This one grabbed me, from the cover to the blurb. It doesn’t take long for the gist of the story to be told – Shylor “Shy” was “sold” to Randy by his mother. Thankfully, it wasn’t until Shy was a teenager before Randy actually took notice, though that’s a small blessing. Randy considered himself a dom, but many in the community made sure to point out that they didn’t consider him to be one of them, as he blatantly abused Shy and didn’t care one bit for anyone but himself. I liked that this distinction was made, however, it seemed a little odd that while most felt he was abusive and that Shy wasn’t fully consenting, they did nothing about it.

Wyatt is one guy who saw something not right and didn’t hesitate to check things out. A closer inspection had him questioning things even further. Here’s where this story sort of took a different direction than I was expecting/hoping. Wyatt was really sweet and insistent that Shy needed help. When he was actually able to make contact with Shy, he spent his time trying to make him comfortable enough with him to see how things could be different. However, it seemed so obvious to me, and apparently not to Wyatt, that Shy was in a situation that he was terrified to get out of. While he wanted to get out, he was so afraid of the repercussions of getting caught that it prevented him from making any moves on his own.

There were quite a few aspects of this story that felt a bit too unbelievable keeping me from really enjoying it. I liked Shylor, but for someone who was basically brainwashed from being held as someone’s slave, aside from his fear of Randy, his actions just didn’t add up. For him to have experienced nothing more than what amounts to rape for the entirety of his sex life, I really had a hard time believing he would just come out and ask Wyatt to make love to him. There were some other niggles similar to this one, but suffice to say, they added up and made it difficult for me to think of this as a serious story. Perhaps it wasn’t meant to be that, and I set my expectations too high.

The pacing was rather slow for most of the story, but after Wyatt gets Shy away from Randy (way too easily in my opinion), things happen rather quickly. There isn’t really any fight from Randy, which I would have expected of someone who had so much time invested in his “property.”

However, it was a sweet story that I think those who enjoy a good hurt/comfort story with a happy ending will really enjoy. While Shy is basically a slave who has grown up used and abused, most of it takes place off page. So, while it didn’t totally work for me, I would definitely recommend it for those looking for something on the not-so-heavy side that will warm their hearts.