Rating: 2.75 out of 5 stars
Welcome to The Cage, where you can share the ups and downs of a group of friends as they enjoy a rollicking adventure of sex and love in “the life.”
Being a Dom has always come naturally to Lazar Thornton, owner and operator of The Cage, a thriving adult toy store and meeting place for Lazar’s closest friends, Bran, Max, Otto, and the always flamboyant and fierce Miss Dré. But even the best of friends have different tastes in scenes—and in life.
Good-humored and laid back, but much in demand as both teacher and Dom, Lazar has always run from love. Until Ben Owen, relative newbie to the BDSM world, arrives wide-eyed and eager to learn, and Lazar wants to teach this sub everything he knows. But despite the openness needed for a Dom/sub relationship to thrive, neither discusses emotions. Feeling the sting of unrequited love, Ben isn’t as sure of his place in Lazar’s life as he wants to be. Lazar will need to read his sub’s heart as well as his mind if he truly wants to keep Ben in his life.
Only took 147 days (in actuality six long brutal days) to finish this. Any other time this would have been a DNF. I don’t do multiple person point of views which is the case here. It’s almost like an introduction to a series. A group of people with their own selective issues telling their portion of the story, but it’s all intertwining. I literally had to keep pushing myself to finish it.
I do think that’s partially unfair, because some of these characters I was really interested in. I just feel like it was not enough time to develop them to be great. The main duo relationship fell to the wayside because they didn’t develop enough chemistry for me. I feel like we walked into them and their relationship blind.
Some of the characters like Bran, and Otto? I really liked their story. I would totally buy a novella for each of them. I didn’t want to move on from them. Bran’s story especially, it’s not common in the m/m world for a “straight” guy to fall for a transsexual with hardly any problems, or over reaction. It was just blissfully lovely in my opinion. I thought Miss Dre was too over the top. Every drag queen cliché that has ever been out there was Miss Dre, I liked her sometimes, and other times I loathed her doing too much. Just her flamboyancy was annoying. Max as a character and his relationship was the most unsettling for me. It’s not something I’m familiar with in regards to reading about the BDSM community. It was different, and if it was developed more it could have been amazing. That leaves Lazar and Ben, and while they had the most scene time, I don’t care for them because I’m interested in Bran and Otto.
I think it was an almost okay start-up for a series if it becomes one. It was a first read for me by this author. I think it was okay, and I liked her writing style enough.
Cover Art by Catt Ford. I think it was a nice looking cover for the book. It was a cute cover portrayal of Ben.
Sales Links: Dreamspinner Press | All Romance (ARe) | Amazon | 
Book Details:
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 