I cannot remember a time when Ive read a romance book written by a man. Having said that, there was something lacking in the writing. Some of it was harsh. I don't know another way to describe it. I just didn't love it.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced readers copy.'

While the first half of the novel was a little slow and probably could have been edited to tighten it up, the second half was totally hot!! The author certainly knows how to depict sexual scenes that are enticing and provocative. Well done. If you didn’t like 50 shades of grey don’t go here but if you did it is better!! The characters were diverse and added colour to the story.

Thank you to Netgalley and author for a ebook copy to read and review.

I actually enjoyed reading Lissie’s story. It was a crazy journey. Knowing it was based on true events added to the story line. It was well written. And it does have themes of BDSM so beware of triggers. BDSM is not what this book is about, though. It is part of Lissie’s emerging new life. I voluntarily read an advanced reader copy.

This is a very exciting story. The characters have amazing chemistry between them. This is a darker romance story. I was hooked from the first page. I just couldn't put this book down. This book flows really well from chapter to chapter and the back story was well written. I cant wait to read more from this author in the future.



Highly recommended

I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book

I started this book back in Sept 2017, made it half way and quit. I hated to DNF this book so the first of 2018, I picked it back up; I hate to say this - I forced myself to finish reading City Affairs. The book has a good base but it was too wordy in places and I didn't connect with the characters. I love finding new authors and the blurb is what made me want to read this book but I am sad to say this, the book wasn't as good as I was hoping for.

I didn’t finish. Too technical, too complicated. To long before something happened.

This book was definitely an interesting read. There were two places from the start where I truly thought I would just give up and not continue. There are multiple issues with the structure of sentences and the flow of the story, especially in the beginning.

However, I did persevere and I am glad I did. I think it’s interesting to look at different points of view and writing talents by authors.

Because this book is written by a man and also not an American writer, which I mainly read, there are a few things to overcome.

With the theme of the book a BDSM romance, there is definitely no flowery, soft romantic words. There is no soft touch romantic introduction to the BDSM lifestyle. It’s a very abrupt start and you can definitely tell this is a man version of the story. The romance is just not there.

There is also some interesting use of language and style of writing that takes getting used to. In some areas I was laughing out loud because it seemed very ridiculous.

On the upside, the middle of the book and onwards, the writing improved. It is broken into chapters by character but is not written in first person.

The character development was decent but needed definitely more work. The main female character, Lessie, had some serious issues with self esteem but was overall a likeable person. However, I could not stand her friend, Cathy. Definitely an issue with her. Horrible person.

Plus, I never got that big connection to the leading guy, Pierre, that those of us who love romance stories look for and crave. I never really connected with any one character. (I also had a huge issue with Pierre’s name as his description definitely does not fit his name).

The ending had a nice twist to it and although I wish we could have experienced the HEA, the fact that there was one is good to know.

Overall the story has a good plot. Many of the scenes in the middle and onward were quite hot. But there is definitely improvements to be made with the conversational areas, the editing, and flow of the entire book.

I am going to be generous and give this a 3 star rating which is rounded up from 2.5 stars

This wasn’t a winner for me.

Aware of the warnings before I requested this book I was expecting heart pounding moments, moments that made my heart hurt, basically I expected to feel something whilst reading this book. I found myself skim reading which I hate doing when I know the author has put time and effort into writing a book, but it just couldn’t be helped. The story or characters didn’t grip me at all unfortunately. The excessive POVs were just that, excessive and at times confusing. There were grammar and spelling errors, although that hasn’t effected my rating as these may be proofread and corrected before the book goes live...

All in all, despite the grammar and spelling g errors, the writing was good but after reading the warnings and expecting more from this book, I felt it fell a little flat.

Triggers
There are a limited number of scenes containing: depictions of sex; BDSM; infidelity, dubious-consent; domineering men and adult language.

**ARC kindly provided by NetGalley**

What can I say? I found this book disturbing but I wanted to keep an open mind so I decided to finish the book. It reflects, I think the darker side of BDSM. Felicite/Lissie a beautiful looking woman who had confidence in her career but not in herself. I still can not get over the fad that the plot was based on a true story. It is amazing what the rich and powerful can do to manipulate someone else's life. In Lissie case Pierre influenced her job without her knowing. He kept her from getting let go and engineered a promotion for her. Lissie thought it was based on Merit. Pierre introduced Lissie to BDSM but I do not think he knew how warped his brutality was. Lissie had a fragile disposition and Pierre saw it and was attracted to it. She had little self confidence and I felt sorry for her. After her second husband was caught cheating on her for the fourth time, she still wanted to hang on to the marriage even though it was over and her spouse had already checked out of the marriage. It just seems that she was desperate not to be alone and wanted the idea of a relationship. I think she settled for Pierre because she craved what affection he offered when he offered it. But everything was his terms. I do not think he was a true Dom. It seems he used BDSM for release of his high pressure job and family problems. Not that he was treating Lissie all the time with love and consideration. He had impossible standards that Lissie tried to meet but towards the end she was crushed and took destructive action. Later in the story Lissie gets the relationship she desires from Pierre. Good Bad who knows You'll have to read the book and make up your own mind. I voluntarily received an Advanced Readers Copy of this book from NetGalley.

