Enjoyable read but fell short for me. Didn’t get much from the characters. Taylor is a Dominant who has her eyes set on getting to know Kell. It was nice to read a book that explores the BDSM world but was more textbook and enjoyable. I enjoyed the details it gave and how it could be knowledgeable for someone interested in the lifestyle.

Desires Unleashed is an erotic/BDSM romance involving Kell (operations manager/bartender) and Taylor (events coordinator/part owner of a business). I have mixed feelings about this book. Felt pretty cut and dry without much depth. There’s potential that it could be a good novel, however I felt that the characters were not well developed. I felt some parts were quite repetitive.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books in exchange for an honest review.

Well, I certainly learned a lot.

It read more like a how-to guide than a romance novel.

The writing was good, and it was interesting to see the way Kell, who had never been into BDSM or the dom/sub dynamic before came to learn about it and what her feelings were. It was interesting seeing everything from Taylor's side of things too.

Though this book definitely confirmed that BDSM isn't for me, the author did an excellent job of making you understand what it is about.

I couldn’t connect with this book at all. It felt like I was reading a technical manual most of the time, At what point did they actually fell in love because it was so out of the blue it gave me whiplash. Not one for me I’m afraid.

It's funny that I, who am not a big fan of BDSM-themed novels, decided to read this one and in the end it turned out that it doesn't have much of bdsm. Or it does have a lot of that, but more from the point of view of how you can start a relationship between a dominant and a submissive person. And without doubting that it is interesting to enter the mind of a dominatrix, some of the reasoning has been quite confusing and very repetitive in relation to the doubts and insecurities of the two protagonists. But it is more shocking in the case of Taylor, who is the one who lives fully in the BDSM world. And Kell doesn't quite understand this new dynamic for her either, and that lack of understanding carries over into her story as well.

Since it has not been what I expected, I cannot rate it very highly. It's been in the middle for me.

Wow, I'm either having bad luck with books or just things are not clicking for me, but I couldn't get into this. Didn't like the main characters and just didn't buy into their connection from the get go. Sadly, a DNF at 20%.

I’m always on the hunt for queer romances that are not vanilla, but that also don’t annoy me to death, so I thought I’d give this a try. Unfortunately, Desires Unleashed was just as frustrating as most books of this type I’ve read. I don’t know what research authors are doing, but there does seem to be a conviction that Doms can just tell someone is a submissive by looking at them or talking to them for a couple of seconds, and it’s so weird. Maybe it’s just wish-fulfillment, a way for writers to be able to write contemporary but MCs who can basically read their self-insert minds and give them a sexual experience they don’t know to ask for, but all of that is the exact opposite of every BDSM tenant. A relationship like this is supposed to be about communication. About asking what someone wants and doesn’t want and making a promise to respect their desires. It’s not about creepy ass mind games, and strangers spotting you across a room and being suddenly sure you were meant to be theirs. So as usual, I couldn’t finish the book. Not even because it’s not realistic, but because it’s the fantasy turned the MC into an entitled creep who is constantly harassing this woman at her workplace to ‘trust her.’ And maybe some readers also have these fantasies, but I’m not one of them.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! This book wasn't bad but it wasn't good either. I wasn't able to connect with the characters at all, the time lapse or who POV it is isn't clear. I also felt it was very repetitive and a bit forced.

This book has aspects of contracts, bdsm, sapphic relationships, name-calling, suicidal mentions, and more. I would rate this a 2.5-star read because nothing really stood out to me about it and I didn't feel like there was much to judge. I also felt like with all the parts I didn't like, I can't rate it higher than a 2.5-star read.

I have mixed feelings about this book. I think that there was a lot that could be done with this premise, and not a ton was done with it. But I do think it was educational in some aspects. I'll start with what I did like, as I said, it was definitely educational for someone who doesn't read this type of romance often. I also liked how we saw the characters learn through experience and discover new aspects of themselves.

However, I didn't really feel like we got to know the characters well at all. We saw them in a few scenarios, and never truly got to learn about their personalities outside work and pleasure perspectives. The characters felt a bit flat sometimes, and there could've been added detail.

For Taylor, I felt as though there were instances where she acted in a way that gave me the ick. She felt very sorry and remorseful about it afterward and tried to learn from her mistakes. But she still did it in the first place, and my feelings on it are conflicted. Also, Taylor goes by She/they/them pronouns, which I felt wasn't useful, as she only ever uses She/her pronouns. It would've been nice to see Taylor's they/them pronouns actually being used throughout the novel, but we didn't.

As for Kell, I thought it was nice seeing her being introduced to this new world, but by the end of the novel, I still feel as though she was confused on many aspects of what she'd agreed to. This is of course fine, as it is a very short novel, but it would've been nice to have more closure on her solid feelings towards this lifestyle.

There was also the mention of suicide in the novel, which I felt was unnecessary because we never got to see much of it or the conclusion of it. It also would've been nice if there was a trigger warning because although it was very brief and lasted maybe two or three pages, it was still an aspect talked about in the book. As was the pandemic, which is my own opinion, as I hate when books mention the pandemic.

I didn't feel like there was many conflicts outside Kell learning about this lifestyle and the relationship (or dynamic I should say) between Kell and Taylor. We didn't see much of their personal lives in detail, which depending on the type of reader you are, could be a good or bad thing. I'm personally indifferent to it in this particular situation.

I felt the writing was simple and easy to read which was nice, and it was very easy to get through. I finished this in a few hours, and wasn't confused entirely by the end of it. I felt as though this topic was written with great care and consideration on the authors part. And that this book tried to create an unjudgemental space for the reader, the author did a nice job at this. I think this book could've been longer, and then we could dive into the characters more, but this book was very short so we didn't get to see much of that. I think with the length, the author did a fine job, but there were parts I definitely didn't like.