I adore Blakely Bennett’s Bound by Your Love series. Ms. Bennett is a Jedi Master of character driven novels. She is SO good at creating complex and engaging characters, revealing them layer by layer. You can’t help but get all wrapped up in their inner turmoil. At least, I can’t help it. Even in Bittersweet Deceit (book 2) and all its crazy goings on with Lainie, Mason, and Stay. I came at this series backwards and sideways, having read book 3 (Blue Persuasion), then book 1(Stuck In Between). I loved them both, and they can certainly stand alone. But I’d suggest reading them in order to get the full impact of the richly woven relationships of this tight group of friends. It’s definitely based on a solid foundation, however, the day to day dynamics are provocative and ever shifting, which makes for very fascinating, fun, and sexy hot reading.

Let me say right up front, I didn’t think Ms. Bennett could win me over with Bittersweet Deceit. Lainie, is involved with a married man, which is a touchy subject for a lot of people, myself included. Cheating in any way, shape, or form is a deal breaker in a relationship. But I just had to see how this was all going to go down.

Why I stayed with someone I had to share, made no real sense to me. But when does love make sense? Lainie

Take out the words, I had to share, and insert your own poison, folks. I’m sure you’ve done the same thing a time or two. Because…love doesn’t always make sense.

Lainie doesn’t consider herself a knock out. Sure, she admits to being somewhat attractive but considers herself an Amazon at 6 ft and not in a runway model kind of way. She may concede to the term voluptuous, but she’s more likely to describe herself as “big”. She envies her friends Jacqs and Blue their petite stature. So when tall and gorgeous Mason approaches her at a restaurant bar, she’s flattered. She’s also gobsmacked that this hunk of a slightly older man would look twice at her. Mason is slick. He lays the cards out immediately with the standard I’m-married-but-we’re-staying-together-for-the-kids routine. Now, to me that screams, I’ve done this before and I’m good at it. But Lainie sees it the way she wants to see it. And, for many reasons, a clandestine relationship is preferable to her. Their affair is on Mason’s terms, meeting at Lainie’s apartment when it’s convenient for him. Lainie takes whatever Mason will give because their time together is intense and all consuming, and she truly believes Mason’s declaration of love.

Geez Louise, I wanted to grab Lainie by the hair and make her listen to reason! While I honestly didn’t doubt Mason’s feelings for her, he is a selfish toad. And no amount of Lainie’s kisses are going to turn him into a prince. The frustrating aspect of this is… Lainie sees it too! Yet she goes round and round and round, self analyzing in journal entries. I have to say, I could plunk myself down in Lainie’s situation (albeit in regard to other relationship matters), so I did empathize with her. However, it started getting a bit old. Thank goodness, Ms. Bennett rescued the situation in the nick of time.

Stayman (Stay) is also in Lainie’s group of friends although they don’t know each other well. He’s a multi-layered guy with surprising aspects and the more he is revealed to us the more I loved him. He’s been attracted to Lainie for quite some time, however, his Obi-Wan senses (hey, I’m feeling the Star Wars theme today) have him biding his time. Stay slowly and patiently works his way into Lainie’s life and heart. These two have chemistry! Explosive chemistry that not only shocks Lainie but confuses her. This boy has his work cut out for him in his pursuit of Lainie, but that doesn’t stop him. I can’t tell you how much I loved Stay! He’s down-to-earth, sweet, compassionate, crunchy granola in a good way, and despite his initial appearances, he’s an alpha. And he is HOT. This man is a tantric god. The sex between Lainie and Mason is very spine tingling but when she and Stay finally get together…whew! He pushes her boundaries. He convinces her how special she is. And, he dominates the wishy-washy right out of her. That’s not to say their journey is an easy one.

Ms. Bennett has taken a controversial subject and succeeded in making it work. She gives us richly drawn characters, their feelings and actions conveyed in a spot on and believable story. I love this series so much! I’m very much looking forward to the next book.