Review: Callback by Katana Collins (Silhouette Studios #1)
Note: This ARC was provided by the author via Social Butterfly PR in exchange for an honest review.
The strongest people feel the pain, understand it ... and accept it. I closed my eyes. That's what this feeling of love was. The ultimate pain. Tearing my once wounded heart from my chest and placing it in another person's hands to tend to. Isn't that what BDSM was all about? Giving yourself, mind, body, soul—pleasure, pain, everything. And trusting your Dom to do right by you? Was there much of a difference between BDSM and love?
BDSM-themed erotic romances aren't a go-to sub-genre for me. It's not that I dislike BDSM stories; they're simply not an automatic one-click. Just like with threesome-led stories, I'm a wee bit persnickety with BDSM romances. Yes, the sex is important, but I don't want the book to be just about that. I'm a romance reader, and I don't think it's too much to ask that romance be alive and well in the books I read. Add to that great writing, an actual story, originality and creativity, and a cast of characters that I want to get to know better, and maybe it seems as if I'm unfairly demanding. Here's the thing: books that tick off each of my boxes--and more--do exist. Case in point: Callback by Katana Collins, the first in her new Silhouette Studios series, and my first read from her, although I do have a couple of her other recent releases, and all it took was this single book for me to be unequivocally hooked.
Callback is both a series starter and a standalone, meaning it can be read independently of future novels in the series while also introducing readers to a cast of characters who will play support both presently and then going forward unless it's their story being told. Here, we've got a twenty-something promising actress named Marlena Taylor auditioning for the lead role in a film that's already getting potential Oscar buzz because of the controversial material--love and kink. The male lead has already been cast--thirty-year-old two-time award-winning Jude Fisher. He believes in the story that's waiting to be told, and he has faith that Marly is the perfect actress to play the role of Poppy to his Leo. All she needs is to learn a thing or two about the BDSM lifestyle--a lifestyle that Jude knows quite well. One week of opening Marly's mind to the world of BDSM; it takes less to re-open Jude's heart to love.
I absolutely fell in love with both Jude and Marly. This was unlike a host of BDSM-themed love stories that I've read over the past few years. Not only is this undeniably well-written, but the manner in which the lifestyle is explained wasn't the typical stuff I've come across in romance novels before. Yes, a huge part of it is about control and how it isn't solely in the hands of one person; the importance of trust and respect is highlighted time and again, and how taking a chance and opening yourself up to the experience could be unlocking a part of yourself you never considered possible. Katana Collins has made me a believer. I may not be a fan of the sub-genre as a whole, but as far as her storytelling in particular? Well, sign me up for the duration of this series, and I suspect I'll be signing up for every single thing she publishes going forward. I highly recommend Callback. Five-plus stars. ♥
Release Date: 03 April 2018
Callback is both a series starter and a standalone, meaning it can be read independently of future novels in the series while also introducing readers to a cast of characters who will play support both presently and then going forward unless it's their story being told. Here, we've got a twenty-something promising actress named Marlena Taylor auditioning for the lead role in a film that's already getting potential Oscar buzz because of the controversial material--love and kink. The male lead has already been cast--thirty-year-old two-time award-winning Jude Fisher. He believes in the story that's waiting to be told, and he has faith that Marly is the perfect actress to play the role of Poppy to his Leo. All she needs is to learn a thing or two about the BDSM lifestyle--a lifestyle that Jude knows quite well. One week of opening Marly's mind to the world of BDSM; it takes less to re-open Jude's heart to love.
I absolutely fell in love with both Jude and Marly. This was unlike a host of BDSM-themed love stories that I've read over the past few years. Not only is this undeniably well-written, but the manner in which the lifestyle is explained wasn't the typical stuff I've come across in romance novels before. Yes, a huge part of it is about control and how it isn't solely in the hands of one person; the importance of trust and respect is highlighted time and again, and how taking a chance and opening yourself up to the experience could be unlocking a part of yourself you never considered possible. Katana Collins has made me a believer. I may not be a fan of the sub-genre as a whole, but as far as her storytelling in particular? Well, sign me up for the duration of this series, and I suspect I'll be signing up for every single thing she publishes going forward. I highly recommend Callback. Five-plus stars. ♥
Release Date: 03 April 2018
Date Read: 02 April 2018
Learn more about Katana Collins.
Purchase Callback on Amazon.
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