Reviewed by Sadonna

TITLE:  The Golden Handcuffs

SERIES:  Pursuit of Love

AUTHOR:  K.C. Carmine

PUBLISHER:  Blindfold Press

LENGTH:  264 pages

RELEASE DATE:  July 7, 2024

BLURB:

In pursuit of a fresh start, Finley finds more than an awakening when he falls for a mysterious Dom.

Grieving the loss of his son, Finley flees his idyllic island life for the bustle of inner-city London. There, he falls down a BDSM rabbit hole when he scores a job at The Golden Handcuffs. Having never experienced true connection before, Finley begins to unearth desires he never knew existed, and quickly becomes fascinated with a Dom who brings his deepest fantasies to life.

Kage may be alone, but he’s not lonely. After an accident left him with a limp and a shattered heart, he knows he’ll never find love again. But he’s fine with that. Working as a Dom, helping people find or lose themselves under his touch is his life’s calling. But when a man with green eyes and hair like fire kneels before him on his stage, his whole world flips upside down. Finley might be the only person who understands his trauma, which sends Kage’s walls crumbling down.
Two broken men can’t form a wholesome relationship.

But can they help each other and create a bond that transcends grief and embraces an alternative lifestyle? Neither Finley nor Kage are ready to find out. Yet.

A standalone MM book 5 from Pursuit of Love series. 360 pages / 69k words

The book includes: a brooding Dom, a security guard with a past, BD$M club setting, voyeurism, exhibitionism, hurt/comfort, D/S dynamics, MM pairing, HEA.

TW/CW inside the book and on the author’s website.

REVIEW:

Note:  This book is part of a series.  While it works as a standalone, I recommend reading the prior book, The Sinner’s Penance for context on Finley and the club.

Finley has lost his son in a mob hit.  He needs a change of scenery – he’s far too depressed rattling around in the house he and his son shared and going to the same job at the mob run distillery.  He approaches his Don about a change and he ends up moving to London and working as a bartender/security at the exclusive BDSM club the boss and his wife own and run.  He’s arrived after an incident a few months before that affected his friends Mat and Peyton who had already returned from the same island that Finley is from.

Kage is a Dom at the club.  He takes on scenes and subs of his choosing – and he’s very selective.  Finley is fascinated by the man from the first night when he sees him conducting a scene.  Finely has always been attracted to well, people, so he’s not dismayed that he’s wildly turned on by this man.  But the more he interacts with him and sees him work, the more he wants to try it for himself.  So he applies for a scene.  Kage is intrigued as well.  But is this a good idea?

You’ll have to read it to find out.

I think this might be my favorite in this series.  I really wanted to Finley and Kage to find love again and be happy.  Both of them had suffered a lot.  They were doing what they needed to in order to just keep living, but without any love or joy in their lives.  Satisfaction maybe, but definitely not happiness.  They both are broken because of their past losses.  At first neither of them see a way for any kind of a real relationship to work because of their issues.  It takes some time for them to come to the place where they can see the possibilities.

I enjoyed seeing Mat and Peyton again in this book.  Lucy, Finley’s coworker is also a star characters 🙂  There is so much to enjoy in this story.  The kink was very well written and I thought provided wonderful insight to both sides of the D/s dynamic.  And while there is a LOT going on in this story, it didn’t feel rushed or overpacked which can sometimes happen.  It’s really nice when BSDM is written in such a way.  These two men deserved a second chance at happiness and I really appreciated the way the author went about writing their story.  Highly recommended.

RATING:

BUY LINK:

Amazon