The stunning conclusion to the New York Times Bestseller.There are a few unbreakable rules in the game.Stay collected. Compartmentalize. Think your next move through.Never let your heart dictate your tactics.The heart is impulsive. The heart makes bad decisions.The heart doesn’t see the long game.The heart may have decided to get Adam back, but when the endgame comes, the heart’s going to be the … the endgame comes, the heart’s going to be the one to break.
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This full-length novel is the conclusion to the Games duet.
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Separation Games, the conclusion of CD Reiss’ ground breaking Games Duet, is a heart wrenching, soaring elegy for the disintegration of a marriage so full of love that it refuses to die. This story is beyond amazing – more than I dared to hope for in my wildest dreams (and I’m pretty daring/demanding). It is one of the most beautiful, painful things I have ever read. Adam and Diana have finally stripped their masks away and have to decide whether they like what they see in the mirror and each other. It’s a poignant, frustrating, joyous and devastating journey I didn’t want to end. Adam and Diana have been taking up space in my heart since I turned the first page of Marriage Games and they just don’t want to leave.
Adam, a closer, fails for the first time. He rouses Diana’s submission from its slumber, but that doesn’t exactly kill his love for her. He’s in this limbo, clinging to his belief he can’t love a sub, but not willing to let Diana go. Complicating matters further, Diana’s love for him (at least for “Montauk Adam”) comes raging to life like a three alarm blaze, ignited by Adam’s Dominance and the new connection it forges. Separation Games opens with Diana, her mask in tatters, left to wrestle with her submission as her emotional universe crumbles around her. The tables are turned – it’s up to Diana to be the closer for the first time ever. Can she do it?
The sense of ennui as Diana was trying to figure out the how of her plan perfectly reflects the onslaught of emotions she was dealing with. But once she shook that feeling, the pace and emotional weight of all she was trying to do kept steadily building – so much fear and trepidation. Could she forge a new path for them and convince Adam he could love her – submission and all – in the fourteen days left in their deal?
Adam tries to use sex to keep Diana at arm’s length while Diana uses sex to communicate where her words fail. The sex (and there’s a lot of it) is electric, inventive and off the charts hot. You’ll never look at legos the same way again.
The writing, as always, is impeccable. It’s poetic, hypnotic, and enticing. As always, Ms. Reiss seduces you with her words. You’re invested in every step of the Steinbeck’s journey. In Separation Games, she creates these stunning mirror images with the moments of Adam’s and Diana’s emotional breakthroughs – which occur in their childhood beds. They’re achingly beautiful and woven through with so much subtle symbolism. She conveys so much in those scenes that I’m still thinking about them.
Diana and Adam are so REAL, it makes the story so much richer. They’re that couple we all have as friends who you adore – but you’re exhausted by their indecision and inability to recognize the emotional connection that’s obvious to everyone else. They’re characters who frustrate the hell out of you but you never want to stop rooting for them. They are so well drawn that we can’t help but see bits and pieces of ourselves and feel empathy for them.
The ride isn’t wild as much as it is unrelenting. The emotions are a lot for a reader to wrap their head around – and the result is more haunting that Marriage Games. I was holding my breath for them both, and then my heart cracked open like a damn egg and all these feelings just poured out. I was just spent. The end of Adam and Diana’s journey is almost like a drop after sub space as you process everything. Aftercare is a must!
5 sparkling stars
PS. Wishes I didn’t know I made came true. It was heartbreakingly perfect.
The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.
After the first step, you still have to walk the thousand miles.
And that’s a perfect way to describe a communion of souls. With a wedding you took the first step and there’s a long long way ahead on this beautiful path of discovering each other while unraveling yourself to the other.
Adam and Diana are walking perpendicular to each other .the ultimate cross at the Intersection Of Interest sand yet they can’t seem to find a parallel or the Congruence. Their struggle…or rather Diana’s struggle is very raw here. She’s awakened yet unfulfilled
He’d asked me to love him when what awakened my love was the very thing that killed his love. There was no path to reconciliation.I was nothing. Nowhere, in the middle of a jump from one world to the next, midair, legs pumping at nothing above the chasm of in-between-ness. Neither-nor-ness. A yawning gape of indecision. A life without an identity.
