What is more deadly in a story than the character who knows what is better for you than you do? Especially when that individual—or character—is wrong. That element is part of One Thing Leads To Another, Author Sheri Gilmore's loose ID BDSM suspense novel. Maybe that's why the chemistry between the primaries didn't click for me. But I get ahead of myself.

Two people with dark pasts, a stalker, a dead man and a mystery. Glue them together with a lot of sex, and you have the basic elements of One Thing Leads to Another. Rose is a repressed divorcee attracted to the younger man who is her best friend's right hand man. The murder of Rose's friend Allen is the catalyst that starts the plot that pairs rose with Nathan Graham. Fortunately for Rose, Nathan has a thing for older women. Allen's death results in Rose and Nathan inheriting--of all things--a brothel. And the inheritance has some obnoxious conditions. But you can find out about them when you read the book.

The story is all right, but it wasn't one I fell into, and I solved the mystery in about 3 seconds. (Subtlety isn't this book's strong point. For example, the aforementioned bordello is The G-Spot.}The pacing felt off for me, and the characters were not as well developed as I'd have liked. It's not badly written but a bit jerky and sporadic, and could have used a bit of harder editing on some finer points. For example, there's a point when Rose is thinking and the book states" Rose’s comparison of Nathan and the tiger increased. " How can a comparison increase? What she means is that the resemblance increased. Fixing a couple of these small diversions would have greatly increased the overall quality of the book. Characters who probably were introduced to be red herrings proved more of a distraction than a benefit to the story line. However if you're looking for a story with plenty of edge-pushing sex, including a couple of seriously hot sex scenes, female on female, a menage a trois, a bdsm scene, this book would be worth a look or two. I'm looking forward to reading more of Gilmore's work and seeing her develop as an author.

Reviewer Maîtresse
Copyright 2005