Review: 3.5 stars
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 12 29, 2013
No Flag was different from any other book in the M/M and BDSM genre than I have read before.  I didn’t really understand the concept of a Domestic Discipline relationship.  Domestic Discipline seems to resemble the Master/slave dynamic in some ways, but…calmer, less passionate maybe?  It’s definitely unique.Mike is an officer in the Army.  He is severely OCD and seems almost emotionless, perhaps a little robotic.  Will is a bartender, young and eager, almost like a puppy at moments.  They meet, fall in love, and get married.  Mike has a list of rules that must be followed by Will and if things aren’t done right Will gets a spanking.  Neither of them get turned on by this, it’s like a father disciplining his child for not doing his chores.  I was a little annoyed and disappointed by this, but then I kind of realized this wasn’t really a love story about how two men hook up, it was more a story of two men’s journey through the fire together.  So then it got better for me.Liz Borino did a commendable job portraying the struggle dealing with a military partner being gone for an extended period of time.  Regardless of a couple’s dynamic, this is a universal theme for the military life.  The sleepless nights apart, the constant strain and worry about their safety, the added strain of taking on extra responsibilities to ensure the spouse comes home to what they left behind.  Then the hell of coping when the spouse comes home, injured and not the person they were when they left.  It is a struggle that many couples do not make it through.  This is where I started to truly understand what Mike and Will loved about each other, and I was happy with the book overall.  Was it an epic, passion driven love story?  No.  While No Flag was by no means a “light read”, it was a quieter kind of love story.  Well worth a read if you are looking for something a little different to change it up a little.  I think I’ll be giving some of her other books a whirl as well.Read more reviews @ rawbooksonline.com