Review: Hot!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 21, 2013
I have to be honest. That cover doesn't appeal to me at all and I almost passed this one over. But something in the description really grabbed my attention so I gave it, it's prequelAltered States (Prequel), and sequelDeadly Shades of Gold (Altered States #2)a shot. I read them all in a day and spent most of that time fanning myself. Wow! That is some hot stuff right there. It is M/M, so you have to be into that sort of thing, but boy does it deliver. There is plot too. I don't want to suggest otherwise, but yeah...Deep Blues Goodbye feels quite different from Altered States though. In that prequel both Sam and Travis were strong, confident men. In this one they were both a little bit broken. They felt fragile. Plus, while the first one focused on them, their investigation, and their attraction to one another, they avoid each-other for almost all of this book. There was still some Holy Mother hot sex involved, but not with one another. That was a little disappointing. But I understood it in context of the story.What really struck me about the book is that it was unquestionably a steamy read, but it did this without all of the power plays. No one was dominated, subjugated, or abused in any fashion. There were no whips, blindfolds, or kinks of any sort, but the sex still smouldered. I don't mean to make grand sweeping generalities, but I kind of think modern erotica's frequent heavy dependence on fetishism is a plot crutch. Yes, it is titillating to read about exotic sex, but it takes a stronger story to keep the scene equally captivating without taping into people's sense of the taboo. This one didn't go there. It didn't need to.I don't think I can give it higher praise than to say I raced right back to Amazon to see if there was a sequel, bought it and kept reading as if there hadn't been a $3.99 break in there.