Five years is a long time to be alone, especially for a submissive. Despite a near-eternity without the protective, quiver-inducing touch of a master, Esme Spade remains on the sidelines — even inside the walls of Club Decadence. Though several Doms would gladly have her, she can’t seem to do anything more than watch, despite the club’s unwritten ‘no gawkers’ policy. Keiran Finnegan has no time … has no time to break in a new submissive. He’s also a man who knows what he wants, and there’s something about the obviously-wounded Esme that is exactly what he’s been longing for. Will his skilled touch, quiet dominance, and unwavering persistence be enough to revive the spirited beauty? Or is it too late for this gorgeous, deeply scarred creature to set aside the painful grip of her past so he can claim her as his own?
Publisher’s Note: Dare to Love Again is book three in the Decadence LA series but can be enjoyed as a standalone. It’s a steamy, sexy romance intended for adults only. It contains elements of power exchange, sensual scenes, and adult language. If any of these offend you, please do not purchase.
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What a wonderful story. Esme’s story is so sad and has really stopped her from living life fully. Finn is determined to bring her back to the land of the living. Their journey together is heartwarming and beautiful. I will say that Master Eric made me very angry with his high handed ways of managing the club and Esme. Don’t miss this addition to the series.
Reclaiming your life after personal tragedy strikes is difficult at best and for Esme Spade it seems impossible. She’s stuck in memories of the past unable to move forward. Then she meets Keiran Finnegan at Club Decadence LA and he sees right through her pain and sorrow. A Master of patience Finn feels a connection to Esme that he’s never had with another woman. Together they journey toward a future with a few bumps along the way.
This book by Maddie Taylor takes the reader on a most enjoyable emotional rollercoaster ride of highs and lows as her scarred, flawed and scared main character, Esme, attempts to put her life back into today’s world instead of being afraid of her past. Under this intense trip, the main characters enter their favorite world of BDSM, which Esme has been out of for nearly 5 years due to her fears of moving on from her past. Enter a strong and yet gentle understanding dom, Finn, who is more than willing to help her move on and re-enter the BDSM world and all its sexual and sensual pleasures. And, if that wasn’t enough, Maddie also threw in a subtle yet intense sub-plot thriller that explodes with drama. This is a voluntary review of an Advanced Reader Copy of this book from Blushing Books.
A really good romance with lots of heat.
This book will pull you in really quickly and hold you there to the end.
Esme is having a rough time getting over the loss of her husband. She’s having nightmares and it’s affecting her daily life to the point where her best friend, Pax, finally convinces her to move to California to be near him and away from her past. Finn, on the other hand, is so busy working that he’s not engaging with life outside of work. But when they get thrown together to help Esme, the chemistry is off the charts.
This is the third book in the Decadence L.A. Series but it easily reads as a standalone.
It’s one steaming hot romance that is set in the BDSM lifestyle but it’s an amazing tale of healing and love.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Esme is still grieving the loss of her husband/Dom. She misses what submitting to someone gave her, but she’s so damaged by her husband’s brutal death that she’s unable to allow anyone to get close enough to her even play. After a move to LA to be near her best friend, who is her husband’s former partner, she finally decides to go to the club he frequents, and it’s here where she’ll meet the man who will change her life irrevocably.
Kieran Finnegan is a Dom and one of the owners of Decadence LA, but hasn’t been spending much time there lately. That all changes when his friend and fellow owner, Eric, presents him with a challenge – to help an errant sub get herself unstuck from whatever is holding her back. Finn is enthralled with the beautiful redhead who is obviously going through something. But, upon taking Eric’s challenge, he had no idea he’d soon be falling in love with her. Can he breach her walls, get her to open herself up to not only submission, but to him? And can he protect her when something from her professional life intersects with the club?
Whew, Dare to Love Again is a roller coaster! It’s so beautifully told, and I fell in love with Esme and Finn as they found themselves falling for each other. It’s not only seriously steamy, but the emotional connection they share is pretty intense. I love how Finn got Esme to open up using not just his Dom perception, but using her own desire to help her. Although this is the first of this series and of Maddie Taylor’s that I’ve read, it definitely won’t be the last!
