Ilhem

Book 3 – Once a Brat   3 stars

“Once a Brat” is a short piece of BDSM fun, which allows it to be blessedly fast-paced, but doesn’t leave a lot of room to develop the romance; three scenes and a date are not technically absolute insta-love, but it sure has the feel of it. I am not a fan of the trope, but honestly, it’s for kinky fun, it’s short, I could bear it!

Besides, I have a weakness for cheeky brats, and that’s exactly what this story gave me. I liked Bret’s unorthodox personification of submissiveness, all about pleasing, not very much about waiting and not at all about shutting his mouth. He is one to embrace life and take matters in hands; I smiled at his pursuit of Marcus, his conquest and his quips.

The BDSM is light, the romance is mushy mushy, the scenes are hot, the style is lively. It might fit the bill if you’re in the mood for a fast, easy read.

This story is the third novella in a series titled “I blame Bret” and the prequel to two other short stories where he is playing Cupid to his dom’s friends.  I am reviewing it first because that’s how I’ve read them, since  I am hopelessly rigid with chronological order and I don’t like reading prequels. This order will give you the couples and the new additions in chronological (if not alphabetical, I’m not quite there yet) order. Now,  you can be wild and read the stories in whatever order that suits your fancy!

1 – Call Me Sir, Boy!   2,5 stars

This one was an okay read for me, no more no less. I read it as an example of how things could go wrong with a dom who doesn’t grasp the concept of “play” among other things, and a sub who is vulnerable and obviously didn’t read much about the topic.

I’ll let you discover how Bret tricked Jack to take Ricky in hand and save the day; there isn’t much I can say about a 63 pages read without spoilering you.

It’s still short, still fast-paced, still light on the BDSM, still hot, still mushy mushy. Ricky and Jack are sweet, but they didn’t grip me. Don’t mind me though; it might be your favourite precisely because of that

Book 2 – All the Gear, no Idea  3 stars

A different pairing and a third take on submission. It would have been my favourite if not for McCormack’s surprising credulity and for the Big Misunderstanding that was a little far-fetched; like any Big Misunderstanding, I guess.

However, the appeal of the series is that it offers different versions of submission/domination chemistry, and these two touch at something that seemed more essential, more core-deep and less lovey-dovey, even though the feelings grow unnaturally fast here too. Somehow, it made more sense despite its flaws. The idea without the gear, in short.

As a conclusion, don’t read this series when you’re in the mood for deep introspection or something hardcore, but save it for when you want fast romance with kink on the top and a good understanding of the lifestyle.