Roped Ann Jacobs "Book 1 in the Heart of the West series" Returning from the war, his body wounded, his soul hurting, Jared faces a very different life. A sexual Dominant, doubts about his ability now to satisfy any submissive plague him. Until Ninia. The face of an angel and the body of a centerfold, she's about as unsubmissive as any woman he's known. A nurse in the Cheyenne VA hospital where Jared is sent, Ninia is tough, in control. Until Jared catches her in an unguarded moment and see a vulnerable, softer side. It fires his blood with a need to find out more. Accepting an invitation to a local dungeon, the sexual Dominant in Jared rears back to full potency when he sees Ninia, submissively awaiting his pleasure, his dominance. Now he knows what he wants. And he's about to prove to Ninia he's man enough to take it.
First published in 1996, Jacobs has sold close to fifty books and novellas. SANDSTORMS was a 2007 nominee for the prestigious ROMANTIC TIMES Reviewers' Choice award for best erotic romance. Her books have earned awards including the Passionate Plume (best novella, 2006, second place contemporary, 2008), the Desert Rose (best hot and spicy romance, 2004) and More Than Magic (best erotic romance, 2004). She has been a double finalist in separate categories of the EPPIES and From the Heart RWA Chapter’s contest. Three of her books have been translated and sold in several European countries.
A CPA and former hospital financial manager, Jacobs now writes full-time, with the help of Mr. Blue, the family cat who sometimes likes to perch on the back of her desk chair and lend his sage advice. He sometimes even contributes a few random letters when he decides he wants to try out the keyboard. (Most of the time Blue just curls up, hides his eyes with his paws...and sleeps!)
Ugh, I hated this book. I didn't buy Jared and Ninia's "love" - he was just another injured soldier who fell "in love" with his nurse and she wasn't exactly over her deceased husband, IMHO - and their BDSM plays didn't work for me. On the bright(?) side, I did learn how to do the karada bondage because Ninia loved to be tied that way and taught Jared how to do it, but I doubt that info will ever be useful to me, LOL.
It wasn't easy to find a SFW pic to illustrate what the karada bondage looks like. This is the best I could do:
So, how do you like it? Notice how the little subs' arms are tied behind their back. Does that feel like fun to you? ;)
Overall, this story was a huge disappointment to me. The writing failed to engage me, I didn't connect with Jared and Ninia, and the sex scenes were out of my comfort zone: I'm not into 24/7 Master/slave relationships, I can't stand pain in the bedroom (or in the dungeon, in the club, wherever) and I don't like ménage. And since when is it hot to have your head shaved completely bald by your Master?!? *runs away screaming*
I did not enjoy this erotic romance. I awarded a 2nd star simply for the author's courage in making her hero an amputee from the Gulf wars. The theme of how he regains his dominance (with his nurse as his sub) sounded interesting but the writing just didn't grab me. The references to blood and shrapnel got to be too much. I persisted, feeling smug that at least I was reading socially conscious smut. Then the author threw in a menage a quatre and I started feeling like I was reading bad porno. From now on, I'm keeping my smut and my socially conscious reading separate.
This was a short, but interesting book, though the reader is not left feeling like the story was rushed or missing things because it is so short. I loved the wounded war hero aspect to Jared and how he learned to move on and see past his injuries with Ninia's help. Ninia is also learning to move on from past pains with Jared's help and that really made the story click for me, made it seem more real somehow. Even though this is an erotica story, and a BDSM one to boot, it is one I would recommend to others.
Ms. Jacob gives us a love story of two people who need each other to heal. Jared not only has his physical wounds but his emotional ones that make him question his self worth. Ninia is a widow and needs to move on. In Jared, she’s certain she’ll find the loving man who can give her the control she needs in her life. The sex scenes in this novella are explicit and some find them objectionable; I found them to provide interesting insights to the BDSM lifestyle
Hmmm... no me terminó de convencer!!! He leído varios libros de bdsm... pero admitó que en este leí un par de cosas, que mencionaron, que me soprendieron!!! tengo entendido que en los siguientes, se explica mejor... creo que por eso seguiré leyendo!! La curiosidad mató al gato u.u
Posted on Romancing the Book's blog Reveiwed by Aubrey Review Copy Provided by the Publisher
I went into reading this book not really knowing what to expect. I really enjoyed it from beginning to end. I love for my erotica to not just be about sex but also have a back story and a bit of romance. For me, it makes it a lot more believable. The story of how Jared and Ninia get together is sweet yet sexy at the same time.
Ninia is a strong woman who knows what she wants but also has the ability to give comfort to others in her profession as a nurse but especially in her romantic life. She lost her husband in the war and has not been with anyone since him. Jared is stubborn and feeling like his life is over after losing his leg in the war. He does not know what to do with himself now that he cannot be a soldier. Ninia is able to open Jared up enough that they start having feelings towards each other that go from lust to love.