The third book in the Decadence L.A. series it is Esme Spade a submissive and Dom Keiran Finnegan’s story I enjoyed reading this book. Esme has so much she must overcome if she can what a story once started I was not putting it down. I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I enjoyed reading this book very much
A beautifully romantic read. Master Finn, even though a Dom, was so gentle and so loving. No angst here about falling for a subbie with issues….this was so refreshing. He knew what he wanted and had no need to convince himself to go for it. Enjoyed Esme too. She had lost so much but was brave enough to rejoin the land of the living even if she still needed a nudge to cross that threshold. A good read!
Esme lost her husband and dominant in a terrible shooting. Shes having panic attacks and when she can no longer cope alone her husbands best friend asks her to move closer to him. In doing so it brings her closer to club decadence a place he is hoping can help her. However when she finds no doms shes interested in she fears she will have to stop attending. When a dom named Kieran spots her he knows that even though he has no time to with his business in full swing he must have her. But Kieran has a dangerous job and having lost one husband/dom to one can Esme see past it to the wonderful man beneath? I loved this story Kieran was both patient and firm with Esme and he did such a fantastic job of helping her heal1 while they grew closer. I love Maddie Taylors writing and she did a wonderful job with this story. I recieved an ARC and am voluntarily and honestly leaving my review.
Esme is struggling with her life after the brutal murder of her husband. Not only was he her husband, he was her dom. Everything is on shaky ground and she is having a hard time finding her way. When she starts going to Club Decadence it helps but, she is told that she has to have a dom in order to have a membership. Keiran doesn’t have time to train a sub but, something about Esme pulls him in. This is an emotional, sexy, hot book with wonderful characters.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I love Club Decadence. I would really love to go there. Too bad it only exists in the mind of Maddie Taylor.
Esme has spent the last 5 years of her life barely living. After her husband and Master was killed and bled out in her arms, she just kind of went into stasis. She was existing, not living. She had nightmares, flashbacks, and just didn’t cope all that well. When her friend Pax invited her to move out to LA, she decided that she would go. He signed her up for membership at Decadence, so that she could hopefully get a new Dom.
Master Eric has noticed that Esme has spent the last 3 months just watching what’s going on, at least once a week. He knows that’s not good, and he’s had one person complain. So he lays an ultimatum on her, find a Dom or lose her membership. When she leaves, he calls his friend Kieran Finnegan in and tells him that he has the perfect sub for him, Esme.
Esme’s story is all about a second chance. It’s not that she is having a second chance romance with Finn, it’s that she has a second chance at life itself and a second chance to love someone. She has so much trauma and stress that she has to work through so that she doesn’t stay stuck. I feel so badly for her trying to deal with all that trauma. Finn really is a good Dom for her because he is so patient and stubborn, and doesn’t mind chasing her when she tries to run.
Excellent book, beautiful story.
I quickly got swept up in this book. Esme had faced a trauma and was having a hard time getting unstuck. Master Eric had a way to help her get unstuck, and it involved the use of his friends Finn to help. Finn has to be the most patient and understanding got that’s ever been written, because surely no man could be that patient in real life!
Esme is a widow, and frankly, she’s in a self-destructive rut after her police-officer husband’s murder. But more than that, he was her dom and she his submissive, and despite the guidance of his best friend, Esme’s adrift. She’s wandering in so many ways, she risks losing her membership in Decadence, the club she joined when she moved to LA. It will take someone special to help her find her way forward, so thank heavens for Finn, the dominant she finally accepts when confronted by an ultimatum from the Decadence leadership.
Esme is a rich character, and her suffering and circling back to old issues is vibrantly portrayed. Finn is a bit perfect in that he’s willing to address Esme’s many concerns that most real-life guys would avoid while being a fantastic dom. But the chemistry Taylor builds with these two characters is explosive and is a major factor in why this story works so well.
It’s great to revisit old characters from earlier books of Taylor’s, and I liked that some of the problems in the book, like Esme dealing with Finn’s profession, didn’t become giant roadblocks. The villain of the story kind of came out of nowhere at the end of the book, and I wish there had been a bit more continuity with him from the beginning.
But the characters of Esme and Finn are wonderful, and I loved how they found a dynamic with the Decadence club environment that fit them and didn’t shift their behavior and interactions to suit the club. Taylor is doing a fabulous job with this series, and Dare to Love Again is a wonderful part of it.
This was such a beautiful story of second chances when your not even expecting it. The detail and emotions of such a broken woman searching for what shes lost and after 5 years stepping into Club Decadence as a ghost of a shell being given an ultimatum get busy or your out. Master Keiran/Finn takes Esme on and is so patient but firm and the chemistry is instant but also frightening. I was happy that Esme had Pax I really liked him. This was a very emotional scary in places and so so beautiful at the same time, I loved how they interacted and just needed each others strength in so many ways. The story just flowed so easily you really get lost inside the pages and I loved that.
