Ginger Up by Rayanna Jamison

Ginger Up by Rayanna Jamison

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Ginger Up was another great addition to season three of Corbin’s Bend. Not having read A Perfect Partnership from last season, this was my first encounter with Ginger, Beau, and the Ginger Paddle. I do not know whether or not I would have gotten a pre-pregnancy look at Ginger in the previous book, but it mattered not as Ms. Jamison provided a very clear picture of how Ginger was before Hazel’s birth both through Ginger’s self-defeatist thoughts and Beau’s worries over the drastic change in his wife.

Ms. Jamison tackles a very important issue in Ginger Up – postpartum depression – and I think she does it in a way that is sensitive, informative, and very insightful. After the difficult birth of their daughter, Ginger has experienced a 180 in her personality. Gone is the control freak and in her place is a woman whose sole concern is insuring that her daughter is breathing. Due to medical complications that presented prior to Hazel’s birth, Beau and Ginger have suspended their Domestic Discipline relationship because it was unsafe to continue spanking and alternate methods of discipline proved ineffective. As Ginger’s behavior spirals out of control, Beau is at a loss of what to do to help her. When he finally takes matters into his own hands – literally – and reinstitutes spanking, Ginger shows a marked improvement, especially with the accompanying daily chore list. But when Ginger has a panic attack at work and Beau learns that it is not the first one and that it’s a symptom of a much larger issue, he again suspends spanking because he worries that he has done her more harm than good.

Although often strained, the connection between Beau and Ginger was obvious. This is what made Beau’s inability to “see” that Ginger needed a good spanking so frustrating for me. I give him full credit though in not wanting to do anything to exacerbate her postpartum depression, but was it out of the realm of his thinking to call Traci and talk to her himself for guidance? Ginger may have been the one suffering from postpartum depression, but she wasn’t the only one who could have called on Traci for help. And I have to say that I absolutely LOVED Traci’s bedside manner. Thankfully Beau was smart enough to go to his mentor for guidance, who referred him to Ange and Jim because of their personal experience with postpartum depression within a Domestic Discipline relationship. While it is not surprising that Beau and Ginger made it over this hurdle and came out stronger for it, it was not an easy journey. The final spanking scene marked the renewal of their Domestic Discipline relationship and was intense and seriously hot. Speaking of hot, I appreciated the author’s attention to detail regarding the ginger root juice. When Beau announced his intentions and removed the ginger root, my first thought was “Dude, that’s gonna burn!” because there had been no mention of any clean up. And sure enough, it did indeed burn, but it helped to lighten the mood of the situation and demonstrated the strength of Beau and Ginger’s relationship. I really enjoyed Ginger Up and I’m looking forward to the next book in the series.

I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
Reviewed by Angela at Crystal's Many Reviewers!

Check out the #Spank of the Day: Ginger Up blog post on Crystal's Many Reviewers.


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