Blue Steel Chain (Trowchester Blues, #3) in Riptide Publishing

Jul 09, 2015 Kaje Harper rated it really liked it

Shelves: favorites, signif-past-abuse, m-m, lgbtq

This is something I've been looking for, a book about an asexual main character, where he is not saved by the power of true love and shown the error of his ways. This book allows Aidan to be who he is, to be homoromantic but Ace, and still have a HEA.

This is also a book about domestic abuse, some of it shown on page, so trigger warnings should be noted. Aidan was only 16 when Piers took him off the street and into his home, grooming and molding him into the man he has become. But Piers became mo This is something I've been looking for, a book about an asexual main character, where he is not saved by the power of true love and shown the error of his ways. This book allows Aidan to be who he is, to be homoromantic but Ace, and still have a HEA.

This is also a book about domestic abuse, some of it shown on page, so trigger warnings should be noted. Aidan was only 16 when Piers took him off the street and into his home, grooming and molding him into the man he has become. But Piers became more and more controlling and abusive over time, and as the book opens he has progressed to physical violence and constraining every minute of Aidan's days. He has all the money and all the power, and the caged life is beginning to really chafe at Aidan, although Aidan is still trying to please him.

Aidan slips out and meets James, a museum-worker and archaeologist who is the opposite of Piers - soft-spoken, absent-minded, intellectually curious, and gentle. James has a boyfriend, Dave, who is a musician, often gone for long periods on tour. And it turns out that his own relationship is far more rocky than he ever realized. The celebrity-groupie lifestyle has a strong hold on Dave, and James is being left behind in the dust of ordinary life. In fact, Dave's casual assumptions about James become use, almost psychological abuse, and James's diffident personality makes it hard for him to act strongly enough to deal with Dave.

Both men have to win free of the entanglement of their previous relationships, to be open to something more.

I had a few quibbles. I wasn't crazy about the degree to which James pushed Aidan for something physical between them fairly quickly. In the first place, James's own relationship with Dave was barely cold. And even not knowing that Aidan considers himself Ace at that point, anyone who has come from a relationship with the degree of trauma and violence and non-con of all kinds that Aidan did, might not want any kind of physical relationship. In fact, while Aidan's understanding of his own sexuality might be completely accurate, that still felt tainted by the fact that the only sex he had really known as an adult was with someone severely abusive. His distaste and disinterest could well have been inborn, but I'd have liked a bit of a longer time frame and a boat-load of counseling to help him untangle the past trauma from his intrinsic desires.

I also had hoped that the abusive-ex storyline wasn't going to go the route that it did. (view spoiler) There was plenty happening between the two main characters that needed to be worked through, and that dramatic moment felt contrived to provide a definite climax to the more interesting and lower-key aspects of the story. So while I liked both MCs, applaud the presence of an Ace character not "healed" by the magic penis of love, and was caught up in the story, I'd actually have liked something slightly slower and gentler and more psychological in the exploration of the two men.

This author writes smoothly and evocatively. I have enjoyed all the books in this series, and do look forward to any new one that might be released. ...more

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Jul 09, 2015 ★MC's Corner★ rated it really liked it

Shelves: arc-via-netgalley, arc

How disappointing that I didn’t know that it’s part of a series. I never read the first ones. But… that is not a prob. Because I found out that its part of a series after I finished reading it.

*MC’s Corner*
Note: Spoilers.

• It’s a good one… According to my reader I read it for about 4 hours…

• Sometimes, I felt like I’m at loss… like I was missing something.

• Both main characters… are pretty annoying. Annoying in the sense of… both of them being a giant fools. I want to… do violent things…. ( ...more

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Jul 19, 2015 Mark rated it it was amazing

Shelves: gay-fiction

Oh my, this book packs a punch! It had me wanting to look away at times, but just couldn’t. It had me wincing, then sighing relief, then anxiety, then anger, then despair, a book that really took me out of my comfort zone.

Aidan is a houseboy to Piers. He is never let out the house unless he gets inot trouble. Piers is a dominant, rich arrogant asshole, who abuses the power he has over Aidan. Poor Aidan, poor dear Aidan. My heart went out to him immediately. the relationship they have is not heal Oh my, this book packs a punch! It had me wanting to look away at times, but just couldn’t. It had me wincing, then sighing relief, then anxiety, then anger, then despair, a book that really took me out of my comfort zone.

