May 8, 2014

The Last Good Knight Blog Tour: Review and Q&A

Hi, everyone! I am really excited to be on the The Last Good Knight blog tour today, hosted by The Novel Tease. If you’re a reader of this blog you know how much I adore Tiffany Reisz’s writing and I am happy to be on the tour for her newest novella in the Original Sinners series. This novella is being released in 5 parts, and the first part is available now. Read on for my review of all 5 parts as well as a Q&A with Tiffany at the end of the post.

Title: The Last Good Knight (Parts I – V)

Author: Tiffany Reisz

Publication May 6, 2014
Publisher: Harlequin MIRA
Genre: Adult Romance/Erotica
Find It: Goodreads, Amazon, B&N
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

The Last Good Knight is an Original Sinners novella starring Mistress Nora, released in five parts.

The Last Good Knight by Tiffany Reisz is a prequel novella set 3 years before the events of The Siren. The Last Good Knight is a delicious and naughty tale that is just the thing for all of the Sinners fans eagerly awaiting the next novel in Reisz’s Original Sinner series, The Saint, due out in June. The story has been serialized into five parts and includes some of your favorite Sinners characters, including Nora, Søren, Kinglsey and new love interest Lance. While the story could probably be read without reading the other books in the series, I would not recommend it. These characters all have a long history with each other and it’s best to know that history to get the full effect of the story. Besides, the series is awesome and you won’t regret reading it.

I am going to review and rate each part by itself and then give my thoughts on the story as a whole at the end.

Part I: Scars and Stripes – 4 stars

Reisz cuts right to the chase in the first part of The Last Good Knight. When Nora encounters a good looking male sub at the bar of the 8th Circle, she doesn’t waste any time getting to submit to her whims. A steamy session follows and Nora finds Lance to be the perfect sub. Though they’ve just met, she begins to feel that there may be more than just a one night stand between them. They are about to head into another round of fun when their night is interrupted by Søren telling Nora that a female Domme has been attacked and that she needs to go to Kinsley’s immediately.

This was a good intro into the story and drops us right back into the world of The Original Sinners. Nora is her usual irreverent self and it’s interesting to see what her life was like after leaving Søren and working near him on a regular basis. The two definitely still have amazing chemistry even when they are not together. Like Nora, I immediately liked Lance and wanted to know more about him.

Part II: Soft Spots – 3 stars

Nora and the employees of The 8th Circle all convene at Kingsley’s house and learn the details of Natasha’s assault. The news of how badly she was beaten and the fact that the culprit is still on the loose rattles the of The 8th Circle. Though somewhat shaken herself, Nora knows that she needs to put on a brave face for the others and she decides not to alter her schedule. Though he’s not happy about it, Søren agrees as long as she has a bodyguard. Kingsley ends up sending Lance to be Nora’s bodyguard with the rule that they cannot have sex while he is working for her. This complicates things as all Nora can think about is having sex with Lance.

Lance escorts Nora to her various appointments throughout the day, including one to a kindly old judge who has a foot fetish. During their drives, Nora takes the opportunity to learn more about Lance. We find out the particulars of his divorce and the circumstances of his child custody case. It’s clear that Lance is a honorable and good man and, the more Nora learns about him, the more she wants him. Frustrated, horny and unable to sleep with Lance, Nora turns to the one man she knows how can take care of her needs.

Part III: The Games Destiny Plays – 4 stars

Nora shows up at Søren’s house, needing release and knowing that he can give it to her. He wastes no time and what they both need. This is one of my favorite parts just because I love Søren and Nora together. We definitely get to see they dynamic at work here and we can see why they are so good together. Nora is struggling because she still loves Søren but doesn’t want to give up her freedom. Her growing feelings for Lance don’t help the matter and she even asks Søren for advice.Lance is, at first, angered by the bruises that he sees on Nora but later understands that her needs are similar to his own and that he cannot judge her for it. Part III ends on a cliffhanger when Kingsley informs Nora that the perpetrator has made another move, this one against Nora.

