Livia is putting her Punishment Series back out into print, and we are starting with Wanting It All. Now, as you read parts of my review, you might think that it sounds like I didn’t like this book. On the contrary, I did. But, I came really close to DNFing this one, for a lot of reasons. However, I pushed through it and am so glad that I did, because this book was worth it. It was intense and left me with a lot of interesting feelings. We’ll get more into that in a bit.
So, we start with Brianna and Markus. They are a loving couple who have been married for a few years now. They are both hiding secrets from each other, oddly enough their secrets are nearly identical. She wishes he was a little rougher, he wishes she were a little more submissive.
Brianna has a former boyfriend, named Jake, who liked to tell everyone that he was a Dom, but he was really just an abusive dickhole. But when she got together with Markus, she was still physically and mentally healing from Jake’s abuse, and she told Markus that she just wanted sweet and soft loving. And Markus had no problem with that. He wanted to make sure that Brianna was taken care of. But…
Anyway, Markus, a super high powered attorney, is about to go to court to help his friend Lukus, who owns a BDSM club. He’s being sued by two subs who went to the club, but Markus has it handled. Until things happen.
Brianna is off to the salon that she owns, but then Jake. And things happen.
So, OK, here’s why this almost became a DNF. I really, really, really don’t like Brianna OR Markus. OK, maybe only one really, but my point stands. At the beginning, I really don’t like Brianna much at all. It’s better at the end, I like her better, but I’m still not all the way on the like train. I started out liking Markus a little more than I did, but by the end, yeah, I’m really pissed off at him.
In the past, I’ve talked about how I really need to have some kind of connection to at least one of the main characters. I don’t necessarily have to like them, I just have to feel something for them, and I definitely feel something for both Brianna and Markus. Luckily, we also have Tiffany, Brianna’s friend and co-worker, and Lukus. I’m not necessarily a Lukus fan at the moment, but I at least like Tiffany. So, there’s that.
I completely understand the reasons that each person does what they do. I don’t like their actions, and I think that Brianna and Markus both had much better choices they could’ve made. I think, at the very base of everything, that if they were honest with each other, that things would’ve been better, but it would’ve been a much shorter series.
I think that Markus should’ve waited and talked to Brianna to find out why she made the choices that she did. I think that if/when he finds out everything, he’s going to be so fucking angry at himself that it will destroy him. Of course, I think that he really deserves that right now. I hope he just eats his heart out and it chokes him. Maybe the second book will change my mind on him. Heaven knows that there is a lot of space for a redemption arc for him, and Livia can definitely write a good redemption arc, so, we’ll see.
Now, Brianna. Hmm… Again, she really should’ve talked to Markus about a lot of things. I can’t judge her. No, wait, I can judge her, in fact, I am, but I can’t tell you what I would do in her place. I’d like to say what I would do, just for my own sake, but we never know until we are in the middle of the situation, and if it weren’t just me? Well.
We don’t get a whole lot of Tiffany in this one, but I like what we’ve seen of her.
And so we come to Lukus. Again, I understand his initial feelings as well as everything that comes from there. I think that I like him, but we really don’t quite get enough of his head for me to completely decide my feelings.
I really, really, really can’t wait for the upcoming book.
OK, no spoilers here. Go check it out! Happy reading!
In Between the Pages 