Review: Letting Go by Maya Banks

Title/Author: Letting Go by Maya Banks

Published by: Headline Eternal

RRP: £6.99 Paperback  /  £3.49 Ebook

My Rating: 2/5



THE BLURB:

For fans of E. L. James, Sylvia Day and J. Kenner. Are you ready to surrender to the powerful sensuality and erotic romance of No. 1 New York Times bestselling author Maya Banks and her sensational new trilogy?

Josslyn found perfection once; she knows she'll never find it again. Now widowed, she seeks the one thing her beloved husband couldn't give her: dominance. But at an exclusive club which indulges the most hedonistic of fantasies, she never imagined she'd find the one man who's long been a source of comfort - her husband's best friend.

Dash has lived in an untenable position for years: in love with his best friend's wife but unwilling to act on that attraction. When he finds her in a club devoted to the darker edges of desire, he thinks she has no idea what she's getting herself into. Until she explains in detail what she wants. What she needs. If she wants dominance, he is the only man who will introduce her to that world. He is the only man who will touch her, cherish her...love her. And the only man she'll ever submit to.


MY OPINION:

I will be honest and admit that I was looking forward to reading this trilogy because having read the CrossFire books which I preferred to the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy, I hoped that Maya had written a tasteful edition to the steamy world of naughty novels.

Sadly, for me, it was absolutely not my cup of tea. I have to get out of the way what I disliked about this book first, so that I can proceed to the good bits. There is one scene in particular that completely repulsed me. The main character, Josslyn, admitted that she wanted to have her ability to make choices and decisions taken away from her. She wanted a man to be the one who told her what to do... all the time in and out of the bedroom. She didn't want to have to make decisions anymore. Apparently it's what she'd always wanted. For me, this really angers me. Women have and still are fighting to have the right to have a voice, an education, a say in how they live their lives... you only have to look to the news and see the brave girl, Malala who has fought against terrible people in order to have a right to speak, be heard, make decisions, have choices etc. So, for me, this was an awful scene and I actually don't care that it's 'all part of the scene' in this dominating world of pleasure. It's just... awful.

Saying that, I really enjoyed how the storyline progressed, and how at first you meet Joss getting ready to visit her deceased husbands grave for the last time in a bid to move on in her life, and is accompanied by his business partner, and their friend, Dash. It's sweet, emotional and highly relatable. Sometimes we have to do things in life that perhaps others think we shouldn't do in order to move on from bereavement. Maya Banks, wrote these scenes beautifully and you feel very much a part of the story.

I also really liked how you didn't just see the entire picture from one characters point of view, but that you saw the storyline unfold between both Joss and Dash, and discover their intimate feelings of love and fear, as well as pleasure, excitement and passion.

The first sexual scene is one of love, as both characters can't fight their true emotions regardless of what they say they want their sex life to be like, so it's not bad. But all in all, dominance in the bedroom and obedience whilst kneeling on the floor begging like a dog for man to feed me.... well it's not for me.

The exciting, steamy and emotional Surrender trilogy continues with Giving In and Taking It All.