This is a BDSM romance that examines how to find a new relationship that both satisfies one's sexual desires and their emotional needs. It's relatively easy in a city like London to find a partner whose tastes in kink complement yours, but navigating a relationship that starts with kink and hopefully ends with love can be a difficult path.
37-year-old Laurie had his heart broken six years ago and has decided that it's easier and less risky to satisfy his need to submit sexually without attempting to find the depth of connection he once had with his partner Robert. Toby is new to the scene (and, at the age of nineteen, fairly new to adult life in general) and struggling to find a way to fulfill his dominant needs while he's still learning exactly how to dom. Somehow they find each other.
My favorite part of this novel was the dynamic between Laurie and Toby. An age difference of eighteen years (as well as a class difference that's just as large) is fairly common in BDSM romance, but it's much more unusual for the younger person in the relationship to be the dom, and it works beautifully. Their interactions convey Toby's natural inclination for domination and sadism while also showing his learning curve and the level of trust that must exist between the two of them for their relationship to work. And Laurie's instinctive responsiveness to him reads so well, leaving the reader with no doubt why he was drawn to Toby in the first place. Beyond that, the book does an incredible job of showing that any kind of sex or role can be submissive or dominant, depending on who's doing what. I can't remember the last book I read that so successfully separated the motivation from the act in a BDSM relationship, and it was wonderful.
The plot had one too many conflicts and crises for my taste, and there were details that existed outside of their relationship that didn't ring particularly true for me. But the dynamic of the pairing is so satisfying, and that's what I took away from this book in the end.
Grade: B
37-year-old Laurie had his heart broken six years ago and has decided that it's easier and less risky to satisfy his need to submit sexually without attempting to find the depth of connection he once had with his partner Robert. Toby is new to the scene (and, at the age of nineteen, fairly new to adult life in general) and struggling to find a way to fulfill his dominant needs while he's still learning exactly how to dom. Somehow they find each other.
My favorite part of this novel was the dynamic between Laurie and Toby. An age difference of eighteen years (as well as a class difference that's just as large) is fairly common in BDSM romance, but it's much more unusual for the younger person in the relationship to be the dom, and it works beautifully. Their interactions convey Toby's natural inclination for domination and sadism while also showing his learning curve and the level of trust that must exist between the two of them for their relationship to work. And Laurie's instinctive responsiveness to him reads so well, leaving the reader with no doubt why he was drawn to Toby in the first place. Beyond that, the book does an incredible job of showing that any kind of sex or role can be submissive or dominant, depending on who's doing what. I can't remember the last book I read that so successfully separated the motivation from the act in a BDSM relationship, and it was wonderful.
The plot had one too many conflicts and crises for my taste, and there were details that existed outside of their relationship that didn't ring particularly true for me. But the dynamic of the pairing is so satisfying, and that's what I took away from this book in the end.
Grade: B
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