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a_reader_obsessed's review
2.0
I thought this had great potential as the story immediately drew me in, but after the first few chapters it kinda fizzled. It was a bit too insta-love and the relationship reminded me of the couples in the Breathless series by Maya Banks (which I enjoyed but I felt some major deja vu). James would rapidly vacillate between being strong then scared, then needy to crying, back to being strong. Seth was your typical protective, bossy, alpha male. Idk, the dialogue was often cheesy and awkward (I really hated when James called Seth sir for some reason), the dynamic between the two MC's felt cliched at times (even tho I have not read a lot of bdsm themed stories), and tho there were some good emotional moments it was not enough to be a great compelling read for me.
lalauren04's review
2.0
This story was actually kind of difficult for me to get through and I have to admit that I ended up skimming through a lot of it. It started off well, but then nothing really happened to make the story stand out. Nothing grabbed me, and there was very little substance to the story. There was no strong plot line that kept me wanted to turn the page to find out what would happen next. I didn't connect with the main characters as much as I usually do, and I just found it very difficult to get into and to keep going.
One thing that really bugged me was the use of pet names. It actually drove me crazy after a while, and I'm the kind of person who usually loves that sort of thing! I'm not one to complain over the occasional use of pet names. In fact, I usually encourage it. But seriously, "baby" and "pet" were really overused here to the point where I found myself rolling my eyes every time Seth used those words. And I've always disliked the term "pet" anyway, so that didn't help.
The story wasn't terrible but it was very slow and felt as if it lacked any real direction. It was very sweet, but maybe a little too sweet in places. There were a few scenes that felt rather contrived and certain parts just didn't feel particularly realistic. When I'm reading contemporary romance, I like a degree of realism. This didn't really have that.
Something that particularly confused me were the hints at BDSM. We were told about a past relationship where Seth had engaged in sexual practices that involved inflicted pain on his partner. The author also had James call Seth 'Sir' every so often and threw in words like "submissive" which all hinted at a BDSM theme, but then the author never really followed through on it. I'm not against BDSM at all (even if it's not something I read too often and even then I don't read anything too hardcore) but it would have been better either to leave that out completely or to have actually fully incorporated it into the story. It just ended up seeming random and out of place here.
To be fair, I'll outline a couple of things I liked about this book:
- Chase was an interesting secondary character and although he was a bit interfering, he was a great friend to James. I appreciated that. It was nice to see that James had a support system and that Chase was so protective of his friend. Okay, so there was one drunken scene where he was a bit of an idiot, but overall he was a good guy.
- I'll admit that Seth and James were cute together. It was overly sweet and corny at times (which elicited many eye rolls and snorts of laughter), but it was also very lovely too.
- James wasn't portrayed as the poor cripple or as someone who couldn't do anything for himself, and I liked that. I'm glad the author didn't portray James as being physically weak or incapable.
- The writing was good - not perfect, a few typos here and there, but still good.
- This isn't actually related to the story, but I love the cover. Seriously, it's stunning.
Overall, this book wasn't as good as I had hoped. It wasn't what I had expected after reading the blurb, either. I'm left feeling rather disappointed.
One thing that really bugged me was the use of pet names. It actually drove me crazy after a while, and I'm the kind of person who usually loves that sort of thing! I'm not one to complain over the occasional use of pet names. In fact, I usually encourage it. But seriously, "baby" and "pet" were really overused here to the point where I found myself rolling my eyes every time Seth used those words. And I've always disliked the term "pet" anyway, so that didn't help.
The story wasn't terrible but it was very slow and felt as if it lacked any real direction. It was very sweet, but maybe a little too sweet in places. There were a few scenes that felt rather contrived and certain parts just didn't feel particularly realistic. When I'm reading contemporary romance, I like a degree of realism. This didn't really have that.
Something that particularly confused me were the hints at BDSM. We were told about a past relationship where Seth had engaged in sexual practices that involved inflicted pain on his partner. The author also had James call Seth 'Sir' every so often and threw in words like "submissive" which all hinted at a BDSM theme, but then the author never really followed through on it. I'm not against BDSM at all (even if it's not something I read too often and even then I don't read anything too hardcore) but it would have been better either to leave that out completely or to have actually fully incorporated it into the story. It just ended up seeming random and out of place here.
To be fair, I'll outline a couple of things I liked about this book:
- Chase was an interesting secondary character and although he was a bit interfering, he was a great friend to James. I appreciated that. It was nice to see that James had a support system and that Chase was so protective of his friend. Okay, so there was one drunken scene where he was a bit of an idiot, but overall he was a good guy.
- I'll admit that Seth and James were cute together. It was overly sweet and corny at times (which elicited many eye rolls and snorts of laughter), but it was also very lovely too.
- James wasn't portrayed as the poor cripple or as someone who couldn't do anything for himself, and I liked that. I'm glad the author didn't portray James as being physically weak or incapable.
- The writing was good - not perfect, a few typos here and there, but still good.
- This isn't actually related to the story, but I love the cover. Seriously, it's stunning.
Overall, this book wasn't as good as I had hoped. It wasn't what I had expected after reading the blurb, either. I'm left feeling rather disappointed.
jennyreadsromance's review
5.0
This quickly became one of my favorite books. The story was well thought out and the characters were perfect together.
maya56's review
3.0
I can't believe I'm saying this but... there's almost too much sex in this book, much of which is quite repetitive.
bfdbookblog's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars
overall, i liked this story. i've never read a story with a disorder like james. i liked james and respected his strength even after everything he's been through. his family is garbage and the men that he's been with that abused him were all miserable human beings. i thought his awkwardness and shyness were endearing. seth was a bit harder to figure out. he was dominant at times but a bit reserved at other times. i liked that he was able to look past james' disability to see the man behind the 'sticks'.
i liked most of the supporting cast, especially chase. i'm definitely interested in reading his story.
things that i didn't like or that bothered me a bit:
- i dislike the endearment 'pet'...even though seth's reasoning for using it was viable, i just don't personally like it.
- they never really discussed the D/s elements of their relationship and then all of a sudden james was calling seth 'sir' occasionally.
- at times the dialog seemed awkward, especially considering seth was supposedly a wealthy, refined, influential man.
overall, i liked this story. i've never read a story with a disorder like james. i liked james and respected his strength even after everything he's been through. his family is garbage and the men that he's been with that abused him were all miserable human beings. i thought his awkwardness and shyness were endearing. seth was a bit harder to figure out. he was dominant at times but a bit reserved at other times. i liked that he was able to look past james' disability to see the man behind the 'sticks'.
i liked most of the supporting cast, especially chase. i'm definitely interested in reading his story.
things that i didn't like or that bothered me a bit:
- i dislike the endearment 'pet'...even though seth's reasoning for using it was viable, i just don't personally like it.
- they never really discussed the D/s elements of their relationship and then all of a sudden james was calling seth 'sir' occasionally.
- at times the dialog seemed awkward, especially considering seth was supposedly a wealthy, refined, influential man.
the_novel_approach's review against another edition
4.0
I would be more than happy to read more books by this author, and I would love to see Chase get his knight in shining armor also. No matter all the turmoil James is put through, he does get his HEA and more than he ever bargained for. If anyone deserved it, James did.
You can read more of Jackie's review at The Novel Approach
You can read more of Jackie's review at The Novel Approach