Lora Leigh's BOUND HEARTS series...

The stories in this series ~ I've read the first six ~ are not for the faint of heart... or those who don't enjoy erotic romance.
Lora Leigh writes a LOT of romances with an eroticism almost unparalleled and everytime I start a new LL story I'm reminded of this.

Her stories in the Bound Hearts series are almost extreme ~ at least to my untutored palate ~ but in each one there is an emotional committment between the H and h that really gets to my heart.
The basis of the series is a group of men who belong to the Trojan Club. These men are extremely and highly sexual; their sexuality demands that they give their women ~ to whom they are totally and completely committed ~ all the pleasure they can. This includes ménage, light bondage, anal sex, spanking and liberal use of sex toys.

Now first off, this is not anywhere near to anything in my own life, but I sure do love to read these stories. Yes, the titillation factor is high, but what keeps me coming back are the romances, each and every time.

Each story is very much character driven; it's the people that take these stories to where they go. But in the last two that I've read ~ Sacrifice and Embraced ~ there is an extra element added.

In Bound Hearts 5: Sacrifice, Kimberly Madison is the beneficiary of a long-term family trust:
"(The Trust) was established generations ago. It states that she must marry a man her father approves of and that she must be a virgin to inherit Briar Cliff, the estate that has passed down in her mother’s family for generations." (page 20, Sacrifice by Lora Leigh)
The Trust has been going for generations and Briar Cliff is an extremely valuable estate; in each generation the oldest female has to follow the rules outlined or the entire thing will revert to her father or other male heir. In five years the conditions of the Trust become null and void, and Kimberly could inherit the whole thing... but only is she holds to the rules:
She is to remain a virgin, submitting to a tri-monthly physical exams ordered by her father, until she marries as he dictates.
However once the five years is up, the Trust will no longer exist.
Enter Jared Raddington. His father was one of the foundering members of the Club; his mother has fairly recently married Kimber's Senator father; Jared has been chasing her for the last year with no success. He finally realizes the reason she runs from him is that he is her weakness.
And oh boy, the story rockets from here. I was entranced and very emotionally involved in Kimberly's dilemma. But Jared was a wonderful man for her and the story was very nicely done.

In Bound Hearts 6: Embraced, Marey Dumont has been very attracted to Saxton Brogan for many years. But her very violent ex-husband has had her running from her attraction knowing very well that Vince would have no qualms at all committing murder.
Certainly a darker story and; for a fair bit of it I was pretty ticked with Marey and her vacillation, but it all worked out ~ eventually. Not my favourite of the six stories I've read to date, but I did enjoy it. Especially Sax's committment and love for Marey; he was perfect!

In the series I have one more ebook ~ Shameless ~ to read and then two print books to follow. The 7th book is Forbidden Pleasure, the 8th is Wicked Pleasure: I definitely have my reading cut out for me... but I think that I'll be taking a break.... *whew*