Still loved it on the reread. Violent, somewhat disturbing with some surprisingly sweet moments. Heavy on the domination/submission (which I loved!). Great read by two talented authors. :) ( )

The strong point of the BDSM novels by Jaime Craig (the authors duo Pepper Espinoza and Vivien Dean) is the ability, at least for me, to make me comfortable with all the 24/7 Master/slave relationship.

The starting point is not exactly positive for Finn Kirkland, the sheriff of a small town in Georgia: he charges young Casey with a crime he hadn’t any intention to commit (intent to sell) and almost forces him to have sex in the open, alongside the highway, on the hood of his car. Doesn’t matter that it’s probably Casey’s wet dream, doesn’t matter that Casey enjoy every moment of it, it’s wrong, so as it’s wrong what Finn asks Casey to do afterward. Finn wants to find a way to blackmail the most powerful man in town, the same man who he knows is continuously breaking the law, but Finn has no way to stop him since Victor has something against Finn as well. Finn wants to play an equal match and to do so he needs Casey’s help. Finn knows that it’s dangerous, and actually he doesn’t do anything to prevent Casey getting hurt, and this doesn’t help the reader in liking him.

But actually, as soon as Casey does what Finn wants, and brings back what Finn needs, it doesn’t seem important; Casey being hurt, Casey needing him seems the most important thing for Finn, and that makes him suddenly a more likeable character. True he treats Casey like a boy more than a man, setting a schedule for him, bathing and feeding him like he was a baby; Casey is not at the same level as Finn, but he is not exactly a slave. Maybe since he is hurt, and in this moment he needs more a caretaker than a Master, most of what Finn does is to pamper him like a baby more than treating him like a pet (even if having him eating dinner sitting upon a pillow on the floor still let me a bit perplexed).

There is for sure an age difference between Casey and Finn, Casey is 20 years old, and instead I think Finn is well over 30, probably bordering 40. But more a question of age, it’s a question of attitude; for sure Casey lacked a fatherly figure when he was young, without a mother and with an abusive father, Casey didn’t have any chance to grow in his possibility. He is not dumb, but he is unbalanced; he too easily resorts to alcohol and drugs to cushion his mind and not having to think. He has not stimuli to do something better with his life since he hadn’t had a role figure and no prospective.

Being treated by Finn like a boy, allows Casey to go back a bit on his age and starting again to learn. Maybe in 5/10 years he will develop enough self-esteem to have the need to change the balance with Finn, but probably then something else would have developed between them, a same level relationship that will allow to Casey to decide, no more in a needy situation, what he really wants from his life.

Anyway from the starting point that was more a cop/thriller plot, the story developed in a very intimate tet-a-tet where only Casey and Finn count, and the world is outside there, not really something they need to bother until it’s not strictly necessary.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1608201562/?tag=elimyrevandra-20