Club Shadowlands (Masters of the Shadowlands, #1)

Club Shadowlands has been on my TBR pile for quite some time. I’m so glad I finally got around to reading it, because it ended up being a great story. It’s an ultra-steamy, erotic, contemporary romance that begins with our heroine, Jessica, returning home from a bad date in a rainstorm. Her car hydroplanes off the road into a water-filled ditch in a rural area, leaving her hiking through the downpour in search of help. She comes upon a well-lit, inviting mansion, but the moment she arrives, she’s told that it’s a private club. When she’s finally allowed inside, Jessica is met at the door by a man who calls himself Master Z, and he sees to her every comfort including helping her warm up in a shower and getting her clean show more clothes. Then he shows her around the place, which she quickly realizes is a sex club. Despite having no experience with such a place, many of the things she sees oddly turn her on, making her wonder what’s wrong with her. However, Master Z proves to be a deliciously alluring host, who pushes her boundaries and gives her the most erotic pleasures she’s ever experienced in her life. But when morning comes, she still isn’t certain if she can be fully comfortable in his world and isn’t convinced that he’d ever want her for anything more than one night of mind-blowing sex.

Jessica is a straight-laced accountant who loves volunteering at an animal shelter in her spare time. She’s been out with a variety of guys and is somewhat sexually experienced, but most of those experiences have been underwhelming, leaving her feeling like sex is overrated. It doesn’t help that she’s petite, but plus-sized, and she’s very self-conscious of her curvy body after some unkind comments from men she’s dated in the past. When she arrives at Club Shadowlands, she’s instantly attracted to Master Z, but certain that a hunky guy like him would never truly want someone like her. When he surprises her by giving her plenty of attention, she’s drawn to his alluring charm, and turned on by many of the things happening around her, she can’t resist becoming more intimate with him. He leaves her more pleasured and satisfied than she’s ever felt in her life, but she’s still very uncertain about a lot of things. When he invites her back the next weekend, she simply can’t say no, but she also can’t help wondering if there can ever be anything more between them than these stolen moments of incredible sex. Jessica is a very relatable heroine who is equal parts innocent when in comes to the types of activities going on in the club and curious adventurer who can’t resist exploring her body’s passionate side. She’s a little bit feisty, unwilling to just stand by when she thinks someone is in distress, a very admirable quality, but one which gets her into a bit of trouble with Master Z.;-) She’s also a woman whose self-esteem has been damaged, leaving her with a lot of doubts, but Master Z helps to put her totally at ease and makes her feel more like a desirable woman than she ever has before.

Although his age isn’t mentioned, I got the feeling that Zachary aka Master Z is a little more on the mature side. He’s described as having a bit of gray at the temples and is divorced with two college-aged children and is also ex-military. There are other tantalizing tidbits of character development revealed throughout the story, but since it was so much fun discovering those things for myself, I won’t give them away and spoil it for other readers. All I’ll say is that the more I found out about him, the more I fell for him. He started Club Shadowlands because he saw abuses going on in other sex clubs and wanted to see if he could do better. Master Z monitors everything very closely and if any dom gets out of hand, he kicks butt and takes names, while if any sub misbehaves, he doesn’t hesitate to dole out appropriate punishment. Others seem to think he’s a mind-reader, but in reality he’s an empath who can almost unerringly read people’s emotions, giving the story a touch of the paranormal. As someone who’s fascinated by the complexities of the human mind and psychic phenomena, I found this aspect of his character extremely appealing. When Jessica shows up at his door, looking like a drowned rat, his protective instincts kick in. He soon discovers that he hasn’t been this physically attracted to a woman in a long time, while he’s deeply intrigued by her mixture of innocence and adventurousness, as well as her surprising courage. It all makes him want to be the one to introduce her to his lifestyle and he quickly lays claim to her. I can’t even begin to say just how drop-dead-sexy and yummilicious Master Z is. Practically everything he did made me melt into a puddle. He’s completely calm, confident, and controlled, always even-tempered and never doing anything in anger, engendering almost instant trust in Jessica (and me as the reader). He can take a woman to the heights of sexual bliss, but then also hold her with the utmost tenderness, building her self-esteem with kind, caring words. I never thought I would call a dom sweet, but that’s exactly what Master Z is.

Club Shadowlands is the first book in the Masters of Shadowlands, which is a fairly long-running series. As such, readers are introduced to a few characters who will become heroes and heroines of future books. We get a couple of glimpses of the widowed Master Dan who will be the hero of the next book, Dark Citadel. Although she isn’t seen in this story, I’m pretty sure that Jessica’s sister, who was severely abused by her husband, becomes the heroine of the third book, Breaking Free, as well as Book #11, Protecting His Own. Master Cullen, who is the bartender at the club and one of the few other people Jessica connects with becomes the hero of the fourth book, Lean on Me. The doorman and security guard, Ben, becomes the hero of the tenth book, Servicing the Target. Then Master Z and Jessica get an additional story in Defiance, Book #13.5, which I think may be the final novella of the series.

BDSM romances can be hit and miss with me, but if you couldn’t already tell, Club Shadowlands was a huge hit. Once I got past the strangeness of a heroine trusting a man she’s barely met, I was fully invested, and Master Z proved himself more than worthy of that trust. He’s also not too hard-core, and everything he did made sense, so I didn’t get weirded out at any point. This is a novella-length story, albeit a longer one, so admittedly there isn’t a ton of character and plot development. However, there was just enough to keep it interesting. A part of me wished it could have been longer, to flesh out the characters and story a bit more. There are no unrealistic declarations of love, only a tacit agreement that they would begin dating. I wouldn’t have minded seeing Jessica and Master Z interacting outside the club environment, but it wasn’t a deal-breaker. I ended up giving it a perfect rating because the story gave me all the feels that I’ve come to expect in a romance and more, and it was also surprisingly well-written for an erotic romance. Not to mention, Master Z alone is worth giving the book five stars, and I loved Jessica, too. I just wasn’t quite ready to let them go so soon, so I’m definitely going to be looking forward to hopefully seeing more of them in future books of the series as well as in their wrap-up novella. With such a stellar read, I’ll definitely be putting Cherise Sinclair on my watch list and will make every effort to get to the next book very soon.

Note: This book contains explicit language and sexual situations including BDSM elements, voyeurism/exhibitionism, sex toys, anal play, and a light M/F/M menage scene, all of which could be objectionable to sensitive readers. show less

In the first book in the Masters of the Shadowlands series, Jessica Randall finds herself stranded on the road in the middle of a tropical storm. She seeks shelter at a dark, imposing mansion and soon finds herself in the middle of a private club that caters to kink. She’s nervous but intrigued at the BDSM scenes, but it’s the club’s owner, Master Z, that has her all worked up.
Though he often has his pick of subs, Zachary finds the stubborn, curious Jessica refreshing and sets out to teach her about the lifestyle. After he brings out her inner submissive, his possessive tendencies come out and he realizes he doesn’t want to let her go.
This is a pretty fast-paced story that focuses more on introducing the reader to what BDSM is show more about. There’s no drama, pain, past trauma, etc, that I’ve read in the author’s other books. It’s a short novel with an abrupt ending, but at least there wasn’t a cliffhanger. The age difference irked me a little. He’s in his 40s and she’s in her mid-to-late 20s. He’s divorced with two grown children, but not much was said about them and I really wanted more. I read book 6, To Command and Collar, before this one by accident, and in that book, I got to know Jessica and Z better even though they were side characters.
Other than a few minor typos, the book is well-written and the sex scenes are super hot. The story is in Jessica’s and Z’s third POV with proper scene breaks. Overall, I liked the story.
3 Stars show less

So you know how in BDSM porn videos there's always a scary German lady in leather screaming at a woman (or man—but mostly another woman) hanging from rope with a ball gag in her mouth? (Hey! Don't look at me like that, we all watch it.) Well, wipe away whatever ideas you've ever learned from your perverted porn videos. This book is so far from that it's on another planet.

So now you're thinking, "WTF is wrong with this chick?" (Yeah...too many issues to list.)

Don't worry, I'm not here to talk to you about the weird and creepy shit found on your (my) internet browser. I'm here to gush about my new favorite series. I'm not usually the biggest fan of glitterkink. I love me some BDSM erotica, but the club scenes can be a little.... show more cheesy and unrealistic and, honestly, a big turn off for me. I'm glad to pulled on my big girl panties and finally started this series. It was the opposite of a waste of time. I kept getting sucked in, every time I had to put the book down to cater to my cats every whim.

Master Z is the tall, handsome owner of Club Shadowlands. Every sub lusts after him and anytime Jessica is near him her clothes come off and her panties melt.

Jessica is a very self conscious little lady. She's been ridiculed by her skinny mother and past lovers all her life. She meets Sir (Master Z) who proceeds in taking off her clothes and showing her just how much he loves her curves, in a really kinky way. Straight p-laced Jessica is shocked by just how much she loves being bound and used in front of an eager audience of kinky minded people.

It's sweet and sexy and gave me a warm tingling feeling. And no, I wasn't eating spicy buffalo wings while reading this book. (But now that I mention them, yum.) I've been told by many a bookworms that while I should read this book, it is by far weakest book in the Masters of the Shadowlands series. If this is the weakest book, I can't wait to read more from this author!

There's bondage, voyerism, medical kink and more awaiting you in CLUB SHADOWLANDS. Hop aboard the kinky bandwagon and try out Cherise Sinclaire's Masters of the Shadowlands series.

http://nobookleftbehind.booklikes.com/post/674655/club-shadowlands-review show less

I wouldn’t change a thing in this volume come what may. Being completely besotted by Master Z, my heart flutters even when I pen down words about him. Jessica’s fated admission to Club Shadowlands, her apprehensive foray into the BDSMers clique and enticing tutelage of Zachary flawlessly entwines a burgeoning Dom/Sub relation. Step by step revelation of a lifestyle of more than just hot kinky sex, liberating the stringent prude embedded within the cores of sexual explorations is greatly pleasing. Gosh! I am so enamored by the narrative that I can’t even be bitchy with the libretto. Sinclair observantly constructs a naively susceptible Jessica being captivated by the audaciously intricate Zachary. The modus operandi of molding a show more ravenous yet timorous obedient pursued by Zachary over Jessica is unthinkable and incredibly sexy. It is an all out goose bump fest culminating sinister eagerness into an addictive sexual outburst. How I fancied the prospect of Cullen joining the duo in their repressive exhibitionism. Ohhh! Silly me! I overlooked an entire manuscript chronicling Master Cullen’s fetishes. Can’t wait to get my dirty hands on it. More joy to my world!!! show less

Published at: http://rubys-books.blogspot.com/2011/10/book-review-club-shadowlands-by-cherise....


You know how sometimes a reader starts searching for that perfect type of character for a certain genre? I became one of those searchers of perfection when I found I liked erotic romance with BDSM themes. Let me define what perfection is for me. It's not that character that can do anything and everything he/she wants, it's actually the character who has bad habits, who makes mistakes, you know the type, it's called "normal people".

So I was a very happy camper when I stumbled by a complete accident upon Cherise Sinclair's Doms. They are so not perfect and I love that, because they seem real. They have fears like real men, they mess up and show more they have those moments when the only thing you can do is say "Men!" and go on. And her heroines aren't the gorgeous bombshells that can wear anything they want. They might not be slim, but they are smart, hardworking women that have the same issues real life women have. And those are very good things. For me, anyway.

Club Shadowlands is the first book in the Masters of the Shadowlands series. We meet Master Z or Zachary, child psychologist by day, owner of the Club Shadowlands by night. Now, the fact that Master Z is a psychologist made me love him on the spot. It's very hard to find a book with a psychologist that's a Dom, you know? He's a very good judge of character, he is very good at reading people, he's very patient, he has a very strong sense of justice and he keeps his word. If you broke a rule, no matter how much he hates it, he's going to punish you for it. That's something the heroine, Jessica, found out really soon.

