Review: Fast-paced plot and a romance with a bit of BDSM
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 25, 2012
*NOTE: I received a free review copy of this story.*Warning: This review might contain what some people consider SPOILERS.Rating: 7/10PROS:- Each chapter starts with a short, intriguing conversation that appears to be taking place via text message, and these conversations don't readily relate to the events being described in the rest of the chapter. They're not so long that I found the confusion of them frustrating, though.- The men's initial impressions of each other amused me. They're immediately attracted to each other, but they're both skeptical too. Sam sees Jay as a young hoodlum who will bring him nothing but trouble, and Jay thinks of his time with Sam as "slumming it." Any time I see mutual dislike or distrust in a story, I look forward to seeing it transition into friendship or romance.- The men meet a couple of pages in, they're connected a few pages later, they're sexually involved a few pages after that... Couple this non-stop action with Harper's terse writing style--which uses a lot of short, simple sentences ("Then the women showed up. It was the twice-a-week class they took.")--and this story seems to roll downhill right from the start. To be honest, I wanted it to ease up just a little now and then, but it certainly kept me reading.- (This might be a turn-off for some people, so feel free to consider it a con if you'd like.) Both of the guys here are very aware of and into the fact that the other one is hairy. The reason I liked this is that I've known quite a few gay men who are obsessed with body hair, and this is something that not many m/m stories even mention. The repeated mentions here made the story seem a little more real to me.CONS:- The sex scenes, which are fairly numerous and don't scrimp on details, didn't do much for me. Part of the reason, I'm sure, is that the first one occurs 5% of the way in, so the men are very much still strangers at that point. As a result, much of their relationship is based on sex, and deeper feelings eventually develop from that. I prefer to read about romance that develops the other way around: feelings and then sex.- There are conversations here and there that I found difficult to follow because the characters are essentially speaking in code, talking about places and people and events that I wasn't yet privy to.Overall comments: If you like fast-paced stories with a decent amount of (light BDSM) sex, this one will probably be a good choice for you. It starts out like a pretty normal romance, but the plot picks up about a quarter of the way in and gains momentum until the guys are dodging bullets at practically every turn. The plot is decent and the romance is sweet, so overall I liked it.