Catalyst

4.5

What a breath of fresh air. Here's a BDSM story where the D is a lower-class, uneducated, younger man while the sub is a 37 year-old psychologist who seemingly has everything he could want.

Logan Walker has a blood kink and during a scene at a BDSM club things get out of control. To try and get a handle on his impulses he decides to seek therapy and he visits Dr. Kasper Bromley. It seems like a good idea and in the course of time Logan does learn how to manage his blood lust, but before then things take a turn for Dr. Bromley. It turns out Kasper is a latent sub and not just any sub. He's the kind who so craves to so perfectly please a Dom that he'll withstand any level of pain to prove himself even to the point of danger.

This isn't a lighthearted read but one I would nonetheless recommend. The BDSM relationship explored veers from the traditional and the authors do a credible job of analyzing the psychology of MCs, what they crave, and what they get from their D/s dynamic. I loved that everything didn't happen in a flash but rather over time giving the characters time to develop and find their way.

It wasn't a 5 star read for me due to a few things:

I always find it disconcerting to find professions misrepresented. Kasper is 37 and a psychologist and yet I can't say that I would refer any patients to him. His general behavior with Logan is questionable and that's putting it mildly; also one would expect that when he found himself in trouble his first recourse would be to go to his own therapist, but he doesn't seem to have one. See? Not good practice.

As far as the writing I think there could've been a bit of editorial help particularly in sections where there's a change of P.O.V. practically in the middle of a sentence. Jarring.

However you can ignore all of these minor quibbles and enjoy BDSM from a distinctive perspective.