Kim Dare

It's a really well-written book, with a really great depiction of a sub/dom relationship. It's just not really for me. I think my biggest issue is figuring out why this didn't mesh for me, overall, when so many parts of it really worked for me.

There is a lot of good angst, but I was actually wondering where all the angst was hiding. So much of the book is devoted to... 'posturing' isn't quite the right word, but that's what it feels like. It's like... if male posturing lost the homophobia and toxic masculinity and was just like... on its own. And I wasn't really into that. I've been into sub/dom relationship stories before, so I think that was the primary thing that turned me off: a lot of this book was about performance in front of groups, and seeing doms versus subs and proving yourself and like... I just checked out. I don't care about pecking orders in male groups. Which, yeah, why would I still like sub/dom relationhips? I don't really know. Part of it might have been that I felt like the infantilization of Bayden - at least as I saw it, probably not as meant by the author - was just not my thing. It was just a bit too much. It's really hard for me to describe what's weird about this because one of my favorite stories has a very similar dynamic and I can't quite parse what makes one good and one not necessarily bad, but not something I really enjoy, especially because I like THAT dynamic? It's not that the writing is so much better in the story I love. And it's not the BDSM elements. Those were fine. I just... wasn't interested. Although every time Evan's relationship popped up I was quite happy, and he's in the relatively same position as Bayden as a lifestyle sub, with bdsm. And I've liked stories with exhibitionism elements. Really, I just don't know what went wrong here.

I like Bayden. I like Axel. I like Bayden a lot more than Axel, particularly since Bayden is the character with more angst. That might have been part of the problem. Axel has his own issues, but... most of the book is about him collaring Bayden. If that's your thing, then you're set! But like... it's not something I find very interesting? Particularly when it takes up like half the book, to the detriment of all the angst? I thought the punishments were well-done, but like... outside of that I really checked out in re: Axel, and when you've checked out of half of the story, you're just like... done. I checked out pretty much entirely for the last two chapters, and that's really not great.

I don't want to say the book was boring... but it kind of was? I didn't find the sex scenes that interesting. There's a way to write miscommunication as drama well, and I feel like most of the book really didn't hit that. It just had miscommunication as drama, without resolving it very well most of the time (other than, and now the problem is not the one we're focusing on), so it was just frustrating, not angsty or dramatic.

If you want a lifestyle sub/dom book, maybe this is for you. It's well-written, it's detailed, it's long, it's got great stuff about communication, healthy relationships, and some decent bdsm... There's lots of good here. If you like leather clubs and bdsm clubs and have an exhibitionist kink, this might be for you. Not for me, though.… (mehr)

This is a surprising amount of hurt and very little comfort. I also feel there’s a problem when a couple chooses sex over communication nearly always. The last few pages didn’t - for me - make up for many thousands of words of anguish with the only break being sex. I just didn’t believe Ori was happy or that Raynard was good for him, as I believed it wholeheartedly in book one.

It bothers me that Raynard can be so clueless sometimes in a hurtful way (contemplating their alternative, that he wasn’t clueless and left Ori to stew in his misery for a fortnight isn’t worth it; but sadly seems very viable after how this was written.) Ori read like an abuse victim, not someone truly benefitted by TPE. I’m not sure why this story read as so jarring compared to everything else I’ve read by Kim Dare, perhaps the short form just doesn’t allow for the kind of development and resolution of emotion I’ve come to expect in her longer works.… (mehr)