The chasm between them gets deeper and deeper to the point that it swallows them whole, their love, their personalities, their dignity.
Yes , their dignity. Diana is forced to lose her morals and she gains nothing back.
Success or failure, I had to find out who I was. I still had to understand what my submissiveness meant. How deep it went. How it could complement or destroy my life.
I could write and write about the beautiful spirit that lives in this story, but I’d like you to discover it for yourself.
There’s too many things in this story to take home with you. Each will find their closure or perspective, depending upon your life.
Christine should’ve been a therapist to carefully turn the leaves of their marriage pages., like an old testament. The pages and the book has always been here but Christine shines a new light on them.
Maybe a slim flashlight with loop in the hidden compartment .;) <-- That scene was soooooo hawt!!!!! I love how Reiss writes the words...linking random things to the turmoil or epiphany within The cross made the urine holy !! (What an eye opener ) Like a checkerboard that you always assumed was black on white, but once you saw the possibility that it could be white on black, you couldn’t unsee it. The mind goes back and forth with the opposites, melding them into an agreement of inverses. I fell in love with the characters and their interaction. Beautiful story...like a hot knisch.....I don't like cold potatos either 🙂
Captivating. Engaging. Sexy. Great characters. Passionate. Sweet. Heart touching.
Lovely duet.
Another stunning book from C.D. Reiss.
(Cannot be read as a standalone)
After Diana sees Adam’s true nature as a dom, she’s confused about her feelings. Her mother taught her to be strong and independent. She doesn’t need a man to succeed in life.
But she can’t stop her desires for Master Adam, and now it’s her turn to get her husband back.
The two struggle with each other. Adam wants the best for Diana, and he believes her life would be better without him. Diana has different opinions, and she does everything to get under his skin.
I love everything about this series. The plot, the sex, the angst, the jealously. I even love the other characters briefly mentioned, and I hope that they get a book in the future. A must read for anyone that loves good kinky romances.
What a Duet! So intense and these two!
Adam & Diana! Just when you think you can’t take anymore ,then the story evolves and the game isn’t just a game but a new way of making their relationship better.
Trust and Love is all it comes down to!
Separation Games was ban on.. This was my favorite book of C.D. Reiss.. Thank you so much for writing Adam & Diane.
The ending to this Games Duet was heart wrenching and at times totally cry worthy.
My heart was breaking for Adam and Diana as they struggled to come to terms with the perimeters of their relationship.
Diana needed completion of what Adam started with these games, and Adam did not want to be that person because he was afraid he could not love her that way.
C.D. Reiss gives the reader the emotions of her characters and makes them feel the joy, the despair, the love, and the hope in these novels. I read stories to be moved in some way and this series definitely gave me that.
WOW! Loved it! The deep emotional yet complicated and chellenging relationship between husband and wife Adam and Diana continues in this second book. Trying to turn your relationship from vanilla sex to a Dom & Sub relationship is no easy task for this married couple that are deeply in love. What a brilliant, intricate look into the relationship of Dom & Sub, the characters were fantastic, the sex was pantie wetting HOT and the story line was captivating and enthralling. Narrated by Elena Wolfe & Sebastian York two of the most talented and sexy voices in Romance/erotica to date.
There is one way to describe the way this series ends: Gratifying.
But it wasn’t without a lot of hard work on Adam and Diana’s parts.
This was probably the absolute BEST sequel to a first book EVER. You get hooked on Diana and Adam from the get go in Marriage Games, and book 2 just reels you in.
The way these two grow in this book is phenomenal. I love the discovery: not only of themselves individually, but of each other. They truly are two halves of a whole.
There are so many things I could go on and on about, but that would give too much away. So I’ll say this. READ THIS DUET. If you’ve ever read a book of Christine’s, you know how absolutely brilliant her mind is. The stories she tells are nothing short of heart pounding, the characters unforgettable.
Take Adam and Diana’s journey with them. You’ll be glad you did.
