Forbidden Pleasure

For fans of Lora Leigh's Bound Hearts series through Ellora's Cave Publishing, Forbidden Pleasure is the 8th installment and the first mainstream, full length novel in the Series. I have enjoyed Lora Leigh's work ever since I discovered her through Ellora's Cave and am thrilled she has found 3 different mainstream outlets for her work. The stories are no less sensual or erotic, although the verbage is somewhat more refined. Forbidden Pleasure takes us away from D.C. and The Club and centers around a couple who are already together, already madly in love and working through their marriage like any other couple might. The difference is John "Mac" McCoy IS a former member of "The Club" and has been fighting his darker needs since he came together with his wife Keiley. He has believed her too innocent, too fragile, to share this side with her and it is starting to errode their relationship. Keiley, despite her youth, is starting to crave what she has only heard hints and rumors about. She has battled her own demons and for the most part, won. She now wants to explore her husbands darker side and that means bringing in Jethro, he husbands former FBI partner and "third." The Third being the man that will join another couple in their bed (or out of it) to give the woman the ultimate pleasure. Throw in Jethro's own dark past, a stalker, and a small town rival with a vindictive streak a mile wide and you have quite a story and a very non-traditional romance. I read this in about a day, and while it will not remain on my keeper shelf, it was well worth time and money. My only complaint is that at times, the ruminating that both Keiley and Mac went through was exhausting. Both characters "thought" this to death. It wasn't until about a 1/3 of the way through the book that the story finally picked up the pace. I love a back story, love understanding what drives the characters, but when I am barely 75 pages in and I am starting to skim through the the scene, I know it has gone on too long. At least for me. I would absolutely recommend this book however, and hope that we see more of this series from such a talented author.