Charlotte and Jake keep getting thrown together. After twelve years of crushing on the hot businessman she first met as a student at university, travel journalist Charlotte is more than prepared to see how things progress, but Jake keeps getting cold feet.When he walks away for the second time, Charlotte decides to explore the unusual lifestyle he keeps throwing up as a barrier. But because of a … because of a terrible past experience, Jake misinterprets her interest and believes she is out to scoop a news story at the expense of him and his newly acquired club.
Can she convince him of the truth or will this be the end of what was beginning to be a beautiful relationship at last?
Publisher’s Note: This steamy contemporary love story contains elements of power exchange.
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OMG, what an absolute emotional rollercoaster “Fear’s Whisper’, the second book in Poppy Flynn’s “Club Risqué” series turned out to be. This second chance romance had me wanting to hug Jake and tell him everything would be all right one minute and the next I wanted to shake his shoulders and ask him What the heck is wrong with you? They’ve all gone to university together; Joel, Jake, Desi, and Char and Char have fantasized about Jake all these years. You can imagine her devastation when Desi and Jake thought about getting married. Anyway, Jake had always thought he and Char got along well and he certainly wouldn’t have minded going out with her at the time but she was strictly vanilla, having just broken away from a religious cult, and he had his kinks, which a reporter had posed as his girlfriend trying to get the details. It’s a horrible story that no amount of money has been able to hush and Jake has had to carry the stigma for all these years. As wonderful as the world-building is with all the magnificent scenes and the explanation of BDSM philosophy, it was a bit refreshing to see actual flawed characters with human insecurities who were fallible. I still wanted to shake his shoulders!!! After so many ups and downs, wringing emotions from me, and making me feel like I was fighting just as hard as they were, the final sigh when I ended this book was one of contentment.
This is volume two in the Club Risqué series and I enjoyed it. It involves a novice to the BDSM lifestyle and how she hooks up with with someone who has been involved in the lifestyle for at least twelve years. Quite a bit of the action takes place in the club where Charlotte decides to get training as a submissive. I think that the story is ver well written and I really like the part about the reporters. There are good scenes in the club involving Charlotte being whipped and some good sex scenes as well. Was Definitely worthwhile reading this book, I am planning on reading more of the series.
Sorry, Jake needed to grovel so much more, but I still really enjoyed this!
There is just something so warm, soft and comfortable about this author’s voice. Not bland, not boring, not *meh*, more of a soft kiss and a gentle caress, with a bit of hair pulling to add a frisson of excitement. As with book 1 I felt that the female character underwent a LOT of personal growth, and really grew in this story. Charlotte was a strong character and I loved how she made things work for her and be on her terms.
We do get a fair amount of internal monologue, more so for the heroines, but I never found it boring, pointless or trite. Every time we experience the heroine thinking through the situation she was in, mulling over her options, reflecting on her reactions we really got to know her intimately. It also meant that I understood her responses to a situation, the whys and wherefores of a decision, so rather than her appearing weak willed or like a doormat we saw the bravery in her choices and she felt more like a warrior than a wimp.
Her chemistry with Jake was off the charts, the heat between them was enough to give me a sunburn! What I find unusual, but in a refreshing way, are the number of scenes where the couple aren’t together. Whilst this runs the risk of not convincing us of their connection – because how do a couple fall in love if they’re apart more than together? – clever use of conversations, clear representation of passion and emotion, all round great writing never left me in any doubt of Jake and Charlotte’s bond.
Yet again this was a book I didn’t want to put down, it just drew me in and was so very enjoyable., engaging me on an emotional level too. My only criticism is how easily things were resolved, in fact we don’t really get to see that part. In this situation I not only needed to see Jake grovel but also to earn back Charlotte’s trust. And after his crappy behaviour towards her, which was sort of semi understandable but also showed a complete lack of trust and respect for Charlotte, I needed more than the declaration of love that I got. I just felt as though she had invested more into the relationship and I needed to see Jake work to repair the damage he had caused and for forgiveness.
Overall this felt like quite a small thing in a story where 99.9% felt perfect, so I would still happily recommend the book. And when I’ve cleared my arc backlist (oops) I will definitely be reading the next books too – especially Micah’s because *swoon*.