Reviewed by Dan
TITLE: Wrapped Up In Chains
AUTHOR: Cindy Sutherland
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 241 Pages
BLURB:
Devon West is a professional Dom who runs his own club, doesn’t believe in romance, and has never been in a long-term relationship. All this changes when he rescues Chase Mackenzie. Chase is a runaway who has been kept as a slave since he was sixteen. Now twenty-three, he’s still innocent and sweet despite being severely abused and left behind by his Dom. When Devon finds out that the man who held Chase hostage is the same man who hurt him terribly when he started learning about the sub/Dom lifestyle, he knows he has to keep Chase safe. Spoiled rich boy and sociopath James Kingston is obsessed with Devon. He’s convinced Devon would be his perfect sub and Devon only thinks he’s a Dom because he needs proper discipline. Losing Chase to Devon is like rubbing salt in the wound, and he’s determined to get them both under his thumb. This time, Chase may need to rescue Devon.
REVIEW:
I really enjoyed this book. I read until I couldn’t keep my eyes open at 1:30 this morning, and was back up at 6:00 starting in again!
Devon West owns a popular BDSM club, but he holds himself slightly aloof from romance. He is a Dom and works primarily in the private rooms with Subs, but doesn’t get involved with them beyond that. One night when he arrives at his club he witnesses one of his employees beating a young Sub in front of the crowd. The employee has beaten the Sub far beyond the club’s limits and isn’t stopping. Devon jumps in and rescues the young man. Before the night is over he has, fired the employee; fired the manager; replaced the manager with two of his friends as new managers; and fallen for the quiet, sweet, damaged young man.
We find out that Chase, the Sub, has been kept as a virtual slave for several years by a man named James Kingston, who befriended him when he came to town as a sixteen year old runaway. Over time his treatment and beatings progressed and Kingston severely emotionally abused him and kept him a prisoner in his home. He convinced Chase his family was disgusted with him for being gay and that they said Kingston could “have him”. Finally, he had convinced Chase no one else would want him because he was ugly and stupid and wasn’t a good sub.
Devon knows Kingston because he formerly contracted with him while he learned the Dom side of the trade. Kingston is a complete wack job who thought Devon was not a Dom and still thinks that Devon is his Sub and fit only to be collared. It turns out he abandoned Chase and fled when Devon interrupted the “punishment”.
From there the story revolves around a main theme of Chase’s recovery and reemergence back into real life. While the story is BDSM related, I found it more the story of Chase and Devon coming to care for each other, as well as the continuing fight with Kingston. Ms. Sutherland did a good job with balancing the BDSM and love story aspects. It never got too heavy on the BDSM side, so won’t scare away even the non-BDSM folks like me. There is a lot more to the book. How can Devon help “heal” Chase when he knows that Chase will run home to his family immediately? Is there any hope for a relationship between them of any sort? How will Devon get over it if there isn’t? And most importantly in the short term, what will they do with Kingston’s continued threats and violence? No more spoilers! You will have to get the book and see for yourself!
I do have to be honest and admit there were a couple minor issues with the book, in my opinion, that caused me to rate it a 4.0 instead of a 4.5. The first issue was character development. The characters seemed to be a little two dimensional to me. I like getting to know the characters in a book, and usually use the character descriptions to do so. I didn’t feel that there were adequate descriptions of anyone in the book, and I never actually was able to picture any of them in my head. The second issue was location hints. I didn’t catch until half way through the book that it was set in New Orleans. Maybe I missed it somewhere in the beginning, but I was at about 47% before I saw New Orleans in the text. I remember it, because it was an “aha” moment. Those issues aside, I think this was a very good first novel.
Ms. Sutherland wrote an entertaining book that kept me reading until I finished. It didn’t get too heavy, or include too many detailed aspects of BDSM that would have weighed down the story. The book was excellently edited and the story line flowed very well. I recommend the book. Give it a try, I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.
RATING: 
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[…] So with that being said, please take a look at Dan’s review of the ebook which can be found here. Based on his review and the little bits of the story I was able to pay attention to, I am going to […]