Power Exchange
Update January 23, 2014I was talking with some other people about this book and I was able to put some of my concerns into words that I'd had trouble with before:
I didn't mention that I didn't like the characters at all. I don't think I liked any of them, but especially not the MCs. But my major issue is that I just have a big problem with 24/7 submission. A good relationship is based on give and take and equality. It's like someone chooses to be a slave and I don't get that. In some ways, I think it's offensive to those who were slaves or those who live as slaves today. I also had a big problem where the MC had to give up his freedom to get into the scene. He should have been introduced much more slowly. He should have been given a chance to understand and experience the different ways and depths of BDSM play.
Someone could enjoy bondage and not pain. Someone could love being submissive in the bedroom or at the club without being ordered to have sex. I only know one person who lives the scene (and is in it very deeply) and says that the 24/7 stuff is very uncommon and yet so many of the BDSM books written have it.
If someone wants the D/s relationship to be whenever they are home, weird to me but fine. But at least out in public, somewhere the two of them together, there needs to be a place where the sub feels comfortable saying "no" without feeling he's violating the terms of their agreement and its associated bad connotations and consequences.
Violence, bondage, submission, etc., is only BDSM if it's consensually agreed on before hand. Otherwise it's abuse. I think in Power Exchange that line was very blurred. The MC just didn't have enough information to make an informed choice. For all he knew, what he was being led into was the only way to experience the parts he wanted. He was willing to give up everything for it. That just doesn't sound healthy to me.
But the part that really upset me was the breath play piece. Ben pushed Gavin hard to sit through it and watch, even though Ben claimed he didn't like it either. Gavin felt pressured not to use a safe word to get out of watching it. His extreme discomfort and his belief that it would be really bad if he left, made me sick. Seriously, I'm close to tearing up just thinking about it close to a year later. It was that huge an issue (trigger?) for me. So keep that in mind, too.
March 16, 2013
This is a more accurate and reasonable portrait of BDSM I've been told by someone who is involved in the lifestyle and it sounded like it. I certainly learned a few things. I applaud the book for this.
The mystery was fine, although when it was damn obvious who the killer was from the info the MC already had, the MC was still oblivious. The pacing was a little slow in parts but mostly good. There were parts that contradicted. For example, in one scene one character is experiencing a new type of BDSM for the first time. He thinks to himself that he feels totally safe and protected in a way he never has before. In the next scene, when he's being comforted, he says that he feels safe and whole unlike he had in the previous scene. Maybe it was a very large typo.
The characterization was good for the MCs but the brothers all sounded the same, the wife was a caricature of a nasty shrew, (and her situation wrapped up a little too pat), and I wasn't fond of the love interest. I didn't dislike him so much as he didn't grab me.
The part that frustrated me the most was the unrealistic portrayal of the BDSM crowd. Only one character stood out, a female Dom, and I loved her. But the rest all sounded the same to me, even both the Doms and the subs. And they were all perfect. Everyone was super nice, everyone liked everyone else, everyone said that everyone else followed all the rules to the letter, etc. It was like an episode of Star Trek or something. There is no community on the planet that is larger than a handle of people where everyone thinks everyone else is great and does their job perfectly. It's not only unrealistic, it's boring. (little spoiler if you're the kind of person who figures out things on their own, and knows who the bad person is well before the MCs do; big spoiler if not:)It also makes it obvious early on who the culprit is because it's the only one anyone says even the remotest thing not quite perfectly positive about.
It distanced me from the story a bit as I felt the lifestyle being shoved down my throat as being always perfect and everyone should try it. There are things said that pretty much claim that those who don't do BDSM can't reach the same level of closeness as those who do. That really irks me because there are things I do that make me feel closer to someone that I know don't work for others. The higher-than-thou attitude was draining.
The mortal danger thing was well done and there was little to no angst. I had a hard time buying the attraction between the two characters and found it odd that a man just acknowledging he's gay to himself would immediately get involved in the BDSM scene. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but it was odd to me.
The police procedure was ridiculously bad and really detracted from the story.
I personally did not enjoy the book because the BDSM scenes were realistic enough that they hit major buttons for me. There were a couple of chapters I couldn't read but I read all the important ones and the epilogue, which was my favorite part although it really isn't supposed to be. I felt that they were the closest and most honest with each other in that scene.
Without the epilogue I would rate it a two, but with it, for my enjoyment I would give it a 1. For the quality of the story, I would give it a 3.5. I'm averaging the latter two and rounding up, hence the three.