One sub to please the Master…in any way he wishes.

Victor Connagher is no stranger to the Dallas BDSM scene. As CEO of a risqué cable channel that caters to adventurous adults, he ensures the lifestyle is portrayed in a positive light. He even supports a local bondage club. Yet behind the cool, confident mask, Victor lives in fear.

Once, and only once, he lost control of his inner Dom—and it cost him his fiancée. Now, no one knows how hard he works to keep his darker appetite for pain buried. No matter how much his saucy, confident associate producer makes his fingers itch to once again take up his riding crop.

Shiloh Holmes is a sub, but she’s no doormat. She’s always suspected Victor has the skills to feed her insatiable need for pain, and now she’s found the perfect way to crack his formidable control. Develop a new reality show, America’s Next Top sub…and dare him to compete.

Week after week, as Shiloh fearlessly challenges the real Victor to come out of hiding, he realizes his past mistake was only a blow to his pride. If he loses Shiloh, he could lose his heart.

Warning: Explicit sex, BDSM, reality television, a very reluctant Dom, an audacious sub willing to do anything to win for him, and one very wicked riding crop.

Title: Hurt Me So Good
Author: Joely Sue Burkhart
Series: The Connaghers
Genre: Erotic Romance
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Year of release: 2010, October 5
Format: eBook
Source: Received from author for ARC-review, due to circumstances I unfortunately couldn’t post it as an ARC-review in the week of release.

First line:
Dear Blogland:
The last thing the internet needs is yet another anonymous sexy blog detailing a submissive's journey to complete and utter surrender to her Master, but I promise you, this blog will be different.
Memorable Scenes:
- First kiss scene > goose bumps
- Victor and his mom > emotional and pivotal scene
- Taping of the final episode of the show > breathtaking

Victor Connagher is a former star quarterback now CEO of Dallas cable channel VCONN, Victor is commanding, fierce, outwardly calm and collected, inside a volcano of intensity on the verge of erupting, which made him an intriguing character that demanded my full attention, whether I was ready to give it or not.

His darker sexual needs and urges, a nasty experience with his ex-fiancée and the subsequent difficulty to find the woman who accepts that side of him and is able to handle him and his vicious needs when he's on the edge, have made him weary of dating or frequenting the BDSM scene. He needs a woman who can handle the Master and love the man.

Shiloh Holmes is an associate producer at VCONN. She’s saucy, bubbly, submissive yet defiant, open and energetic. Shiloh knows what she wants and goes for it, fully aware that there’s a chance of getting hurt but she doesn’t let that stop her. She’s undeniably drawn to Victor's dominance and the reality show she's developed is her means to secure him as her Master.

HURT ME SO GOOD starts with copycat TV channel stealing their concept for a show and the search for the mole/spy within VCONN who is selling them out to the competition. They need a new show to save the season and Shiloh pitches her idea for a reality TV show on BDSM, America's Next Top sub. For her the show is her final chance to obtain Victor as her Master, something she's craved from the moment she laid eyes on him and saw the one and only man who can give her what she craves.

Victor and his crop had me in his thrall from the very first chapter and I felt like pushing Shiloh out of the picture (think stairs scene in Showgirls) so I could take her place. And this is me talking! Whimpering wuss of the century who doesn't tolerate the faintest hint of pain without curling up into a ball of misery.

Victor's need to hurt and Shiloh's need for pain are very in tune and it makes their chemistry smoldering and intense. But both of them are also hindered by feelings of insecurity as to how they can truly give the other one what they really need without causing irreparable damage

Victor was so hard on himself, so afraid to hurt Shiloh and so filled with guilt, yet not seeing that what is truly hurting Shiloh is his guilt, him shutting her out every time he uses his crop on her and not giving himself completely. I was truly wondering how this was going to change and what was needed for him to let loose and embrace himself and accept what Shiloh was offering him in terms of love and submission.

All the characters in this book are utterly fascinating and anything but cookie-cutter lift this contemporary erotic romance to a high level. This goes for both Victor and Shiloh but also for secondary characters like Malinda, Patrick and Victor’s mother. Without them this book wouldn’t have half the impact it had on me now.

And Joely Sue, I think the m/m romance readers would love a Leon-Brandon story *wink*

With HURT ME SO GOOD Joely Sue Burkhart has combined two things that utterly fascinate me: reality TV and a D/s relationship and she gave me a deeper look into the sadist/masochist aspect of BDSM instead of the Master/slave relationships I've read about and don't really feel comfortable with.

The way Joely Sue Burkhart describes the feelings and the dynamics, the hunger and need, is mesmerizing. The way she describes insecurity, vulnerability and pain is simply out of this world. I have no words to do it justice with a description. I had the pleasure and honor of proofreading HURT ME SO GOOD many months ago and was utterly impressed with the way Joely Sue Burkhart wanted to bring Victor's story to her readers. Now having read it with a reviewer's eye I can only be even more impressed. From the first to the last word she reeled me in with a poignant and emotional story within the realm of D/s that is a more than worthy successor of DEAR SIR I’M YOURS!

Thank you, Joely Sue, for another great installment of the Connaghers, a family that has found a firm place in my reader’s heart and on my (digital) shelves. I can’t wait to see what Vicki will bring to the table.

Favorite Quotes:

Shiloh Holmes shook Mal's hand and with a bright smile, turned to him. He felt the impact like a quarterback sacked from his blind spot. She was one of those people who managed to brighten up the room as soon as she entered. Literally, it felt as though someone had yanked open the blinds and let the Texas sun come pouring into the darkened, cavernous room.

He eased her back to the mattress, settling his weight between her thighs. "Where does it hurt, baby? I'll bite it and make it hurt better."

The exquisite pain blended with that sweetness, an agony of need that twisted her mind and clawed her heart to ribbons.

Losing Kimberly had been a blow to his pride. Losing Shiloh would rip his heart out of his chest and leave him gasping his last breath on the floor.