The quest to find a good Domme romance can be treacherous and dangerous, full of characterless protagonists, typos, undesirable kinks (for me), cold-hearted women, miserable and psychologically damaged men and women, and did I mention effing typos?
After reading several unsatisfying stories and novels, I concluded that unlike the saturated alpha male niche, the alpha female niche was just too underserved and risky to keep venturing into.
But sometimes the mood still hits. This time my quest was fruitful. Servicing the Target is without a doubt the best alpha female romance I’ve ever read.
In all his time being a security guard at the BDSM club Shadowlands, Ben has never been tempted to join in. He is positive he is completely vanilla. Except when it comes to Mistress Anne.
Despite being a notorious sadist with a thing for pretty boys, Ben is completely attracted to Anne, especially after he realizes she has a kind and tender heart under her Domme armor. He wouldn’t mind her whipping her any day and he’ll do anything to be with her.
Her right thigh had a bruise almost the width of his fist. He glanced at her, eyebrows raised. “Boot?”
“The bail fugitive had an overly protective big brother.”
What a fucking job. No wonder she often came into the Shadowlands with bruises and gashes. “Wouldn’t you rather do something…safer?”
Her blue gaze turned chill as the arctic north. “No.”
“Sorry, Ma’am.”
“You do say that quite nicely, you know,” she murmured
You can get it at All Romance or at your local bookstore.
First of all, I really appreciate the fact that Ben’s looks are less than perfect. He describes himself as ugly, and while I doubt that he’s actually ugly, he’s never described as handsome or flawless-looking. Finally. Book worlds are where physical appearances of characters matter the least and yet for some reason the males still have to be physically flawless. Ben is not. But he is an incredible sweetheart and sexy as hell anyway. Even as Anne’s slave he never gives up his personality. And I like that he isn’t just completely submissive. Completely submissive characters always fall a little flat for me. But Ben is very complex and well-developed.
“Can I pay you for the time and gas to bring me all the way out here?”
“Yes, Ma’am.” He paused a second. Hopefully, she’d never share Ben’s request with Z—he’d get his ass fired on the spot. “I think I deserve a kiss from the Mistress.”
Anne was pretty awesome as well. Since it’s a F/m story, then obviously she’ll be tough, strong, and clearly in power. But she does have her own insecurities as well. As a former police officer and current bail bonds worker, she has gotten more than her share of misogyny throughout her life which has made her pretty angry at men. She was a sadist because she was angry at men in general, but luckily her man-hating phase isn’t shown in the book. By the time the story starts, she’s calmed down a lot. And ready for change, as much as she hates the thought of it.
“You have tiger’s eyes.” They reminded her of one of her favorite bracelets. “Are you going to lie there and take what I do to you?” she asked softly.
The pulse of desire and dominance rippled through her, heightening her senses. She could taste his lust, hear his need, not only for sex, but also for her control. The challenge of trying to obey her added to his arousal.
“I’m all yours, Mistress.”
The book can get a little preachy about feminism. Between the misogynist father and workplace, there’s also the abused women’s shelter that Anne volunteers at as well. But it didn’t bother me like preachiness usually does. Since it doesn’t veer towards man-hating and it is part of the main plot instead of being just a side note, then it’s all right. If anything, this book just adds to my argument about romance novels not being anti-femminist.
All in all, this is a well written and well-developed story, unlike a lot of kinky erotica I’ve had the displeasure of reading, where the plot dissolves after the first page or so. Even though the love story between Anne and Ben is the main plot, there is still plenty of other plot as well. Like vindictive husbands, Jessica and Z’s new baby (and the fighting and tension that follows) and Anne’s cousin, Robert. Oh, Robert. He’s like Trump without the money. As flat of a character as he is, it’s still always hilarious hearing him spew out nonsensical rants and make an ass out of himself.
Buy Servicing the Target at your local independent bookstore.