Reviewed by Amber
TITLE: For Real
AUTHOR: Alexis Hall
PUBLISHER: Riptide
LENGTH: 470 pages
BLURB:
Laurence Dalziel is worn down and washed up, and for him, the BDSM scene is all played out. Six years on from his last relationship, he’s pushing forty and tired of going through the motions of submission.
Then he meets Toby Finch. Nineteen years old. Fearless, fierce, and vulnerable. Everything Laurie can’t remember being.
Toby doesn’t know who he wants to be or what he wants to do. But he knows, with all the certainty of youth, that he wants Laurie. He wants him on his knees. He wants to make him hurt, he wants to make him beg, he wants to make him fall in love.
The problem is, while Laurie will surrender his body, he won’t surrender his heart. Because Toby is too young, too intense, too easy to hurt. And what they have—no matter how right it feels—can’t last. It can’t mean anything.
It can’t be real.
REVIEW:
‘Thou shalt bind his bright eyes though he wrestle, Thou shalt chain his light limbs though he strive; In his lips all thy serpents shall nestle, In his hands all thy cruelties thrive. In the daytime thy voice shall go through him, In his dreams he shall feel thee and ache; Thou shalt kindle by night and subdue him. Asleep and awake.’
This story made me feel so GOOD!! I wouldn’t classify this as a feel good story, but damn I was grinning, getting goose bumps, and getting butterflies throughout the entirety of this lengthy novel. That’s not to say there weren’t those dark, sad, angsty moments too because there were but overall, this made me feel good. It’s also so far from the traditional BDSM stories I’m use to. This is my very first novel from Alexis Hall so maybe this is how she usually does things but I was gloriously refreshed by the subtle role shifts between both MC’s. I loved the patience, understanding, and care they both showed navigating the nuances of this fledgling relationship that’s foundation is anything but solid.
Toby Finch is a 19 year old Dom and he has no idea what to do with that fact. He knows what he wants he just has no idea of how to make it happen. He finds himself at a local BDSM club where he meets the sub of his dreams.
Laurence Dalziel is a 37 year old Doctor. He’s bitter, unhappy, pining for a relationship that ended years ago. He sees what he thinks is a barely legal boy in a BDSM club he attends with his friends and decides to try and help the “kid”, if anything he wants to get him out of there because he believes he doesn’t belong. Once they get to talking Laurence is blindsided by an attraction he wasn’t expecting and offers Toby something that is priceless.
They embark on a rocky arrangement. They have passion, lust, care, dominance, submission, but no commitment. But the shift that comes with these two characters is glorious. Toby is young so he wears his heart on his sleeve and he isn’t shy about how he feels and what he wants. Laurie isn’t prepared to defend his heart from Toby’s selfless advances.
“These were the rosary beads of my submission. Though my only god was love.”
There are so many unbelievable beautiful moments in this story. Breathtakingly, glorious moments that you as a reader will feel to your soul as I did, you cannot not feel them. I had to go back and re-read so many things because they made me feel so good when I initially read them I wanted to feel that again and again. I had to take moments to share with other book lovers these moments in this story that literally took my breath away. The writing in this story is beyond anything I know that could possibly do it justice. This author is a better author than I am as a reviewer so I feel there is no way to do this review any kind of justice(for the record 99.9% of authors are better authors than I am as a reviewer) but it’s true and dramatic and I want to encompass how unbelievably beyond amazing this book is.
All I can say is get it…you HAVE to get it and read it…and please tell me all about it!
RATING:
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