Received an ARC from NetGalley for an honest review.

Well...the other reviews were accurate...this was spicy! It also had some deeper themes which I appreciated and watching Dean and Maya work through those was great. I do wish we would have gotten more of Dean's backstory and his side of things, but I understand that this was Maya's story. There were things I wish were a little more fleshed out, mostly in the form of supporting characters who seemed a little one dimensional. Overall, I enjoyed this though and would definitely read more from this author.

This book fell flat. I tried to read it numerous times and couldn't. I ended up skipping to the back to see the resolution and I'm so glad I missed out on the whole middle because the end part was just as bad as the beginning. It seems like the author is trying to do another multipart BDSM tale and these two characters, or at least Maya since she's the only one who really has a backstory, probably need to talk to someone first.

This book was okay. It was steamy and sexy but nothing uncommon. We learn a lot about Maya but not as much about Dean and that was the character that I was most invested it.

A really nice start to a new series. At times, this book reads a little 50 Shades, and I didn't like that at all, but it never goes completely there, thankfully. The difference? Two adults who both know they are getting into things that neither of them are completely sure about, but want to explore, and the trust that builds throughout is really nice to see.

Both MCs are pretty open and honest, for the most part, about their desires, experience, and pasts. They never go too far into BDSM at all, something neither of them are really that familiar with, but mostly focus on the D/s aspects and how that can heighten their intimacy.

I really liked the way they date... I love the way Dean treats Maya, and Maya treats Dean. I think the best part of the story is the mutual respect they afford each other. Their sex life is extraordinarily hot.

My biggest issues with the story center around Maya's best friend Shelby. She's such a prude that every time she was on page, I wanted to skip over the whole section. But there is a lot of really good stuff to cover up Miss Prude.

I enjoyed this so much, I moved on to book two immediately so... check it out.

ARC received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Did not read the book, so cannot give honest, well-thought out review.

I went into this book hoping for an edgy story of a man bringing a submissive into the world of BDSM, but maybe I’ve just been reading too many dark stories lately. “The Assignment” was well written, sexy, erotic and down to earth, but something about the characters and their interactions just didn’t hit all of my hot buttons.

Dean and Maya meet and hit it off immediately. But I’m not sure what that connection was based on other than physical attraction. Not that there is anything wrong with that and I’ve certainly read (and loved) a number of stories where the relationship started with insta-lust and grew from there. However, here it just felt off.
Dean pulls Maya into a relationship based on assignments he gives her. But for some reason, they felt more awkward than sexy to me. Perhaps it was because Maya overanalyzed them. Perhaps it was because she constantly alluded to her past relationship which dabbled in BDSM and went wrong and the repetitive references became tiresome. Whatever the reason, I didn’t feel the eroticism that the assignments were supposed to elicit. When Dean and Maya were together they were scintillating. But the tasks felt forced.
I also felt that there was a larger story I was missing. There was an undercurrent running through the book that I felt I should be picking up on, but just couldn’t grasp because I wasn’t given enough information. Dean constantly referenced his mentor, but I couldn’t understand if there was supposed to be more than met the eye there. Maya’s best friend warns her off of Dean, but never gives her a clear reason why. Maya’s past relationship keeps popping up as a large part of her past, but it seems as if her ex is just a jerk and there is no reason why she couldn’t have walked away. The story dragged in parts for me and I’m not sure if it was because this book was just setting up the remainder of the trilogy which would answer these questions.
Also, when I read BDSM, I like to see a true alpha-male and that was not Dean. He was dominant in the bedroom and nice and considerate, and I liked all of those things in him. He was a good guy and always making sure that Maya was comfortable and saw to her needs. He came off as the perfect hero in a romance, with just a side of kink. But I felt he was the wrong guy for a story based on commanding the heroine to take on kinky assignments to push her boundaries. Both of these characters were exploring their dominant and submissive sides and it was a journey they were traveling through together. This is completely a personal opinion, but I just like my story men that dabble in BDSM to be more experienced. Many people will enjoy watching Dean and Maya grow together as a couple. It just wasn’t my cup of tea.

Overall, The Assignment was a decent read. It was sexy and sweet. But it just wasn’t the right fit for me.

