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A Marriage of Inconvenience
Izzy Thorton’s mother is dying. Her best friend, Sebastian Leery, made Izzy’s mother’s dying wish come true. Now Izzy and Sebastian are getting hitched in a quickie ceremony. Among the myriad of problems for Izzy including her new husband’s little black book, his workaholic tendencies, and his hidden, although not so secret love of BDSM—she’s actually in love with him. Caught with the task of proving to him that his self-perceived sins hide a man only his secretly submissive best friend could accept, can she convince Bash before he pushes her away for good? Sebastian Leery’s mother was murdered in front of him. To spare his best friend pain he’ll renounce his playboy ways. Now he needs to be a man he never thought he was capable of becoming—for his wife. But his difficulties have only begun when his demons rise to the surface and tap dance all over his new marriage—with the potential to scare away the most important woman in his life. When Izzy insists she’s in love with him, he yearns to rip off the mask of normalcy, and bare it all so she knows the monster behind the man. Torn between her vision of him and his reality, Sebastian must walk a thin line. Can he convince Izzy that she’s in love with a mirage, without destroying their relationship in the process? Tied together for life, will they choose to tighten the ropes, or break their bonds for good?
ebook
First published September 22, 2015
3 people want to read
About the author
Elise Hepner
42 books59 followersElise Hepner lives with her two spastic cats, two hyperactive ferrets and a very supportive, slightly crazy husband. There is never a dull moment in the house, unless the caffeine runs out, which it never does. She’s a multi-published erotica author with Entangled, Cleis Press, Xcite, and Excessica.
She’s driven by her tea addiction and a tiny stuffed turtle her husband picked up from Disney World that sits on her desk and “supervises” her work.
When not writing (which is rare), she’s watching countless hours of reality television, playing the Sims or shopping online. Plus there’s that odd obsession with the color purple. Everything is purple.
She’s driven by her tea addiction and a tiny stuffed turtle her husband picked up from Disney World that sits on her desk and “supervises” her work.
When not writing (which is rare), she’s watching countless hours of reality television, playing the Sims or shopping online. Plus there’s that odd obsession with the color purple. Everything is purple.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 5, 2015
SPOILERS, SPOILERS, AND TAMMY GOES ON A RANT
So a friend of mine on facebook (who shall remain nameless, mostly because I haven't told her yet that she owes me $2.95 for the cost of this book) shared a truly excellent book ad the other day. There was a beautiful shot of a man's arm in a french-cuffed white shirt, a heroine named Izobel, and a quote that was straight out of "Alpha/Dom speeches 101". It had me. And when my friend said she'd had a look at the sample and it was promising, that was all it took for me. CLICK.
And two hours later? I'm done the book, I'm annoyed, borderline offended, and thinking that was $2.95 and two hours of my life I'll never get back.
This should have been good. Elise Hepner has taken two of my favourite tropes (marriage of convenience and best friends boinking) and mashed them up with a measure of kink thrown in for good measure. Pretty standard for a contemporary romance these days, and I was looking forward to reading what this author's take on these standards would be.
What I got was a disjointed, choppy, cheat of a story, with two-dimensional characters and flat dialogue. The entire premise of the book was based on a need for the marriage in the first place, and 3/4 of the way through the book the premise is erased - just like that - and never mentioned again. Not only that, but an icky, almost offensive connection between BDSM and the hero witnessing his mother's murder that had me thinking someone needed to take Bash to a psychologist, and quick.
Izzy and Bash have been friends forever (except for that time between middle school and high school that they weren't, and really who cares, but the author thought we should so she stuck in a weird flashback to start her story) and apparently Izzy is in love with Bash. Don't know why really, even with all the telling the author does. I never got the connection between them, never saw the foundation for what was to come.
Somehow we are able to determine that Izzy's mom has cancer, is quite ill, and is in hospital having chemo. Also somehow, through the garbled conversations and inner-voice meanderings of these two, we are told that Bash and Izzy have decided somehow to get married to make her happy before she dies. They share a couple of heated kisses at the hospital and somehow there is a wedding ceremony.
The wedding night doesn't happen, as Bash takes off from the romantic, rose-petal-strewn hotel suite and goes to some Dom/Sub club called The Attic where Izzy catches up with him in a "scene". Then the book got weird. For me, anyway.
There are flashbacks to Bash's mom's death - at the hands of a boyfriend who beat her for his own pleasure - which has somehow molded Bash's sexual proclivities. This was where things got creepy for me. I don't mind a little bit of BDSM in my books; I've read that stupid 50 Shades, and virtually every contemporary you pick up nowadays has a hero who likes a bit of rough play. What I DON'T like is when the hero is described as having a "not-so-secret love of BDSM", but his behaviour as portrayed by the author is closer to that of a sadist. He considers himself a monster, and tells Izzy so.
It just got worse for me after that. Their first sexual encounter is rough, and Bash spanks the shit out of her. For a first-timer, I found it a teeensy bit hard to believe that all it took for her was a bottle of champagne and a couple of hours surfing bondage porn on the internet to discover that she was really a sub and wanted to be bruised during sex.
