Reaper's Reward by Marie Harte

TITLE: Reaper’s Reward
AUTHOR: Marie Harte
PUBLISHER: Loose Id
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 42k)
GENRE: BDSM erotic romance
COST: $5.99

Satyr’s Mist is an exclusive resort that caters to the sexually adventurous. Investigator Jewel is sent on assignment to retrieve a damaging blackmail video, and one of the first people she meets is the stalwart Ethan Reaper. Ethan is there for a job as well. Half-owner of a successful security company in Seattle, he’s been brought to the private Caribbean island to find out who has been stealing artifacts from the resort’s owner. Neither expects the volatile chemistry between them, but neither denies it. Ethan has finally found the woman strong enough to submit to him, but can he protect her when their cases collide?

When I saw there was a longer companion story to Tied and True, I knew I couldn’t resist. The author decided to give Jared’s business partner his own story, and wow, what a story it is. Ethan is a giant of a man, with a giant sexual appetite, and the chemistry between him and Jewel leaps off the page almost from the moment they meet. Jewel has just enough spark to keep her from being a total doormat – which is exactly what Ethan is looking for – and while I don’t know if I’d cave as quickly as she did, I certainly believed her eventual submission.

Oh, who am I kidding? I would have totally caved. Ethan was hot. Definitely one of the hottest heroes I’ve read in awhile.

Most of the middle of the book focuses on Ethan “training” Jewel, and when it’s doing this, it works. It works well. There's light bondage, some spanking, and anal play, and the author does a good job in keeping the primary plot – that of the thefts and blackmail – a part of the story as she’s paying the proper attention to her lovers. The eventual action sequence that serves as the climax is tightly choreographed and strong, too, but I have to admit to being a little disappointed on who the bad guy was and why. It felt a little out of left field for me. Maybe a little more detail or build-up in the beginning would have made it more believable, because as it stood, I felt like there was something I was missing.

Do I think the story could have been better? Yes. But if I look at this book strictly from an erotic romance perspective – ignoring the overlaying plot – it completely worked for me. It was hot, the build-up of the relationship between the characters solid enough to be believable, and did I mention hot? I’m as satisfied finishing this as Jewel was with Ethan. Trust me. That’s a lot.

Readability	8/10 – Easy and engaging, as I’ve come to hope for from this author
Heroine	8/10 – Spunky and smart without being perfect
Hero	8/10 – In a single word, HOT.
Entertainment value	9/10 – Taken for an erotic romp, absolutely satisfying
World building	7/10 – The backstory with the Roman artifacts left a little to be desired, but otherwise fairly solid
TOTAL:	40/50