A. J. Rose

Rating: 4* of five

One entire star off for twelve (12) instances of the w-verb.
***later***
Seriously. Using any out-of-the-ordinary word twelve times in your book should be a red flag for an author. What am I shorthanding here? Why does this particular word need to be in my book this many times? Y'all'd agree with me if it was "coddiwomple" or "absquatulate" you know you would. "Wink" *shudder* is just as uncommon a word in every other branch of fiction writing beyond MM romance.

Anyway.

The show more story here is what happens when Ben, our Dom, goes back to his childhood summer home with Gavin, his sub, to celebrate their honeymoon. It's a delightful idea, the men going to gorgeous Seattle for some smexytimes; but this isn't to be. The smexytimes are really not the point. And that's a wonderful thing.

Seriously! It is!

The relationship between partners in a D/s situation matures with the parties involved as it does in all long-term relationships. With that maturity comes the change of sex life. Not lessening. Not death. Just change. In Ben and Gavin's relationship, their routinizing of D/s doesn't require them to compulsively repeat the same acts. They move deeper into each others' cores and negotiate the introduction of far more intimate and demanding behaviors. It is very much one of my pleasures in reading this series to enjoy this evolution of the characters' interactions.

Being a series novel, there are cameos by characters we've met before; the fact that the entire DeGrassi clan is having Thanksgiving back in St. Louis without the men is played off well. And Gavin's call to a St. Louis source for some crucial help is answered, despite the risk to his helper.

I like the honesty I see about D/s relationships in the series. It's hard for Ben to give up control; it's hard for him to feel helpless or actually useless in any situation where his earthly treasure, Gavin, is threatened. Every good Dom knows that horrible reality and, if we're at all honest, the creeping fear that our treasured sub will realize "hey! I don't need him after all!" and walk away. Ah, the joys of anxiety! All humans suffer from it. And so very few of us do the simple, smart thing and open up to our most trusted, most beloved partners. How very much pain would be mitigated or even disappeared by this simple, monumental, impossible act!

But such are the musings of one with no dog in this fight anymore. In common with all readers, I use books to teach me the truths I refused to accept from reality. Reading all four books in this series makes me long for a second chance to be young...as do all the other books I read. A joyous ache, a happy poignance, a learnèd innocence. How I pity those who aren't fellow addicts. show less

A.J. Rose has managed to find the perfect balance between a good and heart-stopping mystery, a gripping love story and some very hot scenes. I loved the first book in the series, Power Exchange. The characters from that book are continued into this one. After the ending of the first book where Gavin and Ben had nearly been killed by the character known as "The Breath Killer", it was hard to not get immersed in Gavin’s continuing pain, and Ben’s total helplessness when he tries to lighten show more that load for the man he loves and the strain that it is putting on their relationship. “How could I give my whole self to him if I no longer recognized who I was?” When Gavin and his partner Myah are put in charge of the investigation of the brutal murder of a fellow police officer, I saw so many ways in which this could be devastating to Gavin’s recovery. The love and connection between these two men only grows more intense in the face of all that might destroy them and slowly Gavin is able to let go of his demons one by one. This story is as much a mystery as it is a love story. I can't stress enough that the mystery in this book is good, well plotted, thrilling, but also heartbreaking. I solved the mystery about the same time as Gavin and Myah did. show less

I really do try to read series in order...believe it or not:) Especially ones like Power Exchange that I love the main characters and try to follow their lives and their growing relationship as it happens. In some ways I was so glad that I accidently read [Restraint] and [Consent] out of order because I'm not sure if I could have finished [Consent] if I didn't know how things were going to work out for Gavin and Ben in [Restraint]. I read a lot of books where terrible things happen to good show more people, but honestly, I have NEVER read anything that bothered me on so many levels like this one did. The brutality, viciousness and level of evil that these people were capable of inflicting on innocent human beings was so way, way, way over the top and outside the boundaries of decency and most people's comfort levels, that you desperately wanted to believe that this is only fiction... that "this just can't happen".... but after reading the info at the back of the book...I learned that it CAN, and it DOES. I even found myself holding my breath and hoping that Gavin and Ben would come out of this nightmare whole even though I knew the answer to that already. As I said, I am so glad that I did read these out of order. This one is not in any way for the faint of heart or the weak of stomach. show less

"Cole's expression couldn't be anything but proud, which startled me. 'Look at you, putting on your big boy britches.' He sat back, shaking his head. 'I just can't quite believe the britches are leather with D-rings to tie you up."

Alright, that was a solid 5-star, top-of-the-line read for me for the first 70-ish% of the book. I was in love with the way the relationship between Gavin and Ben came about and grew. Hell, I got butterflies in my tummy during the first sex scene, and even before show more that, how Ben was attentive towards and testing Gavin before Gavin admitted he was gay. I was right there in every scene with those two, and this was the most I'd been immersed in a book for a long time.

I loved the descriptions of BDSM--the tools, the power exchanges, the meaning behind it all--and the police procedure. This was right on the money in its info, and it was all so engaging that I did not want to put it down.

My problems came in the last 30 or so percent of the book. I had pegged the perp way back when they first profiled the killer, but I know that it is way different IRL solving murders, so I wasn't too impatient waiting for Gavin to catch on, but then Gavin's bone-headed, incredibly stupid decisions at the end of the book that offered him and Ben up on a plate to the killer really pissed me off and had me yelling at him through that part of the book frequently, which really interrupted my enjoyment and my liking of the MC. I mean, (MAJOR spoiler alert) even if they only had a suspicion of Lane being the killer, when Gavin ignored that, didn't tell Ben that Lane might be the murderer, met Lane at Ben's home with Ben for an appointment, then made them all drinks and left his and Ben's drinks fucking unattended in front of a possible serial murder and sadist who had incapacitated his victims by drugging their drinks I was like, "Okay, if you're gonna be that dumb, then I'm not even gonna stress about it." What happened next wasn't Gavin's fault, of course, but he did everything in his power to play into Lane's hands and ignored any and all common sense or caution. And he's supposed to be a detective, who knows what's possible, has some "cop sense," and has seen the gruesome murder scenes. Come on.. That dropped my enjoyment way down, and made me hate that whole ending section. Then, I was also disappointed by the epilogue in how G and B's relationship had changed and the temporal distance of it being over a year later, telling of the aftereffects instead of letting me experience them with the MCs and grow closer to them.

So, I absolutely loved most of the book, and was actually going to add it to my "my all time favorites" list, but now it's just going down as a solid four-star read, and I will have fond memories of the beginning of Gavin and Ben's relationship. Too bad about the rest. I just can't forget or forgive reckless stupidity like Gavin's. show less