Three steamy hot romances bundled together for ultimate heat! Pieces of StrongholdThe Stronghold Doms are watching as Master Jared and Leigh circle around each other, wondering whose heart will be broken in the end. Breaking the ChainBoth Jared and Leigh want to start a new relationship with each other, but first they have to cast off the chains of their previous ones. Bound to the PastAndrew … their previous ones.
Bound to the Past
Andrew never thought he’d see his ex again or have the chance to atone for what he did to her… but what if he had a chance for so much more?
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A great boxset of our favorite stories. You can’t go wrong with the Stronghold Doms series
Golden Angel leads us through Stronghold, a BDSM Club, catching us up on the circle of friends and giving us a buildup to the friendship growing between Jarod and Leigh. If you haven’t read the first Box Set, Entering Stronghold which contains books 1-3, then this is a great place to start. Of course, you’ll miss all the juicy bits that brought us to this point. I love the setting of the club, the camaraderie of the friendships but most of all, Golden Angel has a way of bringing her characters to life and making the reader feel like a part of the story. Like I personally knew these people and walking away feeling better for it.
In this box set you get a look into the start of Jared and Leigh’s relationship. The next book shows how the couple have grown into their relationship and learning to let go of the past. Andrew gets a chance to make things up for hurting Kate. The whole kinky set of friends is visited and fun times are had by all. A great read.
Great collection, great stories
This box set has one of my favorite stories from the series, and Pieces of Stronghold is a wonderful look at the lives of various characters. Note that I’ve reviewed each of these individually and those reviews follow.
Overall:
Pieces of Stronghold (a novella)
Exactly what the title sounds like: small glimpses into various couples of Stronghold (current, ex and future) with a large part focusing on Jared and Leigh. While I think newbies to the series could enjoy this as a standalone—I could see it making a good intro to the series and this author’s writing style—you’ll get the most enjoyment if you’ve read the earlier books. And you should plan on reading Breaking the Chain.
As usual with this author, there were great characters plus plenty of heat and humor (I was gasping for breath I was laughing so hard at part of the New Year’s Eve party!). And that ending had me rejoicing that I already had Breaking the Chain so I could continue immediately with Jared and Leigh’s story.
A must read for series fans. 5 stars
Breaking the Chain
After the setup in Pieces of Stronghold, I was eager to get into Jared and Leigh’s story. Note while you don’t have to have read Pieces of Stronghold or any of the other previous books to enjoy this, reading the series in order does help fill in background material and makes each book a richer experience.
I really liked the setup of a friends to lovers story here, plus that the two had so much in common. They each had an ex to move on from, which meant they really understood what the other was going through, and so they each reacted as a mature adult to the other’s ex drama. As someone who isn’t in the lifestyle, I also found Leigh to be particularly relatable, and I really enjoyed watching this relationship develop. Of course, we also get glimpses of other members of Stronghold, some coupled (or tripled) up and some not, and it was fun to see how some of those relationships are progressing as well.
One of my favorite stories in the series. 5+ stars
Bound to the Past
I’ve been looking forward to getting Andrew and Kate’s story as this author is terrific at dropping hints and teasers throughout the earlier books (note that like the earlier books, this one can be read as a standalone but for an optimal experience is best read as part of the series).
I sometimes have trouble reading about sadist-masochist relationships as they’re outside my comfort zone, but I didn’t really have trouble here (though there was a very intense scene near the end that was definitely pushing it for me), as I was already invested in these characters due to the earlier setup. It also helped that this author uses a lot of humor in her books, which helps balance out some of the more intense scenes.
As a second chance story, part of the suspense here is waiting for Andrew and Kate to figure out what really happened to cause their breakup. I loved how perfect they were for each other and watching them build back up their trust in the face of issues from the past as well as wariness from friends and family. As usual, it was also fun to get glimpses of all their friends at Stronghold and I can’t wait to read Michael and Ellie’s story!
Great characters, with nice amounts of suspense, heat and humor. 5 stars
B2B Kelly