Holding the Cards

People have been telling me about Joey Hill for ages. Now that's I've finished one of her books, I have no idea what took me so long! She really is the queen of femdom. Lauren and Josh are beautifully flawed in much of the same ways. Their previous lovers abused their trust and this is the story of how they get it back with each other. Deliciously tortured scenes. I didn't know which was more enjoyable. To be the Domme or the sub. My favorite line was a throwaway from the third character in the story, Marcus. “You didn't say anything about butterflies, moron.”

The only thing I didn't like was how the card theme kept coming up. The first time it was cute. The tenth time it seemed rather cheesy. Other than that, I consider myself fully show more submitted to Joey W. Hill's stories, wherever dark, sexy places they take me. show less

An erotic romance with a BDSM relationship, female Dom, male sub. The characters are well fleshed out (does that need a "sorry not sorry"? I can't decide), all of the sex is multi-purpose (all the sex scenes had a purpose in addition to being sex scenes), the sentence-level writing is great, and the pacing is good. Despite all the sex and edginess, something about Holding the Cards is almost sweet. I loved the characters in the end, and loved the emotional journey they went on. This was almost a clutch-it-to-my-chest-at-the-end-and-sigh read. If you want a m/f BDSM romance with a female Dom, I'd rec this.

In book one in the Nature of Desire series, Lauren is staying at her friend’s island beach house to heal from breaking up with her boyfriend. She’s a Dom and used to being in control of life, work, and love, but Jonathon’s betrayal has made her doubt herself and her D/s lifestyle.
Josh is the island’s caretaker, and he and his friend Marcus are the only people there, other than Lauren. After they help her out of an embarrassing incident, the men stay with her, getting to know her. It’s obvious to Lauren that Josh is a damaged submissive with a lot of pain buried inside him, and Marcus is a fellow Dom who’s trying to help Josh deal with his trauma. The men are good friends, but they aren’t in a D/s relationship. Lauren and show more Marcus soon work together, but she never expected that by helping Josh heal, she would also be healing herself.
I haven’t read many Femdom books, so I was very happy to have won this ebook in a contest. I’ve heard a lot of good things about this series and about Ms. Hill’s work.
Lauren and Josh were wonderful characters. She was a strong, kind, and not-so-kind Mistress, exactly what Josh needed. He was so closed-off but desperate to give her whatever she wanted, what they both wanted. They immediately clicked. The sparks between them was enough to set my Kindle on fire.
I would love to learn more about Marcus and the submissive that he loved and lost—Thomas. He took being a Master/Dom to an art form and was the perfect go-between for Lauren and Josh when they needed a buffer.
There’s only one intercourse scene, which is a surprise since this book is erotic/a. There were lots of masturbation, touching, teasing, and climax scenes, however, between the three main characters. However, the withholding of intercourse fit with the plot and drew Lauren and Josh closer together.
I really enjoyed this story for the characters, the depth of emotion all three characters displayed, and my interest in BDSM culture. However, there were editing and pacing issues as well as head-hopping and odd religious references. These things kept throwing me out of the story, which is why the star rating isn’t higher. Some readers may not care or pick up on things like that, but I’m pretty OCD.
Anyway, this is a fun story for readers of BDSM romance. I also have the second book in the series, which I’ll read soon.
3 Stars show less

A Dom/sub romance that nicely explores the emotional complexities of such relationships while also offering up fun, steamy sexy-time scenes. I liked all the characters right away and very nearly loved them all by the end. Two quibbles: 1) the dialogue gets a little cheesy at times, and 2) I really wanted more filling-out of the back stories for the characters.The outline Hill gives for them is really promising, and if she'd fleshed them out more it would have made a good story great.

There were parts of this I liked, and I'm trying to keep in mind that this was written 20 years ago, probably if it were written by this author today it would be better. It's not very grounded in reality though. With most of the things I can just chalk it up to fantasy, (there's an elaborate beach scene involving sand, but of course none of it goes anywhere inconvenient, etc). But I had a much harder time with the poor understanding (or at least representation) of actual power exchange dynamics. These scenes have not one, but *two*, highly experienced doms, yet their work is a mess. Poor practices, wonky psychology, I hope no one out there is taking notes from this for their own D/s ventures. =D As sort of BDSM "fluff" though, I suppose show more it's probably fine. I'm going to try the next book, but I really hope that aspect improves as it goes along. show less

This is a story about healing. Exorcising the demons we all acquire when a relationship of passion falls to the wayside. It is about three people finding a path to redemption and love. Ms. Hill has a way of telling these stories with grace and insight. She makes the reader feel the anguish and the hurt that these three damaged souls have endured. She writes characters that are flawed just as so many of us are yet they come out the other end of the story renewed and ready to grab life my the horns and ride it. You come to love the characters and cheer them on through each hoop they jump through on the path to a better place.

