Rating: 3.25 stars
Buy Link:
Amazon | iBooks | Amazon UK
Length: Novel


For Ross Jensen, losing nearly a hundred pounds over the last year has been the mental and physical journey of a lifetime. He’s worked hard and sacrificed a lot to reach his goal and, having done so, he wants to celebrate with his boyfriend. But his happy moment is crushed when he discovers his boyfriend only loved him because he was chubby. Ross is devastated and moves in with a friend, determined to get past his broken heart.

When his friend takes him to a private sex club, the normally reserved Ross finds himself entranced by Miles Shigihara, who practices Shibari. The attraction between the two is palpable, but Ross’ body images issues and Miles’ legal problems could easily keep them apart. Only a leap of faith will keep them together.

Silken Ropes is a fairly quick read with a dash of kink and a somewhat uninspired romance. While the writing is fine, the story lacks serious depth and never really evolves beyond the superficial.

Ross is a sympathetic character, especially given the way he’s treated by his soon to be ex-boyfriend, but he’s hard to connect with. He’s not fully dimensional and his actions don’t always make sense. His first meeting with Miles is a spur of the moment Shibari session in front of an audience. While the author makes us aware the session is out of the norm for Ross, it was hard to believe he would suddenly just be okay with exhibitionism. It didn’t make sense and, as a result, the whole scene lacked believability. There’s also the relationship between Ross and his gal pal, Janet. I got the impression they met through Weight Watchers and served as support one another as they lost weight. That part I get, but when Ross decides to crash at her place, it’s like they’re suddenly lifelong friends. The relationship read as fake and rather unnecessary for the story.

There’s some kink in Silken Ropes and those scenes worked well. They were intimate and very much brought me into the moment as a reader. I just wish their had been more of them. For a book that seems centered around kink, there isn’t as deep an exploration as there could have been on the subject.

One of my biggest frustrations with this book is how easily conflict is resolved. Serious problems are built up and then fixed with a line or two, as if the author couldn’t be bothered to see them through. This was part of the reason Silken Ropes never achieved any meaningful depth for me; if conflict creates growth in a character, tossing aside the problems means tossing aside the potential.

Silken Ropes does okay with the kink, though it’s on the light side, and if you’re looking for something quick and breezy, you’ll probably enjoy this one. I needed a more believable plot development and I couldn’t seem to connect with either of the main characters. So it didn’t work for me, but if you want to ease your way into some specialty kink, Silken Ropes might be a good book to grab.