Reading is like breathing...

1.5 stars. Review posted March 27, 2014







Considering how much I adore Joey's work, writing this rant wasn't a walk in the park for me. As a matter of fact, I've been wide awake at 3 am and then at 4 am I decided to get up and put my "review" together. This book caused me a stomach ache. I apologize in advance for the overuse of the term „effin”. So let me get down to business.

I popped my F/F/M (or F/M/F) cherry by reading Divine Solace. Having been 50 % or 60 % in I thought I’d made a very big mistake. I felt girl-on-girl smexin’ wasn’t my cup of tea and seeing Lyda and Gen “in action” provided some kind of epiphany in the form of me telling myself a couple times yuck. No, scratch that. Double yuck (pun intended). It was a turn-off. On the other hand, when I put everything into perspective a little bit later, I thought that even though I’m definitely very dick-oriented, I might give that girl-on-girl thing another chance. Erm…probably not right now because I really need to disassociate myself from that wretched experience first. What clearly ruined Divine Solace for me was Lyda. It all began and ended with her. I feel very strongly about Lyda but unfortunately in a very negative way. I don’t apologize for whipping out so many unflattering attributes to describe that woman. Mean, cold, manipulative, callous and insensitive. If anyone could make hell freeze over it would be Lyda. In fact, I'm very surprised she isn't comatose yet due to all the coldness that emanates off her in waves. Her body temperature must be life-threateningly low. At 56 % I was ready to strangle that bitch. (view spoiler) *gags* When I say I highly disliked her then it’s the effin’ understatement of the year. Without doubt Lyda is one of the most unlikable heroines that I’ve had the misfortune to meet as a romance reader. So I guess if it hadn’t been for Lyda, I could have somehow enjoyed the girl-on-girl action.

Divine Solace started off promising. Granted, Lyda came off as “weird” and aloof from the beginning and I wasn’t quite sure how I’d be feeling about her for the long haul, but when Noah and Gen met for the first time and I could feel their mutual attraction, it reassured me greatly. Seeing Noah and Gen interact and getting it on was utterly hot and erotic! The emotional pull between these two was strong; they formed a beautiful couple and had some great chemistry. I loved it! But the more I read the less I liked the story, and my good feelings started to vanish into thin air. My favorite scene was when Noah and Gen made love at the beach. I could feel all the great vibes, lots of emotion and I was clearly in a fabulous place. Hence I’m sure that I would have enjoyed the story way more if Lyda had been taken out of the equation. I. Wanted. Her. Gone. Lyda, take an effin' hike!

As you can see I didn’t dislike the entire book. I also found some beautiful quotes and most of the time the writing was very good.







It's almost not believable that something lovely like this came out of Lyda's mouth...


Lyda stated numerous times It’s your choice and yet she did insist that she KNEW exactly what Gen needed. I felt she was manipulating her. One of the best examples was a specific club scene where she offered Gen a deal. Gen wanted to (view spoiler)at the club. At first Lyda wasn't very enthusiastic but of course she knows exactly how to change a situation to her favor. A bitter pill transformed to sweet candy, so to speak. Therefore Lyda (view spoiler) Lyda shouldn’t have felt hurt or pissed off when a dizzy and VERY CONFUSED Gen turned to Noah for aftercare instead of her considering how effin’ insensitive and cold Lyda acted all the effin’ time. Naturally it’s Gen who takes the blame for acting “selfish”. I couldn’t effin’ believe this! Gen said that she was in over her head, it was a lot to process, to figure out and she ended up confused. I don’t think that Lyda provided enough support to help her get through all that. Besides, it’s not nearly enough telling her she needs her control yadda, yadda, yadda.

I'm still processing what Gen experienced in Divine Solace. She must have felt like a girl in a candy store or is it more accurate when I say she entered a lion's den? She lived her whole life as a vanilla girl, she'd been divorced twice and was used to making the "wrong" choices. It was utterly mind-boggling what our vanilla girl Gen did within such a brief span of time...of course with useful and gracious assistance of Cold Bitch Lyda. Can you hear my sarcasm? I could compare it to my thinking about doing a bungee jump and then 30 minutes later I take the plunge from a high bridge. Mind you, I never did that and never will because it scares the heck outta me. Call me a wimp but I’ve decided it’s not worth the thrill. Of course that’s not the way it works in romance books. H/h (or in this story h/h/H) have to end up in their expected positions—Domme “takes care”, “cherishes” and “controls” two subs and they live happily ever after.
Also, right from the start Gen could take anything Lyda dished out. She flogged the living daylights out of her, so much so that (view spoiler) But Gen actually asked for more before Noah (view spoiler) I. Couldn’t. Effin’. Believe. It!

I really liked Noah a lot and the way he instinctively knew how Gen felt was admirable. The way he cared for her was beautiful. Noah is very generous, kind, sexy and handsome. His selfless personality does have some great pros but also some cons. I just couldn’t wrap my mind around the fact that Noah wouldn’t want to defend himself. (view spoiler) Seriously?



Noah’s mind was totally messed up and he needed professional help in the form of a very good shrink way more than healing through kink. I never got the impression that Lyda was capable to really help him. Acting like a hard-ass drill sergeant didn't provide the support to fix his problems. Lyda mentioned that he needs saving from himself, there’s a wire that needs to be repaired and it will happen with the right person he’s meant to be with. Lyda thought she’d be that person but of course after having seen Noah interact and fuck with Gen she thought it needed two people to do that. Uh huh. Gen came in quite handy. Talk about a divine providence...

Then Noah totally freaked out when (view spoiler) Lyda came to Noah but didn’t hold him. She did not comfort him and kept her distance. I want to see some effin’ emotion, some effin' affection for f?&%!!£*"??!!!+"*@$ sake!!! She’s a woman but acts like a cold and heartless robot and everything she does or demands is justified because she KNOWS what Noah needs. Really? Well, she soothed Noah by ordering him (view spoiler)Instead of memories (view spoiler) that provides…erm…security and protection. Yeah, whatever. I get the meaning but still. And of course Noah had to be punished for throwing a tantrum. But again, he NEEDS it and at the same time Gen had to be punished for…hmm… (view spoiler) That happened at the same time they had to prepare dinner under the mean eye of their Mistress…gee, Baba, are we in a slight bitch mode today? Yep, I feel somewhat bitchy but I also feel entitled to my effin' bitchiness. Let me get back to the topic at hand, though. Dinner turned out to be another kink fest. While wearing certain "torture" devices, they had to arrange (view spoiler) WTF? Is she OCD or should that have been another "arousing punishment”? I, for one, didn't feel aroused. And then another f@ck scene followed suit I couldn't have cared less about and I was honestly at a point where I wanted to DNF the book because I was so effin' upset! Then again, I told myself I had to suck it up like a real sub and finish the book. Jesus Christ on a crutch. Just to witness more animalistic, unemotional, unerotic f@@@ing. What a turn-off. One thing’s for sure, while I enjoyed the smexy times in the beginning of Divine Solace, a huge majority of the sex scenes didn’t do anything for me. Gen f@@@ing Noah with a strap-on while at the same time Lyda had been f@@@ing Gen with another strap-on was just one. Big. Yuck. I guess I prefer real dick. 



And don't get me started on how the ILY's were voiced. Does it get any more AWKWARD? (view spoiler) And the cherry on top was that cheesy OTT drama that took place around 94% and the mind-boggling resolution at 96%. Seriously? Yeah, no shrink necessary when all it takes is (view spoiler) and kink to heal Noah’s messed up mind. I’m very sorry but it didn’t add up at all. Lyda’s weak efforts at being somewhat more affectionate towards the end of the story felt utterly awkward and not credible. And last but not least the epilogue was too corny.

What I loved were the scenes that included Marguerite or Tyler. 

"He's an irrevocably straight male," Marguerite said dryly.(view spoiler)

Tyler and Marguerite:
"You have to let them figure it out, angel."
She arched a brow. "Because you never push your own agenda on someone or interfere with the natural course of things."
"Of course not. But when the natural course of things can be helped along by my will…" He shrugged. "God does it all the time."
"I'm sure Satan does the same thing."
"Imitation is the best form of flattery."
"I'd like to say I'm surprised you'd compare yourself to God or Lucifer, but that would be a waste of breath."
(…)
"I have a far better use for your breath."
She smiled against his mouth, let the kiss take her under, relying on his strength to hold her up as her knees weakened, as they always did when he kissed her. Not that she'd ever tell him that.
He already knew.
When he lifted his head, she gave him an amused look, despite the rapid trip of her pulse.
(view spoiler)
"My wife knows me well."

Tyler…there can be only one. He’s the smart, charismatic and sexy Southern gentleman and class act who emanates power to the nth. And his amber tiger eyes are unforgettable. Love him to pieces! Meeting Marguerite and Tyler brought all the wonderful memories back that I’ll always hold very close to my heart. I also realized that Lyda lacked something utterly essential that Marguerite has in spades: CHARISMA.

WARNING
Divine Solace contains plenty of explicit and kinky sex (M/F, F/F, F/F/M, M/F/M), explicit language, voyeurism, public play, and toys (strap-ons, ball gag and other toys), a (view spoiler) and bondage. 


My ranking:
Mirror of My Soul (Tyler and Marguerite) 5 stars
Rough Canvas (Marcus and Thomas) 5 stars
Ice Queen (Tyler and Marguerite) 5 stars
Branded Sanctuary (Brendan and Chloe) 4.5 stars
Natural Law (Mac and Violet) 4 stars
Holding The Cards (Josh and Lauren; Marcus) 4 stars
Divine Solace 1.5 stars

I have not read Mistress of Redemption.


A thankyou goes to Glam for doing the buddy read with me!
Here is the link to her review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

If you'd like to read my spoilers then check out the GR link below.