Too Tempting: Slave

Slave (Finding Anna) by Sherri Hayes
paperback, 267 pages
Published July 2011 by The Writer's Coffee Shop Publishing House
ISBN 9781612130484
Read November 2011

The publishing house I work for sent me some of their damaged stock to see if I could figure out what to do with it. I knew some of the books are missing pages and I have a cool idea for them (I just hope it turns out as well as it does in my head). So I was flipping through the books in the box to see which ones where cosmetically damaged and which where missing pages. Slave was in the box. And it was too tempting not to sit down and read it. So that's what I've done for the past 5 hours. (It's Saturday; I can be lazy!)

I first learned of Sherri's writing in our online writing community about 2 years or so ago. She was working on this story. I was intrigued because as you know I have an affinity for books about troubled people - if the character has been kidnapped, abused, suffers from mental illness, then I have to read it. Sherri took an extra step with hers and placed her troubled heroine in the world of BDSM. I'm a bit fascinated with the lifestyle. Not so much for the kinky sex, but the deep emotional connection the partners have with one another.

Outside of some kissing and a few mentions of masturbation, there is no sex in this romance novel. It was all about the two main characters learning to communicate and connect with one another. However, this is just book one of the series, so I can imagine that it could get rather steamy in future books.

Like I said I read a draft of this story through our writer's group, but as it is meant to be a forum to explore your creativity and hone skills often the finished product is quite different than where it started. Though the general back bone remained in tack, the fleshing out of the story was quite well done. Many of the questions readers in the writing group where left with were addressed in this published version. Like I said, it's a series and so not everything was answered. But I was quite satisfied. I was happy to see a particular part near the end. It was something that was not included in the original draft and many readers were upset about it.

As it is the publishing house I work for who published Slave, I have read many reviews. Some readers seemed upset about the ending. I thought that it was a great ending. It it tied up some of the story lines presented in the book, while at the same time setting the stage for the next chapter in Brianna's and Stephen's lives.