Taming Tara by Kelly Jamieson

Story: 6
Presentation: 8
Total: 15
Publisher: Ellora’s Cave
Contemporary BDSM
To Purchase

Blurb: Tara has needed to be tough and in control to prove to her grandfather, and the rest of the world, that she can run the family business. But when Grandpa hires Joe to help manage the business, her control is threatened.

Joe is desperate to make a success of this job after his career tanked in a disastrous scandal. When he runs into Tara at a club, her Dominatrix act doesn’t fool him—he can see the submissive inside her. He knows if he can show her that side of herself, it will make his new job a helluva lot easier. But teaching Tara to see inside herself becomes more than just a business strategy—it becomes personal.

Review: I wanted to love this story. I wanted to love the characters. And I wanted there to be more BDSM erotic romance in a book from Ellora’s Cave in the BDSM line. But sadly, this story fails to deliver on why I read books from EC. I want a great story with hot sex. And usually I get it. But in this case, I got a great story but it wasn’t the heat and character intensity of Ms Jamieson’s usual offerings, (although it’s clear a great deal of research on olives and the olive industry went into the book).

Ms. Jamieson’s talents are indisputable. But this story’s focus was on olives. The scenery, the education of olives, and even to some degree Tara’s interaction with her family take over a story. In the mist of all that, there is a secondary story with Tara’s sister and Joe’s friend. I can only assume their role in the story is to set up a future story, but they became more filler in the book with short little scenes that contributed nothing to the story of Tara and Joe.

I want to be clear, in pieces this story has stellar moments. When the sex happens, it’s hot. The BDSM lifestyle is briefly in play, but the bigger focus is getting Tara to submit to Joe, to acknowledge her deeply buried needs. But I felt the author missed out on giving us more. Several times, I could feel a scene building. I was finally going to read some of the intense content, and then the focus would shift and the scene would end and move on, failing to follow through.

There is also too much secrecy in Joe’s character. I think I would have connected to him more if we would have gotten more of his story. But his history and past are only alluded to for most of the book.

I have read other works by Ms. Jamieson, books that have remained on my keeper shelf because they were so spectacular. She will remain on my must have list. So while this one fell short for me, it was still an interesting read. The quality of the writing and the flow of the words were without question, above par. It’s still worth the money.