Reviewed by Elizabetta

TITLE: Tough Love

SERIES: Special Delivery, #3

AUTHOR: Heidi Cullinan

PUBLISHER: Samhain Publishing

LENGTH: 408 pages

BLURB:

Crescencio “Chenco” Ortiz pulled himself up by his garter straps after his father’s will yanked the financial rug from under his spank-me pumps. He doesn’t need anyone, yet when Steve Vance steps into his life, the prospect of having a sexy leather daddy on tap begins to take on a certain appeal.

 

There’s a hitch when he learns Steve is friends with Mitch Tedsoe—the half-brother Chenco never knew except through his father’s twisted lies. Despite his reservations, soon Chenco is living his dreams, including a performing gig in Vegas. Now if only he could get Steve to see him as more than just a boy in need of saving.

 

Steve’s attraction to Chenco is overshadowed by too many demons, ones he knows his would-be lover is too young to slay. Yet as he gets to know the bright, determined young man whose drag act redefines fierce, Steve’s inner sadist trembles with need. He begins to realize Chenco’s relentless tough love might be the only thing that will finally set him free.

 

Warning: This story contains glamorous drag queens, exhibitionist secondary characters, and no-holds-barred BDSM play, including watersports. Readers advised they may well leave this novel feeling uncharacteristically fierce.

 

 

 

REVIEW:

 

I’m a big fan of this Special Delivery series. We get to peep in on some memorable, quirky characters who really come to life on the page. I have to admit that this addition is a little different. It feels darker, digs a little deeper into relationship dysfunction and sexual kink.

 

I really like how the author sets these working class guys in glitzy Las Vegas. Edgy, twisted guys who fit so well in Sin City. True, Tough Love starts in small-town Texas, but its inevitable wind-up is the Vegas strip, that world of artifice and hedonism where it seems dreams can come true. This troupe of players: Mitch, Sam, Randy, Ethan and Crabtree, met in the previous two books, are all working on love, but by different rules than the mainstream. For them, hedonistic indulgence is the norm. And what fun it is for the reader!

 

So we start in Texas, in Mitch’s hometown, but the focus is on Chenco, a young, sweet-faced guy with two personalities that live comfortably within him. He’s Chenco, roach coach vendor by day, and the fabulous Caramela, drag queen supreme, by night. Chenco isn’t just a guy who likes to drag it up on stage, though. We see him go into full-on dual character mode with his personas switching dominance. This is a gateway glimpse at how he has dealt with the hurt and rejection in his life. He’s such a dichotomy, and I was intrigued and charmed by him.

 

By stroke of luck only found in romance literature, Chenco meets up with Steve (and his friends, the Vegas troupe) and he discovers a new family and life, and a whole other side to his sexuality. Steve is a leather-daddy sadist who lives the BDSM lifestyle. Craves it, in fact, even while he is haunted by a previous D/s relationship gone very wrong. Chenco is drawn to him, and he and Steve kindle something in each other. It’s a slow smolder, to simmer, to roiling boil.

 

Steve and Chenco are surrounded by the Las Vegas troupe who become one big adoptive family. So we get a lot of Randy and Ethan, and a taste of Crabtree, too. We especially get more of Mitch and Sam when they share a ride with Steve and Chenko from Texas to Vegas in Mitch’s semi.  How many different ways can four men have sex in a cramped semi cab? We get some of the hottest, dirtiest, kinkiest sex scenes to light the page. Let’s just say that things get so steamy, the truck windows must have completely fogged up. Oh boy, it’s panty-melt time.

 

This ‘Cinderfella’ story — lonely, starved-for-love boy meets his shining knight — definitely has it’s darker side. It’s Chenco’s immersion into BDSM via Steve that makes me squirm… it feels like a wicked beguilement. Chenco is initially put off by Steve’s more aggressive kinks. Then, he is slowly seduced into them: needle play (strangely mesmerizing), and watersports (lightly played and not too bad at all). Chenco yearns so hard to be cared for, and is willing to try anything for it. Is it all mixed up in wanting to please Steve too? Chenco’s so much younger than Steve (seventeen years difference between them) and relatively inexperienced. It’s scary how much faith and trust he puts in Steve from the get-go, how he falls into the play. Luckily, he’s in good hands, Steve really wants to help him, and proves worthy of that trust.

 

It’s a testament to the author’s skill that, along the way, I can put aside my qualms to enjoy Tough Love for the smut-a-liciously romantic ride that it is. Yeah, it’s a spider’s web of lovin’. I really enjoyed Steve and Chenco’s homecoming and visiting with the Las Vegas gang again. Three hot couples… who’s next?

 

(Note: While this could be enjoyed as a stand-alone, the experience is much richer for reading the series in order.)

 

 

RATING:

 

BUY LINKS: Samhain Publishing Amazon Heidi Cullinan