Book Review: Hot Ticket by Olivia Cunning

Title: Hot Ticket
Series: Sinners on Tour, Book 3
Author: Olivia Cunning
Genre: Erotic Romance
Sensuality Rating: Erotic
Source: NetGalley
Published: February 5, 2013 by Sourcebooks Casablanca

There are things in bassist Jace Seymour’s past that he is unwilling to share with anyone. To cover his guilt and anguish, he seeks dominatrix Mistress V (Aggie) to temporarily placate his inner turmoil.

Aggie doesn’t have much use for men–besides the power rush she gets when they’re begging for mercy at her feet–but Jace isn’t like her usual clients. His cool defiance and unexpected dominance in the bedroom drives her to distraction and quickly steals her heart.

When circumstances threaten Jace’s position in Sinners, Aggie must help him regain his rightful place in the band while showing him that time and love can heal all wounds.

Why I Read this Book: This is a pretty good erotic romance series, with Backstage Pass (book one) being my favorite. I find it intriguing to read about rock stars and their love affairs.

What I Liked: Hot Ticket is Jace’s book and we get to find out about all the skeletons in his closet, and BOY were there some skeletons! It was endearing to see Jace’s character develop and overcome his demons. There’s quit a bit of back story in Jace’s life. We see him evolve, from someone who thinks very little of himself to someone with more self esteem.

Aggie was a great character. I loved her Mistress V side. It was interesting to read the parts when she was in her dominatrix role. Her ability to turn on her Mistress V persona  at any given moment and with a snap of the fingers was fun to read.

I like keeping up to date on the other band members. Brian and Myrna got some page time as well as Sed and Jessica.

What I Didn’t Like: I had a big problem with the beginning of Hot Ticket, big enough that I almost did not finish the book (in which I would have then given up on this series altogether). The first 15% of the book (until chapter 6) rehashed a story arc, make that TWO story arcs,  that played out in Rock Hard (book 2 of the series). I kept thinking to myself, ‘wait a minute, haven’t I read this before?’. Turns out I had. I stuck it out a little longer and was relieved when the recapping passed and the primary focus returned to Jace and Aggie (since Hot Ticket is their book).

Aggie’s mom was too kooky for me. She was annoying as hell and I couldn’t wait for her to go away (exit page left!). But really, all that means is that Olivia Cunning wrote a disturbing, yet convincing, portrayal of a non-present-except-when-it-suits-her kind of mother.

Memorable Moment:

Within seconds of meeting a man, Aggie could assign him to one of two lists.

List A: Men Not Worth My Time.

List B: Men I’d Like to Fuck.

“I’ll call you dog, slut, slave, pussy, bastard, Batman, whatever you like.”

Overall Impression: Hot Ticket didn’t start out well for me but redeemed itself just before I was ready to throw in the towel on this book (and ultimately this series). Once the spotlight was brought back to Jace and Aggie, it was a good read. Just to note: this is an erotic romance novel. There is BDSM; there is anal play; there is a threesome (m/f/m). There were some parts that weren’t my cup of tea but hey, this is a series about rock stars and the heroine is a dominatrix so I guess it’s to be expected. It’s also worth mentioning that it is strongly recommended (by other readers as well as myself) that this series be read in the order that Olivia Cunning meant it to be read in – with Double Time read as the 5th book – and not in the order the books were released (Double Time was released after book 2). I don’t understand the reasoning for Double Time’s out-of-order release but if read in the order of release, it can ruin both Hot Ticket and Wicked Beat (book 4 in the series) by spoiling each of their resulting HEAs. 

Brianna’s Rating:

    

 

Brianna’s reviews for other books in this series:
Backstage Pass – 4 frogs
Rock Hard – 3 frogs