REVIEWED by Jen B.
TITLE: Red Zone
AUTHORS: T.S. McKinney and Shannon West
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: Pages
RELEASE DATE: March 15, 2019
BLURB:
From the outside, it looks as if college football quarterback Kingston Bentley has it all—good looks, athletic ability and a 4.0 average in his classes. But looks can be deceiving. Kingston is battling inner demons that are jeopardizing his safety and slowly driving him to more and more acts of desperation. Everywhere he looks, he’s got nothing but trouble, and when he loses his coveted first-string position on the football team, he goes back to the one thing he can count on—cutting himself to relieve the pressure and the emotional pain.
The new quarterback on the team, Memphis Sabine is the Coach’s son, and under enormous pressure of his own to lead his new team to the national championship. For that, he needs Kingston’s help, and they soon become an unbeatable force both on the field and off. But when Memphis discovers Kingston in the act of cutting himself, he uses his forceful nature and all he knows about being a Dom to take Kingston in hand and ensure his welfare. Kingston loves the pain, but he rebels against the idea of being Memphis’s sub. As Kingston begins his training, however, Memphis discovers just how fragile their relationship really is, and how desperately he needs to help Kingston deal with the secrets from his past.
REVIEW:
Kingston is a man with some issues. He’s doing well as college quarterback and things are going ok, until they aren’t. When Memphis is brought on as the “backup” quarterback, the pressure is on for Kingston. As other events rip Kingston’s life apart, the pressure builds, and he seeks out pain at a BDSM club where he is known to not have many limits. When that avenue is too risky, he resorts to his old, more private, ways of cutting to ease the pressure. Through the pain, he is able to find peace, but it is a dangerous game he is playing. Luckily, he is caught before things get too out of hand.
Memphis is also a Dom, something which he doesn’t hide but doesn’t advertise either. It is with his uncle’s guidance that he found BDSM, and after finding Kingston in an out-of-control scene at his usual BDSM Club. Believe it or not, Memphis isn’t super thrilled with being on the team and poised to take the place of Kingston. Aside from giving up the BDSM, he follows his father/coach’s wishes and does what he is told. When the two are forced to share a condo, Memphis learns of Kingston’s way of coping, and he is determined to find a way to help. When Memphis walks in on Kingston cutting, he quickly puts it all together and comes up with a way to sort of force Kingston to accept his help. What better way to safely cope with things than in a controlled, consensual BDSM relationship.
This story started out pretty strong for me, and I really liked where things were going. It is difficult to imaging how quickly your life can be upturned by one, albeit untrue, accusation. I really enjoyed seeing how the cutting aspect was dealt with and think that was very well done. I also really enjoyed Memphis and his ways of helping Kingston find relief in other ways than outright pain. These guys are young, so it is easy to see how Memphis has yet to fully develop his dom skills both mentally and physically. Normally, I would think that a dangerous thing, but he has a fabulous mentor who does not hesitate to step in when necessary.
Things move along at a pretty steady pace for most of the book, but in the last quarter, it felt as though a lot of things were skipped over, such as their actual sex, coming out to the coach/fathers, etc. Regardless, this was a, dare I say, very enjoyable story about some pretty heavy topics. Though it focuses on football, and that is a big part, there aren’t many details. The important things are the relationship and Kingston’s issues, which were both very well done.
RATING:
