Originally published at Seducing Seshat. You can comment here or there.
Well since my last blog post there’s been even MORE stupid health problems, but I’m still alive and kicking with one leg at least.
Remember when I asked for recommendations for a dirty read? Well Megan Hart pointed me toward Joey Hill’s Natural Law. I really liked her first Vampire Queen book, and I really, REALLY liked Rough Canvas, so it wasn’t a difficult decision to go for it.
It’s official–I’m a Joey Hill fangirl. I like the way she approaches BDSM from the club and from the heart rather than focusing on club scene after club scene. The book opens with a cop on the track of a dominant* killer. He’s a submissive, so he can enter the club scene easily enough. He spies dominant Violet, and at first pursues her because she can help him blend into the club but of course soon passions begin to spark between them.
The book ramps up and then forgets about the mystery plot for quite a while, focusing instead on the growing relationship between Violet and Mac the cop. Ordinarily this would irritate me but it worked here, and the mystery aspect comes back with a few surprise twists and some genuinely thrilling moments (in a scary way AND in a sexy way). I never felt the book was disingenuous or overwrought, an easy trap when writing about BDSM. By the time the book ends, you are really rooting for the folks involved to have their HEA. And, Hill was sure to use safe words, in fact made the idea of limits essential to the novel and I really appreciate that.
Down sides? Poor Mac’s name, Mackenzie Nighthorse, is one of the more ridiculous names I’ve encountered in erotica. Might as well call him Dicky McBigWang. There were some parts of the sexual activity that made me raise an eyebrow in doubt, but not enough to make me dislike the action.
Overall, I highly recommend the novel for a few days fun reading time and a few nights fun playtime to boot! Buy it in digital on Ellora’s Cave or in print at amazon.com.
*Nope, I don’t capitalize it. The pretension just grates on me.