Lauren, Marcus and Joshua were the first characters of Ms. Hill's that I enjoyed sharing with her. I read the show more story just shortly after it was published by Ellora's Cave all those many years ago. I haven't re-read the story in all that time. These story strike so close to home they can be painful in some ways to read. I love them make no mistake but I have to read them in a measured pace. I have always thought that was the measure of a great book. Ms. Hill book pull out things in me that I wish that I could experience and know that it will never happen. I want those things so badly but I know that I will not find someone that I can trust to share those experiences with.

This is the first time that Marcus shows up in any of Ms. Hill's story. He intrigued me so much. I am not a big fan of M/m romances. I usually need and female added into the mixture to really enjoy the story. However I loved reading Marcus' story. A review that I will save for a later time. Lauren and Josh have both gone through so much pain. Even with the second reading I am rushing to the end to see how things will resolve themselves. Wanting to know what has caused Josh such pain that he is angry and hurt so deeply.

Well I have finished the story and the ending had me in tears. I am reminded yet again that there are some truly vile people in the world. What Josh's wife did to him is unforgivable. She needs hep and lots of it. Jonathan is the same. I know that Jonathan finally has to face his demons and find redemption as he does so. I wish that there was some similar punishment for Josh's wife but maybe she is beyond redemption. I do love that Ms. Hill left open the possibility for Marcus and Thomas to get back together. I also glad that Lauren and Josh were ready to find a way to make a life for themselves. This is a very good story and for those that love the BDSM genre it is a must read. A warning for the rest this is a deeply emotional book that has very strong D/s elements that some will find disturbing. There is also one scene of M/M sexual contact for those of you that find that not to your taste. show less

I am a huge fan of Hill’s Vampire Queen Series and I’ve been meaning to check out one of her other series so after finding Holding the Cards as a FREE download (until 2/19/12) for my Nook I jumped at the chance to read it.

Ok, so Holding the Cards does not have hot vampires in it but it’s still a good read. The BDSM elements is not as hard core as the ones in the VQS so if you want to dip your toe into the BDSM genre this a good one to start with. The relationship between three characters slowly develops over the span of the book so it easies you into the harder aspect of the D/s relationship.

Lauren, Josh and Marcus are all on the beautiful deserted island for different reasons. Lauren is trying to get over a bad break up with her show more last submissive. Josh is the caretaker of the rich homes on the island that are owned by the rich and famous. Marcus is Josh’s friend and a rich and successful art dealer, who just happens to be a Dom like Lauren.

Lauren find herself locked out of her friend’s house that she is borrowing for the weekend. That’s not really the embarrassing part of her and Josh meeting. Lauren had decided to use the hot tub out on the deck of the house to relax but when she tries to go back in she realizes she is locked out and the only way to get down from the high two story deck is to climb down the tree next to the deck, with only a towel wrapped around her waist. Half way down she notices these Tarzan looking guy down on the ground staring at her. (Hello Josh, I’ll be your Jane to your Tarzan anytime) Then comes along Marcus and Lauren’s embarrassment is complete.

The three spend the night together talking and eating dinner together. Then Marcus brings up the idea to play and hand of cards that when things start getting interesting. Game: High Card. Rules: Holder of the high card gets to be Dom for the night. Winner: Lauren. Now the handsome and quite Josh must play by Mistress, Lauren’s rules.

Holding the Cards is a hot, sexy and emotional ride. I liked that fact that the book didn’t end with a nice neat HEA like most books do. Josh and Lauren really care for each other and want to get to a HEA but they realize that they still need to get to know each other better. But they see the potent for love in their future.

I must admit, I lean more toward instant gratification so some of the more drawn out scenes tormented me just as much as did Josh so I skimmed a few spots and that’s the reason for the 3 star rating instead of a 4 star rating. But it was still a very much enjoyable read

Check out my interview with the author. show less