I'm very sorry but this story was a DNF for me. I felt like she told us most of the story instead of showing us. I'm a HUGE HUGE HUGE fan but this story didn't have the KA feel at all. I'm not posting a review publicly, as I don't like to post a negative review for authors - since my opinion is my own and shouldn't deter others. This is a first for me with this author. Thank you for the opportunity though. It just lacked "something" for me.

I'm new to KA and this book was not her best work.

I tried, but sadly this one missed the mark for me. I simply couldn't connect with Amèlie as there's was nothing in her personality that made me warm up to her. Olivier didn't work for me either and I found myself skim reading just to get to the end. :-( KA is still the queen: win some, lose some.

our review DNF this book. She loves all that is Kristen Ashley but this book was not for her unfortunately

Reviewed at All About Romance

3.5 Stars

There’s been a lot of talk about the alpha-sub dynamic and the kink level in this book, however, at its core The Deep End is a love story. It’s about 2 characters finding their other half while filling a void in their sex life. Don’t get me wrong, the lifestyle is an overt part of the story and is prominent throughout.

Here’s the breakdown: To deal with his personal darkness, Olivier Hawke seeks the type of release only submission can provide. He experimented in the lifestyle with less than stellar results, so he devises a plan to join the most exclusive club BDSM club in Phoenix – The Bee’s Honey. Almost immediately, he is drawn to Mistress Amèlie. Does she possess the talents to tame this wild beast of a man?

Here’s what I enjoyed: Being introduced to the BDSM culture from a Domme’s perspective. This world was completely unexpected. The various relationships that are explored whether sexual or purely platonic were interesting.

The characters – some were more fleshed out than others, but I’m also interested in Branch and want to see him in the next book. I was particularly interested in the dynamic between Amelie and Stellan, a Dominant at the club. I kinda hated his guts early in the story, but became intrigued in his story by the end. I hope he shows up in later installments. Ooh, and Aryas. I need more of him!

The relationship development between Olivier and Amèlie. On the surface, the sex/kink is OTT. However, underneath all that these two characters slowly start to share intimate details with one another. They are both closed off individual, but open to each other. It was sweet to experience that.

What didn’t work so well: The writing. I’m well versed in K.A syntax and diction, but this book was on a whole other level! I found myself confused and re-reading sentences to ensure I understood what was going on. That was not enjoyable at all. I found the book way too wordy.

With that said, I’m glad I didn’t give up on it because it has stuck with me. Overall, it’s an enjoyable love story. The relationship development and interweaving of future storylines were quite entertaining. I commend Kristen Ashley on taking this risk and look forward to seeing how future stories unfold.


I attempted to write this review and not focus on sex and the kink level, but feel it prudent to say - if you decide to read this book you’ll need an open mind and hopefully enjoy reading about the BDSM lifestyle and play because it is front and center throughout the novel. This was unlike anything else I’ve ever read.

I really wasn't sure what to expect from this. It is so different from anything I have read by Kristen Ashley and that is saying something, because she writes so many different genres. I did enjoy it. I thought the idea was so creative and I thought the storyline was interesting.

The writing was a little over the top for me in this story though. Made it a little harder to get through. However, I did make it through and I am glad I finished it.

I still love KA and I still enjoyed this book. I admire her for stepping out of her zone and going for it and writing something completely different. It is just not one of my top favorites of hers, but still a great story.

When I first heard about KA releasing this book, I was apprehensive. BDSM books are not my cup of tea, there have only been a few I have liked. But I have never enjoyed one with a male sub. So I was so so very nervous that my favourite author would write a book that I wouldn't like. I shouldn't have worried. this book completely exceeded my expectations. KA and her unique writing style made this book what it is and I am so glad I read it.

Although Olivier is a sub this man is a Typical KA alpha in all other aspects. The trust between both him an Amelie is obvious from the get go and the chemistry between them is soooo hot. Olivier is trying to figure out his life, well the side of life he is currently engaging in and Amelie guides him through that. While Amelie is looking for the man that could give her everything she has ever needed and wanted. They are both on a journey and what a beautiful journey it is. Yes there is sex, obviously and a fair bit of it. Which is to be expected of this type of book and KA totally does them justice.

I know many people will be hesitating to read this, but don't. This book has a true KA feel to it Roll on book 2! I have met so many characters in this book and instantly thought "I want their story". So bring it on!

OMG! Kristen Ashley out did herself with the Honey series! It is totally different than her other series but just as awesome! I was blown away with how much I enjoyed reading The Deep End and I can’t wait to read the next book. It may not be a series for everyone but this girl sure loved it!