Part IV: Fit To Be Tied – 4 stars

Part III left us with the knowledge that the attacker had broken into Nora’s dungeon. However, Griffin (love Griff!) was there and was able to apprehend him. Without the threat of an attacker on the loose, Lance and Nora no longer have to abide by Kingley’s rule not to have sex. So their clothes come off and the cuffs come on. :)While I really liked the love scene between Lance and Nora, I have to say that I was a little disappointed in this part. The fact that the attacker was detained so easily and with so little fanfare was quite a letdown. I expected more since the attack was the entire premise for the story and I wanted a little more from it. But the love scene is pretty awesome so I can forgive the lame ending to the mystery.

Part V: The Last Good Knight – 4 stars

The threat of the attacker is gone and Nora no longer needs a bodyguard. Her feelings for Lance have grown and she feels like she may want to keep him. Unfortunately her plan to help him get his daughter back might just be the thing that keeps them apart.

The last installment of The Last Good Knight is a bittersweet one Lance must make a difficult choice and choose between two people he loves. I thought that the ending was very fitting and really showed how much Nora and Lance cared about each other. But, as the song says, love isn’t always enough and sometimes having one thing means giving up another. This segment was a really emotional one that tied up the story really well.

Overall:
This is a great little novella in The Original Sinners series. Lance and Nora are a great couple and it was really interesting to see a male sub/female Domme relationship. The story also gives us more insight into Nora and Søren’s relationship prior to The Siren. While I thought that each part was well paced and started and ended at a good spot in the story, I am still on the fence about serialized stories, especially ones that are as short as this one. Since this is a short story, each part is really short, and I think the serialized format would work better for me with a full length novel. That said, this is still a great, sexy read. I don’t recommend reading it without having read at least The Siren. You’ll get much more out of it if you have some context of the people and relationships involved.

Overall rating:

*I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This, in no way, affected my opinion or review of this book.

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Q&A with Tiffany Reisz

Hi, Tiffany! Thank you so much for coming onto the blog today. We are so excited to have you and to hear more about your new release, The Last Good Knight.

Happy to be here! Spanks for having me!

Can you tell us a little bit about The Last Good Knight? Where in the timeline of the Original Sinners does it fall?

The Last Good Knight takes place three years before The Siren. Nora has broken up with Søren and is working as a professional Dominatrix for Kingsley. She’s struggling with how much she misses Søren but isn’t ready to give up her freedom yet. She spies a handsome male sub at the club and seduces him. Why? Because she’s Nora.

Serialized stories and novels seem to be gaining popularity with publishers lately. Why do you think this is and why did you think that this story would be best told in that format?

Originally serials were the main form of popular fiction distribution. Almost all of Charles Dickens’s books were told in serial format in newspapers. I love this old-fashioned format. It’s a fun throwback to the old days. My publisher simply asked me for a linked story about Nora’s life as a Dominatrix and this is what came out of my head.

Was the writing process for a serialized story like The Last Good Knight different than your normal writing process?

Not really. The only thing you have to do with a serial like this is have a strong ending at the finale of each part and make sure there’s some sexual content in all five sections. Fitting in that much sex is the trickiest part.

Tell us a little bit about Lance, the new love interest in The Last Good Knight.

Lance was inspired by a man I met at a book event. He’s the bodyguard and collared submissive of a professional Dominatrix. A lot of people don’t realize how tough and manly male submissives can be. They’re not all sweet little angels like Michael. Some of them can kill you. Lance’s crisis in the book is unfortunately based on true events. A Dominatrix I used to see for pain sessions had to quit her dungeon when she went through a divorce and a custody battle for her child.

Is there anything that Nora won’t do?

Cook. It’s just not her thing.

Thank you, Tiffany. This was so much fun and we wish you the best with The Last Good Knight!

Thank you and spank you!Thank you to Tiffany, The Novel Tease and Harlequin MIRA for including us on this tour!

Visit the author online at tiffanyreisz.com, Facebook and follow her on Twitter @tiffanyreisz.

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