Reviewed by Larissa
TITLE: The Right to Remain
AUTHOR: L.A. Witt
PUBLISHER: self-published
LENGTH: 554 pages
RELEASE DATE: February 15, 2022
BLURB:
Levi Harris has never had a reason to stay on the straight and narrow. Nothing he does is ever good enough for his family, his teachers, his bosses, his drill instructors. He can’t do anything right, so why bother trying?
Then he gets caught breaking and entering, and now he’s bound for prison. Or is he?
Austin Caldwell isn’t thrilled about being burglarized, but when he finds himself face to face with the intruder, he sees himself in those terrified eyes. He knows more than most how much prison chews people up and spits them out. Maybe, just maybe, he can save Levi from that fate.
It starts as an arrangement for Levi to work off his debt to Austin. As trust grows between them, so does an undeniable attraction. Especially as Austin begins to see untapped desires in Levi, and he begins to unlock a whole new world of sensuality for his submissive protégé.
Levi’s in heaven. He’s finally wanted. He finally belongs. For the first time in his life, he has something to lose. All he has to do is stay out of trouble.
And hope trouble doesn’t find him.
The Right to Remain is a 150,000+ word standalone contemporary gay romance with a guaranteed happy ending.
CW: criminal activity, brief mentions of past death of a child, brief mention of past suicide, incarceration.
REVIEW:
The Right to Remain remains true to my expectations for an L.A. Witt penned novel. It’s well written, sexy as hell, lengthy, and packed with commentary. Indeed, this is a hefty book, weighing in at a substantial 554 pages. It’s also not a light read, so it takes some time to get through. Ms. Witt crafts an intriguing plot, though, with a promising hook: Levi gets caught while committing a crime – but not by the cops. Instead, Austin catches Levi as he’s breaking and entering on Austin’s property and takes matters into his own hands. The implicit expectation of some seriously kinky payment is presented in the blurb. However, unfortunately, Ms. Witt doesn’t deliver on it to the extent I anticipated.
In contrast to some of her other stories (e.g., the hot AF Extra Whip), The Right to Remain is light(er) on the BDSM/kink element. That could be a positive or a negative depending on your viewpoint. For me, I wanted more because I expected more. That being said, the story is not lacking in steamy encounters. The story contains sex and lots of it. Ms. Witt presents a sweet, sexy relationship between Austin and Levi. We see Austin acting as Levi’s teacher and guide on everything from kink to the prison reform-related social issues. I liked both intriguing characters, and Ms. Witt does a nice job of giving them dimension and depth.
Perhaps the most noticeable component of the story is the included social commentary, mainly because of its prevalence and predominance over other aspects of the storyline. I view it as extraneous to the story, and as such, it interrupted the flow of the narrative. But it’s also a refrain I’ve heard before. For example, hearkening back to Extra Whip, Ms. Witt included extensive commentary on the criminal justice system, prison reform, and rehabilitation of criminals. We get much of the same here, albeit shifted slightly to focus on recidivism and challenges for rejoining society upon release from incarceration.
Socio-political commentary is incendiary content. Ms. Witt’s liberal views are evident, and many readers won’t agree with them. Even if you do, the commentary may nevertheless be unwelcome due to the context. Note that my dissatisfaction with it in The Right to Remain falls into the latter category. Reading different viewpoints on social issues is something I find interesting (albeit sometimes aggravating), but my level of agreement or disagreement with Ms. Witt’s views doesn’t drive my comment on it here. I simply feel it’s disruptive to the overarching story and at the end of the day, this is a romance – and that’s what we are here for.
Overall, The Right to Remain didn’t feel fluid and balanced, so I found my connection to Austin and Levi to be tenuous, which in turn made it difficult for me to engage with the storyline. Of course, that is just my personal opinion and YMMV. You always have the right to disagree.
RATING: 
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