I tend to lean toward the naughty style romance novels but this series blows away any I’ve ever read. It is SMUT at its finest! I was tentative about reading it and I wasn’t sure if I should but I’m glad to have took the leap. Alpha submissive, Dommes, and a BDSM club! OMG words can’t even describe how much I enjoyed reading Oliver and Amelie’s story. Amelie one of the top Dommes in the Honey club and she is very selective on who she plays with. Often, she doesn’t play more than once because she loves her submissive to have a backbone and not be easily broken. After meeting Oliver and discovering that he is the perfect combination of alpha/submissive, she can’t resist playing with as often and as many times until she is satisfied. Oliver is a challenge and to a woman like Amelie he is perfect!

Even with the novel being full of filthy scenes there is also a wonderful storyline that was very enjoyable! I loved every moment of reading this new series and now I’m jonesing for the next novel! 5 Stars!

Known for her hot alpha heroes and her strong heroines, Kristen Ashley breaks new ground with this novel by offering to her reader not only a story that is decidedly more erotic than any of her previous works, but also by making the distinctive sexual dynamic between the characters the key building block in their relationship. With no holds barred, the author pulls us into a sensual new world where pleasure and pain are intimate bedfellows, and where the characters’ deepest, darkest desires come to life in a series of truly tantalizing sex scenes that give shape to a love affair like to other.

Keep reading review at: https://natashaisabookjunkie.com/2017/03/15/review-the-deep-end-by-kristen-ashley/

DNF

For clarification, it was NOT domme/sub the story line itself that made this unreadable for me...

It was the writing.

My best GR homie texted me asking me if I was able to finish it and I blatantly said I hadn't even started it because I was so afraid of not liking it.

And BOY did I want to like it.

She told me she finally had to put it down for good after numerous attempts to finish it and told me the flowery purple prose was what made her want to launch it.

In my head I thought, there's no way it could be that bad...so I jumped in...

And discovered that it was.

That bad, that is.

Seriously though, the writing was so lyrical and flowery that it was like KA got hit by the Leah Reader bus.

And then ran over by the Shakespeare trolley.

Nothing against Leah Reader. But that style of writing is just not my jam.

That said, if you like that kind of writing...you might be able to stomach this.

I, sadly, was not.

My apologies to the ARC gods, but I would rather be lobotomized than attempt to finish this book.

This is my first Kristen Ashley book, in fact this is my first book where the woman is the domme. Let me tell you I thought wow a woman in charge taking care of the man and telling him what to do sign me up. Amelie is a domme; she's a tall woman, rich and would love to find love. When Oliver walks into the Bees Honey she is attracted to him from the moment she sees him. He's taller then her and hot as sin. Olly is a big strong hot firefighter. The first time Olly and Amelia get together you can see the connection between the two and can only hope they both get the more they so deserve.

Although at times I had a hard time reading the book due to the way Olly talked, but I loved that the woman was strong and rich, which was a first for me in a book. The book my not be for everyone but the story kept me interested and wanting to find out more not to mention the sex scene were hot and I fell in love with Amelia and Ollie.

There is no way to review this book for me without including a few spoilers about the contents, because I have to get down to the nitty-gritty details about what I liked and didn't like in order to write a detailed review. If you don't want to read spoilers, skip this review! Read at your own risk!

The Deep End is Amelie and Olivier (Olly)'s story. Amelie is the best domme at the BDSM club, The Bee's Honey. She has been wanting to find a long term male submissive that could also be her partner in life, with marriage and kids at some point, for many years. Her tastes run to the alpha-sub variety, meaning she likes manly men that like to be submissive in the bedroom/club but are Alphas in everyday life. She feels like she's never going to meet the perfect guy that can match her in the bedroom and out. Until Olivier joins the club, that is. They meet and feel a connection right away. There kinks match up in the best ways. They begins spending lots of time together in the club, but Amelie wants more. She wants to date Olly, but he struggles with accepting his submissive side outside of the club. Also they have to work through feelings of class difference. Amelie has family money and is independently wealthy. She doesn't have to work. Olivier is a fireman and has a hard time with her being rich and feeling inadequate. They take some time to work things out, but eventually, get their HEA.


This was an interesting read. There were things I liked about the book, but the things I did not like were more plentiful.

I went into this book with a totally OPEN MIND. I have read everything Kristen Ashley has written (most of them multiple times) and loved 95% of them. She is one of my favorite authors. I have met KA and fangirled over her, gotten books signed, and met a lot of other awesome Rock Chicks in the process. I also read and enjoy a lot of all kinds of BDSM and erotica books. I was really hoping that I was going to love this one. I have nothing against BDSM, alpha-subs, dommes, or any other prejudices that would have influenced my feelings about this book.

