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Review

Ummmmmm….

I’ve devoured this series in a week, completely sucked into the decadent, hedonistic world of three sexual, sinful, but very different men and the games they play. When it came to this final book in the trilogy, I had high hopes based on how much I loved the first two books in the series, but this one fell way flat for me, and I’m feeling really disappointed.

Beware that this review is going to be a little bit spoilery just because I feel the need to vent!

Elias ‘Bric’ Brickman has always been an intriguing character. Cold and controlled, his life is all about sex and dominance, but he keeps things emotionless for the most part. The last book showed us a more persona, emotionall side to him, and the ending of that book left me desperate for more of him as Bric finds himself in a completely new situation – he’s alone.

“There is nothingness… and then there is emptiness. I’m still trying to figure out the difference.”

Smith and Quin have found their true loves, and Bric has walked away from the relationships that have defined his life for so long. Now on his own, he’s looking for something, but just doesn’t know what. So when newbie club member, Jordan, offers him a gift in the form of self-proclaimed-domme-now-sort-of-sub Nadia, he figures why not.

Nadia is another complex character. She’s a control freak, and she can play at being submissive, loving all that Bric and Jordan do to her, but she knows that there’s not a submissive bone in her body. She’s in it for the game, for the sense of power, and she is full of challenge. But her true motives remain a mystery.

I play this game with Jordan because I’m practicing. I’m learning how to be more dominant from an unequal starting point. I’m teaching myself to think outside the box when it comes to controlling men.

Jordan has been a background character in the previous books, and I loved getting to know him more. I loved how he pushed Bric to start exploring again, but there’s this sense of mystery around him that plays in really well to the story, and he brings a great dynamic to the game.

But the three of them together is a weird dynamic. In the other two books of the series, I’ve felt it. I’ve understood it, I’ve reveled in the hedonism of it and I loved it! In this book, it truly feels like a game. Nobody is feeling anything for the other, they all seem to have their own motives, and though they know how to get each other hot and horny, the relationship didn’t really make sense to me.

“We’re all gonna get hurt, that’s not a secret. You said that, Nadia. You came into this game to hurt us. And now you’re what? Mad because we’re gonna hurt you back?”

These books are strongly sexual, but in the other two I was able to feel the connection between the couple. In this book, it just didn’t happen. They spend the entire story trying to get control and one-up each other, and I get that that is their thing, but it was such a main focus of the book, that it was pretty much all that their relationship was, and there was never any romance.

“This is about me for once. It’s my turn, I realize. It’s my turn to take, and take, and take until I use her up and spit her out.”

The ménage scenes were definitely hot. There was definitely passion and intensity between these three, but I didn’t feel much more beyond that. There’s no trust, and deservedly so. In fact, Bric and Nadia spend most of the book seemingly hating each other. And it’s not even that great enemies-to-lovers feeling that has you excited knowing there’s something coming, and it’s going to be awesome. It’s like they hate each other, and you just want them to go their separate ways and be done with it.

She is as sexy as fuck. But she’s a manipulative little c*nt. I will make her pay for this little move. I will make her fucking pay.

And it’s to the point where when they eventually do end up together, I had to wonder why. There’s never any big romantic moment, no declaration of feelings, they’re just suddenly together, and it felt cold and weird to me.

I liked that we got to explore Bric more, including his mysterious backstory, and I have been curious to see how his story would end. But this isn’t what I wanted for him. I just wanted something more, something special like his friends have found. And I never really warmed to Nadia. She’s a strong heroine, but she seemed so cold, and after everything, Bric deserved better.

I spent most of the book trying to figure out the ‘game’, and when the big twist comes and all is revealed, all I could think was huh. It was never a big ‘aha’ moment, it was just a different way of looking at the story, but it didn’t really change my feelings on the story at all.

The first book of this series blew me away, and I loved the second. This one just completely missed the mark for me, sadly.

2 stars. It was just ok.

 

The Turning series