I knew this one story was going to hit home before I picked it up just from watching Sam and Gibson interact in the previous Loving on the Edge novels. Even so, I came with an open mind and ready to see where Roni would take us with these two. I knew I was going to connect with Sam. What I didn’t realize is just how much I would connect with Gibson. In fact, that connection pretty much blew me away. I’ve loved all of this series, but I have to say this one has become my absolute favorite.

Sam is like so very many dommes I’ve known. We tend to be very loving and caring but with a core of steel and goo at the center. We can be quite the bitchy sadists. At the same time, we are very much women with all the emotions that go with it. Some of us learn to repress some of those emotions and perhaps in that repression our very need to control is born. Sometimes that need to dominate and control is born from being left no control and the victim of life and circumstance when we were young. In Sam’s case, she was orphaned at eight when her grandmother passed. She spent the rest of her childhood being shuffled from one foster home to another always feeling unwanted and passed up. She’s experienced her share of emotional trauma, but life fashioned her a survivor. At the core that’s just what she is, a survivor taking the reigns of her future in hand. Sam is no longer willing to play second fiddle, someone’s secret, or be untrue to who she is, even if it means walking away from the only man she’s ever loved.

Gibson… lord how to explain Gibson? That’s like trying to describe everything that makes myself tick. Do you have a lifetime to listen? I think I mentioned that I really connected with this character, I don’t know if that is the half of it. You see I’m what I like to call a dominant switch. In most circumstances, I’m all over being dominant but put me with that ONE right man where the chemistry is just right and I can topple like a house of cards. I so totally got his need to be in control and to hide any sign of weakness. I got exactly what it meant to power through the pain. But put him with Sam and all he WANTS is to submit and worship at her feet. Unfortunately, getting past learned reactions isn’t always an easy fix. Just because you want something doesn’t always mean you can make it happen. So things are looking pretty unworkable to Gib. Sometimes, though, it takes figuring out just how important someone else is in your life to decide to make the change no matter what it takes. I really felt for Gib and I have to admit I think fell just a bit in love with him. Damned glad I can have as many fictional boyfriends as I want. And I have to tell you I think Gibson just went to the top of the list.

By the time I got to the end of the book, I was doing fist pumps for Sam and Gibson for working through their issues and realizing the love and life they can have together. They have a really powerful dynamic between the two of them I found majorly compelling. Unless you all haven’t figured out by now, I totally recommend this book. Anyone that loves a good BDSM romance and especially those looking for a female in the dominant role are really going to love it. If you’re looking for true to life realism in the lifestyle then the Loving on the Edge series promises to deliver.

Related Posts:

Author Spotlight: An Interview with Roni Loren
Excerpt: Break Me Down by Roni Loren
Contest: Break Me Down Blog Tour Giveaway
Deb’s Review: Call On Me by Roni Loren

Loving on the Edge Series:

Break Me Down, Book 8.5