Wrestling With Temptation...wrestling with finishing the book!

Argh!!! I hate giving bad reviews and usually do not go overboard with them. I am a firm believer in the subjectivity of art. Things I hate others think are genius. I try to focus on the main things like writing, concept and characters. There are several notable occasions where very popular books were useless drivel to me. Maybe it is because of the volume of reading I do and how spoiled I get with good writing. I just can't sit through bad storytelling! I was not one to tout the virtues of Fifty Shade, I could barely get through the damn thing. Unlike others it had nothing to do with he genre, I like a good BDSM as much as the next girl.

So, I recently started a series that sounded really interesting. The concept drew me in and the premise was unique. When I started reading I noted some things seemed off with the storytelling but nothing too major. About halfway through the book everything changed. My steamy romance turned into a dark BDSM horror story. It was really a major change.

One of the major characters did seriously unlikable things. I thought how am I supposed to rout for this guy? He was straight evil and I don't think it was all the situation. I just could not get past many of the things he did and was disgusted when he warranted a HEA with the other characters.

The dark BDSM mostly came from one of the main characters who was a sadist, not my kind of Dom. He also practiced verbal humiliation, slut this, whore that. No thanks. There were also several mentions of rapes and forced seductions, plus a whole scene where one of the characters was in wolf form having sex with a human. Gross. This really should have a warning from the publisher!

After all that I want to know did anybody else read this series? What did you think? The other books still sound interesting but I worry they will be as dark and unappealing as this book. I will admit I skimmed through most of the end chapters just to make myself finish. Most everybody on Goodreads had 4-5 starts up but not many reviews.








Wrestling With Temptation (Temptation, Wyoming #1)
by Zoey Marcel

Summary - Morrigan, a resurrected banshee, is attacked by a harpy and saved by two werewolves. Jack is the eccentric alpha and Mark is his handsome beta. They invite her to stay with them on their ranch in Wyoming for protection. She meets two more werewolves, Quinn and Damon, who are lovers. Her mates introduce her to the world of BDSM and act as her guardians to protect her from the forces of evil that are after her.

Jack is torn between his love for Morrigan and the mission hell sent him on—to drag her to the underworld where Death can claim the woman who escaped him. Jack's heart forbids it, but Death has others in line to kill her and eternal punishment in store for Jack if he goes rogue.

The pack must overcome their differences and band together if they are to protect Morrigan and redeem their soulless alpha.

Genre: Ménage a Trois/Quatre, Paranormal, Vampires/Werewolves
Length: 57,538 words

Wrestling With Temptation by Zoey Marcel
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Not really sure what to think of this series. At times the story really flowed and at others it was a bit of a mess.

I appreciate that the description held back and was mostly spoiled free. It could have really given away major plot twists but did not. Gotta say the twist was a bit obvious and I can not believe it took the characters so long to put it together!

The guys were very wishy washy and came off as fickle at times. One of the main guys was a sadist, which is not my sort of Dom. Some dark BDSM elements that I was not feeling. And half way through it took a serious turn for the dark side. It was really hard to read much of the sex because it was so dark and a couple scenes were less than consensual.

A few hot MM scenes as well as all the ménage steam. It really deliverer in the sex department but the story faltered. About halfway through it turned into a different book, not sure romance to horror worked. It was really tough to push through and finish the book.

I am not sure if I will read more of this series. I'll have to read the description of the next book before deciding!

Overall the BDSM was heavy and the story content felt muddled. Almost felt like the author wasn't really sure where she was taking her characters. Disappointing.

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