Review: 3.5 stars really - very promising author!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 7, 2014
I'm a huge fan of captive slave type stories. I especially like them gritty. So if you read my reviews don't be afraid of this one - it is not really harsh or gritty. It is actually very sweet most of the time. It is very much like some of the M/f books that are so popular of late (Club Shadowlands type)where you have what appears to be a younger rich Dom who owns a club. Devon fits into character but there are a lot of unanswered questions about his past and his group of friends - and even how the club really works. Why did Mike do what he did in the beginning? I did not realize the book was set in New Orleans until very close to 3/4 of the way through which was interesting (maybe I missed it) because it had no New Orleans flavor to me.Chase was a very endearing character. Definitely a heart string tugger. There is a great deal of suspension of belief because after 6 years of being kept as a slave I think he would be more scarred (not only physically). There is some mention of things but you do not get a lot of depth (nightmares, his visits with the psych, etc). The BDSM is fine - nothing major and absolutely fits the story (I don't refer to Chase's captivity as BDSM as there was really no sane consent). I actually want to say the BDSM never comes off as preachy or BDSM101 and that's great because it certainly could have.I liked this story - though I think I would have loved it had I been able to really get a better sense for it. What I mean is it seemed very generic - I wasn't able to really "see", "feel", "smell" the places and people. It's not bland really - it just needs to be dazzling. Had I been able to engage more of my senses I think it would have been a much stronger read for me. Instead of walking into a kitchen to get food being stated if you got a sense for things like how the floor feels (tile - cold, wood -warm or ridged?) and how the kitchen smells it would evoke more feelings in the reader. Much more descriptive language. I had no sense for how other people looked or who they were. These types of things would have made the story more engaging and really probably a 5 for me. The writing is smooth and the dialogue is very good - there is some great talent here and I'm looking forward to future books!