In a summer of passion and surrender Jill had become Holdin’s heart, life, and the very air he breathed. But before Holdin could marry her, his sweet Jill vanished and his world was never the same. He dedicated his life to trying to find her, and now he’s on the brink of giving up, trying to set aside the past and move on. Before he can, Jill returns to the town where they fell in love as a changed woman. All Holdin knows is he isn’t going to let his sweet, submissive Jill out of his dominant sight again.

Little does Holdin know that Jill has come to him for more than just old memories. Faced with death, she wants her son, Drifter, cared for - no matter the cost. She’s taking a risk, hoping that the man she once knew is as honorable as she once thought, and will claim the son that he never knew he had. Jill is holding back secrets, ones that threaten her future as they loom from her past. Holdin can tell, and is determined to win back Jill, and create the family he so desperately wanted so many years ago. What ensues is a battle of wills as past confronts present, and both Jill and Holdin learn what time does to love.

I loved this novel. Every time Gail Faulkner comes out with a new story, I make a point of snatching it up, because every time, I know it will be good. This time was no exception. Ms. Faulkner has a talent for writing stories with wonderfully dominant men who are both possessive and caring - showing that D/s isn’t always about humiliation and bondage, but also about surrender and love and trust. Her heroines are also less than perfect - both in body and in mind. She can make a woman who has a teenage son seem not only beautiful, but also sexy- despite her insecurities. Ms. Faulkner creates characters that are easy to empathize with because their fears and insecurities are the types that many women have. Into His Keeping has a tight, well-written plot, with characters that grow and change as they try to mesh themselves into a family. It’s an erotic story, but it is also a love story, and just as much attention is paid to the sex as the plotline. The characters investigate what it means to love, communicate, trust and surrender- and how any relationship, D/s or not, is about those things.

Trust and surrender is really what Into His Keeping is about. Jill has learned to stand on her own and is now faced with a chance to give in to the submissive part of her nature. It’s about her struggle to trust, and Holdin’s struggle to gain that trust. Gail Faulkner’s stories don’t always have magic and major action, yet that doesn’t take away from the story. Into His Keeping is a simple love story, made richer by Ms. Faulkner’s adept writing.

Reviewed by: JC