Things that I did like:

Olivier- I liked Olly in general, although I would have liked to know more about him. He does seem to be an Alpha in most ways, but every time he is with Amelie, he's a sub. Even in the little time they spent outside of the club at Amelie's ranch, he was a sub the whole time. I think for me to truly get an idea of his Alpha-subness, I would have needed to see more of them together doing non-sexual things where he was being Alpha.

Alpha-sub- I was not bothered by the Alpha-sub aspect.

The story- The story had potential, but I would have liked to see way more of who the characters were outside of the club and in their daily lives. The side characters were interesting. I would love to have known more about them.

No cheating, sharing, or OW drama.



Things that did not work for me:

Amelie- She is a difficult heroine to identify with. The 3rd person POV combined with her formality and stiff, formal dialogue made it hard to like her. She is a good person, but I just didn't feel a connection to her. She never seemed to relax or let down her guard. She didn't seem like a real person. Amelie is French and often speaks in French, which I do not speak. Also, I didn't feel like I knew enough about her, except for her sexual preferences. How does she spend her days, etc. She sometimes came off as cold and had a "poor little rich girl" attitude at times, as well

BDSM in this book- It was different than any other BDSM books I have ever read (and I do read a lot of them). Amelie is very attracted to Olivier. She can orgasm just from watching him without even touching him in a scene. That didn't feel true to life. Often times, Amelie worked Olivier to orgasm in a scene, but much of the time she didn't participate herself or have him touch her to orgasm herself. Olly came like 500 times in this book to Amelie's 10. There is no aftercare in the book either. Often times scenes are set up and cleaned up by club staff, including strapping the subs into equipment so they are ready and waiting for their domme. None of this seemed like normal BDSM protocal like I have read in other books. There is also so much anal play, not to mention the pony play (see below). I had no idea male subs were all about anal play. There is way more anal play than real sex in the book. I also felt like there was a lot of strapping down and harnassing into apparati that came off as clinical at times. None of it came off as sexy to me. Not because I don't like BDSM; I just didn't like this version of BDSM very much.

Awkward and Cheesy language- Some of the language in scenes between Olly and Amelie was eye-rolling, in my opinion. ex."Fuck my hand with that brute". "But here, down here, the seat of his meat, he smelled divine." (referring to his genitals) , etc.

Olivier's speech- He seems extra uncouth, especially next to Amelie. He calls her speech "uppity, hot-chick speak". His is the opposite. His favorite term used in this book is "Jack my shit" or "Jack my dick". He must say that 100 times. He speaks in the usual KA Alpha speak, only amplified and with even less full sentences.

Lack of description- There are not usual Kristen Ashley style descriptions of everything. There is some description but not a ton. At times, I definitely needed more. I didn't know Amelie's hair color until 68%. This may not have bothered me if it wasn't such a big departure from her normal writing.

Pony Play- Pony Play is Amelie's specialty. She has a personal horse themed room at the club, complete with stalls. She also brushes Olly with horse grooming brushes. She buys and uses on him a horse tail vibrating anal plug that wags and everything. She calls him my "steed", "beast", and "stallion". Pony play is not my thing. It's not sexy to me. There is a lot of it. It's a theme in the book. I just found it repetitive and at times boring. It is just odd to me that in Ms. Ashley's first foray into BDSM, she chose such a specific sub-culture to focus on.

The mystery- There is a side mystery story line going on in the book. I felt like it was just thrown in unnecessarily to add extra drama, right at the end of the book, and then cleared up very quickly. I think there could have been more focus on the couple, especially with them doing normal couple-y things outside of the club, instead of an unnecessary mystery.

The romance- I did feel like Amelie and Olivier liked each other. I felt their connection. But they are not shown outside of the club very much. There is hardly any non-play time. They didn't go on any dates. They never went to each others' homes (although they did have a "play" weekend at Amelie's ranch). I just felt like they didn't show each other their real selves, flaws and all, what everyday life is like, etc. I didn't feel like ever really relaxed with each other. Even at the very end, they were so formal with each other. They have no real life experiences together. I wasn't at all assured they could mix the BDSM stuff with everyday life and have a HEA, because we aren't shown it.

The sexy times- I just did not find their scenes in the club or bedroom sexy or hot at all. Nothing about them turned me on. I read them all in detail with curiosity but they did nothing for me. but I did not find the amount of sexy times too much. I'm don't mind books with lots of sex, which this one has a lot of. So the quantity of sex was just fine, I just didn't enjoy the
quality of them.


