Saturday, 7 January 2017

Scorched Edges by L.M. Somerton



Tales from the Edge #6
127 pages
Buy links: Pride Publishing   Amazon US    Amazon UK

The blurb

Love forged in fire is unassailable.

Fireman Salter Beauman, Beau to his friends, has had his eye on cute Marty Standish ever since he helped rescue Marty and his boss from the bombed out rubble of Temple Church. An analyst for the security services, Marty is cute, geeky and submissive through and through—even if he doesn’t know it yet.

With a serial fire starter making inroads into Beau’s life expectancy, he decides that there is no time to waste and introduces Marty to the D/s lifestyle. Marty responds with wide eyes, an insatiable desire to learn and the ability to turn Beau on with nothing more than a wiggle of his slim hips.

But Beau has a second, far more malevolent admirer. ‘See me dance’ is the message left at a series of increasingly dangerous fires. Beau and Marty must work together to catch a psychotic arsonist before their love goes up in flames. Literally.

Reader Advisory: This book contains a scene that includes sexual abuse.

My thoughts

The earlier books in this series were erotic romances with added suspense. While there certainly were heartstopping moments in the stories, the main focus was on romance, BDSM, and scorching (pun intended) scenes. Not so Scorched Edges. This book is an ‘edge-of-your-seat’ reading experience from the very beginning. This story starts from the villain’s perspective. Right from the start the reader is left in no doubt that the fire-starter is dangerous, deranged, and determined to get Beau and that knowledge made the book all the more enticing. Not that this meant we lost out on romance or BDSM scenes, far from it, but for me this book had more of a thriller feel than its predecessors had.

Beau and Marty were wonderful characters and very well matched (as all other couples have been). Beau doesn’t waste his time introducing Marty to the delights of BDSM and submission but he doesn’t rush the process either, allowing Marty to find his feet in a new to him world. It goes without saying that the scenes between these two men were ‘scorching’ (sorry, couldn’t help myself) and yes, there may have been some ‘edging’ involved as well. J

I loved Marty’s journey in this book. For a complete and totally innocent newbie to the scene he quickly recognises, accepts and fully embraces his submission to Beau. But, just in case there is still anyone around who thinks that submissive equals weak, Marty is here to disabuse you of any such ideas—when push comes to shove and his Dom is in danger, Marty proves once and for all that there’s nothing weak or indecisive about him. Of course, this contrast only makes the scenes during which he eagerly surrenders to Beau all the more beautiful and powerful.

I was a bit disappointed that the couples from the earlier books mostly made no or only a fleeting appearance in this story. I hadn’t quite realised how addicted I’d become to Olly’s wisecracks or Aiden’s temperament. But, I can’t deny that adding them to or increasing their role in this story probably would have felt forced, so I’m not actually complaining.

It won’t surprise anyone when say that I thoroughly enjoyed this story. The constant danger lurking in the background made sure I kept on turning the pages while Beau and Marty made sure I was totally engrossed during every other scene too. The only regret I have after finishing this book is that I’m yet another title closer to the end of this series. As much as I look forward to reading the remaining two and a bit books I have to admit I’m going to miss this world and these characters.

Links to my posts about earlier Tales from the Edge:





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