BUILDING BONDS by Morticia Knight

 

Pages: 162

Date: September 13, 2015

Details: No. 1 Kiss of Leather

E-book / Own

The blurb:

“Kyle’s a natural sub who builds dungeon furniture, yet has no interest in BDSM. It takes a hunky Dom to show him just what he’s been missing.

After Kyle’s partner of five years leaves him for another man on the night of their housewarming party, the shy, early-thirties carpenter needs to do a major reassessment of his life in addition to raising some serious cash. With no one to help him pay the lease on his Los Angeles condo, he worries how he’ll survive. His best friend sets up a meeting with one of the Doms and partners at Kiss of Leather, a gay BDSM club being built as a premier destination for those who want the best of the best.

Master Gavin not only wants the best—he demands it. When he meets Kyle, he assumes that part of the builder’s reticence to share anything personal with him must be due to his experiences with an abusive former Master. Not one to back down from a challenge, Gavin determines to break through the walls surrounding the beautiful man he can’t get out of his mind. He’s hopeful that once he convinces Kyle to sign an initial contract, Kyle might be the first sub to open up his heart.

Misunderstandings and accusations almost destroy everything between them before they have a real chance to begin. However, the true obstacle becomes not only whether Kyle will embrace BDSM as a lifestyle, but also whether he can handle a full-time D/s relationship with a big, bad, scary Dom who’s as sexy as hell.”

My thoughts:

Building Bonds starts off as a comedy of errors. Kyle has no idea he is a natural submissive in dire need of a strong Dom to take him in hand and therefore thoroughly confused by his reaction to Master Gavin. He’s attracted to the man from the very first moment he sets eyes on him and even fantasizes about what submitting to him might be like while convinced he hasn’t got it in him to submit.

Gavin on the other hand convinces himself Kyle has suffered at the hands of an abusive Dom and needs to be healed, while completely failing to see – or hear – that Kyle has never experienced the D/s dynamic before in his life. This would be a frustrating oversight on the part of an experienced Dom if it weren’t for the fact that Kyle builds exquisite dungeon furniture.

What follows is a sweet, hot and almost angst-free story. The developing relationship between Kyle and his Dom, once all the misunderstandings had been cleared up, was beautiful and intriguing. The story contains a lot of details as to how to establish, grow and maintain a D/s relationship and because it is told from both Gavin’s and Kyle’s perspective we get a wonderful insight into their thoughts and feelings.

And yet, I kept on hoping for a little bit more. All throughout reading the story I felt as if I was being held at arm’s length; given an insight into the feelings and emotions of both men without ever being allowed to experience them. And that’s a shame because with a little bit extra what was a good book would, for me, have been great. Having said that, I have every intention of reading future instalments in this series. All the secondary characters were more than interesting enough to make me curious about their stories.