Innocence Defied

Innocence Defied by Lainey Reese
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I have been a fan of Lainey Reese since I have read Table for Three. I have loved this series and when I found out she had another book coming out, I decided to take a chance and pre-order this book.

The story is about a Zoe Marshall, Brice's little sister (he is in Table for Three and has his own book Damaged Goods (New York). Zoe has loved Gage, Brice's best friend, since she was born. She has had this "undeniable" (which this story reminds me of a little (only because of the age difference)) connection to him. Gage has only seen her as a little sister until he sees her as a grown women.

Now Gage finds himself very attracted to Zoe but seems to have some internal struggles with his feels for her. Mainly it is because of age (I understand the internal struggle people may have with the age difference, they are about 13 to 14 years apart (Zoe turns 21 in this book)) but it is also the fear of losing his best-friend, Brice.
When Gage finally gives into his feelings, you see the beginning of a D/s relationship.

In this book, in the bedroom, Gage takes lead and he takes it well. But overall, Zoe is the most mature when it comes to her feelings. Yes, she is still young and does grow in this book, but she is not afraid to tell her feelings to Gage, he is fights his feelings for so long, or has never had to deal with these feelings before and did not know how to handle them. I believe it is the latter.

Gage stated it best, "She's started them on this path insisting that she become his slave, and she had instead been the one who enslaved him." It is poetic, raw, and true. This one sentence defines the love of this book and how one choice ( to have a slave) may not be the choice you needed all along. All Gage needed was an innocences defied and the truth presented itself.

The ending is a Happy Ever After (HEA) and it closes out Cade, Riley and Trevor (which I love because I want more books on them) and Terryn and Brice. I really do love how she talks about each of the couples in each book, it shows them as a unit and while living in a D/s or group relationship you need all the support possible.


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