Reviews

Designs of Desire by Tempeste O'Riley

jennyreadsromance's review

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5.0

This quickly became one of my favorite books. The story was well thought out and the characters were perfect together.

cmira2027's review

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4.0

3.5

maya56's review

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3.0

I can't believe I'm saying this but... there's almost too much sex in this book, much of which is quite repetitive.

11momo's review against another edition

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DNF at 25% from 2013.

bfdbookblog's review against another edition

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3.0

3.5 stars

overall, i liked this story. i've never read a story with a disorder like james. i liked james and respected his strength even after everything he's been through. his family is garbage and the men that he's been with that abused him were all miserable human beings. i thought his awkwardness and shyness were endearing. seth was a bit harder to figure out. he was dominant at times but a bit reserved at other times. i liked that he was able to look past james' disability to see the man behind the 'sticks'.

i liked most of the supporting cast, especially chase. i'm definitely interested in reading his story.

things that i didn't like or that bothered me a bit:
- i dislike the endearment 'pet'...even though seth's reasoning for using it was viable, i just don't personally like it.
- they never really discussed the D/s elements of their relationship and then all of a sudden james was calling seth 'sir' occasionally.
- at times the dialog seemed awkward, especially considering seth was supposedly a wealthy, refined, influential man.

the_novel_approach's review against another edition

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4.0

I would be more than happy to read more books by this author, and I would love to see Chase get his knight in shining armor also. No matter all the turmoil James is put through, he does get his HEA and more than he ever bargained for. If anyone deserved it, James did.

You can read more of Jackie's review at The Novel Approach

ifihadatail7's review against another edition

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4.0

really sweet story

knrt_17's review against another edition

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1.0

Yeah, not for me

nikkihastings67's review against another edition

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1.0

I got a couple of chapters past the "free sample" threshold, but had to stop reading. The romance begins quite aggressively, with no considerations to professional client boundaries. This isn't to say that you can't write a good romance between a client and a contractor, but jumping straight in to calling the person you just hired "baby" on your third meeting is too aggressive, and almost predatory, given the inherent power imbalance.

I am also left wondering why the image of the hand on the front cover is wearing Silver Ring Splints? These are specialised pieces of medical equipment prescribed to people with joint issues with their fingers (particularly Ehlers Danlos Syndrome and other hypermobility-based issues). The main character's disability is to do with his legs, not his hands! It makes it seem like the cover artists searched for a stock photo using the search term "disabled hands". Completely inappropriate.

mrella's review against another edition

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2.0

The second part of the book threw me off so much, I don't think I can write a review right now, but I must leave a few words:

The first half of the book was smooth, made sense (for the most part) and was pretty enjoyable.

The second part? All things that could go wrong, did go wrong. Every other character in the book that wasn't already gay or lesbian turned out to be one.

Poor James was used, abused, raped, tortured by nazis beaten, attacked in a public place... I am tagging this book "pity-fest".

First half - 4 stars.
Second half - 1 star.

Total score - 2 stars.