REVIEWED by Jen B.
TITLE: Bent Not Broken
AUTHOR: Z. Allora
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 251 Pages
RELEASE DATE: June 16, 2020
BLURB:
Stefano Rossi longs for the mystical—and so far unattainable—peace of reaching subspace. But can he accept that the person who can take him there is a man?
Riku Tao has given up on finding a sub who complements him. He’ll stick with doing demonstrations at the BDSM club the Edge. He certainly doesn’t have time for a closeted Catholic guy with internalized biphobia… and yet he cannot help but want to protect Stefano and give him what he needs. A history of physical and sexual abuse makes it impossible for Stefano to come out of the closet, and Riku certainly isn’t going back in.
Perhaps an arrangement of six months to explore their desires will be enough to satisfy them both.
Or it might break their hearts.
To take hold of his future with the man he’s coming to love, Stefano will need to move beyond the pain of his past, and he won’t be able to do it alone.
REVIEW:
This was an interesting storyline that grabbed my attention. Stefano is a deeply closeted guy put there mainly by religion. He has the added self-shame of BDSM and seeks out Mistresses who never seem to want to commit, although he isn’t exactly looking for one either. He knows he is missing something and that the various Mistresses have just not been able to give him what he needs – he has never been able to achieve subspace, for example. He is intrigued by Dom, Riku Tao, who gives demonstrations at the club.
Riko is someone who has never been able to find the right person to fit his wants. So, he basically gave up and chooses to not get involved beyond giving demonstrations and schooling others on safe BDSM practices. He sees Stefano and is intrigued. It isn’t until Stefano shows up at the offices where Riko practices that they are actually thrown in each other’s paths. Riko sees that Stefano is struggling with a good number of things, not the least of which is his self-induced shame and closetedness. But, he wants to help. Stefano knows he needs the help and isn’t too hard to convince that Riko can give him what he needs without sexuality being involved. Of course, it all works out because Riko works magic and shows Stefano a different view.
I had a hard time warming up to these characters, and that didn’t really change much when they were together. I did find the story interesting, especially Stefano and his background and struggles. There were some areas that I felt could have been expanded a bit more or scenes shown (i.e. we got to see Stefano meet Riko’s family, but not vice versa, which seemed to be the more important or most controversial of the two). I loved that Stefano had supportive family members to counter the bad ones and even some that came around when eyes were opened.
There may be some triggers in this one – the past abuse by religious figures, family abuse and homophobia related thereto. All in all, I enjoyed this but I wasn’t blown away.
RATING:
BUY LINKS: