Review: Fall Into You by Roni Loren

Fall Into You
(Loving on the Edge, #3)
By: Roni Loren
Publisher: Berkley Heat
Published: Dec. 31, 2012
Genre: Erotica
Rating:

 Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

He’ll do anything for you. But you’d better say please.

When tomboy sports reporter Charli Beaumonde loses a dream TV job because she’s not girly enough for primetime, she’s determined to land a big scoop and prove her boss made a mistake. But when she gets too close to a football scandal and finds her life threatened, Charli accepts an offer from family friend Grant Waters to hide out at his place—even if Grant predicts nothing but trouble from his buddy’s hard-headed, uncompromising, irrepressible, younger sister. There’s one more problem…

Grant’s “place” is The Ranch, a BDSM resort in Texas, and he’s used to being in charge —even if that means trying to keep Charli in line. But much to Grant’s surprise, she’s intrigued—even envious—of his trainees. They’re the epitome of what she’s never been: sexy, beguiling, and totally irresistible to a man. Still, Grant doesn’t believe for a minute that the sharp-tongued Charli has it in her to be anyone’s submissive. But Charli’s already on her knees vying for the chance to prove that even the Master can be wrong sometimes.

Wow, I’ve never read any of Roni’s books before and jumping in on the 3rd book of a series made me a little nervous but I fell in love with not only the story and the characters but the author’s writing as well. I’m assuming that each of the books in the series can be read as a stand alone. However, looking back and reading the synopsis’ for the previous books, I realized that some previous characters make appearances in this story. So even though you don’t have to read the previous books, it would still be fun to see the older characters making cameos in the future books.

Grant owns not only a winery but a BDSM resort on his property. He not only runs these two establishments but also trains subs and then finds them a matching dom. However, he hasn’t taken on a trainee in months and no matter how hard he looks, he’s unable to find one that he is willing to take on. That is… until Charli. One night after meeting a source on a huge scandal that she’s working on uncovering, Charli is run off the road on the way back to her house. Luckily for her, she crashes not far from Grant’s property. They’ve never met each other but Grant used to serve in the military with Charli’s brother where he took a bullet and saved Grant’s life. When he realizes who Charli is, he quickly tries to put the breaks on his lust. There is no way he is going to seduce the little sister of the man who saved his life.

Charli is a great character. She is a stubborn tomboy by nature and isn’t overly girly. She isn’t afraid to say what’s on her mind and she curses like a sailor. She knows her lack of femininity is what effects her from getting dates but it is who she is. So when she’s staying on Grant’s property waiting for the smoke to blow over, she follows him onto the resort property and finds herself being mistaken for a trainee and thrown in a “class” learning how to kneel and be a better submissive. It isn’t until that point that she decides that she wants to change a little bit and become more demure. However, once Grant takes her on as his trainee, she finds that she likes being a sub and not only that but particularly Grant’s sub. But their training session has a 2 week expiration date and once everything dies down with the scandal, she will be back to her old life.

Grant is as alpha as one can be. He’s not only a Dom but he’s THE Dom. He runs the BDSM resort. He trains subs to pass onto their future Doms and everyone knows not to challenge him. When he meets Charli he is torn. He is highly attracted to her but there is no way he can repay the man who saved his life by seducing his younger sister. However, when he finds Charli in the beginners class and she tells him that she wants to be his trainee, the wheels start turning. At first he thinks that she will bow out the first time he lets his Dom side out but not only does she not yell out the safe word, she responds to his Dom nature. Pretty soon he finds himself battling his past. He’s never kissed a woman since his wife, who was brutally murdered in front of him… until Charli. He’s never wanted any of his trainee’s to stay with him until Charli. And he sure as heck has never been jealous over a trainee until Charli. But regardless, he feels like if he lets Charli into his life he will be pissing on the memory of his wife and that is something that he refuses to do.

If you can’t tell already, I really loved these characters. They were so complex and had issues of their own but they also had revelations as well. You have Charli who goes from a outspoken tomboy to a demure submissive and Grant who goes from a bullheaded Dom to a loving and caring gentleman. I liked that the author wrote the book in both Grant and Charli’s perspective. It was interesting to see Grant’s thought process when it came to his Dom nature, since I am fairly new to the subject. The characters in this story reminded me a lot of Master of the Mountain by Cherise Sinclair. You have a Dom with a painful past who runs a kinky resort and takes on a woman who is new to the culture and brings out the sub in her. If you are a fan of Sinclair’s than you will love this book. I personally can’t wait to go back and read the previous books in this series. I will be impatiently waiting for the next books to come out.

I’d also like to say that I LOVE LOVE LOVE the cover. I’m a cover snob, I will be the first to admit it and I love that this book doesn’t scream BDSM or even Romance. The author didn’t take the easy route and go with a sexy couple dry humping on the cover. So I’m able to take it to work and the doctors office without people looking at me like I’m a perv. There is also a sexy shower scene in the story, so this cover isn’t totally out of place either. I love the anonymity of it while still keeping true to the story.

*I’d also like to thank the author for providing me with a review copy. She has definitely earned a new fan.

“Charli-freaking-Beaumode. He’d been on the verge of asking her out–a stupid move in the first place because he didn’t mess with women who weren’t part of the scene. That was setting up disaster from step one. Nothing like springing on a vanilla person– Hey, I’m a dominant and a sexual sadist. Oh, and I run a BDSM resort where I have submissives offering themselves to me daily. Yeah, fun conversation.”