Review: A poignant, harsh but sweet tale, I loved it !!!!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 22, 2013
*4.5*Personally I've always been a sucker for damaged and tormented souls and if you're not afraid to have your heart trampled on ... Brita Addams definitely knows how to play with your feelings and emotions, she simply plays the game masterfully!At first sight, you may think that you've already read a similar story but very rapidly you will discover that nothing could be more wrong ...The battle of Salamanca has ended with a complete victory for Wellington, but for our two protagonists, Preston Meacham and Benedict Wilmot who have lost everything ... They emerge both wounded but alive from this total insanity, only as mere shadows of their former selves ... broken, lost and alone with their minds.Very tragically and irremediably connected by their past, they walk through life like ghosts unable to live it anymore.Theirs is a long and arduous journey where pride can be a hindrance, courage and patience will be needed and certainties will crumble along the way. In time, comes acceptance, forgiveness and only then, healing is on its way.The author makes us experience and feel with strong intensity their everyday private hell, different but also very much alike, through Benedict's destructive and exhausting nightmares and Preston's plaguing and haunting memories prevent them from moving forward and keep them in a dark and desolate place.Ms. Addams has created a very detailed background for Benedict and Preston, which is rare enough for the length of a novella; it adds an extraordinary dimension and depth to the story. The interaction between them, and I don't mean only the sex scenes, as well as the conflicts, are brilliantly achieved and utterly believable. In this book, the author shows an undeniable strength and skill at describing and translating emotional trauma. The way she cleverly and skillfully drip-feeds us smatterings of information can only be admired. I became addicted with the very first drop!I love the constant and meticulous description of their state of mind, the way they struggle with their personal demons, their inner desire and physical attraction. Vulnerability, pride and guilt: all these elements combined to create a complex and captivating novella.The BDSM theme is lightly used and this perfectly suits me because it's not really something I favor that much. My only niggle is that I felt once or twice that the sex scenes weren't always necessary ...  even as well written as they are--but of course, it's only my very personal opinion!This is a poignant tale of love, pain, sacrifice and redemption, harsh and sweet at the same time, beautifully written, realistic and with a fulfilling conclusion.  I give "For Men Like Us" 4 stars but it's more like 4.5!