Reviewed by Dan
AUTHOR: L. M. Somerton
PUBLISHER: Pride Publishing
SERIES REVIEW:
I enjoyed these two works revolving around the Lysander Brock and Kyle Dawson characters. I would not recommend jumping to the second one without reading the short story first. The background of the bigger book is based on the first one and you need it for continuity and story building purposes.
I recommend both. If you’re into a story about a blossoming sub/dom relationship, that has some cloak and dagger, some nasty terrorists, kidnapping, and action/drama, then you will enjoy the two books. I’m hoping this isn’t the end of the Lysander and Kyle story and that there will be more adventures in the future!
SERIES RATING: 
TITLE: Picturing Lysander
LENGTH: 59 Pages
BLURB:
Photography, like love, should have no limits.
Lysander Brock is a talented photographer and capturing the perfect picture is his passion. His work takes him all over the world and he is famous for his willingness to take risks for the perfect image.
Kyle Dawson is tasked by his mysterious employer to obtain Brock’s services for a dangerous job and he’s prepared to use any method to ensure that the young photographer does as he’s told. Breaking and entering and blackmail are just tools of his trade.
Despite the circumstances, the spark of attraction between Brock and Kyle is strong. Brock’s addiction to adrenaline-fuelled adventure holds him captive, just as much as Kyle’s brooding dominant appeal. As a fragile trust builds between them, Kyle takes a gamble and tells Brock the truth about his mission. Can Brock accept the challenges ahead—as a photographer and as a man?
REVIEW:
Lysander Brock, or Brock as he is known to most folks, is getting ready for a photography trip to Columbia. Brock is a well know photographer and an expert at getting the perfect picture. The current trip underwritten by National Geographic will be beginning soon, and as we meet Brock he is at his doctor’s office getting a bunch of vaccinations in preparation for this trip to the jungles of South America.
When Brock gets back to his brother’s house, where he is house sitting, the effects of the vaccinations are already setting in and Brock isn’t feeling well at all. As he prepares for bed, he looks out the window and sees a man standing across the street in the rain. Too tired to care, he pulls the curtains and falls into bed.
The man across the street is Kyle Dawson. Kyle works for an employer who is somehow tied to both British and US intelligence, but we never really find out who that employer is. Kyle has been sent to gain Brock’s cooperation in taking some photos of a secret facility while he is in Columbia. The only access will be a treacherous mountain route and an uncharted cave system!
When Brock wakes up in the middle of the night and goes downstairs to get a drink and finds Kyle sitting in his kitchen, what will happen? Will Brock be up for it? Will Kyle have to resort to violence? And let’s not even talk about their instant mutual attraction!
I really enjoyed this short story. I’m super stoked to also review the second book in the series is below!
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TITLE: Testing Lysander
LENGTH: 191 Pages
BLURB:
Feel the fear and do it anyway.
Extreme photographer Lysander Brock is accustomed to challenging places and situations but nothing can prepare him for the journey that his dominant lover, Kyle Dawson, takes him on.
A commission to photograph the cloud forests of the Colombian Andes becomes the cover for a dangerous mission to expose a terrorist group. Kyle and Lysander must negotiate treacherous terrain, a hazardous climb and unexplored caves to achieve their goal.
When Lysander is captured and tortured, he has no expectations of rescue. He understands that his life comes second to the mission but Kyle has no intention of leaving his beautiful, submissive lover in the hands of a madman. Kyle can deal with the intense pressure of fighting lethal enemies but the guilt of pushing Lysander into a life he never asked for is much harder to accept.
Lysander and Kyle journey together into a life of adventure, Dominance and submission, and an uncertain future.
REVIEW:
Testing Lysander picks up where the short story above ended. It is now time for Brock (Lysander) and Kyle to go off on their mission to Columbia. But boy is it going to be a bumpy ride!
I really enjoyed this continuation of Brock and Kyle’s story because it is much different from the cookie cutter m/m romance that so often crosses my path.
Brock’s plans for his expedition for National Geographic coincide perfectly with Kyle’s mysterious company’s need for undercover photography work to expose a dangerous terrorist network running out of the jungle in the exact area where Brock’s expedition is headed.
Once the two travel to Columbia, they need to get to the hidden terrorist camp by traversing a cave system that very few individuals have ever seen and even fewer have traversed. I’ll be honest, the scenes in the cave were well enough written that my claustrophobia kicked in a little, especially the wormhole piece.
What will happen when the terrorists injure Brock and then come to capture him? Will they kill him, or will Kyle find him in time? Will the growing sub/dom relationship between the two men help, or hinder, their mission?
The action in this book was well written and I really felt like the characters were real, including the evil leader of the terrorists. My only slight complaint, I feel like we got to know Brock well during this story, but Kyle is still a mystery. We don’t know anything about his background, history, or even who this mystery employer is. As I said above, I’m sooooo hoping that this isn’t the end of the two men’s story! Hopefully we get more answer on Kyle’s story in the next installment!
RATING:
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