This book was a bit confusing at times as it was told in so many different points of view. The book was overly detailed until the end. Then it just stopped....what the heck......I would have preferred the epilogue to have been more about the the main characters and give us the happy ending instead of a supporting character.... Again, so much overkill on detail throughout and then none in the end.

Though not my usual read or genre, this book had an interesting premise to it.

The characters showed real humanity but I was a little disappointed with the story overall. Some of the chapters could have been better written as they seemed to drag on and didn't really add to the overall story.

The addition of a disclaimer for the triggers was good but the story really didn't contain anything that would have been upsetting to me. In general, an enjoyable read, though a little lengthy in parts. I would recommend it if the premise of the story interests you.

Well... the writing was great. Let me start off on the right foot here. Seb King writes a good story.
I just couldn't like the characters, neither of them. Felicite didn't have a backbone, Pierre was kind of a slick kitty and the BDSM I felt was rather benign. Having said that the warnings didn't bother me, I've read much darker and detailed and this was neither.

The book did have good flow and the backstory was tight. I do understand why he wrote them the way he did, but Felicite just came off as so pathetic it almost made me put the book down. I made myself forge ahead hoping he could turn her around. I almost felt bad for him.

I did want to like this much more than I did and would have were it not for her whiny, pitiful behavior that no man should put up with.


**arc from NetGalley and many thanks to the publisher for allowing me to review**

It was A little slow for me at first but about half way through I really got into it. The two main characters both have interesting past stories. I really liked this book.

I have mixed feelings about this book. On one hand, it was an "interesting" read; on the other hand, I thought the sex was overdone. There was a plot, but it's overshadowed by the BDSM.

Thanks to Revival Media and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Nice story , good characters . I enjoyed this book.

Not for me at all.
Poor writing and uninteresting characters.
I am absolutely not against adultery or BDSM or whatever, but I like my stories to have a real plot.and with consistent characters. Sorry not to have found any of this.

So, this galley came with a ton of warnings abour sensitive content, I had to give mt personal guarantee that the content would not offend me or something. I never got to be shocked at all.
I unfortunately only got to read about half of this book, and it didn't do much for me.
The beginning builds extremely slowly, there are like six different POVs and I was almost shouting at my tablet for the author to "get on with it already!", because I didn't see the point in so many barely related POVs.
It got much better when the author actually narrowed the POVs down, and the central storyline finally got developed. That's also when the more sensitive content came into play, but it didn't do much for me except maybe get me a bit annoyed at the main character and her submission.
I'm not the biggest fan of BDSM erotic content, but I do somewhat enjoy in some cases. Not this one.
So to sum up, I believe people who like something in the realm of 50 Shades might like this, because the writing isn't bad at all, but I wasn't unfortunately captured by this storyline

What an amazingly well written book! 100% better than 50 shades as you can empathise with the whole story line and really feel all the emotions involved!

I chose to review this book giving a fair and unbiased opinion and that’s what I’ll try to do. First of all, this isn’t the type of book I usually read. I’m not really interested in reading a BDSM story. I’m going to say right up front, if that type of book isn’t for you, then do not buy this book. The Fifty Shades of Grey Trilogy is less darker than City Affairs.
Now, for those who have an interest in this type of book, you would love it! Felicite has a pretty successful career in her own right. Her husband, Steve, is an author who is having an affair. Felicite finds out about the affair and since this is not the first time he has cheated on her, she decides to end the marriage. Felicite ends up having an affair with Pierre, who is a very wealthy hedge fund manager and is also her friend’s boyfriend. Felicite and Pierre end up together and quickly, Felicite finds out he is into BDSM. How does Felicite feel about this?
You’ll have to read the book to find out.
I have received this ARC from Netgalley for a fair and unbiased review of this book.

DNF

I never give up on a book this quick, but I literally couldn't get past the 3rd page! It needs some serious editing and proofreading before being published because the writing turned me off from the first page. Incomplete sentences were a huge issue.

I almost felt like this book was translated using a free online service from a different language and no one checked to make sure it made sense in English.