Sweet Persuasion

The Plot: This second book in Maya Banks's Sweet series is about Serena, a friend of Faith's who fulfills fantasies for a living. Serena is the owner/founder of a company in Houston that provides clients an opportunity to live out their non-sexual fantasies for a day -- a day as a high roller, a princess cruise, etc. When one day Serena decides that she'd like to live out her own fantasy (albeit a sexual one), she turns to her friends for advice on where to start. At Faith's commendation, she calls Damon, who owns a local fetish sex club to provide her a way to temporarily live out her own fantasy of being someone's sexual slave. Upon meeting, Damon is instantly attracted to Serena and commits to personally helping her with her fantasy. What ensues is a whirlwind exploration of the intimate relationship of dominance, submission, bondage and sadomasochism that moves both Damon and Serena beyond even their own wildest dreams. Zelda's Take: Oh. my. god. After reading the first title in this series, I almost discounted it entirely. Boy, am I glad I didn't. Unlike Sweet Surrender, which attempted to inject mystery and suspense into the plotline to make the book's erotic nature easier to swallow, Sweet Persuasion makes no bones about it -- it is an erotic romance. And pretty hard-core erotica at that. First, for the faint of heart, readers beware; Sweet Persuasion reveals some of the very core underpinnings of BDSM culture -- from vanilla bondage and slave-subservience to emotion-rending lashings and public humiliation. Second, this book is HOT, HOT, HOT!!! Damon is at once domineering, stern, loving, tender, good-looking and rolling in money (um, perfection?). Serena is confident, outgoing and independent. She's a business-woman who doesn't need to rely on anyone. Until she meets Damon, that is. What begins as a game and an experiment in sexuality turns quickly into a major lesson in self-actualization for them both. The book proceeds as one long, rolling, heated sex scene as Damon and Serena learn about each other, play (oh, and do they PLAY!), uncover their desires and explore their limits. I love that Serena is confident enough to step outside of her comfort zone and try on a different persona. She embraces her fantasy and commits to it, but still doubts her decisions and motives just like any normal human being. I adore Damon's tenderness with Serena as she attempts to discover her own desires. While he commits himself to Serena's fantasies right away, he understands that it is only a temporary fling and never expects her to embrace his world in the end. He doesn't venture to hope that the scenario could produce a lasting relationship for them, but as he finds himself smitten with her, he figures it is, in the words of Tennyson, better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all... As a relative newcomer to BDSM culture myself, I really enjoyed the bird's eye view into the various methods and exchanges Damon employs in his scenes with Serena. The insight into dom/slave eroticism and the kinky parties that go with it was fascinating. There is one punishment scene in particular that was so dramatic and climactic, the tension tore at my heart and had me nearly in tears! In the end, I think that my enjoyment of Maya Banks's Sweet series is likely driven by my own personal connection to the characters in play. In the case of Sweet Persuasion, Banks was spot on. I look forward to reading more!

This is the story of Serena James and the mysterious Damon Roche. She owns and operates FANTASY INCORPORATED where she fills out her clients fantasies, and Damopn owns and operates many things including an exclusive sex club called THE HOUSE. A friend of Serena's tells her about Damon's ability to maker her erotic dreams come true! She sends a HOT e-mail to Damon about her fantasy wishes and he sets her up for making her wishes come true. He wants her to be HIS dream come true and they journey into a world she's only dreamed of. He is a strong willed man seeking a submi9ssive woman to take care of in every way. He will find out during her time in her fantacy life that he'll never let her go. They travel together through the BDSM life style and they love it! Serena is the woman he's searched for and he must convince her to stay when the game is over. This story is well written and the writer paints a beautiful picture of the men and women in her books and makes the life styles understandable. You'll enjoy this highly EROTIC book and ant to keep it so you can re-read it when you want the spice to liven up your life. Enjoy!

