Review: Really didn't click
Rating: 1 out of 5
Date: 03 8, 2012
This book and I just didn't get along. I hate the title. Russian Bear for a m/m BDSM novel doesn't seem well thought out. Neither was the rest of the book.This book was neither a romance nor erotica but porn. For me the difference is in an emotional connection between the characters. If i don't like the characters but am just reading about them getting their rocks off and the story sucks it's porn. That's what this was. mild spoilers ahead.Mischa- the dom- seems like a tool. He's either 'smug' 'self-satisfied' or 'looking pleased with himself' in every scene. usually after hurting Tom.And then there is poor Tom who decides he might like to try out some bdsm so guess what his first 'scene' is? CBT! Really? There was no build-up, no connection and the scenes were just vaguely unpleasant. I'm not sure how squeezing some guy's nuts until he cries is actually BDSM as all the rest of it (ritual, trust, an exchange, etc.) was all missing.From a writing standpoint, the POV switches were a nightmare and as another reviewer commented it's hard to tell who is speaking, acting or thinking because there are no paragraph breaks or appropriate spacing. This is not a formatting issue but something the writer didn't do properly. It was sloppy.And there were ridiculous lines in there. Not cheesy dialogue during sex lines which is to be expected but almost ignorant or poorly thought out sentences. For example, there was a sentence that said something like, 'mischa was thinking hard. and when he did that he usually made a lot of money.' What?I had no idea what these people looked like, they were shallow as all get out and I didn't even want to be a fly on the wall while they had sex which is a shame. Their first two 'scenes' are just Mischa telling Tom to bend over and take it. That's not BDSM, it's gay sex.Some authors like Cherise Sinclair or Alexis Snow/Davitt even Anna Martin's Another Way give the impression that the author knows what they are writing about because they've lived it or done great research and have a good imagination. this read more like someone's purient fantasy.Anyway, I'm sorry to say that I really hated this book and have no idea why it has so many good reviews. There are a lot of better options than this.