Soft Limits by Brianna Hale

Title: Soft Limits

Author: Brianna Hale

Publisher: Carina Press

Publication Date: October 30^th, 2017

Blurb:  Graduate student Evie Bell spends her days ghostwriting memoirs and her nights playing out her most intimate sexual fantasies by penning fan fiction. When a famous stage actor bursts into her life, she's drawn to his dark, sensual presence, despite herself.

He calls me chérie, ma princesse, minette.

In Paris, Frederic takes Evie firmly in hand, leading her down a sensual path neither of them could have imagined, and pushing them both dangerously near their limits.

I call him Daddy.

Evie is wary—fearing Frederic is a villain both onstage and off—but again and again, Frederic draws her in. Yet the closer they become, the more Frederic holds back, wanting to protect Evie from his despicable truth. He isn’t the man she believes him to be, and his secret may very well destroy them.

Review:  As is becoming a habit with my reviews, this is the first novel I’ve read by Brianna Hale and one of the first romance novel I’ve read of its kind.  Period.  I didn’t read the blurb before scooping up this book, so I wrongly thought that this would be your average, every day romance.  I was horribly, wonderfully wrong on that front.

Soft Limits is a Daddy BDSM romance with an eighteen year difference in age between Evie and Frederic.  Two new experiences in my reading repertoire.  I want to let you readers know right off the bat what you’re getting into because if you go into this expecting a light romantic read you’re going to be really surprised when Frederic comes out dressed like a neurotic priest (slight spoiler here, ladies).  I don’t want any of you being blind-sided by the erotic nature.

Soft Limits is a contemporary novel, but the way Brianna Hale writes had me wondering if I’d fallen straight into a dirty version of Pride and Prejudice.  The whole thing screamed 1800s England, so I was incredibly confused when they referenced things like Instagram and electric cars.  The writing style was to die for though and I truly enjoyed the way Ms. Hale weaves her stories and draws in the reader through her character’s dialogue.

Evie is a wonderful character who really resonated with me in some ways, but in other ways she was a total foreign concept to me.  She was quirky and odd, but also strong and empowering.  A walking contradiction, to say the least.  I’m sure every woman can commiserate with the internal battle we face between wanting to be strong feminists, but also longing to be cared for and trying to come to terms with the battle within us.

Frederic is… well, he’s Frederic.  He’s dangerous, intriguing, warm, and welcoming.  He understands boundaries, but knows when to push them.  He’s the ultimate male protagonist.  The one you’ve been searching for.  Sexy, domineering, loving, and tortured by a secret that will ruin him.

The whole novel was honestly amazing.  I started off thinking that the Daddy Dom thing would be awful strange, given that it’s not exactly something I’ve sought out before… or even thought of before, but as I read it my opinion began changing.  By the end I found myself slack-jawed and totally wrecked for other novels.  Quite a delightful read in the dirtiest, dirtiest way.

The book comes out October 30^th and if you’re a fan of some darker BDSM then I suggest you check it out. Only 2.99!