Book Review of Lucien and Serenity by Brita Addams

Fulfill your wicked fantasies at the Sapphire Club.
Serenity Damrill has returned to her husband, Lucien, after a ten-year absence. She carries with her a secret that could destroy her life and possibly all that Lucien has built. She needs Lucien's protection, and she is determined to repair her marriage.
Quite happy running the Sapphire Club, where his clients live out their wildest fantasies, Lucien has no need for the frigid wife who deserted him the day after they were married. Though he still desires her, he doubts she'll consent to the type of intimate relationship he craves.

But in the Sapphire Club, where rules don't exist, anything is possible.....

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With her latest release Brita Addams introduces readers to the decadent delights offered by a man whose heart and sense of self was torn asunder on his wedding night.  From that embarrassment came a club where all can embrace their desires without judgement.  Just when he's compartmentalized his life to perfection his long lost wife returns to finally embrace her wifely duties.  Her return is shrouded in secrets though, secrets that could get her killed.  With their reunion already on shaky ground, this turn of events might very well end their marriage for good.

Lucien knew he wanted Serenity the first time he saw her.  Their whirlwind marriage led to a disastrous wedding night though where all the beliefs of the marriage bed being a duty for women (and to just bear it) had his wife running from the disgusting act and the years she saw ahead of her.  Lucien was young and out of shame never went after her.  In the intervening years he became more assertive, he learned more about the decadent desires he always dreamt of but never engaged in.  He truly became a man, a man who created the Sapphire Club where others of a like mind could congregate.  He gains notoriety as a powerful man, a man well-versed in the more aggressive ways of love, and it's this notoriety that brings Serenity home.  I liked Lucien from the start and was angry at Serenity for running away as he was a sweet man who tried to do right by his bride.  He's a bit hardened when we first meet him years later, untrusting of Serenity and her motives and unwilling to be gullible again.  His wife's open-mindedness intrigued him though and she became more than a match for his insatiable appetites.

Like most young women at that time Serenity was taught to lie there and let her husband rut until he finished.  Carnal relations were not to be enjoyed.  Fear, and a husband clueless to her needs, had her running far away.  While away though, she too grew up.  She was petulant yet shy when Lucien married her, not willing to find enjoyment in her carnal duty due to societal mores.  In a foreign country a sweet yet intensely sensual man introduced her to delights she never knew existed and she soon embraced her naughty side.  It's a confident woman who shows up on Lucien's doorstep, one fascinated by the man he's become and willing to serve any penance to stay by his side.  While she wholeheartedly shares her sexual desires with him she keeps hidden her role in a horrible event which soon catches up to her and puts their newfound happiness in jeopardy.  It will take Lucien's closest friend Prentice and another stranger to save her and their fragile connection once her past comes knocking. I never completely warmed up to Serenity as she never gave her husband a chance early on.  Her return seemed to be more about her needs than him as she needed a protector and wanted to bask in the carnal talents he acquired throughout the years.

This was a super sexy story with unrelenting sexual tension, not only from Lucien and Serenity trying to reconnect but from the members of the Club where all sorts of sex acts are witnessed.  A large part of the story involves sexual interludes that show trust and acceptance forming between Lucien and Serenity.  It's a small but colorful cast of secondary characters joining Lucien and Serenity in sexual play and who all left a lasting impression.  Lucien's friend Prentice was the first to show him the possibilities in BDSM and other carnal delights.  He's a loyal and strong supporter of Lucien and the Club and unquestioningly aids in defending Serenity.  Lucien's bastard nephew Haynes is one of the few people who loves him unconditionally.  Lucien is more of a father than his biological one, Simon.  Lucien in turn protects him and accepts him completely as Haynes discovers things about his own sexuality.  Older female patron Amelie Foxworth is a delight as she looks like a lady but is a wild creature who teaches Serenity to ignore societies judgements and embrace whatever makes her feel good.  Her scenes are memorable for their decadence and her juxtaposition of character.  As the first book in the Sapphire Club series Ms. Addams has crafted a memorable story that puts a decadent twist on sex and marriage in Victorian times.  At times I felt the sex overwhelmed the story and the elements of suspense that at first seemed important were quickly resolved with very little fanfare at the end.  Everything in between though made for a deliciously decadent romp that left me parched and greatly anticipating more from this erotic world, especially the suave and sexy Prentice.

My rating for this is a B.

*I got this book from the author for review in exchange for my honest opinion.