Reviewed by Elizabetta
TITLE: Where Willows Won’t Grow
AUTHOR: Lia Black
PUBLISHER: Goodreads M/M Romance Group/Love’s Landscapes event
LENGTH: 132 pages
STORY PHOTO: NSFW (here is the photo description):
A black and white image of a bearded man, naked, bound and blindfolded.
STORY PROMPT:
Dear Author,
Here I am. Tied, blindfolded and ready to be put up for auction, as if I were a precious painting, an ancient statue or a fine piece of antique furniture.
After six months of undercover investigations I am finally a step away from identifying who’s behind a ruthless organization of male prostitution. To what extent will I have to push myself to do my duty? But most of all, why is a part of me so excited about what is going to happen?
REVIEW:
Enter with caution, this has a badass bad guy to end all bad guys. He almost steals the show.
The Scion is a be-tentacled monster who owns a brothel for aliens. And human rentboys are at a premium with his customers. The beautiful alien, Illythe, runs the brothel for the Scion but is also his personal pet slave. This takes a darker turn in that Illythe has been a slave since he was a child. While there is only off-page reference to the child abuse, there is certainly on-page sexual abuse/torture for the adult Illythe. Not for the squeamish, it can get pretty gory and explicit— the Scion is in his element as a soulless tormentor and abuser.
Alex, an under cover cop, infiltrates the brothel— he is hand-selected by Illythe as the newest human sex slave, fresh off the auction block. He and Illythe get a thang goin’ on and the romance is pretty sweet. Alex’s job is to uncover the mysterious death of a colleague in the brothel and to break up the sex trafficking. His growing feelings for Illythe certainly complicate things.
I really like the sense of despair we get from Illythe. He is kept as a precious pet at the whims of his evil owner and has accepted this fate. Almost. This is an ambitious effort— some great world building, good grizzly tentacle wielding, and the prompt is nicely met. Really enjoyed this one.
(Available on Goodreads for FREE; follow the link)
RATING: 
STORY LINK: