Mitchell “Minty” Arnold receives some devastating news, setting the light-hearted optimist on a dark and self-destructive path. Luke Montgomery has experience with pain and suffering. In fact, he’s a professional at it. With Minty’s behavior escalating dangerously, Luke takes it upon himself to help Minty indulge his self-destructive urges in a safe and sane way. But as Minty struggles to overcome his deepest pain, Luke must help him find power in his broken places and love himself unconditionally.

REVIEW:

I love a good hurt/comfort, overcoming trauma and finding the one person who gets you through it.  That’s what I was hoping to find here, and I did, to a certain extent.

Minty is a young college guy who has some serious issues from past trauma and dealing with his diagnosis.  Thinking he is a failure on both levels and not seeing his life lasting very long anyway, he seeks out pain to help him forget.  Unfortunately, he has been doing this in an extremely unhealthy and dangerous way.  Eventually, his friend convinces to seek the same thing from a Dom.

Luke is a bit older and has not been actively domming professionally when he is asked to help Minty.  It doesn’t take long for Luke to realize the extent of Minty’s issues may be beyond his skills, but he agrees to give it a go. Luke also has HIV, so this makes them an even better match for various reasons.  They continue their sessions and Luke decides he wants more of an actual relationship which expands their dynamic.

I had a few issues with this story that prevented me from becoming totally immersed.  First, Minty.  His issues, while understandable, are extreme.  He has not really dealt with his past trauma and instead self-medicates with abusive hate sex.  He also hasn’t come to terms with his HIV and constantly talks about not living long, as is shown by his actions, yet is worried about his degree.  They were contradictions that pulled me out of the story.  He is also over the top flamboyant in an immature way, almost to the point of trying too hard. Unfortunately, this is just not my cuppa.

I liked Luke and didn’t really have any issues with him.  He was clearly the older, more mature of the two, and again, they seemed a good match in a lot of ways. It felt as if he was the adult Minty needed in his life, but, coupled with everything else, it just left me feeling uncomfortable.  While there were aspects I connected with and even enjoyed, I was not sucked in and even struggled to get through it. It seems well received by others, so I’ll chalk this up to it’s a me issue, and not the story kind of deal.

RATING: