Living on the Edge by L.M. Somerton

Title: Living on the Edge

Series: Tales from the Edge, #2

Author: L.M. Somerton

Genre: Action / BDSM

Length: Novella (112 pages)

Publisher: Total E-Bound (August 16^th, 2013)

Heat Level: Explicit

Heart Rating: ♥♥♥2.5~3 Hearts

Reviewer: Thommie

Blurb: Sometimes it takes willpower to resist temptation but courage to give in.

Aiden Keller is a brilliant and intriguing young man. When he’s convicted of hacking, his sentence takes him to The Edge, a high-end corporate training company with a mysterious sideline. There he is given into the custody of its owner, the enigmatic and demanding Heath Anders, and his business partner Joe Dexter.

From the moment Heath takes charge of Aiden, he recognizes the boy’s submissive nature, even though it is well hidden beneath a veneer of snarky attitude. But for twelve months, Aiden will be his responsibility and Heath cannot allow himself to get involved whilst the boy is obliged to obey him.

Aiden settles into his new life with the help of Olly, Joe’s pretty, submissive boyfriend, who is very perceptive when it comes to noticing the sparks of attraction flying between Aiden and Heath. Slowly and gently, he teaches Aiden that submission is not a weakness and to accept his desire to be dominated.

Unable to resist, Heath starts to test Aiden’s willingness to be obedient, and against all the odds, love (and lust) start to bloom. Aiden, however, is not quite what he seems and his past is about to endanger all their lives.

Reader Advisory: This book contains scenes of BDSM, including D/s, bondage, chastity play, masturbation, and voyeurism. It is best read as part of a series.

Product Link: http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?strParents=&CAT_ID=&P_ID=2242

Review: Again, I run into a love-at-first-sight type of book, and again it did not sell itself to me. In addition, the BDSM scenes lost their appeal and magic with the hasty and almost forceful way they were put in the plot. But I liked the action part of the story, quite a lot I might say.

Aiden is a charming character, how can he not when besides being utterly beautiful, he is also quite intelligent. That brilliance though causes him some real troubles when he’s caught by the police and sentenced into twelve month of public service for hacking. His sentence takes him to the Edge and under Heath’s care.

It is right here were the two characters meet and the instant wanting/longing/lust hits the scene. I don’t mind lust, far from it. I find lust one of the best emotions if depicted right. What really weirded me out was the fact that Aiden was a virgin who deep down knew that he was a submissive at twenty years old. Sometimes I don’t know how realistic that thing is. Submission still is a very complex idea to me, and the fact that one pass of the eye was enough for Heath to not only recognize a sub, but going into full possessing/controlling mode, unnerved me.

Rarely, and I mean quite rarely you’ll find me uncomfortable with a book, but this one effectively managed to get me in such state. I felt uncomfortable with the fact that Heath spied Aiden through the cameras in his room. That was blatant voyeurism and dare I say some serious breach of privacy? I was uncomfortable with the fact that these guys just met, Aiden is supposed to serve a sentence, yet Heath goes on a full controlling mode with huge sexual innuendos in there. I was wondering for half the read, should I shelf this as dubious consent?

Anyway, the action plot moved to a more appealing route when Aiden’s story appears not to be what it was made to seem, criminals go after him and Olly once again gets himself in the middle of the fire zone. And while there were some plot holes in there, at least it made up for the implausible romantic D/s relationship between Aiden and Heath. I don’t know how to describe it really, besides the fact that a virgin gave himself to a seasoned Dom without any conversation about what it entails, with no experience whatsoever and in general was expected to behave as if he’d been trawling the leather clubs for years. And the chemistry between the two of them simply did not convince me.

So in the end there were parts I liked and parts I didn’t about this book.