Rough Cut by Mari Carr

Ty Ransome and Gwen Preston’s book.

Book Blurb - Ty Ransome. Reigning king of Hollywood, producer, actor, Look Magazine-s Hottest Man Alive. He has it all-until he reads a book of short stories that touches him in places kept carefully hidden from the tabloid gossip mill. There-s only one way to meet the introverted writer-invite her to Tinseltown to work on a script. The moment he sees her, he realizes why her work haunts him. There-s something missing in his life, and it-s her.

Gwen steps off the plane with reservations. For one thing, her darkly sexual stories are hardly movie material. Then there-s Ty-s reputation as a ladies- man. Yet she-s won over by his charm and agrees to stay on for a week to get to know him before making her decision. And as the days go by, she discovers there-s far more to Ty than a handsome face.

They eat, drink and breathe the characters in their screenplay, re-enacting scenes that delve into the BDSM realm, setting Ty free to unleash his powerful cravings and exposing Gwen-s deepest needs. Needs she set free on paper-but is not sure she-s ready to make a reality.


When Rough Cut started, Ty was in a limo waiting at the airport for Gwen to arrive. A rather slutty Hollywood wannabe actress was trying to seduce Ty in the limo. I kinda groaned a bit because of the way they talked and the entire situation in the limo made an impression on me that Ty was a balding fat man with heavy chains around his neck talking like he was a mobster. Now nothing was given for descriptions to warrant that gross impression but maybe that was the problem. With more words to really describe the set up or that left a different impression on the reader, I was left to my own imagination. So for me, the set up with Ty set me off on the wrong track.

There was a nice scene where Gwen invites Ty into her bed just to sleep because he was so exhausted. I loved that scene. It had great descriptions and a nice setting. The only problem was that after innocently sleeping together in the morning they wake up and start to French kiss and get all hot. The sex scene itself was great but I just couldn’t get past that who the hell wants to jam tongues down each other throats as soon as they wake up. I get that it is an erotic romance but I just couldn’t get over the morning breath factor.

My main problem with Rough Cut is that I had issues with the story’s conflict. I hated the constant hesitation of Gwen to accept what she wanted sexually when Ty never gave her every indication that he was willing to give it to her. In fact Ty was trying all kinds of ways to be domineering and commanding. The struggle to have Gwen accept that she wanted to be submissive and enter into BDSM was a bit tiring after.

Speaking of BDSM, there is lots of talk the subject but other than a spanking scene, tiny bit of bondage and a handcuff scene, that was it. I wonder if the author was a bit afraid to really deliver a BDSM story.