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    The Dark Garden: A Novel
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    The Dark Garden: A Novel
    Unavailable
    The Dark Garden: A Novel
    Audiobook9 hours

    The Dark Garden: A Novel

    Written by Eden Bradley

    Narrated by Madison Cole

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    A deliciously potent tale of one woman's quest for self-discovery.

    Rowan Cassidy likes to be in charge-especially in her personal life. As a mistress at Club Privé, the most exclusive bondage/S & M club on the West Coast, Rowan can live out her dominant fantasies safely, and with complete control-until the night Christian Thorne walks in. Self-confident and sophisticated, he's a natural dominant if Rowan's ever seen one. Yet she can't stop thinking about him and imagining his touch.

    Christian has returned home, hoping to break free from his dissatisfaction and malaise-and discovers the cure in Rowan. He's dying to get his skilled hands on her and watch her surrender, to unlock the mystery of her that captivates him. Determined to be her master, he makes Rowan a daring proposition: give herself over to him for thirty days.

    Rowan finds Christian's offer terrifying-and impossible to resist. But abandoning herself to Christian's power might be more than she can handle. . . . Or it might be the realization of her true nature and the dark garden within her. There will be only one way to find out. And once the game has begun, there's no turning back.


    From the Trade Paperback edition.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateSep 4, 2012
    ISBN9780385367448
    Unavailable
    The Dark Garden: A Novel
    Author

    Eden Bradley

    New York Times & USA Today Bestselling author Eden Bradley aka Eve Berlin has written erotica and erotic romance for Berkley, Bantam, Harlequin Spice/HQN, Samhain Publishing and Black Lace, as well as indie publishing, and recently for Red Hot Romance Publishing. Her work has been called “elegant, intelligent and sensual”. Her debut novel THE DARK GARDEN was praised as “a masterpiece”, and was a Romantic Times Top Pick. More recently, her novella GIRL (Book One in The Training House Series) has repeatedly been called “phenomenal”, and BDSM author Jenna Jacob said “Nothing has touched me like this since ‘Story of O’”. Her novels and novellas have been translated into thirteen languages.As someone who has been involved in BDSM practice for much of her adult life, she relates in particular to her kink stories, infusing them with her own truth about kink practice from her life experiences. Eden speaks regularly on BDSM psychology and practice, as well as sex positive culture for women. She offers her enormously popular Empower Your Sexual Self course for women, as well as writing courses through her website.Eden loves art, shoes, tattoos, her Boston Terrier, chocolate, and reading and writing smutty books, of course, not necessarily in that order.Visit her online:Website: www.EdenBradley.com

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    Reviews for The Dark Garden

    3.5/5

    43 ratings6 reviews

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      The Dark Garden by Eden Bradley a romance that tips the erotic scale. Rowan Cassidy likes to be in control. She is a dominatrix that frequents the local S & M club, Club Prive. There she meets Christian, who is another dom. He's confident, drop-dead gorgeous, and determined. From their first meeting, Christian becomes hypnotized by Rowan. He makes her an offer she can't refuse. Christian challenges Rowan to be his submissive for thirty days. She is hesitant, but soon agrees. However it is easier said than done. Rowan has issues of her own. Something happened in her past that haunts her and drives her need to always be in charge of any situation. Thus the conflict.The story line has positives and negatives. Rowan is strong yet vulnerable. She has issues that have shaped who she is. She feels safe when she's a dom; while being a submissive scares the hell out of her. Her deal with Christian is a way of confronting the past, and letting go. During their 'sessions' Rowan even has moments of shear terror that makes her want to run away. This seemed very plausible to me. I could even believe that for some unknown reason, Christian wanted to help her. They had great chemistry together, but their relationship seemed rushed. The ending is one of the problems I had with the story. It seemed to tie up rather quickly into a neat little package. I'm sure great sex can solve a great many things, but somehow I think this story line needed a bit more considering the circumstances. Another problem that I had with the book, is April and Decker's story. April is a friend of Rowan's and Decker is a dom. They are both minor characters in the story and so is their story line. Their story felt like it was thrown into the book. I think it would have been better if April and Decker had their own book. Rowan and April's story line paralleled, but I felt as if more explanation was needed in their story.Overall if you're a fan of 50 Shades of Grey, you might enjoy this book. There are things I enjoyed about this book as well as things I didn't. The writing was good, the characters were good, but the story line left me wanting. This book is recommended for mature audiences only. I would rate this book 2.5 but I'll round it up to three Willies since we don't know halvesies .
    • 5/5
      Amazing. I've always liked BDSM books where there is an actual club and also there can never be too much romance in this world. Of course, I'm sucker for happy endings so this was totally my kind of book. I like Bradley's style of writing a lot and I will be reading everything from her that I can get my hands on!
    • 4/5
      FINALLY.. a BDSM book that isn't about a millionaire swooning a virgin and trying to turn her to the dark side (lol). I think everyone now knows what BDSM is about (since reading Fifty) and doesn't need a whole tutorial in every book. That's the main reason why I like this book, it cuts out all of the pain-is-pleasure, give-yourself-to-me, do-you-trust-me.. yada-yada. Its just a simple, wonderfully written, luxuriously steamy, BDSM romance novel.

