Review: Sweet romance, but one of the guys literally acts like a child much of the time
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 07 22, 2011
Warning: This review might contain what some people consider SPOILERS.Rating: 6/10PROS:- Kael is an interesting character whose personality comes out quite clearly for someone who is as emotionally restrained as he is. This is due in large part to periodic passages of "journal" writing that allow for a bit of narration without making the entire story first person.- This is one of the most convincing Daddy stories I've read. I truly believed that a Daddy (as opposed to a more conventional Sir) was what Angel wanted and needed.- For the most part, I enjoyed reading about Kael's and Angel's interactions. Angel is like an overeager puppy, and Kael gets exasperated with him but is never cruel in his chastising.- The writing is simple and matter-of-fact in a way that makes it read quickly. At times it can get a bit spare, to be honest, but it matches the no-frills attitude of both of the main characters, so overall I thought the tone was a good fit for the story.CONS:- I would have liked more of an explanation as to why Kael finds Angel so irresistible that Kael can't kill him. Sure, Angel is cute. Sure, he's submissive. Sure, he's innocent. But there's very little to explain why Kael finds him so very unkillable. (Especially since at the point when Kael meets Angel, we've already seen Kael have sex--which he acknowledges is very good--with a man whom he kills immediately afterwards.)- Occasionally there are statements about BDSM that seem genuine or realistic, but overall the BDSM felt more showy to me than real. Kael is stern and incredibly domineering while in a scene, but he allows Angel to say and do things outside of scenes that drove me a little crazy: Kael will say that Angel can't do something specific, for example, and then when Angel does it, Kael hardly even gets angry most of the time at the disobedience.- It bugged me that Angel has such a propensity for lying and disobeying Kael's orders. He wants a Daddy so very badly, and then once he gets one, he doesn't make as much of an effort to please his Daddy as it seemed to me like he should.Overall comments: I liked reading this overall, and I'm interested in reading the sequel. The relationship is a little shallow, but it's sweet. The one thing some readers are likely to take exception to is this: Angel's innocence and childlike behavior are taken to the extreme. He acts VERY young at times...like a child somewhere around the age of 10. (Or younger; just as an example, he has a "blankie.") In fact, at times I got the impression that the author wanted this story to be about a character whose age was less than 18 (because Angel's actions certainly aren't similar to those of many 18-year-olds I've known) but was forced to make the character a legal adult.