Reviewed by Donna

TITLE: The Cage

AUTHOR: Catt Ford

PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press

LENGTH: 220 Pages

BLURB:

Welcome to The Cage, where you can share the ups and downs of a group of friends as they enjoy a rollicking adventure of sex and love in “the life.”

Being a Dom has always come naturally to Lazar Thornton, owner and operator of The Cage, a thriving adult toy store and meeting place for Lazar’s closest friends, Bran, Max, Otto, and the always flamboyant and fierce Miss Dré. But even the best of friends have different tastes in scenes—and in life.

Good-humored and laid back, but much in demand as both teacher and Dom, Lazar has always run from love. Until Ben Owen, relative newbie to the BDSM world, arrives wide-eyed and eager to learn, and Lazar wants to teach this sub everything he knows. But despite the openness needed for a Dom/sub relationship to thrive, neither discusses emotions. Feeling the sting of unrequited love, Ben isn’t as sure of his place in Lazar’s life as he wants to be. Lazar will need to read his sub’s heart as well as his mind if he truly wants to keep Ben in his life.

REVIEW:

I honestly don’t know where to start reviewing this book. Usually I like to give a little run down of the plot, especially if I think the blurb doesn’t quite capture it, but my great issue with this story is that I found it lacking in plot. Rereading the blurb I think, yeah that’s kind of how it goes, but I assumed (and perhaps this was entirely my fault) that the book would focus on Lazar and Ben much more than what it did.

From reading the blurb I figured the story would involve Ben and Lazar meeting, beginning a Dom/sub relationship, having amazing kinky sex and then having to work through the issues of developing their connection into more than the physical. But instead, Ben and Lazar have already been a couple for a few months…

Actually, I should add a little side note here and this may be slightly spoilerish – but I just didn’t get it! I didn’t enjoy the beginning of this book at all. Despite the crazy hot sex I was so confused by what was going on that I really just wanted to give up. Lazar and Ben are a couple but suddenly they’re just meeting and a scary group of Doms are locking shy little virgin Ben in a sex shop and are planning on Lazar doing all kinds of stuff to him and by the time I finally understood what the heck was going on, my head hurt. I don’t know if it was suppose to be some sort of – TA DA! Wasn’t that a twist – type moment or if I was suppose to understand what was happening from the beginning but I was utterly lost. But, I’m giving the author the benefit of the doubt and assuming I was just having a particularly thick moment.

So, as I was saying, Ben and Lazar have already been a couple for a few months, they already have the afore mentioned deliciously kinky D/s relationship and they’re at the point where both are seriously developing feelings for the other but neither of them want to talk about it. And I mean there is absolutely no talking about any issues. As far as Ben is aware, Lazar is still having sex with other subs. I think that’s something you’d want to have figured out, especially when the idea of it upsets him so much. I thought this book was going to see these two men grow as a couple and learn to open up and communicate with each other, but that never really happens. Oh, they confess their feelings in the end but you can’t feel them progressing to that point. In fact, I didn’t feel anything for Ben or Lazar. By the end of the book I still didn’t really know anything about them, except they have fantastic sex together.

The blurb mentions Lazar’s friends, Bran, Max, Otto and Miss Dré. These characters were the reason so little page time was spent with Lazar and Ben. All four of these other characters also have at least one chapter each getting their own romances told. But honestly, even here there is way more sex than story. All of these characters were attention-grabbing enough to perhaps get their own story told, but with not enough book to cover so many people I had little interest in hearing about them. I wanted to find out more about Lazar and Ben.

As much as the focus on sex stunted this story it was also its saving grace. The sex was hot, there’s no denying that. And for anybody who has an exhibitionist kink, well this story is tailored for your tastes. We have public sex (more than once), whipping, piercing, cross-dressing…the author doesn’t hold back with the kink factor.

This was by no means a bad book, it just wasn’t for me. I need more plot than sex. However, I think some people will decide this story is right up their alley.

RATING: 

BUY LINKS:

Dreamspinner Press

ARe

Amazon