Hump Day Reviews: The Position by Dahlia Salvatore

Today’s Hump Day Review is of The Position by Dahlia Salvatore, which is currently on tour with Bewitching Book Tours.

Book Description

Dylan Farrow puts on his pants every morning one leg at a time, just like everyone else at the Kerrigan Advertising Agency. He handles high-pressure projects with a fast turnaround. He’s prized for his keen intellect and admirable performance. But how did he get where he is today—to the level of Junior Executive of Design Production?

Well, that involves how he takes his pants off…

and for whom…

Hoping to break through the glass ceiling under which she’s been trapped for years, Valerie Caplan picks up her life and moves to Seattle. After hearing about the position of Senior Executive of Design Production from an art director at Kerrigan, she decides to apply. When she lands the big interview, she never thinks for a minute that she’ll have any serious competition. She assumes that she has the job in the bag… until she discovers that the only competition has something she doesn’t have—the willingness to go outside the office to impress Danica Stewart, their uptight female boss.

Curious? It’s currently available for purchase at Amazon.

My Review

Another erotic take on the tried and true office romance, The Position offers a glimpse into the world of compromised morals populated by ad executives. Reversing the typical roles, Dahlia Salvatore’s ladder-climber is a single man in a predominantly female world. If that isn’t fantasy enough, Dylan’s been getting away with some terribly blatant sexual blackmail for years. He’s about as sleazy a scumbag as you could associate with the profession of advertising – the type Bill Hicks is talking about in his infamous “Kill Yourself” bit – and yet he’s oddly intriguing.

It’s probably his “9 inch long, 2 inch around” cock. Or maybe it’s the way he’ll make you beg for it.

In any event, he’s the type of take-charge guy who has women on their knees doing his bidding. But he’s also the kind of guy who digs giving as good as he gets, and if anyone’s being used for sex in these scenarios, it could just be him. What else would you call the kind of sexual satisfaction he doles out, leaving women spent and dripping their juices in the bedroom, the boardroom, and even a private sex club?

The sex scenes in this book are definitely hot, thanks to Dylan’s commanding presence. And I don’t even like blondes.

It’s the romance part of the book that’s troubling me.

Billed as erotica, as opposed to an erotic romance, I’m not quite sure I buy Mr. Love ‘Em and Leave ‘Em is falling for Valerie, the new gal in town. Sure, she’s described as sexy, take-charge and hungry for that corner office… and she’s thrown into the shark tank with Dylan, to work together on a lingerie campaign that will determine the course of both of their careers… but that’s no reason for these two to go messing everything up by falling in love!

Call me crazy, but I really have no need for the romance part of this office romance. I was actually sold on the sex being purely for sex’s sake. Long hours together at the office, slutty lingerie as the perfect cover story, visiting an Eyes Wide Shut-esque sex club to spy on the boss, a no-show photographer – hell, these scenes are just begging for the string-free slap and tickle.

Thankfully, the romance doesn’t start up until about the last quarter of the book, with all of the attendant tears, heartache, break-up and make-up sex. I’ll try not to give the ending away, but you can probably see it coming – and I don’t mean with an “Oh, god, YES!” When Harry Met Sally-type orgasm.

So pro tip: If you’re writing erotica, please stick with the hot sex and leave all the mushy stuff out. All the sappy stuff is my kryptonite, kind of like Fred Savage complaining “They’re kissing again!” in The Princess Bride. Do not make me compare myself to Fred Savage when I am clearly The Dread Pirate Roberts!

"Then it's nothing but work, work, work all the time!" — “Life is pain, Highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something.”

Now that I’ve given you enough random movie moments to make your head spin, I’ll say this book is clearly going to rate high on lots of ladies’ lists precisely because of the romance I dissed. Readers seem to love romances that break the bad boy, and you’ll find that here.

Those of you looking for anything hardcore in the bedroom, however, will likely be let down. The sex is hot, with excellent use of G-spotting techniques (guys, study up!), though more on the vanilla side when it comes to kink. And yes, that includes the scenes in the sex club, where there are some fun BDSM implements wielded on other characters, though not utilized by or on straight-arrow Dylan.

Personally, I enjoyed these scenes and found them well written – particularly in terms of the frustrating build-up before Dylan and Valerie finally hook up – but if you’re here for threesomes or spankings, those aren’t on the menu.

Chili Pepper Rating: Jalapeño – hot enough to get your juices flowing

Character Development: Well done! You made me want to hump the hell out of one very bad boy indeed, and I also didn’t hate the near-virginal Valerie, thanks to her hilarious wine swilling and feisty attitude. Two of the most tired tropes in all of erotica were made new here. Throw in the Iron Lady boss, Danica (who, I hear, has a spinoff in the works), abusing her power for sex with the office manslut and you’ve got a winner.

Erotic Comparisons: Similar office erotica plot to The Black Door by Charlotte Howard, complete with ad execs working on a naughty campaign (lingerie here, sex toys there) and a secret sex club – although this sex club is much more fun and sexually titillating, and the characters involved are far less judgmental about its existence and doings. For those interested in exploring secret sex clubs, I’d recommend the erotic classic Story of O.

About the Author

Dahlia Salvatore is a thirty-two-year-old female author living in Seattle, Washington with her husband. She comes from Coos Bay, Oregon and moved to Seattle six years ago. She loves the west coast and doesn’t see herself anywhere else.

Her influences include contemporary writers J.K. Rowling, Mary Balogh, Christina Dodd, Stephanie Laurens, Laurell K. Hamilton, Anne Rice, Stephen King, and many many others.