This is the first novel I've read by this author and after reading the blurb, I was expecting a very hot BDSM read but this book wasn't quite what I expected and while it's well-written, I liked but didn't love it--I give it 3 stars.

The main characters are Dean, an architect, and Maya, a social worker and counselor for a non-profit battered women's organization. The two meet at the home of their mutual friends, Selby, who is Maya's closest friend (and extremely vanilla), and Alex, who works with Dean. When Dean and Maya meet, it's insta-lust, which is far more believable to this reader than insta-love. Maya is torn between being BDSM curious, and at the same time BDSM fearful. Her first experience at bondage was with Charlie, a man who while being dominating was also physically and emotionally abusive, belittling her, calling her a whore and a slut and not in a nice way, and while she eventually got away from him physically, the emotional scars she carries are still at war with her interest in BDSM, but she's avoided doing much of anything about it for years. Now, she's only dating casually, having short-term affairs and keeping away from heavy commitments. The few men to whom she's mentioned wanting to explore her kink weren't into it.

Dean, while clearly a Dom, is fairly new to the BDSM lifestyle too, and he's eager to explore his own kink with Maya. He starts out by giving her assignments to fulfill, all of which are intended to help her explore her own sexuality and sexual freedom and test her limits. The body of this novel is about those assignments and their mutual exploration of their kink, and if you like your novels hot, this one sizzles, but it really only addresses the domination and bondage side of the lifestyle--there really isn't much in the way of discipline, and it totally ignores the sadism and masochism sides of the equation. In many ways, it seemed to this reader that it was like taking a class called Introduction to BSDM 101.

While I enjoyed the assignments Dean gives Maya, which begin with having Maya merely examine and communicate her sexual wants and needs, the assignments progress to various types of exhibitionism and dressing the part, and her rewards for completing her assignments are hot sex with Dean in control. Unfortunately, we aren't given as much of Dean's backstory and interest in kink as we are in Maya's case. When the exploration ends rather badly for Maya at a sex club Dean brings her to, Maya loses it, and although she's counseled others in the same situation, her reaction is complete and total avoidance. These two characters, while exploring, have never really discussed boundaries or soft and hard limits. If Dean was as into BDSM as he appears to be, he should have known and dealt with Maya's limits before putting her in a situation that he couldn't control.

Luckily, Maya is at least able to talk with her co-worker, Maddie, about her issues with Dean and the world of BDSM she's becoming involved in. She is also preoccupied and worried about one of her current cases with a battered woman named Carrie, whose abusive relationship reminds Maya of her past relationship and unresolved issues with Charlie. When Carrie ends up badly beaten, broken and hospitalized, Maya is shaken to her core, and goes through a long period of solitude and self-examination, avoiding Dean's texts and phone calls entirely.

The fact that Dean, who fancies himself a Dom, doesn't show up for several weeks to help Maya deal with what happened to her just felt wrong. A good Dom would have seen to Maya's aftercare, something that was never even mentioned. Additionally, since Dean is portrayed as controlling, the fact he and Maya see each other only sporadically seemed rather far-fetched, as did the entire sex club incident. Dean admits he's never been there, yet he gains instant access without question, nor are either of these two newbies required to sign a contract which would have given them the opportunity to discuss limits. I think that the author failed to do her homework on sex clubs and the manner in which they operate.

While Selby and Alex are the means by which Dean and Maya meet, they really are secondary and while Maya thinks of Selby as her best friend, the fact that she has to hide her interest in kink from Selby, who is so vanilla that she's utterly unable to even have a conversation about sex just didn't make sense. She knows about Maya's bad experience with Charlie, but in this reader's opinion, her inability to listen to Maya's issues and experiences with Dean didn't scream "best friends" to me.

While Ms. Waters has produced a well-written novel with fairly interesting main characters, it felt as though something was missing--and that was depth. Dean's internal dialogue throughout this novel was nonexistent, a flaw I found hard to overlook. If you're new to BDSM, there are beginners novels that are far better researched and more realistic than this one. Finally, since the novel is about the various assignments Maya is given, why was the title singular?

The ending, though abrupt is typical for this genre. A likely purchase for ebook but not worth the physical shelf space.

terrible. Absolutely terrible. I abandoned at about 30%.

Super hot and sexy! I'm a new fan for life! This book had some serious sex appeal.