BDSM Romance - here we go!

[Ulysses]

Scott wants nothing more than to escape the numbing, loveless control of his parents. Too naive to see the danger, he flees to England to fulfill an on-line romance, and finds himself stranded in a foreign airport. Until Ben happens along, having packed his sister off to Spain to see her boyfriend.

Prince Charming, meet Cinderella: or, Dom meet sub - whatever. Of course Scott knows nothing of the BDSM world, and Ben has no notion of doing anything but a good deed for a terrified teenager.

Scott and Ben are great characters; they are explored deeply by the authors as their motivations and emotions are laid bare. The evolution of their relationship is handled with sweetness and a finely tuned sense of timing.

The authors take great pains to do two things: they cast a vivid light on the BDSM scene, and they make sure the reader understands the profoundly complex, supportive and self-policing network of friendships that feels like a family.

I was a little reluctant to read this, because, frankly, the whole Dom/sub scene gives me the willies. I'm an old married gay man and we never hung with the leather-and-chains crowd when we were young. But, it's not like I've never read any BDSM stuff (Mary Calmes, D. River). Plus I know one of the authors through our mutual love of writing, and I'd been anticipating this book for months on Facebook (and not reading any of the teasers)...so I plunged in.

The only thing I wanted to know more about was how Ben came to understand his own Dom nature. We learn a lot about Ben's life, but that one aspect of him remained opaque, to my regret. And the fact that I cared says much about how well Will and K.C. have done their job.