callahan in it, takes precedence. Always!
This was short and sweet and straight to the point. Anything with Ben *assman* O'Callahan deserves at least 4 stars (I would have given 5 but, even though Celeste is really nice, she isn't Marcie).
When the last you read and loved is Hostile Takeover, and you're still floating in a special reader's subspace created by this author's magical way of telling a story, and you're under the spell of Ben O'Callahan, seeing that the both short stories from this series both star none other than the aforementioned Ben O'Callahan is in my book very good news.
This story was not about Marcie and Ben, but it was still great. The Joey W. Hill magic was there -- a lot less pages, but it was certainly there.
Have you ever wondered who was the journalist who wrote the article about the K&A men and named them Knights of the Board Room and why exactly she did it? Me, neither. I just thought it was a perfect title for them. Well, now we finally meet Celeste. As it turned out she was one of those women Ben played with at a club, broke down, got to her soul, held it for a little while, and then let go. But most importantly, he helped Celeste accept some things about herself, realize there were men out there she could trust, better understand D/s relationships, and see that those Knights she mistrusts in fact do not abuse women.
It was really nice reading about Ben slowly earning her trust, and breaking her prejudices about BDSM, and, of course, it was hot. So hot I now have a smoking-hot shelf.
Though my main reason for liking this is Ben, Celeste kind of grew on me. I'd like to see if she goes into the lifestyle, and finds a Dom of her own.
Hostile Takeover was the first book I read in this series. I’ve since read a few of the books and I’m working my way through them here and there. Ben will always be my favorite Knight.
A prequel to the Knights series, wherein a journalist gets a close up with Ben. He makes her realize a lot about her self, things she never thought possible. Smutty fluff & BDSM.
This vignette was off the charts hot and dirty in the way only JWH can write it! It was beautifully sensual and erotic - I was melting into my kindle by the end!!
Ben and Celeste were perfection, I want more!!
I've been determined to catch up on some old fav series and honestly it doesn't get any better for BDSM than The Knights of the Board Room series. Holy cow they are stunning reads!!
Going straight into the next one (after I cool down!!)
Just to say... If you haven't read this series you could easily read this as a standalone and then start from the beginning! This will give you a taste of the perfection you can look forward to without taking a single thing away from the series.
As a card-carrying member of the Joey Hill fan club, I was thrilled when after expressing my love for these books, Joey told me about this vignette and "Proper Punishment," which I'll read next BEFORE "Afterlife." I've had an inkling that Ben was more hard-core than the others, and I was skeptical about how this short story would take shape. Ms. Hill did not disappoint. There was a code of chivalry that existed before the 1960's. The Knights may play hard, but they truly reflect women. Society as a whole has lost respect for each other. Perhaps this series should be mandatory reading for college students: for the boys to learn how to be gentlemen, and for the girls to learn to be more feminine.
This story reads like an anti-feminist revenge scene, and I hated that about it, and found that to be a deeply central flaw to characterization. It made the story so weak it could not hold up. Reading it as generously as possible, the consent in this story is murky at best; the lack of negotiation even when she asks him to, and moment when she safewords and then withdraws that made me deeply uncomfortable. In general, the story also feels deeply underdrawn; I don't buy the character growth arc, it feels too pat and easy and doesn't really make sense. It made me deeply dislike Ben as a character, and not trust him.
This is NOT the prequel to the Knights of the Board Room, it really should be read later after AFTERLIFE(Jon's story), since it takes place after Matt and Peter,(which means Lucas is as well) are already married.
But the story of Celeste and the treatment she receives from Ben is striking, stunning and enlightening. A very well spoken, written and enjoyable read that really spotlights and creates a good understanding of the submissive and dominant relationship, and what can be learned from it, without pulling any punches.
LOVED IT. Perfect story to detail the struggles a person can go through with their sexuality and learning that whatever it is they find arousing whether painful or not so painful, that it's ok :] really well told little story. although it really has no business being categorized as .5 in a series since not only is Savannah's link to Matt mentioned, but so is Dana's to Peter ... it really should have been more of a 3.5 but that's just part of my OCD reading thing LOL no biggie
I decided to re-read this short, as prep before I dive into Soul Rest, Celeste's story. As usual, Ms. Hill packs a lot of story and emotions into 50 pages, all of which take place over the course of a single evening. I enjoyed watching the bitter, tough Celeste let go of her baggage for an evening, as expert Dom Ben took her far into submission. It's also nice to see the full contingent of Knights. Well done short.
JWH is the mistress of of storey telling. After finishing her latest instalment Soul Rest it was great to go back to this vignette. Makes you love all those Knights again. Will have to read them all again to quench my soul.
This vignette tied up some of the questions I had about why Celeste was so afraid to accept her submissive side with Leland. I enjoyed the detailed writing and how thoroughly Ben took Celeste through her emotions.