And when he takes her to the club where they ARE the scene? That was where the author lost me. He puts her head in a STOCK for crissakes, flogs her, puts on nipple clamps and yanks on the chains, has some big-time anal involving a dildo (after never even having TALKED about that type of sex), drips hot wax all over her and jerks off onto her back. That's pretty serious for only her second time having that type of sex. And also? No mention of a safe word. At any time.
Now, I'm not much of a serious student of BDSM but I've learned a couple of things since "the book that shall remain nameless" came out:
1) BDSM seems to be all about the sub's pleasure. The dom gets pleasure from giving pleasure to the sub, the sub relinquishes all control to the dom. Of course, that's pretty simplistic as I believe there is a lot of stuff about control, blurring the line between pain and pleasure, anticipation and most of all TRUST involved in that type of thing. None of that was done here. Bash seemed to have a need to cause pain (for some unclear, creepy, psychologically-fucked-up reason) and Izzy seemed to think that she would endure whatever she needed to because she loved him (and OH! she discovers that she likes it.)
2) YOU NEED TO HAVE A SAFE WORD. If I've got my head and wrists in a fucking stock, you've put clamps on my nipples and decide to splash melted wax on me, you better fucking believe there should be a word for me to scream at you to let you know I've had enough. I would have thought this was basic, and I'm surprised that an author of erotica would overlook this. It's irresponsible, IMHO.
There were other problems I had with the book as well - in addition to the bait-and-switch with her mother's illness (aw shucks! They switched the biopsies! I'm really fine and not dying and probably didn't need all the chemo I just had!) Bash is referred to as a workoholic by Izzy. Um, doing what? Don't think he went in to work during the entire span of the book. He drives an expensive car, and dresses well, but doesn't every contemp romance dude? And what does she do? Details, that's what was missing. Substance, depth, character, emotions. Wasn't feeling it.
As a matter of fact, I wasn't feeling anything by the end other than somewhat annoyed. And wondering if I actually did practice BDSM, how PO'd I would be at the portrayal of my "likes" in the bedroom being linked in a novel to a boy watching his mother being beaten to death by a sadist because it pleased him. I also wondered if Jenny Trout has read this - and what she would have to say if she did.
Can't recommend this one. I didn't buy the romance, I didn't buy the characters, and I sure a s*** didn't buy the dom/sub aspect (although what I will say is that those scenes contained the best writing in the novel).
1 1/2 stars, rounded up.
So a friend of mine on facebook (who shall remain nameless, mostly because I haven't told her yet that she owes me $2.95 for the cost of this book) shared a truly excellent book ad the other day. There was a beautiful shot of a man's arm in a french-cuffed white shirt, a heroine named Izobel, and a quote that was straight out of "Alpha/Dom speeches 101". It had me. And when my friend said she'd had a look at the sample and it was promising, that was all it took for me. CLICK.
And two hours later? I'm done the book, I'm annoyed, borderline offended, and thinking that was $2.95 and two hours of my life I'll never get back.
This should have been good. Elise Hepner has taken two of my favourite tropes (marriage of convenience and best friends boinking) and mashed them up with a measure of kink thrown in for good measure. Pretty standard for a contemporary romance these days, and I was looking forward to reading what this author's take on these standards would be.
What I got was a disjointed, choppy, cheat of a story, with two-dimensional characters and flat dialogue. The entire premise of the book was based on a need for the marriage in the first place, and 3/4 of the way through the book the premise is erased - just like that - and never mentioned again. Not only that, but an icky, almost offensive connection between BDSM and the hero witnessing his mother's murder that had me thinking someone needed to take Bash to a psychologist, and quick.
Izzy and Bash have been friends forever (except for that time between middle school and high school that they weren't, and really who cares, but the author thought we should so she stuck in a weird flashback to start her story) and apparently Izzy is in love with Bash. Don't know why really, even with all the telling the author does. I never got the connection between them, never saw the foundation for what was to come.
Somehow we are able to determine that Izzy's mom has cancer, is quite ill, and is in hospital having chemo. Also somehow, through the garbled conversations and inner-voice meanderings of these two, we are told that Bash and Izzy have decided somehow to get married to make her happy before she dies. They share a couple of heated kisses at the hospital and somehow there is a wedding ceremony.
The wedding night doesn't happen, as Bash takes off from the romantic, rose-petal-strewn hotel suite and goes to some Dom/Sub club called The Attic where Izzy catches up with him in a "scene". Then the book got weird. For me, anyway.
There are flashbacks to Bash's mom's death - at the hands of a boyfriend who beat her for his own pleasure - which has somehow molded Bash's sexual proclivities. This was where things got creepy for me. I don't mind a little bit of BDSM in my books; I've read that stupid 50 Shades, and virtually every contemporary you pick up nowadays has a hero who likes a bit of rough play. What I DON'T like is when the hero is described as having a "not-so-secret love of BDSM", but his behaviour as portrayed by the author is closer to that of a sadist. He considers himself a monster, and tells Izzy so.
