Sweet Restraint Kindle Edition

Perhaps this book is worth more than three stars as it is way above average compared to the numerous poorly written books I could barely get through which preceeded it. I guess that when I opt for a romance I prefer the focus to be on that because if I want to read a good crime novel I go to the source and read Raymond Chandler, for instance. I found that in this book, as in the previous, 'Daring Time', there was far too much emphasis placed on the racketeering and corruption our hero was involved in uncovering, and less on the interaction between the hero and the heroine. Perhaps that is why 'Wicked Burn' by the same author, rates way above the others as there are no crimes and agents in that story at all, as it simply concentrates on the emotional struggle of the main characters.Having said that, I'll write a brief of the story though it has already been done remarkably well by others. Special agent Shane Dominic sneaks into the house of the woman he was madly in love with ten years ago, Laura Vasquez. She jilted him for no apparent reason and married a person that was a very unlikely choice for her. She never gave him any explanation, walking completely out of his life in a cloud of mystery. Shane now has the chance for revenge. Her husband is involved in a criminal theft ring which is in league with some corrupt members of the police force so he hopes to find some kind of incriminating evidence against him. The basement has been wired to tape the conversations among the criminals. With the footsteps of Laura echoing above him, he plays the tapes but the content is not what he had expected to hear. Insteead, he hears Laura's sighs and moans as she partakes in a sexual orgy. On further investigation he finds other paraphernalia of sexual toys used to spice up the sex games that involve the participation of an audience as well. He is stunned to see that the sweet shy girl he used to adore has turned into a depraved sex addict, obviously under the tutellage of her equally pervertd husband. All he feels now is revulsion with the life she has chosen. As for him, he is about to get married to a lovely, intelligent woman and leave his memories of Laura behind once the case is solved.When Shane is about to make the big break in the case, Laura's husband suicides and the press make a big feast of the case, digging up the story once again about allegations of police involvement in the crime ring. Laura is persecuted by the press who want to know whether it was not so much a suicide as a premeditaded murder. Shane extricates her from the harassment by driving her to her apartment where his pent up passion errupts like a volcanic explosion and he makes unrestrained love to her. He then comes to realize, that much though he despises he, he lusts after her, so he breaks up his engagement. Sensing that Laura is somehow blackmailed and trapped into a situation from which she cannot escape, he decides to use her penchant for BDSM, to force her to reveal the truth to him. He thus abducts her and takes her to an isolated cabin where he keeps her literally bound hand and foot and under constant vigilance. Shane also brings all his experience and prowess to the fore and gives our heroine an unforgettable exhibition of bondage and dominance that made her submit to him but unfortunately not make any revelations. In fact when Shane thinks he has got her eating out of his hand, she runs away and he is back to square one, left confused and confounded.Whathappens next I will not reveal, but be rest assured it's what you suspected all along. Laura tries to aquire the evidence by herself without involving Shane and puts her life at risk once again and of course our hero is there at the critical moment...What I object to is the paltry excuse to include BDSM in the story. It seems so bizarre to kidnap someone for disciplinary reasons. Only a seriously deranged mind would think of such a thing and not an intelligeng FBI agent who knows he is risking his career and freedom if his plan backfires! Besides, all this beating around the bush left little room for dealing with our heroes emotions about each other. The sex was hot, but as I said when the story hasn't tuned your heart strings enough, the music does sound a bit flat.

At 38 years of age, Shane "Dom" Dominic has climbed rapidly up ranks of the FBI to be `Special Agent In Charge' of `Operation Serve and Protect', an investigation into the largest organized police theft ring in known history. The FBI uncovered evidence that indicates the corruption stretches back at least 10 years and involves senior officers in the Chicago Police Department.Dom is an absolute `force of nature'. He is handsome, brilliant, driven and has an innate ability to comprehend people's motivations and to predict how they would act in a certain set of circumstances. This is one strong, enticing hero and I can say without hesitation that I fell in love with him. Dom is soon to be married to Clarissa, a smart and successful financial analyst, who has been extremely patient with his long hours and obsession with the investigation. Dom, however, is having second thoughts about his marriage to Clarissa who, in the short glimpse we are given of her, is a lovely woman.When Dom was in his twenties he was involved in a short, very intense relationship with Laura Vasquez, a beautiful, very reserved and brilliant artist. Dom had been besotted, head over heels in love with Laura, however it ended in betrayal when she suddenly married Huey Mays, a cop and creepy slimeball ten years her senior. Laura never explained to Dom why she did it. He only knew she left him devastated. He tried hard over the years to extinguish the torch he carried for Laura. However, it continued to smolder and at times burn brightly.Ironically, Huey was the linchpin for the FBI's continued investigation into the corruption at the Chicago Police Department. He was arrested, jailed and then makes bail. He subsequently commits suicide leaving a note. It is in these unlikely circumstances that Laura and Shane meet again and their explosive passion is rekindled. As a side note, she is one of only three people on the planet that call Dom, `Shane'.Here is a short sample of the passionate erotic prose that permeates the narrative of this novel. Shane has rescued Laura from a crush of press at the hospital following Huey's death. At her insistence he takes her to her home instead of somewhere he feels would be safer. After Shane makes a surprising and powerful admission with respect to his knowledge of Laura's intimate relationship with her disgusting husband (details that he learned through FBI wire-tapping) an angry, bitter exchange of words turns fiery."He saw her eyes go wide but he didn't give her a chance to respond to his totally irrational proclamation before he covered her mouth with his own.He drank from her furiously. Pain vibrated through his flesh. Not the discomfort of a wound or an injury, but the raw, searing pain that came from exposing a desire that had long been denied.At that moment he needed Laura Vasquez just like he needed to breathe.Later he wouldn't be able to say at what point she stopped struggling, precisely when her tongue began to tangle with his, or when her hands rose to caress his neck and her fingers delved through his hair. She pressed against him almost frantically, the abrupt appearance of her need shocking him. . .and nearly blinding him with lust."Sweet Restraint © Beth KeryAfter 13 years of pent up desire detonates between them resulting in an intense scene of spontaneous lovemaking, Laura refuses to talk or meet with Shane. He then devises and institutes an unorthodox plan to force her to acknowledge her desire for him, trust him and finally divulge her secrets. Shane knows in his bones Laura is a natural sexual submissive. Shane is a sexual dominant who has found satisfaction practicing a BDSM lifestyle over the years.Needless to say, Shane calls off his marriage to Clarissa.Risking all, Shane handcuffs Laura and takes her against her will to a remote cabin in northern Illinois. There, he nurtures her desire for him by making love to her. The scenes at the cabin are emotional, tender and sexually explicit. There is bondage and submission and Laura does respond to Shane in this context. IMHO, the character development in this novel is exemplary; I got to know these two people, felt the pain of their lost love, their frustration and their joy at finally being able to touch and become reacquainted with one another. There is one particularly powerful scene where Laura's pent up anger bubbles to the surface with such fury she lashes out at Shane. He, in turn, feels remorse and questions his belief that he has done the right thing in essentially kidnapping her.Laura is a very stubborn and private woman. She has dark secrets that she keeps locked deep inside because she feels she must. There were times where I, along with Shane, was very frustrated with this heroine because she cannot give him her trust and refuses to confide in him. However, as the story progresses to its riveting conclusion, I came to understand and respect why she felt she had to keep her secrets so close, literally bricking up a thick wall around herself.Readers are also introduced to Elizabeth and Alex Dominic, Shane's kind and understanding parents. There is a particularly poignant exchange between Laura and Elizabeth when they are reacquainted after so many years that brought tears to my eyes.Laura's only living relative is her brother Joey, also a policeman on the force, who plays a pivotal role in the story's suspense subplot.The antagonist in this story is a cruel, powerful man with a Machiavellian complex who has 35 years of tenure on the Chicago Police Department. Nothing happens in the city without Randall Moody knowing and he manipulates Shane, Laura and the secondary characters of this story, in surprising plot twists and turns.The path to Shane and Laura's HEA is not an easy one but if you are willing to ride the bumpy road with them, I hope you will find reading their story as emotional and special as I did."This time, he'll never let her go." As a reader, I was relieved he didn't.

Both were steamy in this stand alone by Beth Kerry. A brilliant story teller with a penchant for intrigue. Beth cab draw you in to the lives of her characters like no other author can.

Beth Kery has done it again. This is a sizzling HOT, erotic BDSM tale about soul mates wrapped in a suspenseful crime drama for the frame. Though circumstances have kept them apart, they relentlessly carried each other in their hearts. This is another "can not put it down" read. I certainly could have read another 200 pages of the crime story; as is the book has a lot of sex scenes. This book is about 75% erotic romance and 25% crime story. Although some of the other reviewers have provided in depth synopsis of the plot, I recommend this book.

This book was really good but I couldnt really get into it until a couple of chapters in and it was hard for me to read all the cop talk but my over all opinion was that it was a good read and I would recommend it.

I like the author, and enjoyed the book, and will keep watch for new releases, I only purchase used books, as I read more than the average person, my library card proves this fact. But my library does not carry Beth Kery books

I enjoyed this story and i enjoyed the love scenes but they did become a bit repetitive, while the suspense was good and kept me on the edge waiting to see how it would all play out there was something missing and the suspense fell a bit flat in places where i felt it could have been explained in a bit more detail.The romance between laura and shane was good and i could feel their bond even though they had been apart for 13 years they still had that burning need for eachother that couldnt be extinguished.this is a very good romantic suspense that puts more focus on the romance than the suspense even though the suspense is good.

What a great story and romance. What Laura went through was hell, and Shane never gave up. With all the twists and turns that went on really good read. Was another great book from Beth would recommend this book to anybody. Great romance story that kept me gripped all the way through.

Beth Kery does it again. I loved this book and its strong storyline filled with strong characters and descriptive scenes. It has th right amounts of passion and desire and good old fashioned lust backed up with a gripping twist in the tale .

I was waiting for the answers to come up until the very end. It was an easy read and even better because you could pick it up and leave it when you needed to do something else. I found you loved the characters and were routing for them.

Shows good level of versatility in writing different kinds of stories, the plot sucks you in. Really hard to put down