Samhain Publishing, $3.50, ISBN 978-1-61923-075-0
Contemporary Erotica, 2016
Mistress Chance Gordon is back, so brace yourself, New Orleans. Yes, Cat Montmorency brings everyone back to La Danse Macabre, the same club that was introduced in the previous book in the Bourbon Street Bondage series. Unfortunately, the owner Adrian and his diarrhea of French words are still around, sigh. Also, everyone acts like what happened in that previous story is the most amazing thing ever, and I can only roll up my eyes because an author praising herself so lavishly like that makes me feel like I’ve stumbled upon a personal, intimate moment between the author and her happiness.
Anyway, Chance is introduced to the fresh meat in town, Landry Boudreaux, and she is about to enjoy training him…. until her family shows up for a vacation, and Cat begins scrambling to hide her lifestyle from them. Worse, she’d told them that she has a boyfriend, so the first thing to do on her list: have Landry pose as her conventional boyfriend. Landry is a big, hot military dude who loves to obey orders, and I so enjoy this kind of fellow. Who wouldn’t want such a powerful guy at one’s command? He even addresses Chance as “yes’m”. Anyway, back to the story: how good will he at being pretend boyfriend? Too good, as Chance will find out.
Bonne Chance is a pretty interesting read. Because Landry is still new to the scene, Chance gets to educate him on how things work, and these scenes never feel too preachy or infodump-y to me. But this could be because I’m not familiar with the whole BDSM scene and I’m fascinated by it. A reader who is more familiar with the scene may find these scenes boring. This one also has some very evocative atmosphere. We are in New Orleans, and the music, the descriptions of the sights and sounds, and even the mentions of voodoo elements – all of them feel just right at home.
Now, the family moments are well done, and the drama helps Chance come to terms with her lifestyle as well as her place in her family. But here’s the thing: I want more sexy times, damn it, and these scenes just eat up the space that could have gone to Chance doing more naughty things to Landry. The scenes here are hot, hot, hot, but because this story is only as long as it is – not so long, actually – I wish those family moments would have gone away. What’s wrong with going full-scale kinky? I want more kinky!
Anyway, I’m perfectly fine with Bonne Chance, but it would have been so much better if Chance had been an orphan. Perhaps then I could have been treated with more of Landry getting it all over like a big, hot sub deserves.
