Suspend disbelief and you’ll be ok.

It’s a romance... the plot is unbelievable but the writing is good. The characters are two dimensional. Grace, the heroine, is weak-willed and not very smart, Sean, the Hero, isn’t going to be joining Mensa anytime soon. If you’re ok with all that then this is an amusing listen.

** spoilers ahead

The worst part of the story was Grace’s character. A 40y.o. widowed mother she finds herself caught up in a web of deceit and international intrigue. Along the way she finds fulfillment in the world of BDSM when she submits to Sean. Grace discovers the freedom and joy often written about in these novels when she puts her safety and trust in the hands of Sean the dominant. The problem is Grace “knows” Sean is worthy and can be trusted despite all evidence pointing to the contrary. To that point in the story he had repeatedly lied to her, invaded her privacy at home and at work, used hidden surveillance on her, had unprotected sex with her without Grace’s permission or knowledge, drugged her, stole from her, kidnapped her, threatened her with physical violence and jail and accused her of criminal activities. Despite all this she “knew” she could trust him.

It would be nice occasionally to read a story about a woman who had a backbone and didn’t lose 40 IQ points at the prospect of receiving an orgasm with the help of a caveman who really has a heart of gold beneath his rough and crusty exterior.

22 of 22 people found this review helpful

Annoying H and h

The storyline wasn't that bad I just found the heroine extremely annoying. They made her out to be bratty, but I didnt see that at all. Grace was extremely weak in her mannerism. She forgave too easily for a woman who was suppose to be strong in character. What woman would allow someone even the one she suppose to have loved, let them walk out of there life with a note, then completely back in because he demanded it! What person would forgive friends who completely lie to them? It wasn't just Sean who betrayed Grace, they all did and she just forgave them, I didn't respect the character of Grace. Sean wasn't much better, he blamed everyone else for his decisions, he let his brother come between him and his woman, he didn't know what he wanted.

I wish Grace would've made them all work a lot more for her friendship and her love, she was worth more.

23 of 24 people found this review helpful

The narrator killed it for me...

I desperately wanted to enjoy this book but the narrator killed it for me. He was awful unless you like William Shatner narrating a BDSM story. Annoying as hell. Takes all the sexiness out of it. Too many highs and lows in his voice, with emphasis in the wrong places. Then the pauses after every sentence. urrrrr I just can't do this again. This is my last book by Ryan West.

I skipped many chapters so I really don't know the whole story. I just couldn't get pass the narrator. The story seemed very interesting and I was looking forward to getting into the series. From what I heard, I liked the story.

I suggest you listen to the sample in full before purchasing this book.

I'm sorry. Not fair to Lexi Blake. I'm going to look for Lexi's other books with a different narrator. I don't want to give up on the author just as yet. I am going straight to book 9.5 "Just One Taste" which is narrated by Sebastian York. OMG! What a surprise. He's one of my favorite narrators. He's awesome. Looking forward to jumping into this book.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

You will be HOOKED!! Good sex and you get to laugh

I am not sure how I found this book but once I started listening to it I couldn't stop. First off you could not ask for a better narrator. I listen to lots of audible books but I must say Ryan West puts this story on a whole new level. I just found this series so I never read the books but I am so happy I found this audio series. I give this book five stars in everything. This was a very sexy Dom story on top of being super funny. In this book you got to laugh and you got good sex. There is no going wrong with this book/series. Lexi Blake writes great stories and Ryan West really knows how to narrate them.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Great narrator for one of my favorite books

Would you consider the audio edition of The Dom Who Loved Me to be better than the print version?

I'm completely biased as this is one of my favorite books, but it was very easy to listen to and the performance by Ryan West made it one of the few audio books that I will listen to again in the future.

What about Ryan West’s performance did you like?

Excellent job on all the different male voices, each had a distinct tone that was easy to follow. Also really appreciated his ability to do the female voices. Sometimes it doesn't go so well, but the female voices flowed smoothly and were some of the best I've heard. Having a "good" Grace voice was important to me and I was very happy with his performance.

Any additional comments?

This book is a great set up for the Masters and Mercenaries series. You meet all of the main players but don't feel overwhelmed by too much back story. There are enough hints there that pull you into the next book to find out their story.

7 of 9 people found this review helpful

Beautiful

I have listened to most of the series and this is still one of my favs.

4 of 5 people found this review helpful

You have got to be kidding me

This book is pretty bad.

I don't know much about the BDSM culture, so I can't speak to how accurate the depiction is. The sex scenes were definitely interesting, but I can guarantee you some of the things described don't work that way.

**spoilers ahead**

What really bothers me about this book is the complete one-dimensional nature of the "heroine". She has zero personality beyond her dead husband and a rapid obsession with this new guy. That's. It. He treats her like absolute crap and the closest she gets to standing up for herself is a quick 'f*** you' which he takes literally. I know people are going to say "But that's the point, she's a 'sub'".
First of all, stop saying that. There are literally dozens of words that could be used in place of 'sub' and 'dom', just to keep it interesting, but never-not-once is a single different term used. It's intensely repetitive and annoying.
Second of all, they make a big deal about their D/s relationship only being in the bedroom and they are equals outside. He treats her like garbage and she just takes it, letting literally everything in the story happen TO her. Never once does she create an occurrence in the entire book.

Also, screw that jerkface. I was on his side until he forgot that she can't read his mind and took our his insecurities on her. Also, I'm not even mentioning the fact that MULTIPLE people decided they want her barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen AT 40. THIS CAN BE DANGEROUS (not impossible, obviously, if you're over 40 with a child please don't come at me). It just really felt like many characters forgot how old she was at MULTIPLE points in the book. It's like we're reading '40', but supposed to understand '20'.

2/10. Read for the sexy bits, but please, God, don't expect it to be like that if you try it at home.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

ONE OF MY FAVORITE SERIES

Lexi Blake has created the perfect series. You can feel the connection and comradely between all the characters. It's like you're in the room with them. They're all Dom's and Submissive's and their also x-military and x-CIA. Now they all work at a security company which also does side jobs for the CIA.

Yes...this book has detailed BDSM, action, mystery, suspense and fun. If you like this type of book you'll love this series.

Ryan West draws you in with his performance.

Absolutely worth the credit/$$.

5 of 7 people found this review helpful

Awful narration - decent story

I've read the book and liked it. The narrator is so bad I can't stand listening to it and will return it. He reads every sentence as though it is the first sentence in a chapter, with emphasis on the first few words and trailing off towards the end. It is an aural roller coaster.

For those interested: The Masters and Mercenaries books are 1/3 BDSM story, 1/3 action, and 1/3 'mystery' (usually figuring out who is threatening / hurting a main character). I enjoy the stories because the characters are borderline believable and don't suffer from some abusive background that supposedly causes them to have screwed up love lives. The sex is hot and the plots are interesting though not very layered / detailed. I wasn't expecting John LeCarre, though, so I'm okay with that.

6 of 10 people found this review helpful

disappointed

really disappointed with this one, the main female just forgave the man in a instant for betraying her, no women would do that even if they loved him, they would at least let him pay for a while not forgive him in five minutes. I read a lot of these books and this storie line was the worse one.