      I liked that this book was a little more sadistic than most are used to, but was also very loving. This book had a main story and a small side story, which I am having a hard time trying to decide which one I like the best. Honestly the sadist in me likes April's side story a bit better, she was truly submissive and didn't fight her feelings.. but interestingly enough she was the strongest character in the whole book.

      I love the cover art, it is so simple and elegant yet the flowers are artfully placed in a sensual embrace. The story is written in the third person POV, which caused a bit of a connection issue with the characters. I did like being able to see from Christian's POV.

      Swoonworthy Points: 8
      There were several erotic scenes, but my favourite scene was when Christian was sketching Rowan.. it was lovely and hot!! Plus there's a cast of Pure Alpha Male Doms that know how to take control of a room!

      Memorable Quotes

      ...sometimes when we're finding ourselves, we find things we never expected, things we weren't necessarily looking for...

      The point is, knowing who we are, accepting our own truth, is the most precious gift we can give ourselves, no matter what we have to overcome to do it.

      Summary
      Rowan a Domme meets Christian another Dom at a BDSM nightclub. One look in her eye and Christian knows that he wants to dominate Rowan. Christian makes Rowan an offer she's too stubborn to refuse, and with that she has to spend 30 under his whim. Meanwhile, a new sub to the club, April has attracted the attention of Decker, the most experienced Dom in the club.

      The two couples have to learn to compromise, give and take, breakdown and then pick things back up.

      I you are in need of a quick sexy read that will tempt a bit of your naughty side, then this is the book for you.

      I was provide this ARC via Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group-Bantam in exchange for an honest review.



    • 5/5
      Thoroughly enjoyed this book, While it was centered around the BDSM lifestyle the love story shone through.
    • 4/5
      Rowan has been a practicing Domme in a club for a good long while, deciding after a past trauma that it’s better to control men rather than be controlled. Everything is going hunky dory until Christian Thorne walks in and makes her an offer; 30 days as his submissive without any sex to prove, without question, that she is Dominant. It’s a hard offer to resist but will she be able to cope giving herself to such a skilled Dom for quite that long?

      Christian wants Rowan as soon as he lays eyes on her in the club. He knows that she reacts to him in a way that no submissive would, but tearing down those walls won’t be easy. He has to know when to push and when to wait, allowing her to see her true self without being afraid. He uses every skill in his very well equipt arsenal, but it will all boil down to whether or not she will allow herself to be anything other than a Domme.

      This book comes with the tag-line “If you liked fifty shades...” but I have to say that, in my eyes, it’s nothing like fifty shades. I adored this book, adored the emotional angst and adored Christian, but Thorne is nothing like Grey. This is a man who relishes his role, relishes being in control and truly enjoys what he does. There is no whining, no recriminations about past hurts that made him “be” the way he is... he’s just a fantastic Dom. The way he uses techniques to try to get past Rowan’s walls is absolutely amazing and leads to some amazingly hot scenes. In one of the first, he ties her up with vines and it’s so romantic, kinky and perfect I grinned throughout. I was also thrilled that there is a scene with a Vampire glove...yummy :)

      Rowan is a pretty good Heroine. Her journey is really what this book is all about, how she stops hiding behind the walls that she puts up as an emotionless Domme and let’s herself be free. To do this she has to heal and this book is the perfect example of healing through BDSM. Now, don’t get me wrong here. Rowan is not a sub or Domme because of a past event; she would always have been a sub, but she was not able to see her true nature. All it took was the perfect Dom :)

      The sub-plot between April and Decker was tantalising, but I felt it could have done with a little more depth .I would have loved to see more from these two as I never felt that I knew them enough to truly invest in their tales.

      This is a fabulous D/s story about emotional healing through BDSM. It’s hot, kinky and very, very yummy. Christian is a captivating, sexy and incredibly inventive Dom..... d’ya think they sell copies of him anywhere?
    • 5/5
      Rowan is a Domme but when Christian meets her both feel an attraction to one another. Christian is also a Dom. Both have not been satisfied with their lives. Could their attraction fix what is wrong in their lives? Christian proposes an experiment. Give him 30 days and he will bring out Rowan’s submissive side. Rowan’s pride makes her take the challenge in Eden Bradley’s THE DARK GARDEN. Will it work or will it break them both?I like Rowan and Christian. Both are strong-willed. Rowan fights all the way. Along the way she has to face her past and the damage done there. These are two equally matched characters. Walls get broken down. Honesty comes out. I loved these characters.There is also a side story of April and Decker. April turns to Rowan for advice. Will Rowan take the same advice herself? Both story lines are good. I needed April and Decker’s story to relieve the strong emotions coming through Rowan and Christian’s story. This is a story worth reading. The BDSM is correct as is the aftercare. Strong characters make a strong book.