Are you ever afraid to be yourself? Everyone wears disguise to an extent. We act a different way at work, than we do at home, alone. We act different around certain people. Moonlight Madison, the heroine of Jaci Burton’s Animal Instincts, certainly knows what it is like to put on a façade when she goes to work. In fact, she dons an entire costume, a dominatrix costume, complete with whip.

Moonlight Madison is an unlikely dominatrix. She looks the part in her black PVC corset with her silver blonde hair pulled back into a high pony tail, but it’s all for the money. Her job at Whipped Cream, BSDM Club, pays the bills for her to attend veterinarian school. It’s not like she’ll do this forever just a little longer will she whip the “naughty boys.” Then when she hangs up the whip, she can find her own playmate, a genuine alpha male who will never begged to be punished.

Blake Hunter is hunting Moonlight, but she doesn’t know it yet. The day he walks into the clinic he catches her scent and knows she is the one for him. The girl who dresses in oversized shirts and jeans seems unaware of her own sensuality and animal attraction. It is up to Blake to show Moonlight her wild side. The time is right because the moon is full when he walks into Whipped Cream and meets a Moonlight he could only dream about. The only problem is Moonlight isn’t thrilled to see him.

Sexy Blake Hunter showing up at a BSDM club is a prime example that life is not fair. Moonlight would have bet good money on the guy being a major Alpha, The women at the clinic drooled whenever he came in. It is a major task to pretend she doesn’t fantasize about him, when she does. In her fantasies, he always has the whip hand. Now, he’s in her club and is dropping big money so she can whip him all night along. She recites the usual behavior rules for a submissive and brings up the whip to strike his muscular back, but she never makes contact.

Moonlight is very interesting character, the dominatrix who wants to be dominated. Blake is mouth-watering delicious as the mysterious male with something extra. The two strike sparks off each other from the first scene and set off an inferno that burns through the entire novel. Talk about hot! The book includes some of my favorite things: plot, full-bodied characters, and chemistry.

Animal Instincts has a surprising twist that I refuse to give away. Not your mother’s BSDM novel, but a little something different. Try it on for size, you might like it. Jaci Burton might even become addictive. When the moon is full, you might find yourself out looking for that certain novel that will grab your attention and take control—all night long. Animal Instincts is that book.
Reviewed by Morgan Wyatt
© December 2006