Ashes of Sin and Stardust (AnchorX) by Lindsay Murray – Review by Angela Hayes

Ashes of Sin and Stardust by Lindsay Murray
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3 Stars

What happens when you finally find the woman of you dreams, only to find she’s a complete brat? Reuben’s dominant streak is about to be tested like never before, but he is determined to tame, and train, this little brat. Alice has wanted a good Dom for what seems like forever, only to be disappointed time and again. Will Reuben finally fill the void in her life, and be the one she can trust to break her in all the right ways?
Ashes of Sin and Stardust is an AnchorX novel by Lindsay Murray. This is the first book that I have read by Ms. Murray, so I really wasn’t sure of what to expect from one of her books. But I was intrigued enough by the cover and blurb to take a chance and dive in. This is an erotic, BDSM romance- with plenty of triggers, dark themes, emotion, steam, banter, pleasure/pain, drama, and intensity. This is not a light and fluffy read, and I urge you to read the warnings before diving in- see below….
“This book isn’t a sweet, lighthearted romance with a sexy ripped man and a sweet submissive woman. So if that’s what you’re expecting, turn back now. These two break rules….. This book contains depictions of self-harm, intent and thoughts of suicide, mention of child abuse, and rape. It also contains graphic scenes of some BDSM acts that are often referred to as “edge play,” and may be upsetting or triggering to some readers. This content includes knife/blood play, choking, spit, face slapping, degradation/humiliation, heavy impact, hypnosis and brainwashing, and consensual non-consent…”
I have read a LOT of erotic BDSM stories in my time and am always excited to find a new one in the hope that it stands out from the rest of the crowd. This is not an easy genre to master, and often I am left feeling a little disappointed, as was the case with this book. Sorry… This should have ticked all the boxes for me and been a scorching red-hot read. But unfortunately, this wasn’t the case. I felt that some elements of the story seemed a little odd, and not really in keeping with the main storyline- and didn’t gel with the rest. Added to that this is quite a long story, which normally I would find fantastic as I love nothing better than to really sink my teeth into a story and lose myself in all the enticing developments- but the length of this story really detracted from my overall enjoyment of the book, being quite wordy with a lot of information dumps which really broke the flow of the story for me. This book has the potential for so much more but as it stands it didn’t work for me. But don’t let me put you off reading this book, as plenty of other readers have given it 5 stars, so obviously I am in the minority here. I am intrigued but what else this author can do, so I will pick up another of her books to explore just to compare.
Emotive, with a big trigger warning!
Happy Reading!

Thank you, Lindsay Murray!

Reviewed by @angelahayes

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