Corporate Needs by Bridget Midway

 

Corporate Needs is the third book in Bridget Midway's Corporate series.

We first met Princess in the first book in this series, Corporate Desires, and now we see her again, still as a Domme, but she's not enjoying it anymore. It's now just a drudge of a job.   

Here's the blurb:

Princess Watkins was damn good at her job as a Dominatrix at Suite Surrender, an exclusive BDSM B&B owned by her friends May and Winston Biggers. At least she thought she was before Winston decides to bring in his friend, Dominant Erik Hendrix, for consideration as his replacement as Dungeon Master over all of the Doms and Dommes working there. Erik Hendrix expected to be made Dungeon Master at Suite Surrender. What he didn't expect was to be competing for the spot. He also didn't expect that his competitor would be a very sexy Domme. Too bad he has a strict policy against dating another Domme. With her skills questioned, Princess wonders if maybe she should go "vanilla" and date the dull, new accountant. But with her strong pull to Erik, she's also starting to question her role as a Dominatrix.

I didn't enjoy the second book in this series, at all. Some of the same things caused problems in the third book - the pacing had issues, some of the submissives' needs seemed to be ridiculed, and there was the idea that an overweight submissive was somehow lesser. I appreciated that the submissive in this case stood up for himself, finally.

The plot was better in the third book, but most of the BDSM just didn't work for me. For instance: Being hit with a single tail hurts. Yes, it's possible to turn the hurt into pleasure, but it still hurts. It's sensation that can be transformed, so that it hurts and brings pleasure at the same time, but to say someone expected it to hurt but only felt pleasure... totally blew that entire scene for me.

BDSM elements:

• Bondage and Discipline:  Some. 1 of 3.
• Dominance and Submission: Yes, but as in the second book, it's kind of a confusion of who is feeling what and when.  2 of 3.
• Sadism and Masochism: No, I don't believe I saw much sadism, and the biggest masochist was once again the person that was seen as an overweight submissive who didn't matter. He does stand up for himself, eventually, but I can't give points for S&M. 0 of 3
• Extra Point: No

As for the writing elements, the plot had promise but wasn't executed as well as it could have been. Pacing was much better in the third book then in the second, but still had a few issues. Prose and dialogue were fine. Character development was okay.

• Book Rating:: 6 of 10
• BDSM Intensity Level: 3 of 10
• Heat Level: 1 of 5

The romance did finally work for me towards the end of Corporate Needs. I don't believe we were given a strong idea of how the relationship will move forward, but we do have a decent idea that it will work out.

1. Corporate Desires  
2. Corporate Seduction
3. Corporate Needs

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Corporate Desires by Bridget Midway

 

Corporate Desires follows a few years after the events of Corporate Seduction. Edna Zulma, formerly known as Madame Z, is living with her mother after spending a few years in prison. She's broke, she has a jerk of a parole officer, and she ends up with a job working for a... well, here's the blurb:

Fresh from her recent incarceration, Edna "Madame Z." Zulma wants a normal life. Unfortunately between her new boss and her parole officer, she's finding it hard to be plain ol' Edna. Throw in the very sexy office manager, Burton McCutcheon, and Edna is starting to think about the BDSM lifestyle again. Burton's goal of staying focused as he tries to start his own business is affected as soon as Edna Zulma arrives. When he discovers her BDSM past, he decides to fulfill her fantasies...and his.

There were multiple problems with the plot for me, but the biggest was why Edna spent time in prison at all. Supposedly it was for tax evasion, but we are also told that she donated every bit of the income generated to charity - not just the profits, but every bit of money given to her... and she was operating the business on money willed to her. There would be no tax evasion there. None. At all. She wouldn't owe taxes on any of that money.

That wasn't the only issue for me - supposedly the state took all of her money away from her and that's how she went from multi-millionaire to flat broke. That doesn't happen, either.

And then the radical personality change from Mistress Z to Edna Zulma... it just didn't work for me. I didn't feel that the story explained the personality change - the Madame Z from Corporate Seduction would not have done so many of the things that Edna Zulma did in Corporate Desires.

As for the BDSM portion, we end up seeing Edna topping one boss and submitting to the other.  It physically nauseates her to top her boss, and that whole story line just didn't work for me. The author didn't make me understand why it bothered her so much - this was something she enjoyed doing for so many years, why is it suddenly something she isn't capable of doing?


BDSM elements:

• Bondage and Discipline: Yes, but it's kind of stumbled through, it's not really done as something that is supposed to turn you on. 1 of 3
• Dominance and Submission: Again, it's there but it's all jumbled up. 1 of 3.
• Sadism and Masochism: The masochism is certainly there for one individual, but it's not treated with respect. The masochist is ridiculed by the author, the way his needs are handled within the story bothered me a great deal.  
• Extra Point: No

As for the writing elements, I had a whole lot of major issues with the plot. Pacing was rough. Prose and dialogue were mostly okay.  Character development tried, but because the main character was such a drastically different person in this book than she was in the previous book, I can't say it was very good.

• Book Rating: Corporate Desires: 4 of 10
• BDSM Intensity Level: 2 of 10
• Heat Level: 0 of 5

Again I will say that for people in the BDSM lifestyle, it bothers us to have someone's needs be ridiculed. I had a lot of problems with the plot and with the drastic change in characterization of Madame Z / Edna Zulma - but my biggest problems involved the lies that were told, the flimsy blackmail (Madame Z would have never agreed to be blackmailed into topping someone, especially with no legal standing for any of it), and the way the biggest submissive in the story had his needs put down and ridiculed by the author.

1. Corporate Desires  
2. Corporate Seduction
3. Corporate Needs


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Corporate Seduction by Bridget Midway

 

Corporate Seduction is, as the title suggests, an office romance. But this one has a few twists along the way. More than a few twists, actually.

Here's the blurb:

Maybelline "May" Davenport wants a few things in her life: to move up at work after she obtained her college degree, and to find a man who could sweep her off of her feet like the heroes in her erotic romance novels. She's sure she won't find that while working for a man she calls "the totem pole with style" even though she finds him attractive. Winston Biggers thinks he wants a dominant type of woman in his life. And although she doesn't seem the type, Win can't stop thinking about May, his administrative assistant. But he can't let her go. Not just yet. So he hides her newly-acquired degree to keep her as his assistant. But there are other important aspects about his life that he's hiding. When the truth comes out, will it be too much for May to take? Or will staying with this man make her Win Bigg?

The BDSM in Corporate Seduction is pretty tame, so if you don't like pain in your BDSM, this may be a good book for you.  The BDSM action is mostly D/s with no S&M between our main couple. 

BDSM elements:

• Bondage and Discipline:A very very very small amount. 1 of 3
• Dominance and Submission: Some. 1 of 3
• Sadism and Masochism: None. 0 of 3 
• Extra Point: No.

As for the writing elements, the plot was pretty predictable except for one surprise that was thrown into the mix towards the end. Pacing had issues. Prose and dialogue were fine, with a nice voice over all. Character developement was well done.

And the character development  is probably what carried the story for me. I've said it before, but good characters can overcome a lot of other problems with a story. There are two other books in this series and I am very interested in reading them.

• Book Rating: Corporate Seduction: 8 of 10
• BDSM Intensity Level: 2 of 10
• Heat Level: 2 of 10

The blurbs for the next two books give the appearance that there will be more S&M involved in future stories. We've met both female characters in Corporate Seduction, I look forward to reading their stories.

1. Corporate Seduction
2. Corporate Desires
3. Corporate Needs

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