“Bound” by Lorelei James

“Bound” by Lorelei James is a novel I strongly recommend.  This story took me a couple of tries to really get into but once I did I was hooked.  I will continue to follow this series and this author. In fact, I have already looked up some of her other titles for future reading as credits become available in my Audible account.

Amery, grew up in a small town the daughter of a strict Christian minister, before moving to Denver following the man who claimed to love her in his dream of playing for the Rockies and her dream of being a graphic designer.  She became the owner of her own graphic design business but unsure of her power as a woman – but when a friend is attacked and joins a self-defense class Amery joins for support.  Ronin, black belt and owner of the dojo, is drawn to Amery – enough so he joins in training the beginners’ class she is in.  In his personal life, Ronin, is a Kinbaku and shibari artist at a local dungeon, as well as being a billionaire son of an international food company out of Japan.  Unfortunately, since his experience with people knowing those things has not been positive, he does not trust Amery enough to tell her.  Amery feels betrayed and there the story begins.

Other than playing into the stereotypes of innocent Christian girl brought into the rope/BDSM world and eccentric billionaire dominant the author does a great job of bringing the story to life.  Does the rope and shibari world exist? Absolutely! I suppose making the rope artist rich just makes it a better romance, though I think it would have been more interesting to have him just the owner of a dojo.  The stereotype of the quiet Christian girl being brought into the bondage/BDSM world is a little too common in the erotica arena for my taste – though as a quiet Christian girl I am certainly proof that stereotype does exist, at least on some level.  The author does such a good job with the idea of the dojo that I was thinking while reading that I really enjoyed my self-defense class years ago with the basis in Tae-Quan-Do and I should quit pretending I go to the gym and go back to doing those classes.

Did the author do a good job creating believable characters? Yes, stereotypes exist for a reason and if you leave the billionaire part out I could easily believe these are people I would meet at Shibaricon.  The rope and even the jujitsu part are believable.  I have been in dojo’s where Sensei’s with the virility and commanding/dominating presence of Sensei Black (Ronin) are at very least a wished for presence. A master of shibari when tying up their submissive has a very intense connection.  Something that is incredibly rare and special to experience.  The chance to play or be bound by someone with that level of competence and connection with the dominance is very rare – here’s to hoping I get that chance again.

4 stars