Visiting the Black Elkhorn Lodge and Resort is Mia Evans’s last option. She’s bordering on a nervous breakdown. Everyone in her life she thought she could count on deserted her. And, to make matters worse, she has the foulest case of writer’s block in the history of the world. She figures getting herself out of the prison her apartment in Chicago has become will help jar her life and her writing … writing out of the rut they are in. But she isn’t prepared for the surly, sexy cowboy – who looks like her every dark fantasy come alive – riding into her life on his trusty steed.
Cole Stewart only loved one woman in all his thirty-five years, until he lost her forever and swore he would never love another. Since then he’s had a revolving door with the subs at his lifestyle club Cuffs & Spurs, all with the unwritten rule that he doesn’t get involved or do relationships of any kind, period. That is, until Mia Evans, the burned-out, anxiety ridden author, needing to get away from her real life, nearly runs him over with her car. Seeing the haunted expression in her gaze and a body he craves, the Dom in him knows he must have her, must taste her and feel her writhing beneath him. But will he be willing to risk his heart for the untamed passion he finds in her arms?
Publisher’s Note: This steamy romance contains elements of power exchange.
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Mia’s life has left her with a severe case of writer’s block, and she needs to meet her publishing deadline. So she closes her eyes and picks some place on a map to get away for a month. It just happens to be Wyoming, and that’s where she meets Cole, one of the two owners of Black Elkhorn Lodge and Resort, when she almost runs over him and his horse, Oreo. Things are not exactly friendly during their first meeting, but their attraction to each other is apparent. It takes quite awhile for them to give into that attraction, though, with Cole fighting it every step of the way. He’s still not over the sudden death of his girlfriend years previous, and it’s made him allergic to relationships and commitment. He doesn’t have any attachments aside from his brother, and leaves his physical needs to be met at Cuffs & Spurs, the local club he and his friends belong to. Can he give into his attraction to Mia, a woman he suspects is either vanilla or is entirely unknowledgeable of the lifestyle? And when he finally gives into their attraction and they find they can’t keep their hands off each other, will he be able to convince Mia to be his casual bed mate with no feelings involved? After all, their arrangement will surely have an expiration date, as she’s leaving soon, and as he reminds her more than once, he doesn’t do relationships.
I was excited to read this installment of the Cuffs & Spurs series after having read Mason’s story and meeting Cole in it. Unfortunately, his story let me down. I didn’t end up liking Cole at all. Just like Mason, he was so hot and cold with poor Mia that she must have suffered from the same whiplash that poor Emily suffered from in His Wicked Love. He was so hung up on a dead girlfriend that he couldn’t see the possible connection with a flesh and blood person right in front of his face. I found Mia a bit more likable than Cole, but she was a big mess, too. I wanted more of her backstory to understand her anxieties and insecurities in her present. It was alluded to that she had a bad previous relationship, but it wasn’t detailed or explained at all. Her parents’ deaths were also alluded to but never given detail. All these things in her past, had they been fleshed out, would have gone a long way to explaining why she is the way she is in her present. But given the way she’s written, she seems rather one-note and cardboard. Cole too is one-note, and not a pleasant one-note. In fact, he’s the worst part of His Untamed Love – unlikable in every possible way except his physical attributes.
I’m not going to let this deter me from reading more of Anya Summers’ work though, because I know she has a lot of potential and I really like her Dungeon Fantasy Club and Pleasure Island series. And there are characters mentioned in both His Wicked Love and here that I am interested in (Spencer, Jackson, Alex, Garrett, Tibby), so am looking forward to more of the Cuffs & Spurs world.
City-bred writer Mia tries to overcome a writer’s block by venturing into the Wild West of Wyoming. There she meets the owner of the Lodge she stays in and falls hard. Riddled with anxiety and near panic attacks she does not want to trust her feelings in the dominant man.
Cole, trying to protect his heart, does not want to persue his feelings either, as he is a dom and she a virgin to the lifestyle.
An interesting mix, as both have abandonment issues and have to overcome fear, learn to trust in each other. As usual in Ms. Summer’s books, bondage is part of the solution for psychological problems.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.