A Strong Hand

I adhere to the vain hope of someday getting through all the books on my shelves (virtual & digital). In that spirit I read this which I've had ... forever? I must also admit to skimming a bit.

If I'd read this years back perhaps I would've been more exercised about it (good & bad) but as it is, given all I've read, how all things BDSM emerged since FSoG burst on to the scene I was ... underwhelmed?

Nick is the perfect, beautiful, unquestioning babe in the woods immediately recognizable as a sub/bottom to Damian (and Ashley) the Doms/Tops in the story. It's almost as if people walk around with an identifying brand. As if subs are Manchurian candidate type characters who are activated by one word commands from random Doms. In Nick's case it's “kneel” or “strip”, but these are my usual complaints about this dynamic. Enough of that.

The fact is I would've enjoyed this fine as an erotic short. As a longer novel with sex scene after sex scene portraying one form or other of a D/s dynamic I was bored or already knew what was going to happen and so skimmed a bit in the second half.

The cover is still gorgeous.

As always YMMV ❤️