Review of Rattling Chains by T. Strange
I received an advance copy of Rattling Chains by T. Strange in exchange for an honest review of the novel. It is a full-length m/m romantic novel with a paranormal theme involving ghosts and some very light BDSM (spanking and mild bondage). The story primarily focuses on Harlan, his thoughts and reactions.
Harlan is one of the main characters and he sees ghosts. All the time. Everywhere. And it distresses him (which is a fairly normal reaction, one would think). He’s lived an extremely sheltered life in the Center, a place for special people like him, where his parents basically abandoned him when he was a child of five. You really feel for him as he deals with suddenly being thrust out into the “real world” to start living his life now that he was into his twenties. The Center did their best to prepare him for life outside of the Center but he’s got issues and away from the protective wards of the Center, the outside world is scary and rough on him.
Harlan has been assigned to work with a police officer, C. Hamilton, as a police medium. They go to various sites around Toronto, Ontario, and the GTA (Greater-Toronto-Area) so Harlan can lay to rest troublesome spirits. During one of these jobs Harlan meets his love interest, Charles, who happens to be co-owner of a BDSM club called Rattling Chains.
The author does a very good job in showing the reader how tough a time Harlan has with confidence in himself, being out in the world and having to interact with people and learning how to have an intimate relationship with someone. The slow build up to actually being intimate is well done, too, with stumbles and unsure steps that feel right and in keeping with Harlan’s character and the sheltered life he had as well as personal insecurities he carries.
Charles is a very nice guy and just what Harlan needs on several levels. He’s patient both with the sexual aspect of their relationship (which includes spanking, Harlan’s kink) and the regular doing-life side. He provides/acts as Harlan’s anchor out of a genuine desire to help Harlan and just rolls with the punches/weirdness that Harlan brings without making Harlan feel or appear to being simply humoured.
C. Hamilton (whose name you learn near the very end, which amused me) was difficult at first and you really felt for poor Harlan in having to deal with this individual. Near the end you find out why the cop was behaving the way they were and apologies are made. Their relationship does evolve from hostile (on C. Hamilton’s part) to an actual partnership at a nice, natural pace as they work together, which makes it believable to me.
There is a bit of a mystery involved with ghosts appearing where they shouldn’t be and a show-down at the end to resolve that. The tension of that show-down is well written and does make the reader wonder if all the living involved in that show-down will get out alive.
Overall, I enjoyed the story and took a little extra delight in the fact that it was set in Canada because I am Canadian and there’s so few books that seem to be set in Canada. It was satisfying to see Harlan slowly come out of his shell and find someone who appreciated him for the person he is. The scenes with spanking are mild, not overly descriptive and there’s only a few so if there’s hesitancy to read something with that sort of thing, it shouldn’t be a problem to most readers.
Harlan is one of the main characters and he sees ghosts. All the time. Everywhere. And it distresses him (which is a fairly normal reaction, one would think). He’s lived an extremely sheltered life in the Center, a place for special people like him, where his parents basically abandoned him when he was a child of five. You really feel for him as he deals with suddenly being thrust out into the “real world” to start living his life now that he was into his twenties. The Center did their best to prepare him for life outside of the Center but he’s got issues and away from the protective wards of the Center, the outside world is scary and rough on him.
Harlan has been assigned to work with a police officer, C. Hamilton, as a police medium. They go to various sites around Toronto, Ontario, and the GTA (Greater-Toronto-Area) so Harlan can lay to rest troublesome spirits. During one of these jobs Harlan meets his love interest, Charles, who happens to be co-owner of a BDSM club called Rattling Chains.
The author does a very good job in showing the reader how tough a time Harlan has with confidence in himself, being out in the world and having to interact with people and learning how to have an intimate relationship with someone. The slow build up to actually being intimate is well done, too, with stumbles and unsure steps that feel right and in keeping with Harlan’s character and the sheltered life he had as well as personal insecurities he carries.
Charles is a very nice guy and just what Harlan needs on several levels. He’s patient both with the sexual aspect of their relationship (which includes spanking, Harlan’s kink) and the regular doing-life side. He provides/acts as Harlan’s anchor out of a genuine desire to help Harlan and just rolls with the punches/weirdness that Harlan brings without making Harlan feel or appear to being simply humoured.
C. Hamilton (whose name you learn near the very end, which amused me) was difficult at first and you really felt for poor Harlan in having to deal with this individual. Near the end you find out why the cop was behaving the way they were and apologies are made. Their relationship does evolve from hostile (on C. Hamilton’s part) to an actual partnership at a nice, natural pace as they work together, which makes it believable to me.
There is a bit of a mystery involved with ghosts appearing where they shouldn’t be and a show-down at the end to resolve that. The tension of that show-down is well written and does make the reader wonder if all the living involved in that show-down will get out alive.
Overall, I enjoyed the story and took a little extra delight in the fact that it was set in Canada because I am Canadian and there’s so few books that seem to be set in Canada. It was satisfying to see Harlan slowly come out of his shell and find someone who appreciated him for the person he is. The scenes with spanking are mild, not overly descriptive and there’s only a few so if there’s hesitancy to read something with that sort of thing, it shouldn’t be a problem to most readers.
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