Review: An unusual BDSM book that works for someone who doesn't usually enjoy BDSM
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 5, 2013
I beta'ed this, and read it several times in the process, so it's past time I review it. It started out darn good and got better with every draft.I'm not usually a fan of BDSM, but this is a very unusual BDSM book. Rather than furthering the mystique - or, worse, the sometimes dangerous misperceptions - of BDSM, this book shows the damage that can occur when BDSM is done wrong and how wonderfully fulfilling it can be when done right. Oh, not in any lectury sort of way, but rather through the personal journey of the MCs, a journey we feel and experience right alongside them.AB Gayle has a consistent talent for writing complex characters who pull me into the story to live it with them. I've had close friends who were into BDSM and even though they explained to me the psychology behind how it works, it always made me a bit uncomfortable because it's just not my thing.In many ways this book pulled me into BDSM-world even more than my friends did, but without the discomfort. Perhaps because I got to really live it with Steve and see what worked for him, what didn't, and why, in a way no amount of explaining by friends could accomplish.Don's a Master who just lost his beloved slave, and Steve is a former slave who escaped from an abusive Master and has sworn never to let himself be in that position again. And yet, despite his horrific past experience, there's a lot about submission that is intrinsic to Steve's happiness even as he can't allow himself to risk it again.Don is similarly intrinsically a Dominant, even if his confidence has been shaken by the loss of his slave. It's heart-rending and heart-warming to watch these two men dance around each other, figuring out what they need, what the other needs, and how they can create something special that fulfills both their needs.