The erotic part of the story is super steaming hot. It may not be for everyone because it does have a strong BDSM storyline. Ninia and her husband were heavily involved in the BDSM lifestyle and frequented a dungeon. I was a little confused at first what a dungeon entailed but it was not what I pictured at all. Jared also went to various dungeons around the world. The story gets steamy when they meet up at a dungeon. Their sex is incredible but it is also where their love grows.
I will be definitely buying the rest of the books in this series. I’m totally hooked to the secondary characters that have been set up for future novels. I read the book in one sitting and felt a great love for the characters. They were real and showed emotion that is often missing in some erotica.
A very gentle story in many ways, featuring a returning soldier who has lost his leg in Iraq and who now wonders, as do so many of them, whether he can really be "a man" with less than all his body parts. The fact that he is a BDSM Master complicates the matter for his as well. This is really a quite gentle exploration of the BDSM lifestyle and one man's reclamation of himself through the kind and loving acceptance of a nurse/submissive who has come to love him while he was in her care as a patient. Definitely not "hard core" and I was surprised at how non-offensive it was. A very nice read. I like Ann Jacob's writing as well. I have read her Gridiron Series and others of her books so wasn't surprised that she pulled it off again.
As a novella, it doesn't delve very much into the nuances of BDSM. Therefore, if you've never read a Dom/sub story, this is not the one to start with because there's much you won't understand as to why they are doing what they do. And although I did not miss these explanation details, it did seem to come off as not describing the characters' personal background and experience with BDSM. It made it seem less personal and almost like the author was just writing about occurrences than a story between two characters. In terms of the sex scenes, there were a decent amount in the novella but more buildup than actual sex so they weren't off the charts steamy. All in all it was just okay for me.
This could have been a lot better and as it looks to be an introduction to a series it really should have been a lot better. There were parts I liked, such as the basis for their relationship and how it developed even if I would have preferred to have a few bonding moments in the hospital bed to help emphasis her attraction to him. Now it just felt as a given to help carry the story along, but it wasn’t really explained why she’s so certain that he’s the one. It also helped cheapen her decision to give up her job and move with a man she seemed to hardly know but had a strong physical attraction to. There’s a lot of big life changing decisions that the book just skims over, which really makes me question if the rest of the series will hold anything of substance.
Another one I got because of twitter. It also helped that it was free. Touching story with a wounded warrior and his nurse finding each other. He has to trust that he can still be a Dom despite the results of his injury and she has to recover from the loss she suffered years ago.
I really liked how they both sacrificed for each other in their course to love. My one main niggle is one of the decisions she made about her future. I don't know if that is how it was for her in the past but I didn't like the message I got about the importance of her job and its perishable skills.
I had a hard time with this one. I liked the characters and the story line and I thought the lobe scenes were hot. Maybe it was just too short for me but it felt like two separate and unfinished stories. They come together and despite them both being from the scrlene and aware of the dangers associated with BDSM, they almost immediately move into a collaring. Then they up and go to his home town where there are separate characters and story lines to jump onto. The sections didn't feel connected and neither felt completely developed. Still, it was a good read.
Wasn't good but it wasn't bad either - it just was I guess. The book started out with great expectations, but it fell apart pretty quickly. Even with the background information given, I didn't buy Jared as a tortured soul, he simply seemed rather whiny. Ninia just was accepting, hey I have new Master and I will do everything he tells me. And they lived happily ever after! Yeah, that's how the book felt, not a lot of depth to the characters, but their supporting characters seem like a better story, so I'll try again and see if Brad has a better story
I liked parts of this book but then there were parts that really turned me off. The whole hair thing, for one. I can't even pinpoint it beyond that. I just... ehh. I liked parts, I didn't like other parts. Done.
This book was a free Kindle download I picked up 09/11/12 for the Why Buy the Cow? reading challenge.
Mmm.. no me gusto tanto, aunque si se me hizo bastante interesante el karada.. lastima que no pusieron mas ejemplos..los personajes unicos cada uno con sus gustos.. y como el supero poco a poco su perdida con la ayuda de ella.. me gustaria ir a alguno de esos dungeons XD
This was a free read on Kindle. I enjoyed the plot but found where is explain some stuation it left others lacking so that it sometiimes was hard to follow. Enjoyed the read but would probably not reread.
Got this one free on amazon. Wasnt as good as I had hoped. It was too short to really pull you into a believable master/slave relationship. Seemed forced...i dont know. I've read better and worse. Just middle of the road for me.
This is a very moving story. It tells of how a soldier returns home wounded and feeling less than a full man. Ann worked her magic and spun a tale of how a strong submissive knows what her master needs.
No me llegó a gustar del todo el estilo de escritura de la autora, pero la base de la historia ha estado muy buena así que me he entretenido bastante. Jared y Ninia han sido una pareja clásica a considerar, dejando de lado la relación D/s obvio. Recomendable.