4.5 Stars!!!!
What can I say. Nobody writes erotica like C.D. Reiss. The Submission series will forever be my favorite of hers even though Marriage and Separation Games comes very close. Also here her prose is poignant, raw and flawless.
Separation Games picks up right where Marriage Games ended. This time around it’s Diana’s turn to fight for her marriage and her husband. This journey that not only her but also Adam embarked on tested their trust in each other and their marriage. How far and deep would they both go to get what they needed and wanted from one another was intense.
They both frustrated the hell out of me but I liked, that they evoked those feelings within me. I was also deeply fascinated with Adam’s reasoning for not being able to be with Diana and him loving her when she finally submitted to him. He not only confused Diana but also me. When he finally had his epiphany and acknowledged his love he glowed in the light of being Diana’s dominant. Her master and the one who cared for her needs. Diana was unique too in her way to get to Adam. Her sexual needs had been awakened and now she couldn’t deny herself anymore. Her struggle was captured beautifully. Yes, she was a submissive in the bedroom but when it came to Adam she was a huntress. His huntress. When they came together as dominant with his submissive they both shined and so did their love. Their new, strong and redefined love.
Separation Games was a sexually charged and very erotic conclusion to an amazing duet. This wasn’t just about a failing marriage. This was about two people who rediscovered themselves and one another. C.D. Reiss just added her signature on it. And I loved it.
4.5 BadAssDirtySubmitStars
The final book for the duet and I couldn’t have asked for a better one. I loved every word, moment and page.
The Games Duet are the first books I have read by C.D. Reiss and I am hooked!! I really liked this books! Definitely a series to read in order!
Once again CD Reiss brings her A-game. Amazing read!!
I’m on the fence wit this one. 3.5-4ish. Man, did it take me some time to get through the first half of the book. Blew through the last half, no problem. I was scratching my head at Diana. Adam kinda confused me too. I think it was the whole I can’t love you this way, but I can’t have you this other way for both of them. I don’t know. I loved the epilogue, so there is that. I’m just going to love the crap outta the first one and chalk this one up to I’m glad I finally got through it.
“Your problem isn’t that you don’t love. Your problem is you love so much it scares you.”
Where we left off, Diana was determined to get Adam to love her again. He can’t love her if she is a sub, but she can’t love him unless he is dominant. Now I am not sure why they couldn’t figure out how to make this work earlier. (besides the fact that the book would be significantly shorter) So basically they have to work their way to the happy medium… compromise and honesty are key to a great marriage. I really kept thinking that the book was not going to turn out with the ending that I wanted. I thought that there was something that was going to happen to piss me off….. But I can honestly say that I loved this book…. everything went exactly the way that it should. This was the first time I read C.D. Reiss (the duet was my first by her). I will definitely read her work again.
I was so blown away by the first half of Adam & Diana’s story that I just had to get my hand on their conclusion! Christine didn’t disappoint in the 2nd half of The Games Duet.
In Marriage Games we were left with a GIANT cliffhanger of Adam pulling away and leaving Diana after he had been the one trying to win her back throughout the first book. He finally found that he didn’t love the new version of her as he just wasn’t capable and walked away only two weeks into their 30 days together. It wasn’t until his love was gone that hers returned and she fell in love with a different man than she had married 5 years before. She is determined to win him back and get him to commit to finishing their 30 day agreement. He’s ready to just sign over the company, but with her persistence and a few sneaky moves of her own, he eventually agrees to finish their time. She is so manipulative at times, but not in a terrible way, as it works and gets her what she wants out of him. Parts of this second half were hard to read, there were some hard moments they faced together, but the sexy stuff was S.E.X.Y.! It’s very rarely that I come across a book or series that pulls me in and I beg the author for the rest right then, but this was one of those stories and I’m so pleased with how Christine tied everything up, no pun intended, and gave Diana and Adam the ending I had dreamt of for them. Not without their own obstacles and emotional issues to overcome however. Separation Games is the perfect conclusion and I can’t wait to see what CD Reiss has next for us!
See my review of the first book, Marriage Games. This is the second book of a Duet. Ahhhhhhhhhhmaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaziiiiiiiiiiing