His Ring Is Not Enough by
Maisey Yates
My rating:
5 of 5 stars
I loved this book.
What made this story so poignant, touching and amazing for me:
The characters:I loved getting to know their backstories, their goals, their feelings and becoming so engaged in their lives that made me want them to find happiness and joy.
The heroine – Leah is not your typical Mills & Boon h. She’s not a skinny supermodel type,
she’s smart and independent and is not afraid to speak her mind. I loved the way she challenged Ajax and that she wasn’t one of those helpless and whining women.
Living in the shadow of her beautiful sister, she has worked hard at building her own candy stores business and tries getting on with her life and do what she’s best at….using her brain instead of her looks.
She’s been in love with Ajax like….forever!!!! But he fell in love with her beautiful, outgoing, perfect and “small” size sister and she has to contend with the position of the bridesmaid at their wedding.
The hero- Ajax - here’s this successful, gorgeous and complicated man, who has for years been hiding something dark and secretive from everyone. He’s tortured, broken and afraid to let loose the monster he believes lives inside him. The darkness in him is overwhelming.
(view spoiler)[He had a terrible upbringing by his debauched and decadent and evil father and what he witnessed and experienced as a child and teen would have driven a person mad or even worse. (hide spoiler)]He has a PLAN in his life and has worked at attaining his goals without any deviation or letting emotions and feelings get in his way.
But Leah does something to him that makes him afraid for the feelings he has been hiding most of his life.
He’d never felt like this. Had never been a slave to his desires in the way he was now. He’d experienced sexual arousal—of course he had. But the truth was, he hadn’t had sex in seventeen years. And desire, adult desire, a man to a woman, was utterly foreign to him. He’d ensured that it But in this moment nothing mattered. Because there was something about Leah that made the past feel not just foggy, but nonexistent.
He wanted to drown in that feeling. Be baptized in it. Come out clean and new.
An illusion, he knew it, but he wanted to cling to it. Just for a while.
I loved the character development and watching Leah and Ajax go through such turbulent times was heartbreaking at times. She thought she knew Ajax but in reality so not true. He’s nothing like she thought he was.
And the struggle Ajax goes through trying to keep the monster inside him from Leah – such sadness in his heart. For the first time, someone is threatening the shell he’s built around his heart and body and destroying everything he’s worked all his life for.
The plot – Leah’s sister runs away from her wedding and Leah offers to stands in as the bride so she can save Ajax’s business contract and because she loves him, has always loved him, and perhaps he will see the real HER. But sometimes things happen differently….
“So it seems. But we must attempt to make this look real.”
“It is real. As you pointed out, I signed a license, I took vows. It’s all real, man.”
“You know what I mean.”
“Love,” she said, looking up at him. “You want it to look like love. You want me to gaze at you in adoration so no one doubts my happiness or your penis size—I got it.”
His throat tightened, a strange kind of heat prickling his face. “You do not normally talk this way.”
He agrees, even though he wants and still loves her sister (idiota….you don’t really….you just think you do….because it’s just part of your PLAN!!! )
The story is driven by conflict, tension, romance, with some strong sexual elements which form part of the story and add meaning to the two main characters relationship.
The author delves into a subject not usually seen in Mills & Boon books. Yes, there are some sweet and tender moments but there’s an added edge with some dark, erotic and sensual scenes, with a touch of light BDSM that just blew me away. It was written so beautifully and in such a way that it never becomes in your face or perverse in any way……
“I want to break the rules,” she said.
“You will follow the rules, or I won’t allow you to come,” he said, his tone hard.
Her breath caught. “Oh.”
“Will you be good?”
“Yes,” she said, swallowing hard, her stomach tightening. 
There was something about being tied up that she liked. His dominance was arousing, his skill was wonderful. And if it had been a game, nothing more than a power play between lovers, she wouldn’t have had a complaint.
But Ajax was using it for something else. Using it to keep control. To hold himself at a distance.
She wasn’t an equal in it. Wasn’t able to give back.
Wow…the heat, the sensuality….
(view spoiler)[
He clung to her, his fingers buried in her hair as she licked and sucked him, poured out her desire to give him pleasure. It humbled him. Sent him to the edge of reason, of thought.
And when he felt his climax surging through him, he pulled back.
“Not like that,” he said.
“Why not?” she asked. “You’ve done it like that for me plenty of times.”
“I know. But I want to be in you,” he said, watching her face as he told her in blunt, descriptive terms, just what he wanted from her. “I want you to ride me.”
(hide spoiler)]Will Leah be able to reach inside Ajax’s heart and heal him? Will Ajax ever break the walls he’s build around himself? Will these two endearing characters finally find their HEA?
Well, you will have to read this book yourself to find the answers….believe me, you will take a journey that will remain with you or a long time…just like it’s been for me!!!
Allright….here’s a little teaser ………….
(view spoiler)[
“You read my rant in the paper,” she said, her voice choked.
“I did. And every word was true. You are not defined by me, by who you are in relation to your sister. You are beautiful. Like no one else. Like nothing else. You’re so beautiful it’s like staring into the sun. It burns through me. It shines a light in my soul. I wanted to hide from the light, because I knew it would expose me. Because I knew...it would show who I was, and if it did...how could you not turn away?
(hide spoiler)]A tender, beautiful and hot love story with some unexpected twists and with set in exciting NYC and beautiful St. Lucia.
I hope we get Leah’s sister’s book………….now that would be something to look forward to.
View all my reviews
Heat of the Moment by Elle Kennedy
who we first met in Genetic Attraction 
and a teeny bit in Istanbul, using his solving puzzles and riddles talent to save humankind.
” and needs the heroine’s help to get out and go on the run from the killers and bad guys and even the good ones…..
as the basis to solving all those cryptic poems, riddles and puzzles that are facing them. I even learnt something new…..neo- eugenics…. The proposers of ways to improve human beings, especially by selective breeding. These are the so called fanatics that the hero is trying to stop.!!!