★★★★
Dommes tend to be portrayed as cruel male hating sadists. Ms. Brookes shows a different side of a female dominant. The kind where many a submissive would delight in submitting to, for a long time. Elena is a dominatrix who loves to take care of all her friends. For the longest time, she's admired Alex from a far. Since they were in school together, she's found him attractive. Unfortunately Alex chose another woman who brought out the worst in him and made him miserable. Finally waking up to his mistake, Alex divorces his wife and tries to find meaning in his life. Alex's search leads him to a never ending bottle of alcohol and a new look into sexuality.
This story is painful for me because I've had a boyfriend who was an alcoholic. Within the first few chapters, I was pretty sure this would be a 2 star book and I might even be dropping it to a 1 star because of my own personal experience with an alcoholic. I hated that emotionally abusive relationship and anyone mildly resembling that ex-boyfriend is immediately on my bad side. Where Elena wants to help out, I want that person dead and out of my life. Ms. Brookes wows me by switching my disgust to empathy and arousal.
Ms. Brookes does an excellent job of character building here. She brings Alex to his rock bottom and shows how his desire to explore BDSM is not going to happen while he's a complete mess. This is a surprising turn of events and I really appreciated Ms. Brookes for showing, not telling why alcohol abuse, mental instability and BDSM don't end well. The strength Ms. Brookes gives to Elena is astounding. Elena's determination to do what's best for her friend was a very hard decision when she's so emotionally vested. This story definitely hit its mark with pulling emotions from the reader. I felt anger, frustration, arousal, heartache and happiness. It's all there in varying degrees and all the appropriate times. This is a beautiful relationship building with a strong female dominant and a very confused male submissive. Loved it.
The BDSM in this story is absolutely fabulous. Bondage and sensation play are both favourites of mine. Mixed in with D/s, it's sublime. Elena is a wonderful Domme and this is the kind I'd play with any day of the week. She is trustworthy and she understand how power exchange works. Never once did she wrestle for it. She only gracefully accepted when erotic power was ceded into her loving hands.
Each BDSM book of Ms. Brookes is better than the previous. Her BDSM scenes are maturing and it's a lovely journey traveling through her explorations. One can only hope she explores a few more edge play fetishes so she can work them into to her stories. Her specialty is loving BDSM and she does it so well. It's realistic and provides a look into how it can be. Maybe not every time, but it is possible. Recommended to femdom lovers who want to read an angst romance between two friends which took years in the making.
*provided by BDSM Book Reviews
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