By His Rules

This was surprising in a good way. Maybe I was misinformed but I thought this would be a fun, smutty, spankalicious book. Yes there is spanking but not the “just for fun kind”.This book is about Aiden Cole, a young man who is at a crossroads in his life as to what he wants to do. He's graduated from college and is trying to decide whether he should or is good enough to enter an MFA program in acting and in his personal life has been delving into the BDSM lifestyle, particularly at a club called Obey. There he encounters two men who will change the course of his life. One is Scott a self styled Dom who ends up hurting and damaging Aiden both physically and emotionally by embarking on an ill conceived sub training that only serves to break Aiden's confidence. The failure of his so called “training” is due in equal parts to Scott's ignorance as to how to be an actual Dom and I'd venture to say a dash of sadism. He never bothers to find out what Aiden likes, needs or has experience with. Rather he seems intent on breaking him down with zero intent of bringing forth anything new but rather just for the pleasure of bringing Aiden low and destroying his perceived vanity. This is roughly the first half of the book and I found it tough to read. It was hard because of the things that Scott does to Aiden but mostly what Aiden allows to be done to him and the inner monologue of what he feels about himself. It's crushing because it is a very realistic portrait of someone stripped of any self worth and no anchor to hold him.Luckily Aiden does have some friends. Hera and her fiancés Sloane & Kim, who come to the rescue in the form of a couch and later by Hera putting him in touch with Keaton Hughes. Keaton Hughes. I love that man. On the night Aiden met Scott at Obey he was about to approach Keaton who was also at the club but in the end didn't. It's one of those [b:Sliding Doors 4859702 Sliding Doors Peter Howitt https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1336333585s/4859702.jpg 4925023] situations where your life could've gone completely different if you made a different choice. After his disaster with Scott, Aiden has shut down emotionally and is a total wreck and his friend Hera introduces him to Keaton, an art teacher at the community college, whom she knows to be a Dom, in hope that he can help him. The relationship that develops between these two is utterly different from what Aiden expected or is used to and a very close approximation of what Keaton has been looking for. Keaton is in his 30's and what he wants is a Domestic Discipline relationship with a true partner who will trust him to make the decisions of what's good and right for his partner and to enforce parameters & rules and following through with repercussions when they're broken. At the same time he's a loving, caring and supportive partner and Aiden is one lucky guy that Keaton is attracted to him, because Keaton doesn't want to do the “scenes” or play at a BDSM lifestyle. In fact he is the furthest thing from a leather Daddy you can imagine. He's an outwardly mild mannered, glasses wearing teacher. What he wants is the real, everyday, no frills deal, including the ups and downs of living with someone. He's smart enough to doubt himself and self asses when he thinks he's doing something wrong or when that something is not what Aiden needs or wants.Keaton & Aiden embark on a DD relationship but by Keaton's insistence always with respect, care and ultimately love. I liked that once they got their relationship going everything wasn't suddenly perfect. Even at the end, though we definitely get a HEA, the pair are still a work and progress, particularly Aiden.Kudos to [a:J.A. Rock 5443935 J.A. Rock https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1442616499p2/5443935.jpg] for exploring this type of relationship in a serious way and not just for titillation. It's true that sometimes, because we spend much time in Aiden's headspace, you want to smack him upside the head but we have Keaton to do that and on a serious note it is necessary to see his mental progression in order to achieve a hard earned HEA.