Reviewed by Carissa

TITLE:  How to Train Your Dom in Five Easy Steps

AUTHOR:  Josephine Myles

PUBLISHER:  Samhain Publishing

LENGTH:  376 pages

BLURB:  

Sometimes the little head really does know best.

Jeff White’s needs are simple. All he wants is a submissive to help him explore the dominant side that his ex-girlfriend couldn’t handle. Problem is, inexperience in both dating and domming has resulted in a string of rejections.

What he needs is an experienced sub willing to show him the ins and outs of controlling a scene. Unfortunately, the only one willing to take him on is male, and Jeff is straight. One hundred percent, never-gonna-happen straight.

Easygoing painslut Eddie Powell doesn’t care that Jeff is younger, working class, and shorter. Eddie likes a bit of rough, and Jeff fits the bill perfectly. The trick will be convincing him to follow Eddie’s five-step training programme—which would be easy if Eddie wasn’t starting to have feelings for the rough-around-the-edges landscaper.

Once Jeff lays his hands on Eddie, things definitely get out of hand. But it’ll take more than hot, sweaty, kinky sex to persuade him to come out of the closet—especially to himself.

Warning: Contains a happy sub, a confused Dom, a high ratio of sex to plot, misuse of root ginger, and a suitcase of kink. Written in Jo’s usual exceedingly “English” English.

REVIEW:  

After a rather unfortunate accident with his last sub, Jeff has not been having the easiest of times finding a woman that is both willing to let him tie her down and tolerate his presence for more than an hour. Which is sad, because Jeff really wants to get his kink on with someone. Anyone. As long as they are female, of course.

Then a friend tries to set him up with Eddie. Older, brattier, and entirely male, Eddie. Which, yeah, thanks for the thought and all…but no. Except Eddie might just be willing to teach Jeff how to be the Dom he has always dreamed of being. And well, a few pointers might not be amiss. It is not like having a male sub would make him gay. Even with the blowjobs. And the fucking.

Or the fucking falling in love.

Because Jeff is a straight Dom looking for a good, kinky, woman to tie down and smack. Eddie….Eddie is just a friend helping another friend find his way in the world of leather and kink. Honest.

This was really enjoyable, really hot, and a really fun book. Really.

I honestly didn’t know if Josephine Myles could pull off something so hot and kinky, but dear gods, there were moments when I was genuinely starting to feel a little too hot under the collar to be reading this in the front room, cuddling the cats.  Just…

“I think I want you on your back on the breakfast bar, naked, holding on to your ankles and presenting yourself to me, so that I can sit in comfort at the end while I eat you out.”

*melts into a pile of goo*

I’m a huge fan of BDSM anyways, but I loved the whole ‘training’ aspect of this book. I love welcome-to-the-kink books, and watching someone learn their way thru the whole scene is just so damn entertaining. But usually it is the other way around (Dom training a sub), so finding a book where it is the sub training a Dom, was freaking awesome. And while I may not be as much of a pain slut like good ol’ Eddie here, I loved the various ways that he and Jeff got off. Even if the ball crusher made we wince more than a little.

Outside of the kink, there was also a good story about how Jeff finds himself falling for Eddie. Which he certainly does…even if he spends a good portion of the book denying it to everyone, including himself. I love GFY and the whole experience of finally being willing to find out who you really are, so this book was right up my alley. And I really felt that the way that people reacted to his coming out in the end was pretty realistic. Not all sunshine and roses, but not over the top theatrics.

The whole ‘bitch’ ‘Sir Bastard’ thing, didn’t really work for me (as a person), but I think it fit the story. It was a little too playful to really turn my crank, but it did fit the characters and who they were to each other. It is just that calling someone a ‘bitch’ just does nothing for me. Not like ‘slut’ or ‘boy’–or even ‘whore’–does, anyways. But that is just a personal thing. But I loved the various acts of humiliation in this book–even if slapping someone on the face is a bit of a gray area for me. But I think it worked here.

I had so much fun reading this book. The characters were great, and very well written. And the fact that there were women Dommes and subs in this book was great. Sometimes it feels like BDSM in m/m likes to pretend that women aren’t just as kinky…so it was nice for the book to show something that felt more real and less like a gay porno. Not that the sex in this book isn’t crazy hot at times.

If you are looking for a BDSM book that is not all dark and angsty, but still hot and kinky, I would totally recommend this book. It is plenty fun, with lots of Dom/sub action, and some really great characters.

RATING:  

BUY LINKS:

Samhain

Amazon

Amazon.uk

ARe