Bottom line:

I have read and enjoy Domme/sub books in the past. Some of them worked for me and some of them didn't. This one did not, unfortunately. I just could not connect to Amelie at all. I probably would not have bought a Domme book from any other author beside Kristen Ashley because it is not my favorite genre but I love her books so much that I never considered not reading it . I expected a KA style romance and KA style characters, just set in a BDSM club. Her Fantasyland and Three series books are still KA style romances, just set in a different world. But what I read was not a KA style romance. I would have never guessed that Kristen Ashley wrote this if I didn't know it. It is a totally different writing style- very flowery and wordy. The usual KA friendships, the characters, the descriptions, the romance, the sex- everything was different.

I can let a lot of things slide, even pony play, if there are characters I love and a great connection, but this book just didn't have that. It just felt like a kind of extreme BDSM book that could have been written by any other author. It is not poorly written, it just isn't the usual KA style readers know and love.

Maybe other readers will feel differently than me. I still love Kristen Ashley's books, in general, especially her older books. I will still always be a fan. I am glad she is trying new things and branching out. I fully support her right to do that. I just don't think her style of BDSM books are for me. I am glad I gave it try though and I encourage anyone who is curious to give it a try as well, especially if you like extreme BDSM books. Just be prepared for something totally new and different than the usual Kristen Ashley you know and love and be prepared to have your boundaries pushed.

must admit that I struggled with the first few chapters of this book. There was a lot of info and I wasnt sure that I really liked the hoity toity heroine, Amelie.

But this is KA I told myself. Then I decided it was time to pull up my big girl pants, forget about the other books KA has written and and have another go.

And I think thats the key. This is a totally new direction for this author so I needed to forget Tack and Lahn and read with a fresh head.

With my preconceived notions out the window I warmed up to this book (not Amelie, sadly!)

This is BDSM, rich people, kink and sexy times! And Oliver. That man is delish!!!

#Review

QueenZany 4 Star Review
THE DEEP END
Kristen Ashley

I think I need to put myself in a time out after this read!! SHIT SHIT!!
Yes, I am a huge Kristen Ashley fan. So I was fangirling it when it hit my iphone.
Plus I adore BDSM books. But neither are your typicals here! A male SUB Hmmm. Well at first it was a struggle for me. Since I love and fantasize about ALpha DOMS.
After about 10 chapters in. I started to feel the story come alive. When I say come alive. Well your at s SEX CLUB! Need I say any more? I think not!!

THE DEEP END is still true to Kristen Ashley form of beauty written stories. Which propels the storyline and character to new heights and realms. Making this erotic dance of, pleasure and lust! The combination true life and fantasy unite as one!

An interesting read to say the least, I was excited as it's KA, intrigued and scared of what this book would hold. But because of who wrote it I opened with anticipation !

Unfortunately that's as far as it got for me BDSM I'm not bothered by sometimes it can be too much and when a book is full on I lose interest.

It was written in 3rd person and I truly struggle with this, it has to be captivating enough within the first few chapters that I forget. This one for me didn't and it took a lot for me to carry on.

Although not fully invested, I lacked a connection with the main characters, although the book is high quality as you come to expect. The words flowed seamlessly and somebody that truly loves this genre and this style of writing will definitely find it a worthy of a place amongst their books.

3 Stars

Donna

4TLOReading

WOW!! Just WOW!! This book, Oh. My. God. KA wrote a perfect book, and if I’m saying this, believe me, because I’m a bit picky with BDSM books—there are two authors that have set my expectations so high in this genre—and I’m very happy to say that Kristen Ashley did a flawless work with this book.

The Deep End features the sexy story of a male submissive, Olivier Hawkes and his dominatrix, Mistress Amèlie. Their relationship isn’t just sexy AF, it’s complicated and meaningful. The way they connected with each other was amazing. They were perfect for one another, they were to each other exactly what they needed.

The kink in this book was really well written—kudos to KA for the research—and I loved the sex wasn’t an addition to the book to make it into the genre, but the kink was really the story, how Oliver and Amèlie connected, how they trusted each other and what made them really satisfied in so many levels.

All in all, The Deep End was scorching hot and romantic and awesome. I’m getting the audiobook of this title because I really need to relive it and fall in love again with Oliver and Amèlie. And then I’ll wait for the second book of the series.

The female lead is a rich Dom looking for a man who is an alpha on the streets and a sub in the sheets, so to speak. The male lead is a giant of a man. He's more blue collar in his day to day life. He's searching for something in his sex life, but isn't certain of what because he hasn't found it yet. They meet at an exclusive club. They want each other at first sight. She loves pushing his boundaries. It's not easy for him to immediately give in to her, but he enjoys being pushed. This is much more sexual than the other books I've read from this author. If you like erotic or BDSM romances, you should check out The Deep End.