I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Awakening by Elene Sallinger Series: The Chrysalis Series #1
Published by Sourcebooks Casablanca on November 5, 2013
Pages: 224
Format: eBook
Source: Netgalley
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Claire Ryan, 35, confused, and alone, misunderstands her own desires and joins a local book club for romance readers, where she reads her way through the shop' s erotica shelf yearning to accept and fulfill her sexual fantasies.
The minute Claire walks into Evan Lang' s bookshop, she arouses every protective instinct Evan ever had. After weeks of extreme sexual tension, it only takes one touch for him to see how open and responsive she is to his dominant side.
More than just a tale of sizzling sex, as they embark on the path of Claire' s submission, it becomes difficult for Evan to keep his emotional distance. As Claire learns to accept the sensuous woman she is and fully understand her urges, she falls deeper in love with Evan, only to realize he is holding back on his true desires. Will Evan confront his own past in order to save his passionate new love?
My thoughts…
I loved Awakening. It was a quick read for me. I just couldn’t seem to put it down. I found both the main characters to be intriguing and I really liked them. Evan acted like a butt for the first part of the story. It was understandable as to why he did given the feelings and emotions he was dealing with. I just wish he would have come around a bit earlier in the story.
This title is considered to be erotica, but I don’t think that is a fitting genre rating. Yes it has elements of BDSM, but the content itself really doesn’t live up to the definition of erotica. At least it didn’t for me. Having said that I can honestly say that didn’t bother me. The sexual scenes within Awakening are really hot and well written.
Overall, I really enjoyed this story. My attention was captured from the first page and held until the very end. Even though the story is on the shorter side of a full length novel I think it was perfect. It didn’t seem to be rushed in any way. When I did reach the end I was a little sad to see their story come to an end though. I just really enjoyed escaping into their world.
I agree this really wasn’t erotic even though there were some hot scenes. This was mostly about characters overcoming their past and just how hard that can be. I thought Evan was over the top in being an asshat. I would have left his store for better reading grounds right away.
He was. I really didn’t like him for the first half of the book.