Berkley Heat, $14.00, ISBN 0-425-21274-2
Contemporary Erotica, 2006

If you randomly turn to any page in Bound, there is a high chance that the main characters Katie Long and Joe Carson are in the middle of some kind of sex act in that page. Then again, with this being a Heat book, this is what one should expect from such a book. Unfortunately, the lack of a strong story line that doesn’t involve the tabs and slots on one’s body makes this one too easy to be put down where I am concerned.

The story is simple. Katie Long is slowly discovering and exploring the joys of playing the submissive in bed. But with her being viewed as the small town sweetheart by everyone who knows her, it’s not as if she has many opportunities to explore her desires. Lucky for her, she meets Joe Carson who is more than happy to show her the ropes – literally and figuratively, of course.

And that’s it, really. Of course they will be happy together. There are some minor issues about living arrangements and what not, but most of the time the characters are doing their thing. While I can only admire what seems to be their endless stamina, there are only so many pages of rumpy-pumpy I can take before I wish that something else will happen.

On the bright side, the author, as always, writes excellent erotic scenes that are hot without being too clinical or purple. Her characters, despite having more sex than most ordinary people, still remain likable and down-to-earth types.

It’s just unfortunate, therefore, that the lack of a strong story in Bound soon makes those erotic scenes seem like filler material. I can’t help thinking that this story would have been so much better were it a short story rather than a full-length one.