Letting Go

By: Maya Banks

Narrated by: Alix Dale

Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's Summary

In her sensational Breathless Trilogy, number-one New York Times best-selling author Maya Banks tested the boundaries of desire. In her Surrender trilogy, there’s only one thing left to do: cross them. And never have the consequences of erotic exploration been so irresistibly inviting, so shockingly intimate, and so totally unexpected....

Josslyn found perfection once, and she knows she’ll never find it again. Now widowed, she seeks the one thing her beloved husband couldn’t give her: dominance. Lonely, searching for an outlet for her grief and wanting only a brief taste of the perfection she once enjoyed, she seeks what she’s looking for at an exclusive club that caters to people indulging in their most hedonistic fantasies. She never imagined that what she’d find would be the one man who’s long been a source of comfort - and secret longing. Her husband’s best friend.

Dash has lived in an untenable position for years: in love with his best friend’s wife but unwilling to act on that attraction. He’d never betray his best friend. And so he’s waited in the wings, offering Joss unconditional support and comfort as she works past her grief, hoping for the day when he can offer her more.

When he finds her in a club devoted to the darker edges of desire, he’s furious because he thinks she has no idea what she’s getting herself into. Until she explains in detail what it is she wants. What she needs. As realization sets in, he is gripped by fierce, unwavering determination. If she wants dominance, he is the only man who will introduce her to that world. He is the only man who will touch her, cherish her...love her. And the only man she’ll ever submit to.

©2014 Maya Banks (P)2013 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

"Letting Go" is correct.

I generally enjoy Ms. Banks' writing, especially her "Colter's Legacy" series. I'm disappointed in in this effort. The characters natter on and on about their angst over the death of the husband. That's really boring. The narrator doesn't help. She has a very nasally voice and when a word ends in the letter P, it ends up having an F sound added in. This book just doesn't live up to her outstanding reputation.

Well... ...

OK... I see Breathless Series all over again... Which I did eventually like...

Not until the 3rd book in the Breathless Series did I really feel like it was a Banks Series... This kinda fell along those lines. Sometimes, Banks just don't do it for me and sometimes she does...

What really irritated me about this book wasn't actually the book, it was the darn blurp about how this was a crossover between Breathless and Surrender Series..

I spent the entire book looking for characters from Breathless and I really don't think the two main characters from this book appeared in Breathless...so WTF!

Anyway, this story was good, but I really didn't like the male (H). He was just... unrealistic if that makes sense...

The female (h) had a lot of plausible characteristics such as she waited 2yrs to move on after the death of her husband, and she actually grieved...and had a hard time trying to accept another man... She had a hard time letting friends and family know she wanted to move on... See plausible characteristics... Now the (H), he goes from best friend to dominating man of your dreams in like 3.4 secs.....???? What?????

Like I said... Breathless Series all over again... Book 1... OK; Book 2... Better; and Book 3... A Banks Romance!

Let's hope I can wait around for book 3....and since it's a crossover series, I would like to see Jace, Ash, Mia, Bethany... someone from the Breathless Series soon..

Nice Sale... I would actually save my credit for something a bit more fulfilling, definitely not a buy.

Narration was pretty good.

Ugg!! Another good story but HORRIBLE narrative!!!

What disappointed you about Letting Go?

I just could not stand listening... So annoying!!! Will not listen to another book read by this narrator!!!

A poorly written story with a trite little plot

Ok, I am sure I should have known the code words that Maya Banks' followers know, but I thought this "dominance" idea meant another story about kinky sex. Turns out it's a code word for setting kinky sex into a moralistic framework about wives being completely submissive to their husbands. Even if I bought this idea, which I don't, I would still find the heroine insipid. But the worst part is the writing: ideas are repeated over and over so that the very wordy text - minus much in the way of interesting plot details - just keeps repeating that Joss loved her (now dead) husband. Her new lover - ex best friend of her husband - has little else to recommend him except he fulfills her desire for "dominance." There are better stories about kinky sex to choose, unless you identify with the book's particular take on women as "submissives."

Sorry Maya - Not your best work

Any additional comments?

Joss has spent the past 3 years mourning her late husband, who tragically died in a car accident. The veil of grief is finally lifting and she decides it’s time to get on with her life. She can’t mourn forever. She also can’t continue to deny parts of herself, like her need to be dominated. She decides to visit an exclusive, upscale BDSM club called The House to finally begin exploring the darker side of her sexuality. The last thing she could have anticipated happening was seeing her dead husband’s best friend, Dash, at the club. Or that he would hustle her out of the club like it was on fire. Mortified and confused, she allows him to take her home, expecting a lecture. Only Dash doesn’t want to lecture her (well, okay, he kind of does), he wants to dominate her.

Dash has been in love with Joss since the day he met her. It was hell being in love with his best friend’s wife, but he kept his feelings hidden because he had too much respect for his best friend to make things awkward. In the years since his friend died, he’s been biding his time, supporting Joss while she grieved, waiting for her to be ready for him. Now that she seems ready to break out of her shell, he wants to be the one to pick her up. He figures he’ll have to deny the dominate side of himself to be with her, but he knows Joss is worth any sacrifice…until he spies her at The House. He’s shocked to learn she’s always craved a dominant man and he wants to be the one to lead her into the lifestyle. With the ghost of her husband between them, and the disapproval of their friends, can they weather the storm enough to find their way to a happily-ever-after.

I love Maya Banks books but this is not her best work. Sadly Alix Dale's narration was horrible and didn't fit this story at all. I didn't get past the first half of the book.....

Repetitive, predictable, eye rolling bad!

I liked the other stories about "The house", but this one was horrible! This whole book could have been summed up in about an hour. The editor really screwed up on this one. All the sentiments were on target but when you hear the SAME sentence for the tenth time, and can predict that it is about to be used AGAIN...well it makes you want to stop listening.

Joss was married to Carson...for how long we don't know because that detail wasn't said even once, but he has been dead for 3 years. Dash was Carson's business partner and best friend, and in love with Joss. He never made a move, no cheating or love triangle here, but after 3 years if mourning Joss appears to be ready to date again and Dash wants it to be him.

Sounds like a good premise but it really wasn't, like I said it was SOOOO repetitive that it made me want to shut it off. Don't buy it, not on sale, not as a freebie, just don't bother!

Promising start, problematic hero.

This story started out with promise as our a lovely widowed heroine, Josslyn, tells her female friends that she will be seeking to enter a Dominant/submissive relationship as she is drawn to the lifestyle and wishes to try it. The lead up to this part of the story was heart-felt and handled so well I looked forward to the heroine’s journey to finding personal fulfilment.

So far so good until the heroine enters the BDSM club she has thoroughly researched, unexpectedly (for me as a reader) on the arm of a man the hero, Dash, despises. Dash was Josslyn’s deceased husband’s best friend, and unlike Josslyn’s husband, he is well entrenched in the BDSM community as a Dominant. At this point, the novel could have turned delicious, but instead, it took a nosedive for me. Dash angrily intercepts Josslyn and “deals with” the other man in a distasteful manner as he commandeers Josslyn away from the club.

I kept listening hoping the story would improve. It didn’t. Dash’s attitude and treatment of Josslyn was “dominating” and not the actions of a good “Dominant” – there’s a difference. I felt he smothered and overwhelmed her into submitting to his desire for her. His actions and the sex that followed felt wrong to me. As the novel progressed, Dash’s character and actions only worsened. I thought I’d get a heart-thumping romance here within a Dominant/submissive relationship, but this relationship felt forced, and I don’t feel the BDSM community was well represented.

The most popular reviews for this novel on Audible are overwhelmingly negative, and a lot of blame is laid at the feet of the narrator, Alix Dale. I actually like this narrator and feel she did a great job with the book she was given. I believe the problem lies with the STORY and the hero’s actions in particular.

Maya Banks is hit and miss for me – I loved SWEET SURRENDER and SWEET PERSUASION but disliked EXILED. Although LETTING GO was a miss for me too, I’ll look out for more Maya Banks hits because I know she can create great stories. Unfortunately, I just can't recommend this one.

Low Expectations for Women

Maya Banks explores the lives of couples who are friends. Some of the couples are in the DOM/Sub relationship. But, it was interesting because I found the independent woman in me having some trouble with these characters.

Joss (heroine) is pretty much a trophy wife. She doesn't have children, but stays home and was the hostess with the mostess for her husband's business events etc. (really that seemed to be the biggest challenge in her life)....so her husband dies, and 3 years later she gets involved with her husband's business partner, Dash, who is a DOM. Joss loves this because she had "needs" that her husband never fulfilled, but the new guy does. Joss loved being dominated so this relationship with Dash is a dream for her.

What was weird for me was how the men in the book are big on caring for the women, supposedly "cherishing them" "loving them" etc. (even with the BDSM stuff & having other men involved in the sex-capades), but, my feeling was that the women were kind of helpless…..no career, no real goals except waiting for their partner to get home and get it on. I mean the biggest worry the heroine had was whether she should reinstate her nursing certificate., but SHE NEVER DID IT!!!! She had plenty of time since she stayed home all day and who knows what she did all day (except make dinner for her man)….UM, that's kind of low expectations for a woman, in general…….

So the biggest action in this book was Joss waiting naked for her man, then getting ready to go to the local sex club. And, Dash is like , "baby I cherish & love you, now trust me, turn around & let me whip your @ss & put butt plugs up your buttonhole"---SERIOUSLY!!!

Even though I loved Maya Banks' Highland series, I don't think I'm going to continue with this one. I mentioned the part of the story that I had trouble with, but I also took issue with how redundant and repetitive the internal monologue of the characters were. OH MAYA…NOT YOUR BEST WORK :-(

Narrator: The female voices were performed fine, but the performance for the male voices was lacking.

What. The. Hell?

I love Maya Banks. Love her. But damn was this book trash. It was whiney, clichéd, repetitive and so unoriginal. There was no plot, the dialogue was phoned in and the narrator spoke through her teeth while portraying that male lead. Half of the book read like an instructional Dominate/Submissive for Dummies manual. It was so corny, with phrases like, "I will love you forever darling" or "he gave her wings to fly". Struggled so hard to finish it purely out of respect for the author. Wow. Was this awful. Not one redeeming quality. Majorly disappointed.

wanted it to be better than what is was...

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I would add more depth to the story. The book just consisted of sex and not much of anything else.

What could Maya Banks have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

The book was about a woman losing her husband and trying to learn how to love and trust another man... but the way the book was written I could not get into the emotional journey. It just had me tuning out and couldn't get into the story.

How could the performance have been better?

I don't think the narrator expressed the emotion accurately. In some of the scenes I think it was over the top.

Any additional comments?

A plus about the book, the sex scenes were VERY hot. Made up for the other lacking areas.

letting go

as usual maya bank weaves a love story set with a difference.
I enjoyed this book and I am going to get the next Book in the series.