REVIEWED by Jen B.

TITLE: Pendulum

SERIES: Kingdom of Night #1

AUTHOR: L.C. Davis

PUBLISHER: Self Published

LENGTH:   471 Pages

RELEASE DATE: April 10, 2016

BLURB: 

Remus Black is still reeling from an abusive relationship that stripped him of everything — including his desire for love. Now all he wants is a fresh start halfway across the country, but his new roommate is determined to draw him into his strange world of chains, half-naked men and the infamous Lodge, a BDSM club as lavish as it is secretive.

When Remus is entered into the Lodge’s annual Alpha’s Pet contest against his will, he finds himself thrown to the Wolf Pack, the very type of men he needs to avoid. What’s worse is that the wolves immediately label him a submissive, something he swore he would never be again. Things get even stranger when “wolf” turns out to be far more literal than Remus ever imagined. When both the next-in-line for Alpha and his outcast brother claim Remus as their own, the entire pack is thrown into chaos.

Can Remus learn to embrace the power of submission and choose between the brothers before their rivalry tears the pack apart, or will the tension between them unravel his own sordid past?

 This was recommended to me by a fellow reviewer and friend, and boy am I glad I listened!  It wasn’t anything like what I was expecting, but I ended up enthralled just the same.  All is definitely not as it seems from pretty much every direction and it made for quite an interesting story.

There is actually very little BDSM in this story.  The wolves run a club and are doms, and Remus is tricked into participating in one of the club’s rituals, but that’s pretty much the extent of it.  The story quickly moves past that to the paranormal aspects.

Poor Remus is just trying to lay low and start over after escaping the clutches of his abusive ex.  He is drawn into a whole other world when his roommate talks him into accompanying him to a secret club where he is quickly recognized by twin wolves, Sebastian and Victor.  Remus ends up being thrust into the contest for the Alpha’s Pet, and not surprisingly, he wins.  It takes quite a while for him to realize it isn’t all games and that the wolves are actually real, but after Sebastian recognizes Remus as his soulmate, things get even more complicated for Remus, as Sebastian has accidentally marked him which causes all sorts of problems that play out throughout the rest of the story.

In the midst of this is Victor, who also believes Remus is his soulmate, though he concedes he has been marked by Sebastian and somewhat steps aside.  That is, until circumstances force otherwise.   There is a lot of back and forth with Victor about whether he is good or evil, though I was with Remus most of the time wanting to trust him.  There is a lot going on in this story, with a lot more to Remus’ background and issues that slowly become more clear.  Suffice to say there are a lot of complications in the way of Remus and his finding happiness.

I’m still not sure where this story is headed.  Will Remus and Sebastian work out or will the events that occurred have caused irreparable harm?  Will sweet Victor, who has spent most of his life trying to ease things for Sebastian, finally get his own piece of happiness?  Will they end up in some sort of triad?  It definitely feels as though the three are intertwined and all need each other, so I’ll keep my fingers crossed for all of them.

While this is a long story, I was turning pages so fast that I never noticed and was definitely not ready for it to be over.  It has been quite a while since I was this engrossed in a story that I was left with little desire to start something different.  I can’t wait to jump into the next installment and hope it is as fulfilling as this one turned out to be!