~4/5 [More of my reviews are available on my blog, Geeky Reading, to which there's a link on my profile.] I’ve read a couple other books by Banks and have liked most of them, including the first in this series. I’ve been meaning to get my hands on others, and ended up getting this one. And I’m really glad that I did, because this was a really good book. I loved the couple in this book, their progression, their relationship, their growth. There’s a lot of focus on D/s, particularly Dominance and submission, and that’s what I was looking for, and I thought it was really well done in this book. As well as incredibly hot. I don’t want to get too much into that, but I loved it, it was really good, and if anyone has suggestions for similar books please give them. This was a surprisingly easy, fast read, and I liked that. Banks is really good at creating characters, very hot sex scenes, and she’s also a really good writer, in general. She spends a lot of time on the sex and developing of relationships, and particularly in this book, didn’t over-dramatize the break-up and make-up part. Whereas a lot of books have a huge break-up and angst, in this book, the break-up had very understandable reasons, and there was a pretty easy fix, and I liked that. It was refreshing. I am definitely planning to get the rest of this series now, as well as really any of Banks’ books, and hope to get another soon.

Maya banks is an amazing author and this book proves it. What a hottie. I absolutely loved the character of Damon. What a caveman! The sex scenes are hot and completely thrilling. I was so engrossed. I read the whole book 2 days. Definitely recommend this book to anyone!! TOTALLY AMAZING

Serenas Beruf ist es, die Wünsche ihrer Kunden zu erfüllen, allerdings hat sie dabei ganz auf ihre eigenen Wünsche vergessen. Das soll sich nun ändern! Schon lange träumt sie davon endlich all ihre sexuellen Fantasien auszuleben und endlich fasst sie den Mut und bietet ihre Freundinnen um Rat. Faith gibt ihr die Telefonnummer des heißen Sex Club Besitzers Damon Roche. In seinem exklusiven Club, in dem sexuelle Wunsche aller Art befriedigt werden, will sie einen Mann finden, der sie an ihre sexuellen Grenzen treiben soll. Ihre geheime Fantasie ist es, von einem starken Mann dominiert zu werden und sich richtig fallen lassen zu können. In diesem Club wird sie sicher auf den richten Partner dafür stoßen! Damon fühlt sich sofort von der leidenschaftlichen Serena angezogen und bietet ihr an, ihr zu helfen, allerdings nur wenn er der Mann ist, der ihre Fantasien erfüllt. Die beiden stürzen sich eine heiße, zügellose Affäre und obwohl es nicht für immer sein soll, will Damon Serena schon bald nicht mehr gehen lassen und auch Serena kann sich ein Leben ohne Damon nicht mehr vorstellen... Das Buch ist definitiv heiß! Maya Banks überzeugt auch mit dem zweiten Band der Sweet Serie und dieses Mal sind der sexy Clubbesitzer Damon und die leidenschaftliche Serena die Hauptprotagonisten. Allerdings gibt es auch ein Wiedersehen mit Faith, Gray, Micah, Nathan, Julie, Connor etc. und bei diesem heißen Roman sollte man aufpassen, dass man sich nicht die Finger verbrennt. Wie auch schon im ersten Teil ist Maya Banks wieder voll in ihrem Element und sie zaubert ein erotisches Feuerwerk, das man einfach nicht auslassen kann. Teil 1: Sweet Surrender Teil 2: Sweet Persuasion Teil 3: Sweet Seduction Teil 4: Sweet Temptation Teil 5: Sweet Possession Teil 6: Sweet Addiction

This was absolutely an amazing story. I LOVED LOVED LOVED IT. Her first book in the series "Sweet Surrender" was incrediable and when I found out on her website that she was publishing the follow up book "Sweet Persuasion" I was so excited. A male character, Damon Roche, peaked my interest in that book and when I discovered that "Sweet Persuasion" was about his story and a new female character Serena I couldn't wait. Well let me tell you, Maya Banks did not disappoint. This story was gripping as you follow through Serena's so called submissive fantasy to Damon's true lifesyle. As the reader you can so relate to Serena on how difficult it would be to turn from independant business owner to full time "sex slave". Honestly the story goes so much more deeper than what I am trying to explain. Their connection was electric, the story line was a gripping, had deep female friendships and it totally drew you in with the emotions of the characters. I haven't even mentioned the steamy love scenes yet and they are definitely worth a mention because, wow! This story is easily one of my favorites of Maya Banks and that is hard to say because I adore practically everything she has written. If you are interested in the story, which I totally recommend, I suggest you read "Sweet Surrender" first. It not necessary but you would get a great base for this amazing continuation. Enjoy, you will not be disappointed!

A lot like 50 shades, not as good as first novel a little bit disappointing and the price is ridiculous

Its better than sweet surrender, but I found it also very boring. And had a hard time staying awake to read this novel. I love a good sexy read, and was expecting more out of this.