Markela is trying to thrive after a tragic childhood and isn't looking for a relationship at all, or to submit to a man in any way. She runs into Symere aka Dinero, literally, and he's a Dom who wants her to bow down and open herself to being at his mercy, first with her body, then with her heart.

Okay, so let's start with what I liked about this book. I loved Ruby. I loved that Symere had an emotional support animal and he doted on his dog. I loved his and Markela's passion. The scenes with them connecting physically were written very well, in terms of details and feeling. I loved that they connected with each other outside of scenes and built a bond where they surrendered their hearts and exposed the darkness they dealt with. I loved the honesty between them.

Given all of that, I am disappointed in the way the story arc developed. First, this book had the barest of content warnings and I think they should have been specific. The beginning pages simply said there was explicit content and to watch your triggers, but I feel like the possible triggers should have been named--there was a lot of trauma of varying degrees in this story, and I think it should have been spelled out.

Second, the book touched on so many tough topics, and this hit me in a couple of different ways: first, it was hard sometimes to see the romance, or even feel the passion in the erotic scenes because of what it was surrounded with, and second: I don't know if I feel like some of the topics were treated as delicately as I wanted them to be. As an example, the author used the word "crazy" all throughout the book to describe people who had diagnosed mental illnesses, which isn't the best word choice anymore. And in terms of the bdsm, the couple had a dominant/submissive relationship, but we never see them talk about their needs, terms, hard and soft limits. She never even picks a safe word. They just start having sex and doing scenes. So things like that took me out of the story when I was trying hard to immerse myself.

Overall, the premise was good, but for me it mis stepped a lot in terms of content and the way it was handled.