Reviewed by Sarina
TITLE: The Perfect Sub
SERIES: Iron Eagle Gym #2
AUTHOR: Sean Michael
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 220 pages
RELEASE DATE: March 28, 2016
BLURB:
While new couple Tide and Lance spend time deepening their relationship and further introducing Lance to the joys and vagaries of being a sub, established couple Tyrone and Bran discover that they still have a thing or two to learn as well.
A new job finds Bran run off his feet, and a visit to the eye doctor leads to the discovery of a brain tumor. Bran is terrified. He strives to be the perfect sub for his beautiful master and sees the tumor as a personal failing as he tries to handle every last phone call, e-mail, and text that comes in, no matter how early or late. When Tyrone finally finds out about the tumor Bran’s been keeping a secret, he realizes he’s been taking his sub for granted, and he works to rediscover his boy and their relationship. Of course, that’s easier said than done given that Bran’s job is taking up all his time and he would rather pretend the tumor just doesn’t exist than actually deal with it.
It’s going to take all of Tyrone’s prowess as a master to help guide Bran through these troubled waters.
REVIEW:
Anytime I delve into a Sean Michael book I just know there are lots of sexy times ahead and this book was no exception. Anyone who’s read the first book in this series, The New Boy, will recognize the main characters in this next installment as Tide, Lance, Tyrone and Bran all return for a second round of pumping iron…in a variety of ways. 😉 While Tide and Lance are still settling into their new relationship, we get to see more of Tyrone and Bran’s existing one but things are far from perfect no matter how diligently Bran strives for just that. As Lance and Tide seem to be working towards their perfect ending, Bran gets some unexpected and upsetting news that has him feeling as though his perfect world is actually coming to an end: he has a brain tumor. Even worse is that he tries to hide this from Tyrone, who knows something is wrong, because he doesn’t want to be seen as less than perfect in his Master’s eyes.
I haven’t read the previous book yet but I wanted to delve into this one because I really wanted to see how a Master/sub relationship would handle dealing with something as serious as a brain tumor. While I had no trouble understanding or enjoying the book, I think I would’ve been better off reading them in order just so I could’ve had a chance to see all of the relationships come together before. Regardless, once I got past the beginning of the book I fell into the story fairly quickly and had no trouble connecting with the characters. The book flips between the two couples so you get to see each relationship as well as when the characters all come together in both their professional and personal lives. I did have some questions that went unanswered over the course of the book but I expect I’ll actually get those answered by going back to read the first book so that didn’t impact my overall rating. What did bring my rating down a little was the original reason I wanted to read this book in the first place: Bran’s tumor.
While it is by no means a bad thing to ease into something so serious, it took a little over half of the book before it was brought to light and from then on I didn’t feel as though there was enough in the drama department to really handle the revelation. From that point forward I actually felt a little cheated when I got to the parts that just featured Tide and Lance as I wanted to know more about Bran and Tyrone as they were the two directly affected by this issue. It just seemed as though the medical issue and Bran lying about it didn’t get the focus that it really should have. I did really like how this one issue, big as it was, revealed a bunch of other issues between Tyrone and his sub that he hadn’t even realized were there and it was nice seeing the two of them work through it and come back together closer than they’d been in a long time.
Overall I did enjoy the book, even if it didn’t have as much drama as I was hoping for, but I would really recommend reading this series in order to get the most out of it. Also, if you aren’t into BDSM, this wasn’t a hardcore book and aside from a couple of scenes, you could still read this and enjoy it as an easy, steamy way to pass the afternoon.
RATING: 
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