The Bound Series by Ava March

Seduce my mind and you can have my body. Find my soul and I’m yours forever. – Unknown

It’s official. I’ve discovered my favorite Ava March series. I guess I should qualify that with “so far”, though, since I haven’t had the chance to read everything she’s written. Yet.

Bound by Deception, Bound to Him, and Bound Forever are joined by two FREE erotic vignettes, Deliberately Unbound and Deliberately Bound, in telling the complete and perfect story of two men, friends since childhood, who eventually find a way to claim each other in spite of being bound by the reality that their love is against the law and that one of them, Lord Vincent Prescot, has some preconceived notions to overcome before he can be free to belong to Oliver.

Lord Oliver Marsden is the object of Vincent’s desire, though Vincent doesn’t realize he wants Oliver at all until he believes Oliver is a submissive whore called Jake, because Oliver has manipulated Vincent’s perceptions to make it so. What follows is the seamlessly told story of the redefinition of a relationship. It is the story of a man who must face, albeit rather reluctantly, the knowledge that not only does he prefer men but that he prefers his best friend above all others, which is not a simple task when the possibility exists that he may be obligated to marry and produce an heir to the Saye and Sele marquisate.

Their story is a delicate balance of necessary public discretion and uninhibited lust behind closed doors. It’s a balance of understanding that sexual submission does not equal a complete surrender of control in all things. It’s the story of two men falling completely and irrevocably in love and discovering that the depth of their love has also bred a terrible fear that it could be taken away at a moment’s notice, and in the effort to protect what it is they’ve found, it is a fear that nearly tears them apart.

I love historical romance, and one of the things I think Ava March does so well is romanticizing the Regency Era. Maybe there should be something a little unsatisfying about watching a couple fall in love yet not be able to live openly together and acknowledge that love freely, but there isn’t, at least not for me. Maybe it has a something to do with that love being personal and private, not sharing it with the world but holding it close and protecting it with everything you are in order for it to thrive and survive. It’s a different sort of romantic love and it challenges my contemporary notions of happily-ever-after. Whatever it is, Ms. March hooks me every time, with her skilled storytelling, strong characters, and sizzling love scenes.

If you don’t mind a little BDSM in your historical erotica, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this series.

Find these and more of Ava March’s work here: