ARC from Penguin Ireland via Net Galley for review.As soon as I read that the leading man in this story was an Irishman, I knew he would be mine...for a few hours, anyways. What I didn't expect was to read a book with a great little plot and wonderful supporting secondary characters. This turned out to be a great little surprise! The book starts with journalist Abbie running from some drug lord's thugs and jumping onto the plane of a Hollywood A list star. Jack, the Hollywood Hottie, and Abbie immediately smolder with sexual tension and then proceed to just piss each other off for the next fifty pages. Well, we all know where sexual tension and anger lead to, especially when one of the grumpies is a practicing Dom. Big cliche' here, but eh, pppfffft...what do you do? Not only is Jack a Dominant, but he sees the potential for Abbie to be a little submissive. Of course, the outspoken and intelligent woman does NOT see herself in that sort of role, so it takes a bit of convincing. I'm wondering how often this happens...Dom meets woman, wants her body bent over his knee, and proceeds to form her into his perfect sub.From a trek through a vast jungle wilderness to the concrete jungles of NYC and LA to the gorgeous fairy tale of Ireland, I was in love with the scenery! The story never got stagnant, because it was always moving to a new location and the plot itself was always moving forward.Abbie was a great heroine...believable in her ignorance of the D/s lifestyle only because she didn't seem stupid about it. She knew what it was, but felt it a bit demeaning. It takes Jack showing her that his paddles and bondage are a way for them both to open up and be completely honest with each other. Jack is a bit of a tortured soul himself and doesn't necessarily practice what he preaches, which causes some major roadblocks to pop up between he and Abbie. While I really enjoyed the book, I thought that the BDSM aspect was way too light for this to really be touted as that type of novel. The threat for punishment and hard core kink was always simmering, but Jack never delivers, and I was disappointed. This was VERY light bondage and a ton of spanking/paddling, etc. Another thing that bothered me were a couple of minor plot holes...things that the author sort of threw in late in the book that sort of came out of the blue and were never fully explained. Nothing major, but it did create a little hiccup for me.I was headed for a three star, but after finishing, and contemplating it for a bit, I realize that I enjoyed the story enough for a four. I kept wanting to read without getting bored and at the end, I really was rooting for Abbie and Jack. Let's hope he puts his weenie Dom foot down some more in the future!!
