When All the World Sleeps in Riptide Publishing

Apr 23, 2014 BookAddict ✒ La Crimson Femme rated it really liked it

Shelves: bdsm, netgalley-reviews, m-m, oblreview

Sleep walking taken to another level is definitely a unique conflict in a book. Authors Ms. Henry and Ms. Rock bring a thought provoking story involving hatred, bigotry, fear and hope. Daniel Whitlock is a man with a medical condition most people find unbelievable. When he is asleep, he's liable to kill someone, bend over for some sexy time or draw amazing pictures. Daniel is also a man who's been persecuted all his life with no safe haven, even with his family. Joe Belman's known Daniel for mos Sleep walking taken to another level is definitely a unique conflict in a book. Authors Ms. Henry and Ms. Rock bring a thought provoking story involving hatred, bigotry, fear and hope. Daniel Whitlock is a man with a medical condition most people find unbelievable. When he is asleep, he's liable to kill someone, bend over for some sexy time or draw amazing pictures. Daniel is also a man who's been persecuted all his life with no safe haven, even with his family. Joe Belman's known Daniel for most of his life. At one point, he's even been attracted to Daniel. Joe labels Daniel as a murderer and treats Daniel just as poorly as the rest of small town.

What is it about small towns that make them so vicious? Small towns come across as small minded and filled with hatred and violence against those they don't feel fit in. Truly, the authors did a great job of painting a horrible town which would be better off burned to the ground. There is very little redeeming about this place. Yet Daniel and Joe live there as willing hostages in their own purgatory.

The hatred against gay men is not something I can comprehend. It just doesn't make sense to me because I don't understand why other people's sexual preferences is anyone's business. The premise of this book is based on a hatred of gays which makes me sick to my stomach. The bullying both physical and emotional to an already emotionally insecure man makes me see red.

The authors do a great job of changing Joe's perspective of Daniel. The growth Joe goes through is beautiful. If only more people could become as non-judgmental. Daniel's change as he's being accepted and works through his fear is an excellent message of hope. This dark story is given a light at the end which makes this a lovely happily for now story. The way Ms. Henry and Ms. Rock balance the dark and light in this story gives it a realistic gritty feel. I enjoy this because it comes across as more authentic. The characters are fabulous and the way they pull together is heartwarming.

The BDSM element in this story is a surprise. The focus isn't on the BDSM, it's just an element to Daniel. The way BDSM is incorporated into this story is refreshing because it comes across as a lifestyle choice. Just as if someone preferred vanilla sex. The BDSM isn't forced in here to make a point or teach about BDSM scenes. Instead, it enhances this story and allows the readers to see another side of Daniel and Joe. Generally BDSM in a story would make it erotic. In this one, it is a way for two people to connect. BDSM is shown in two ways; those that are into the lifestyle and those abuse the concepts. The two views also add an additional layer of complexity to this story.

I enjoy stories which make me think - stories which are dark and leave a reader wondering what will happen to the two lovers. While this story is filled with a lot of negative elements, the authors also temper it a message of hope and redemption. This is lovely and what makes the story so good for me. Highly recommended to those who enjoy thinking about "what-if" scenarios.

*provided by NetGalley ...more

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Feb 23, 2014 Feliz rated it really liked it

Shelves: contemporary, m-m, cops-detectives-lawmen, crime, hurt-comfort

Who hasn’t, one time or another, dreamt of hurting or harming a hated enemy? Who hasn’t woken, half-glad and half–regretful that it was only a dream?
Daniel isn’t so lucky. A sleepwalker since his childhood, his subconscious turned his anger and hatred into violence in his sleep. Oh, according to law he paid for what his body did without his mind’s consent, but for the people in his home town, this isn’t enough. Nor for himself; he’s still paying for his sin, beating himself up over it, deprivin Who hasn’t, one time or another, dreamt of hurting or harming a hated enemy? Who hasn’t woken, half-glad and half–regretful that it was only a dream?
Daniel isn’t so lucky. A sleepwalker since his childhood, his subconscious turned his anger and hatred into violence in his sleep. Oh, according to law he paid for what his body did without his mind’s consent, but for the people in his home town, this isn’t enough. Nor for himself; he’s still paying for his sin, beating himself up over it, depriving himself of sleep and chaining himself to his bed when he absolutely can’t stay awake any longer, just as scared and disgusted with what he might do in his sleep as anybody else. It’s a fight he’s fighting utterly alone, thinking he doesn’t deserve any better—until he meets sheriff’s deputy Joe Belman, the first person to look past Daniel’s issues at the man, at the human being behind the fault and fear of the town bogeyman.

