Review: A bit of a different BDSM romance.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 30, 2013
Seemingly uptight accountant Ben unexpectedly inherits half-ownership of a gay bar (The Square Peg) from his estranged father. Shane the other owner, having run the bar for Ben's father for years, is hostile and short tempered as he sees Ben as coming in to take over and change the bar he has put his life into.Ben and Shane are attracted to each other from the beginning. Ben is insecure, his last lover leaving him claiming he was boring, but he has a need to dominate that he has previously been unable to express. Shane, while outwardly bossy, has a need to be submissive in bed. The BDSM between these men is not a well thought out scene, but more a feeling their way through it and doing whatever feels right at the moment. To me, this was a bit dicey as Ben discovers a need to inflict pain that Shane seems more than happy to take.The story is very well written and the drama mostly comes from the two men trying to turn the bar around and save the business, against outside factors. The bar employees make for intriguing secondary characters, especially goth bartender Vin and the flamboyant, slutty Patrick and the end left me running for the next book to read Vin's story.