Jessica is a very curios woman. She's shocked by what she encounters at Master Z's club, but she's not scared into leaving and she actually likes some of the things she sees. Other things she sees make her turn into mother hen mode and protect the ones that she feels are in danger, making her break a few of the club's rules. Jessica is also very impatient and I think Zachary helps her become the playful woman that she is later in the series.

One thing I loved about the book and the series in general: the way the lifestyle and the BDSM practices and rules are explained. I've read so far enough books to understand a bit about it, but usually all the things surrounding the subject is explained either very... shall I call it dry? I don't know, I just never had that feeling of complete understanding and usually some of the explanations feel copied from a sort of master book, a guide book, while remaining on the surface of the subject. I actually felt that Ms. Sinclair knows what she's talking about and the explanations felt real and they were very well mixed with the story.

There are four more books in the series, at this moment. With every book, the series improves more and more, the characters get more complex, more multidimensional, while staying very close to my concept of real. The sixth book is on it's way and I can't wait for it! I do believe I'll bite all my nails 'till that day comes. Oh well, I can always reread ;) show less

What a sweet little story! Ok, sweet and BDSM don't sound like they go together but it really worked here. Master Z, Dom and owner of Shadowlands was gentle and kind yet firm and unrelenting as Jessica's guide into the world of pleasure and pain. I liked that for once the enjoyment of BDSM didn't end up being related to some childhood trauma. Also refreshing was a heroine with some meat on her bones. She had ample curves and felt self conscious about her body but through Master Z's strong and tender hand she slowly came to accept herself. Her struggle to accept the part of herself that enjoyed being a sub seemed really authentic. Too bad the story was so short. I could've stayed at Shadowlands a lot longer. Oh and seriously...I need a show more Master Z in my life. Cullen will do nicely also. show less

What a time for her car to break down, right in the middle of a tropical storm out in the middle of nowhere. Muddy and wet, Jessica tries to find help, and she eventually ends up on the doorstep of a mansion (I heard the Rocky Horror Picture Show theme running through my head, lol). When she realizes that her shelter is actually a private BDSM club, it's too late. She's in the middle of it, and Master Z has set his sights on her.

Master Z is intrigued by the little newcomer. Her wide-eyed innocence, her intelligence, and her nurturing nature all call to him on a primal level.

She reminded him of a kitten freed from the kennel, faring forth on a new adventure, ears forward, tail held high. She was definitely a brave little ball of show more fluff.

When he notices that she's not adverse to knowing a little bit more about the lifestyle, he wants to be the one to show her everything.

Um, wow. This is definitely more intense than the Mountain Masters series. Ms Sinclair's characters are always infused with so much passion and carnality that they make your toes curl. I love the fact that the author writes about "real" women. By that I mean that they aren't stick figured size 2s. They're luscious, beautiful inside and out with a vulnerability that make them easy to identify with. But with the right man at their side, not only does their repressed passion bloom, but they also learn a lot about trust and love.

Jessica was really sweet woman. She may have been a little bit ignorant about what some people might find a turn on, but she took everything in in stride; clearly thinking things through before agreeing or protesting. I also loved how she stood up for the subs when she thought they were in danger. Clearly in a strange environment with strangers, she could have easily been outnumbered.

Master Z .... damn! The way he talked, the way he moved .... double damn. They way he talked ...

As if he could see into her head, he smiled slowly and whispered, "The trust that lets a woman be tied down and spread open for her master's use."
...
He cupped her cheek, leaned forward, his breath warm against her ear as he murmured, "And your reaction to that shows you are a submissive."

The way he saw Jessica, the way he thought of her, as a woman, he made my heart melt.

He shook his head. From a submissive to a spitfire in five easy minutes. The contrast was startling. Compelling. Her concern spilled through him like warmth from the sun.
Until now, he hadn't realized he'd been cold.

Thank you Ms Sinclair :) show less