This was not a light read. Daniel’s guilt, his depression and loneliness set the predominant mood for most of the book, with the redeeming moments of Bel’s understanding and compassion and growing affection barely balancing it. It speaks for the quality of the writing how deeply I, as the reader, could feel both; how well I could relate to both Daniel’s black despair and Bel’s helplessness in the face of nearly insurmountable obstacles.

Speaking of which, Bel was a fantastic character, straightforward and determined and stubborn in his loyalty once he made up his mind about Daniel, and him and Daniel made an eerie kind of sense. Lost soul and savior—even if their roles seem firmly set in the beginning, they blur over the course of the story to a point where it becomes barely distinguishable who saves whom. And there’s far more depth to this book than a simple love story, though it is that, too. Love, though crucial in many regards, is not the be-all and end-all of this story; the realities of life in a small town don’t magically dissolve into thin air only because this unlikeliest pair of lovers finds each other, and neither does Daniel’s guilt.
The socio-critical subtext is unmissable and yet never blatant; it’s simply there, and might divide minds about this story as it clearly and judgmentally borrows the cliché of small-town bigotry.

This book is certainly not for everyone, not even for every day. However, letting oneself in for it readers are rewarded with a very well-written, engrossing insight into the lives of two unusual men for whom I, for my part, couldn’t help rooting despite all their flaws. Recommended.

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Mar 24, 2014 Bucletina rated it really liked it

Soy medio masoca, sí. Me gustan las historias duras. No necesariamente que sean exageradamente sufridas, o tortuosas o angustiantes porque sí. Pero sí que los personajes vivan cosas, les sucedan eventos particulares. Para que un libro con una trama simplemente costumbrista me atraiga tiene que estar muy bien escrito y tener al menos algo que lo haga especial . Esta novela parte de una premisa compleja, y su desarrollo sigue la misma línea. Sé por experiencia personal que el sonambulismo no tiene Soy medio masoca, sí. Me gustan las historias duras. No necesariamente que sean exageradamente sufridas, o tortuosas o angustiantes porque sí. Pero sí que los personajes vivan cosas, les sucedan eventos particulares. Para que un libro con una trama simplemente costumbrista me atraiga tiene que estar muy bien escrito y tener al menos algo que lo haga especial . Esta novela parte de una premisa compleja, y su desarrollo sigue la misma línea. Sé por experiencia personal que el sonambulismo no tiene cura ni medicación específica para tratarlo y controlarlo. No hay nada que hacer y cuando un ser querido lo sufre es desesperante. Lo que le sucede a Daniel es verosímil, real y completamente posible. Sí, en este caso hablamos de una novela por lo que las situaciones están un poco...exageradas...o llevadas al límite de lo creíble. Pero vamos, es un libro, es entretenimiento. Si nos es posible creernos la existencia de vampiros, cambiaformas, seres no humanos, mundos distópicos o universos apocalípticos, podemos aquí recurrir un poco al tropo de "suspension of disbelief". Y no es tanto sobre una persona sufrida que necesita sentir dolor, sentirse dañado para expiar sus faltas (premisa muy recurrente en la literatura que toca temas de BDSM, y con la que tengo mis reparos...), sino sobre un tipo con un trastorno serio que afectado por el accionar de personas horribles y la incomprensión de quienes deberían cuidarlo, termina peor que antes y con sus síntomas multiplicados. Hasta que alguien con un mínimo de empatía logra pensarlo a él como persona primero, y como víctima luego. La ignorancia, el desprecio y la falta de amor que sufre el protagonista es dolorosísima. Dan ganas de llorar, gritar y atravesar las páginas para darle un abrazo. Quienes se quejan de que el libro no tiene suficientes escenas sados no entendió nada. El punto es cómo dos personas pueden hacerse bien en las peores circunstancias. No crear milagros, no cambiar lo que llevó al punto álgido, sino simplemente hacerse bien. Y la construcción literaria de este libro logra navegar hacia buen puerto un barco tan pesado, en el medio de la peor tormenta, como si fuera seda. Daniel no tiene cura, no tiene un milagro posible que lo saque de esos síntomas. Y sus autoras así lo dejan en claro. Pero mientras haya alguien que aún crea en vos, todo es mas fácil. ...more

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