ARC received via Netgalley for an honest review

Hmm, where to start with this book? I wasn't sure what to expect when I chose it, but there was something in the blurb that intrigued me.

Now firstly, I will say that I liked it, however I did have my problems with it. Nothing to do with the BDSM subject matter, more to do with the fact there was too many other tropes in there as well.

It started out suspensey with Isabella's past, then it flew straight into BDSM - hope you have lube as there is no reader foreplay involved, then we flip over into a teacher/student taboo-ish relationship.

And to throw something more into the ring, every character had some kind of big issue to fight through, not just one (which would have been enough IMO)

But enough of that - it makes me sound like I didn't like it, however that it not the case at all. It was just a bit (lot) too much in the one book!

I did enjoy Isabella and Tristan's story, I could understand her interest in the BDSM lifestyle and why she threw herself right in the deep end

There were so many times I just wanted the characters to just be able to move forward without all the hullabaloo that was going on around them. There was enough with just her past and the teacher/student thing that at times I just couldn't help but roll my eyes at all the extras, that felt a bit OTT.

But again, this could just be me.

I did like the arc that Isabella and Tristan's story took, however with so much thrown in there, something had to give. And for me, it was the ending. It felt extremely rushed, and I was sure I had to have missed a chapter or two in there.

Sometimes less is more, and in the case of At His Mercy, I feel that this would have been the case.

I will read the next book in the series though.