Claimed (Club Sin #1) by Stacey Kennedy was a wonderful, warm, sweet story of love, submission, and taking chances with one's feelings. Bared (Club Sin #2), book two in the series centers on a smoldering D/s relationship that only flourishes in the dungeon at Club Sin. I liked the overall premise of the story, but I didn’t like how it played out on the pages.

For two years Aidan and Cora have played together, spent enough time together to know each other wants and needs, but once the scene is finished the heat and chemistry between Aiden and Cora is also gone, and that dear reader is the basis of the story. How can two people who have spent such intimate, emotional, high octane, adrenalin pumping moments together not understand their feeling towards each other?

I found the writing didn’t flow as well in this book, it was extremely repetitive, and seemed to almost have a circular pattern – like a planet orbiting the star. At times the writing was crisp, warm, erotic, almost poetic, concise and to the point, but it was not consistent throughout the book.

The characters were thin, not a lot of back story, just enough so you would have some interest in them, there was satisfactory interaction between Aidan/Cora and the secondary characters in the book, any newly introduced characters fell into place seamlessly. There was no doubt in my mind that there were strong friendships, and a support structure firmly in place amongst these characters.

I seemed to have had more issues with Cora’s character, then Aidan’s. Cora engaged in this D/s relationship with full knowledge that is was a non committed relationship, and that Aidan had suffered a loss shortly before they had gotten together, both Aidan and Cora assumed they knew what the other wanted out of their D/s relationship. I felt that Cora changed the rules by falling in love with Aidan, and although the chemistry was there, I didn’t like her going off the emotional deep end when Aidan didn’t realize her love for him, or his feelings towards her. I also hated that Cora felt the time was never right or it was “too soon” to tell Aidan how she really felt. I thought Cora's lack of honest communication was really the problem. I know that drama is important to a story line, but the tension, attitudes, and taking sides throughout the course of the story by the other Doms, and Cora’s girlfriends seemed to get in the way for me. I liked Aiden, he had his issues, but I thought he worked really hard to resolve the problems between Cora and himself. He could have just walked away, but he stuck by her through all of the drama. I really didn’t think that Aidan deserved some of the attitude the other Dom’s dumped on him. I also disliked Cora’s attitude that she had taken care of Aidan during his difficult time.

What seemed to be lacking in this story for me was romance, the sex was hot, well written for the most part, but beyond the dungeon, Aidan and Cora had so little interaction with each other, it was hard to see them as a couple. I thought that one of the nicest parts of the story was when Aidan took Cora rock climbing, and they spent the night camping. This was the first time we really got to see them outside of the club.

I think that overall the story line was very thin; it was a single focus plot. I think that if time has been spent fleshing out characters more, giving them a personality, making them seem more real, creating a relationship between Aidan and Cora outside of the club, looking at Aidan’s feelings, and not rushing to the traditional HEA ( to satisfy the reader) the book would have been more enjoyable for me.

In closing, this was a two star read for me.

I received this ARC copy of Bared from Loveswept's NetGalley Catalog and Random House Publishing Group for an honest review .











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I liked Clamed. I LOVED Bared. What a story! The perfect D/s partnership complicated by love and grief. I loved the real emotion in this book. The passion, the intensity is so alive and you can feel the sadness that both characters feel. Two thumbs up for Stacey Kennedy. ( )

I really enjoyed this book, I couldn't put it down and I finished it in a day.
Aidan Knight is the master and Cora Adams is his submissive, things are working out great for Aidan but Cora falls in love with him and she knows he's still in love with a woman who died several years ago.
Cora was a nice character, I liked her. She keeps her true feelings hidden from him, but she still wished that one day Aidan would see her differently and return her love.
Aidan was very serious in his dominant master role but still came over as a nice guy.
He was a bit slow at times, I can't call him selfish, just a bit stupid.
Cora and Aidan's time together was at times very erotic and steamy with some BDSM, but I thought the story wasn't over done with too many sex scene's.
I liked the storyline, and the characters were very interesting. I would like to read more from the Club Sin series.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. ( )

Review to come. 4.5 stars. ( )

Our Review, by LITERAL ADDICTION's Pack Alpha - Chelle:
*eARC received from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

--Actual rating 4.5 Skulls

Bared is not just an erotic BDSM novel. It is a book with extreme heart and gripping emotion. It sucks you in and doesn't let go. Coming from a reader who doesn't generally read BDSM, Stacey's CLUB SIN series is an absolute winner!

Our hero lost his partner some years ago. She was the love of his life and his committed Sub. Our heroine came to the scene over 2 years prior (before the start of Book #1 in the series). and the two play together exclusively now, even though there's no agreement to do so. After 2 years of pleasure and emotion Cora falls in love, but she knows that he's not over the loss of his last partner, and she doesn't want to risk losing what they DO have should she tell him how she really feels.

With all of that said, amongst the super hot Club scenes in the book, it was a tale of self-realization, healing, emotion, and an earned love.

I enjoyed Bared a lot! I was surprised how much I had liked the first book of the series (even though I shouldn't have been, I'm an uber Stacey Kennedy fangirl!), but Bared really moved me and I would recommend it to anyone!! ( )