Title: At His Mercy
Author: Shelly Bell
Genre: Erotica Romance
Star Rating: 4 Stars
BLURB
Angel in his arms . . . Devil at her heels
One last, no-strings night of indulgence. That’s all Tristan wants before he begins a much-needed new chapter in his life. Instead he finds an innocent angel in pink who brings him to his knees.
Isabella is done hiding from the world . . . and her haunting memories. Discovering courage in the arms of a perfect stranger, she finally lets go and sheds her inhibitions.
To Isabella’s shock, she soon learns that Tristan is more than her mystery man-he’s her professor. But Tristan isn’t the only person who’s found Isabella on campus. A dark figure from her past has come back for her. Now Tristan will risk anything to protect Isabella . . . even if it costs him his life.
Lately I’ve been having difficulty finding NA and Erotica novels to read. Correction, I’ve been having issues with the novels I have been reading–as in, I haven’t been reading a bunch that remind me why I loved these genres so much. I came across this book on NetGalley and was intrigued–mostly because it’s a student/teacher romance and I’m a sucker for those kinds of books. Plus, it had elements of the BDSM lifestyle in them as well, which I also enjoy reading about as well. The problem with most student/teacher novels, or novels with BDSM in them, is the chemistry, or lack-thereof. Either you feel the chemistry between the heroine and hero, or it’s not there and the book just drags on with sex scenes that you just want to skip through.
“She licked her parched lips, moistening them, preparing them. “You could lose your job.”
“You could be expelled.”
“It’s unethical.”
“Dangerous.”
His mouth hovered only millimeters over hers. “We doing this?”
She hooked her arms around his neck. “God yes.”
Although this book wasn’t perfect, it did keep my attention and I can honestly say I throughly enjoyed reading it. The characters were likable, the plot was interesting and entertaining, and I felt the passion between the hero, Tristan, and the heroine, Isabella. Although the BDSM scenes were hot and heavy, they weren’t over the top or the most graphic sex scenes I’ve ever read before in a book. I didn’t feel like there were too many sex scenes in the book and they didn’t take away from the plot, but added something to it.
“You want to know what I’m going to do to you if you consent to playing with me tonight?” His hot breath tickled the shell of her ear. “Anything I want.”
*Insert swoon!* I loved Tristan and how he helped make Isabella strong, while not walking all over her. He was a great Dom, always making sure Isabella was okay and looking out for her. He was my favorite character and I love getting inside of his head in this book! Throughly enjoyed both their characters, the plot, and overall how captivating this book was.
Only two things kept me from giving this book five stars and that was the ending of the book, and the beginning. The beginning of the book was amazing, but I was a bit distracted by the feeling that I’ve read this book before, and I even looked on Goodreads to see if this book was perviously released and that’s when I read it, but the book has yet to be published. I’m thinking maybe it’s similar to other books I’ve read in the past, which makes it lose a little on the star rating for originality. Nothing major, but I was distracted in the beginning by that fact. And the ending disappointed me, not because the twist was unpredictable–because the twist caught me off guard and I was honestly surprised–but because it felt a tad rushed and I wanted more from the ending. More closure. More…something. Still, the ending was great and I loved the twist! After reading so many books in my life, it’s nice being surprised by a book’s ending. It was unpredictable, without being too out of left field.
All-in-all, this book was entertaining, fun, interesting, and a must read, in my opinion. One of the best student/teacher novels I have ever read and I’m looking forward to reading more from this author in the future!
***I received an advance reader copy of this book for my honest opinion***
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