Esme is scared after moving to LA, and, being without a Dom for five years since the death of her husband, but, watching a scene in the club reminds her of what she had and wants again.
When a Dom makes her use the club safe word, the DM that helps her gives her tingles that she hasn’t felt in years.
When Eric tells him the woman he has been watching is Esme, and she has to find a Dom by the weekend to keep her membership, Keiran is surprised, realising that is Esme who he’s friend wants him to help.
Esme was anxious to meet the Dom that Master Eric said would help her, and, relaxes slightly when she works out it’s Master Finn or Keiran, from the other night, that she thought didn’t want her.
When Finn tells her, they have been in the room two hours shocked Esme, but she realises that was because of how comfortable she was with him and he explains how much he learnt about her.
When Esme tries to leave, Hawkeye Finnegan, sets her up, he wants to know what spooked her. Finn can see that she wants him as much as he wants her, but, has a few of her walls to break down.
She could feel hope creeping into her heart, and, decided that moving forward with Finn was best and could only hope it would turn into more, is Esme finally ready to start a new beginning with Finn, who is everything she could want.
Everything is perfect until Esme finds out something that make her run, from Finn, the club everyone, will Finn be able help Esme realise the could have something extraordinary and move on from her past.
Esme Spade is struggling to pull her life back together after the tragic loss of her husband five years ago. Not only were they married, but she was also his submissive, leaving her feeling even more lost and alone without the guidance she needs. Suffering from nightmares and panic attacks, her late husband’s friend and partner in the FBI convinces Esme to move to LA to be closer to him so he can help her in finding her way again . . . part of which is introducing her to Club Decadence.
While she finds comfort just being in the club, Esme isn’t quite ready to move forward other than watching those around her, the no lurkers policy threatens her membership. She has no choice but to find someone to connect with or lose the one thing helping to hold her together emotionally.
Keiran Finnegan is too busy with work helping to run a security and protection company to break in a new submissive. But, from the first moment he sees Esme, he knows there is something special about her. He knows he can be the man she needs to help bring her wounded soul back to life with the patience, caring and dominance she craves.
Esme is terrified to love again, and Keiran’s dangerous profession has her wanting to run for the hills, but neither can deny their attraction and deeper connection. Will she be able to deny their love or will a ghost keep them apart forever.
This was my first foray into Maddie Taylor’s writing and I really enjoyed it. Esme is such a beautifully broken character. She tries to be string and move on, but she needs more. But, it is easy to see why both Kieran’s affections and especially his job terrify her after all she has been through.
Kieran is truly one of the most patient and caring book boyfriends I have ever read. He knows exactly what Esme needs and helps her begin the healing process showing her she can love again.
While this amazing slow burn of a love story is happening, the author throws in an unexpected suspense element that will leave readers reeling. It adds the perfect amount of drama and intensity to this story to make it a page turner right up to the finish. 4.5 stars!
This was a hot and emotional read! I really enjoyed it. It was my first by this author and I look forward to reading more of her books in the future!
I really enjoyed this emotional read. Esme and Keiran’s story is sure to move you. Their attraction was easy to feel and their chemistry steamy. This is a BDSM romance and the scenes sizzle. A very good read and an excellent start to this series. This is my completely voluntary and totally honest review.
Maddie Taylor has another success in Dare to Love Again, the third book in her Decadence L.A. series!
She writes the perfect alpha men that find that sweet sub that brings out their protective nature to the max. Finn is no exception when his eyes land on Esme. She is fighting a ghost, but at the same time trying to find herself again. She can’t do it alone, but with his help she finds a way to finally win the battle!
When the stars finally align and their worlds collide, it is now their time to find a future together.
Taylor has never been afraid to show her hand when it comes to risque, but there have been moments of lacking when it comes to emotion. Dare to Love Again is not one of those moments. Esme and Kieran’s path to love is scattered with broken hearts, risky behavior, grief and fresh starts. Esme is learning to be whole again after a devastating loss shattered her world. The ghost of what was haunts her every waking moment even as it torments her dreams. Kieran is intrigued by the ice princess. He sees the pain that torments her and wants to be the light at the end of the tunnel for her. Can this brooding warrior melt the ice encasing her broken heart? Tempting.