Aidan is a houseboy to Piers. He is never let out the house unless he gets inot trouble. Piers is a dominant, rich arrogant asshole, who abuses the power he has over Aidan. Poor Aidan, poor dear Aidan. My heart went out to him immediately. the relationship they have is not healthy and Aidan suffers immensely from having no self-confidence or feeling of worth due to the way he is treated by Piers. Piers is an evil ,malevolent man with deep rooted and disturbing issues. At first I thought the had a sub - dom relationship going on with Piers being Aidan’s keeper so to speak. Piers picked Aidan up off the street, took him in, gave him everything materialistically and expects subservience in return. Well, as things develop you start to realise that the relationship Piers has with Aidan starts to go far beyond what is healthy for normal and there is something very nefarious in the way that Aidan is treated by Piers. Piers has a dark secret that eventually comes to light but not until Aidan is almost near death on several occasions and battered to a pulp.

Aidan has to wear a steel chain around his neck with a padlock to show that he belongs to Piers. However, he meets James, a curator for the Trowchester museum and then he starts to realise there is a life beyond the limits of his life with Piers. But this is a dangerous thing as being found out will always have repercussions for Aidan with Piers. James is attracted to Aidan and the chemistry is there. A kind of intense love and affection from afar but never getting to the physical. It is sweet, loving and tender. Something very different to his life with Piers.

James however is also in a relationship crisis. His boyfriend is now a famous rock musician and while on tour is always high on drugs, conceited and lands up in bed with the band’s groupies every night. James can no longer put up with this situation and confronts him on tour by turning up to one of his concerts unexpectedly. I felt for James, it’s a hard thing to dump a long standing relationship, especially when you have seen your partner’s success grow. James has to wake up and realise his partner is not the same person anymore and is in his way also being played, used and abused on another level. I just got so angry why he caved on a number of occasions just to read his partner the riot act and send him packing. But it really takes the love he has found in Aidan to give him that final push and wake-up call that he needs.

One evening he gets a frantic phone call from Aidan and has to get him out of the house. He calls Finn and Michael for help. These two characters we met in the first book and once again they had a definite role to play in Aidan’s and James’s life to point things out to them that maybe you wouldn’t see unless you are looking at things from the outside. Michael once again is the hero of the moment and his skills as an ex-cop leads them to discovering a much more serious, dangerous and evil intents of Piers. After surviving such an experience Aidan first has to find himself before he can commit to James which I thought was exactly the right thing to do. The poor lad needed to stand on his own two feet first, find his confidence as a person before jumping into the next relationship. What he discovers during this period is quite revolutionary and will take a lot of understanding from James. Aiden is asexual. At times I was wondering whether James would be able to cope with this because I don’t know how I would have managed such a revelation for sure. Possibly not quite so understanding to be honest or at least wouldn’t be able to cope as James does. But the love is strong between them and that is all that is needed for James to realise that he can cope with Aidan. This is where Alex shows us that love comes in all forms, physical and non-physical. But it is a truly beautiful thing the have with each other and my heart just soared at the joy of seeing these two together after all their trials and tribulations.

This book is definitely not for the squeamish or faint of heart. It is no fluffly romance and deals with a subject that will get most of wincing, feeling angry, understanding Aidan’s situation. It deals with abuse. It packs a hard punch and took me right out of my comfort zone. However, out of this desperate situation blooms a romance that is all the sweeter because of it. Just like a lotus flower rises out of the darkest and muddiest swamp to shine everyone with its pureness and beauty. Aidan was my lotus flower. A fantastic third book to the Trowchester Blues series.

4.5 stars rounded up to five.

...more

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Jun 13, 2017 Nicole rated it did not like it

So many issues.

James is a terrible person. Aidan should not be in a relationship yet. He was making himself someone James would want, for crying out loud. And even though he is asexual and really seems to be sex repulsed he hates saying no to James because reasons.

So many issues. Ugh. I need something happy to read now. Really happy. Because this book made me feel icky.

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