About the book:

Title: Carnal Obsession: His Heart’s Prisoner

Author: Reily Garrett

Publication date: January 30th 2017

Blurb:

Life on the street molds emotional athletes.

Three years ago, her brother’s death marked the beginning of Kendra’s new life, an existence with no home, no family, and no friends. Time in the underground byways toughened her emotional shell with the loose association of like-minded street rats where survival meant compromise and constant vigilance.

Before he died, Billy had sent her a package in care of his teammate, Conner. For Kendra, re-entrance into polite society comes with a deadly price, as betrayal comes from both sides of the grave.

Conner Crofton owns the BDSM club Ambrosia. After failing to protect his teammate on their last covert mission, penance takes form as a promise to safeguard Billy’s little sister, a girl he’d unknowingly remanded to a world of darkness and uncertainty, deception and psychopathic stalkers.
The past will always haunt us. Each must earn forgiveness and trust as passion, guilt, deception, and betrayal, interweave a destiny formed long ago. A romantic suspense with a twist.

My Review:

This book has been sent to me by the author in exchange for a review, as most of the books I host on my blog. Though part 4 of the Carnal Obsession series, it can be easily read and understood as a stand-alone. I am sometimes afraid to read something from a series without having prior knowledge of the story, but it was very easy to follow the plot and the characters. The author does a great job expressing feelings and adds enough descriptions as to give a vivid feel of places.

A roller coaster of emotions constituted poor groundwork for any relationship. If he didn’t get control of himself soon, they’d both lose.

As for the action itself, it is really catchy and it kind of kept me away from my other tasks. The proof is that I managed to finish it in one day. It took longer to put together the review actually. I love both characters! Kendra is indeed a match for Conner. The strong rich Conner meets the stubborn and equally strong Kendra, his best friend’s sister. They start having conflicted feelings for one another. While Kendra has always had a crush on him, Conner always considered her off limits, out of respect for Billy. Still, Kendra seems somehow angry at him because he failed to protect her brother while in the army. And Conner as well feels he has failed his best friend since he entrusted him with her well-being and it took him three years to find her – she was living on the streets, trying to stay out of trouble and make ends meet. When her life is threatened because f her brother’s secrets, he takes he under his protection. The problem is that Kendra is not willing to give away her freedom.

What I mostly loved about this book was the balance between romance and the thrill of action. Kentra will try to break Conner’s wall of respect, will try to learn about his life style and they both will have to reach some kind of mutual ground.

Sweetheart, you’d better be damn sure of what you want, because I’ll never let you go. Say you want me again and there’s no take-back and no retreat.

I was mentioning at the beginning of this review that the author does a great job in expressing each character’s emotions. Well yes, this struggle that both Kendra and Conner feel is very nicely captured in pages. She is disgusted by Conner’s lifestyle – with the club and his… preferences and she is also disappointed that her brother’s best friend failed to bring him back. Conner feels guilty that Kendra’s life took such a bad turn, but he also feels guilty because of all these feelings he has for her.

The only thing is that towards the end the action was a little rushed, but I absolutely cannot go lower than 5 stars on this one. So thank you very much Reily Garret for this lovely read – try it guys and you will love it too!

About the Author

Though her kids are her life, writing is the life after. You know, the one you also enjoy…AFTER the kids are in bed or AFTER they’re in school and the house is quiet. This is the time she kicks back with laptop and lapdog to give her imagination free reign.
In life, hobbies can come and go according to our physical abilities, but you can always enjoy a good book. Life isn’t perfect, but our imaginations can be. Relax, whether it’s in front of a fire or in your own personal dungeon. Take pleasure in a mental pause as you root for your favorite hero/heroine and bask in their accomplishments, then share your opinions of them over a coffee with your best friend (even if he’s four legged). Life is short, cherish your time.