Basic Summary:
Love hurts…if you’re lucky.
Kaden
knows he’s dying, but before he goes, he has one problem he needs to solve-he
must ask his oldest friend Seth to take over as his beloved wife’s Dom and
Master after his death.
Seth
has always seen himself as the perpetual screw-up and Kaden as the strong and
steady one, so his friend’s request rocks his world. Now Seth finds himself immersed in a role he’s
far from comfortable with: inflicting pain to provide emotional comfort for the
woman he’s secretly loved for years. Can
he deal with his crushing grief and learn the skills he must master in time to
be The Reluctant Dom?
What I Love About This Book: When I first bought this book to read, I went
into it thinking that his was just another BDSM love story with some ups and
some downs. Boy was I wrong!!! And delightfully
so! The books immediately begins with Kaden giving Seth the bad news that he is
dying of pancreatic cancer, and is one concern is that his wife Leah be taken
care of. Leah grew up rough and was
constantly abused and raped as a child, so much so she is left unable to have
children, and the only way for her to process any sort of emotion is through
pain. Kaden and Leah might have started
out as a vanilla couple, but soon found that they only way they could work out
is if Leah became Kaden’s full time slave.
Leah would fall apart if it wasn’t for her total power exchange
relationship she has with her husband Kaden.
Seth is asked to step up and through him you enter the BDSM world from a
beginner’s point of view.
This
book explores the world starting out at a very elementary level then grows into
the more complicated dynamics of a Master/slave relationship as Seth starts
acclimate himself into this new and very scary world. Through all this you also see Seth’s heart
break over the possibility of losing his best friend while trying to figure out
he fits into Kaden and Leah’s marriage.
This book touches upon the many facets of polyamory as well has
BDSM.
I
love that this book also shows the strength in friendship, and sometimes it’s
the brothers you aren’t related that mean the most to you. It pushes the boundaries of love in all the
right ways, and towards the end it tears you up inside. Kaden’s death scene was so traumatizing to me
and written so beautifully that I was crying like a baby at a certain
point. The story wasn’t just about Seth’s
love for Leah, but Seth utter devotion to his child hood friend Kaden. The scenes were written so amazing that you
instantly are heartbroken for Kaden and feel robbed that he was taken away so
abruptly from his family and life.
This
book doesn’t just ease you into the psychology behind Master/slave
relationships it goes into the psychology of love and grief as well. There were no life threatening or completely
crazy bloody scenes that you might find in a lot of BDSM novels but it brings
you in all the same.
Cons: I did feel
at points the book was a little slow, and that towards the end after Kaden dies
it kind of rushes by. I don’t like when
books don’t stay at the same pace at the end. That’s really the only negative thing
to say about this book.
Overall: I got so
much more than I bargained for when I started this book. I can’t imagine what it is like to lose a
best friend, because thankfully that has never happened to me. But I felt like I truly went through the five
stages of grief as the story went on.
Seth was a compelling character with so many different sides to his
story along with Lea and Kaden. This
story isn’t just about BDSM, it’s about friendship, love, promises, death,
grief, and respect. I love that after
Kaden’s death, Seth and Leah find a way their relationship works for them, Seth
found his way in life and realizes what works for him as opposed to just
copying Kaden. I truly believe that the
three of them were soul mates and I walked away from this book with a heavy
heart.
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