It just got worse for me after that. Their first sexual encounter is rough, and Bash spanks the shit out of her. For a first-timer, I found it a teeensy bit hard to believe that all it took for her was a bottle of champagne and a couple of hours surfing bondage porn on the internet to discover that she was really a sub and wanted to be bruised during sex.
And when he takes her to the club where they ARE the scene? That was where the author lost me. He puts her head in a STOCK for crissakes, flogs her, puts on nipple clamps and yanks on the chains, has some big-time anal involving a dildo (after never even having TALKED about that type of sex), drips hot wax all over her and jerks off onto her back. That's pretty serious for only her second time having that type of sex. And also? No mention of a safe word. At any time.
Now, I'm not much of a serious student of BDSM but I've learned a couple of things since "the book that shall remain nameless" came out:
1) BDSM seems to be all about the sub's pleasure. The dom gets pleasure from giving pleasure to the sub, the sub relinquishes all control to the dom. Of course, that's pretty simplistic as I believe there is a lot of stuff about control, blurring the line between pain and pleasure, anticipation and most of all TRUST involved in that type of thing. None of that was done here. Bash seemed to have a need to cause pain (for some unclear, creepy, psychologically-fucked-up reason) and Izzy seemed to think that she would endure whatever she needed to because she loved him (and OH! she discovers that she likes it.)
2) YOU NEED TO HAVE A SAFE WORD. If I've got my head and wrists in a fucking stock, you've put clamps on my nipples and decide to splash melted wax on me, you better fucking believe there should be a word for me to scream at you to let you know I've had enough. I would have thought this was basic, and I'm surprised that an author of erotica would overlook this. It's irresponsible, IMHO.
There were other problems I had with the book as well - in addition to the bait-and-switch with her mother's illness (aw shucks! They switched the biopsies! I'm really fine and not dying and probably didn't need all the chemo I just had!) Bash is referred to as a workoholic by Izzy. Um, doing what? Don't think he went in to work during the entire span of the book. He drives an expensive car, and dresses well, but doesn't every contemp romance dude? And what does she do? Details, that's what was missing. Substance, depth, character, emotions. Wasn't feeling it.
As a matter of fact, I wasn't feeling anything by the end other than somewhat annoyed. And wondering if I actually did practice BDSM, how PO'd I would be at the portrayal of my "likes" in the bedroom being linked in a novel to a boy watching his mother being beaten to death by a sadist because it pleased him. I also wondered if Jenny Trout has read this - and what she would have to say if she did.
Can't recommend this one. I didn't buy the romance, I didn't buy the characters, and I sure a s*** didn't buy the dom/sub aspect (although what I will say is that those scenes contained the best writing in the novel).
1 1/2 stars, rounded up.
October 3, 2015
Ms. Hepner shows a strong ability to weave a sentence. I had to think about this one after finishing the last page. Izzy and Bash have been friends forever. Ms. Hepner uses the catalyst of her mother at death's door to put the H/H into a confused wedded unbliss, but her mother's expected demise takes an odd turn and doesn't compute. There is coiling tension in this book, but it doesn't squeeze the nerve endings quite enough. The plot went a little sideways in a few areas. A brand new sub could never handle the workover Izzy endured, even considering her strong love for Bash. The connection between Bash's mother's death and his need to draw blood with his subs was just creepy.
In "A Marriage of Inconvenience" we have both POV's which is a relief, and a balanced amount of inner thought, but for some reason the characters still wavered on the two dimensional scale. There was only one "this ticks me off" moment while reading this story when there is a negative mention of FSOg. I didn't like that much since this is fan fic of the same story. The arc is identical, scarred hero is healed by heroine's innocence and love. Don't dis a story line you're copying. Ms. Hepner's strength is in her skill to create an awesome image with words. I hope she takes that talent and delves deeper into characterization and original plots. (less)
In "A Marriage of Inconvenience" we have both POV's which is a relief, and a balanced amount of inner thought, but for some reason the characters still wavered on the two dimensional scale. There was only one "this ticks me off" moment while reading this story when there is a negative mention of FSOg. I didn't like that much since this is fan fic of the same story. The arc is identical, scarred hero is healed by heroine's innocence and love. Don't dis a story line you're copying. Ms. Hepner's strength is in her skill to create an awesome image with words. I hope she takes that talent and delves deeper into characterization and original plots. (less)
September 23, 2015
*** I received an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review ***
A very enjoyable love story between 2 best friends who unexpectedly find themselves tying the knot for all the wrong reasons. A couple of weird random time lapse jumps at the beginning that had me scratching my head. Nothing to affect my rating though. We go through all the trials and tribulations of this marriage of inconvenience between Izzy and Bash, especially when you throw in some hot Dom BDSM proclivities and childhood baggage. Overall, a well written, hot love story that I recommend.
A very enjoyable love story between 2 best friends who unexpectedly find themselves tying the knot for all the wrong reasons. A couple of weird random time lapse jumps at the beginning that had me scratching my head. Nothing to affect my rating though. We go through all the trials and tribulations of this marriage of inconvenience between Izzy and Bash, especially when you throw in some hot Dom BDSM proclivities and childhood baggage. Overall, a well written, hot love story that I recommend.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews