So I’m a little partial to Sienna Snow since I sort of know her personally. 🙂 I don’t blog many reviews (and I haven’t decided yet if I will start reviewing novels here), but then again no one’s asked me, soo. . .
In any case, this review is also on Goodreads (because I’m not sure if the spoiler section is showing up here).
Rule Breaker by Sienna Snow
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
In the world of contemporary erotic romance with BDSM elements, this is one that, to me, gets the culture right, even down to the capital “D” whenever Dom is mentioned and the lowercase “s” for submissive. Also, it takes the shock value off what people in BDSM relationships DO and brings to light the intense, trusting, love bond you have to have to do the things you do in these relationships.
The presence of Arya, a WOC (woman of color), as conglomerate owner and a tech “super nerd” was a big hooray! for me. It’s a refreshing change from the naïve, virginal, white girl being introduced to a powerful Dominant man. They’re equals in their business lives, moving in and around traditional gender roles. Love this! I wish I liked the actual character of Arya more, but that may be my personal hang up. (view spoiler)
The writer girl in me was missing some things, which most readers probably wouldn’t care about. I figured out what they were near the end: a lot of the descriptions and scene settings are missing or are barely there. 1) this tends to happen a lot in book 1 of a serial and 2) we’re plot driven right now in contemporary fiction (especially when a good story ends up going to screen, anyway. Let the director set the scene). The book’s still enjoyable, but when I can’t see where the people are, what they look like, etc., I can’t get fully immersed in a book. Part of enjoying a novel–especially a romance novel–for me is escape, and without descriptions, I can’t totally escape. There’s also a lot of telling in the dialogue. While you need some backstory here, and putting it in the dialogue is one way to do that, sometimes it reads weird. Like people wouldn’t talk this way.
In all, it was enjoyable, and I’m excited the next book will delve into Milla and Lex more.