Imagine you're a young girl at a school event, and your family doesn't show up. So you get a ride and when you get home, the lights are out and the house appears deserted. You find your entire family slaughtered by thieves. How do you face another day?

When that happens to Gillian Markham, she could have shut down. But someone is there for her, someone who serves as her surrogate family. Reggie Blackmore, the one who drives her home that fateful night of her family's murder, takes her in, sponsors her education and her job and serves as a father to her. After Reggie dies, Gillian is bereft; and that pain is worsened because she inherits his land, but the castle that is her home Reggie leaves to Hawk--the son he barely knows.

Raised by his mother as a Wanderer--a sort of Renaissance enacting gypsy--Hawk Blackmore's only concern is to oust the hussy who has cashed in on his gullible father; he intends to use his inheritance to support the Wanderers. But there are complications. Not only is Gillian not a hussy, she's a submissive; and he's a Master. As soon as they meet, all sorts of possibilities open up.

Frequently I read erotica that is sexually passionate but the characters don't seem real or sympathetic. Frequently I read erotica where the world doesn't quite ring true, or it is not developed. Sometimes the story is well plotted but clumsily written.

None of this is true for Dungeon Heat: Throwback. Throwback's truth is in strong characters, well-developed plot, and passionate and well-written erotica. In fact, between the devotion of Old Sir the greyhound, and poor Hawk "...wishing for armor strong enough to fend off the ache in his chest," I found myself reaching for the tissue a number of times. It isn't every day that I find a perfectly good BDSM fantasy complicated by good writing. Annie Windsor impressed me in Hot Lessons where I first met Reggie Blackmore and since then she has risen a couple of notches in my opinion. She's definitely on the top of my TBR list.

Maitresse
Copyright 2006