The Art of Domination is the second in a series by Ella Dominguez. The first book in the series is The Art of Submission. While both are about Dylan and Isa, the Art of Domination gives us some true insight into who Dylan and Isa are. It’s as if Dylan was wearing a façade in the Art of Submission and that façade is removed in the Art of Domination.In the first book, I liked Dylan. He could be a jerk at times, but he realized this and would apologize to Isa. In the second book, I did not like Dylan. At all. Once this façade was removed, this entirely different person came out. He couldn’t apologize. He couldn’t say I’m sorry to Isa. I felt like he saw Isa as a possession rather than a person, unless her being a person suited his needs.
Isa continues to be innocent and naïve about so many things. She lets Dylan lead her around and I often wanted to smack her. She was often petulant and childlike in my mind.
Isa saw the real Dylan when he asked her to marry him. She didn’t say no, but she didn’t say yes either and this other person showed up. This alternate Dylan. His insecurities finally came forward and BOY did they ever come out. Once he convinced Isa to marry him, he got her into a no safewords arrangement with him. This really bothered me. They barely know each other. They’ve been together for five months and already they’re at the no safewords zone? Isa went along with it.
Isa’s own insecurities came to the fore front in a major way. All of this galvanized by Dylan’s refusal to tell Isa everything. He kept secrets. Secrets are a bad thing for any relationship, but for a marriage, or worse yet, a marriage with ties to BDSM, secrets are VERY VERY BAD. Dylan quickly found this out. While he knew he should tell Isa everything, he couldn’t, or rather he wouldn’t.
Even when Isa’s life is in danger, he still can’t tell her everything. He kept secrets from her. It almost cost him. The cost? Her life.
The intrigue and mystery in this one was amazing. Ella Dominguez managed to weave a story of deceit, mystery, and tension that was amazing. I felt the rush, the fear, the adrenaline as Dylan and Isa were feeling it.
Ella Dominguez continued to tell this story with alternating POVs. However, in this one, each POV picked up where the last one left off. There was no re-telling of the same story from a different POV. It made it very easy to follow and kept the story moving along.
Now, I’ve stated that I found Dylan and Isa to be very frustrating and that I didn’t really like Dylan. That being said, I LOVED this story. It was so good. Not all relationships are healthy, and I’m not sure Dylan and Isa’s is healthy. I don’t always like the characters in the books, but then I don’t like everyone I meet either! I found this to be a very dysfunctional relationship between two very dysfunctional people and I loved it! I couldn’t put it down and had to know how it ended.
As to the ending, well, we have another cliffhanger. I can’t wait for the Art of Control to come out! This is getting good!
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