I'm glad that I confirmed my belief about this author's writing style. The only reason I didn't like the previous book in the series was because of it being m/f.

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There are few things I imagine to be worse than a "temporary" relationship when the only thing you want is a permanent situation. This is true for vanilla affairs just as much as for the kinky, D/s type. And when the man wanting permanent safety, like Mark in this story, has self-esteem issues and a ton of bad experiences with irresponsible so-called Doms, it makes everything even more difficult.

Mark doesn’t think he can trust himself. Since his choice in men thus far has been abysmal, and he's gone from bad to worse to totally abusive, I can certainly see why he is hesitant to try again. It's pretty horrible to see him expect nothing but disappointment from the moment his friends drop him off with Mr. Nolan. When he is given a temporary collar, meant to reassure him, it almost makes things worse because the one thing he wants, and needs, is something permanent. He needs someone to accept him for more than a few hours or days. Mark slowly comes out of his shell, but each step costs him. It was fascinating to see how he began to understand that what he wanted from a D/s relationship wasn't at all what he'd gone out to find so far.

Mr. Nolan is great. A wonderful Dom, who is definitely interested in controlling certain aspects of Mark's life, is nevertheless determine to only take over where mark wants him to. One of the ways of doing this is giving Mark a temporary collar, expecting this to be seen as a sign of respect, giving Mark the opportunity to think through the situation before jumping. Mr. Nolan's way of showing dominance takes a while to register on Mark's radar, but his patience and understanding of what Mark goes through seem limitless. And as their relationship progresses, Mr. Nolan realizes a few things about himself and his past sub as well.

If you like reading about two men who each have to learn new things, ones that they are ideally suited to teach each other, if you enjoy watching love blossom and grow, and if you're looking for a read that is hot and passionate as well as gentle and tender, you will probably like this book. I think it's a great addition to the 'Collared' series.


NOTE: This book was provided by Pride Publishing for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews. ( )

This one didn't really do a whole lot for me. It was an OK BDSM/healing/comfort book, but nothing earth shattering. I didn't dislike it, but I certainly won't read it again and I probably won't read any of Kim Dare's other books in the Collared series. It could just be my mood or the fact that I just finished the stellar [b:Rough Canvas|5709572|Rough Canvas (Nature of Desire, #6)|Joey W. Hill|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1226767001s/5709572.jpg|5881169] two days ago. *shrugs* ( )

Very enjoyable read. I just wanted to hug Mark throughout the whole book! I think Mr. Nolan was perfect for him. ( )

As per new FTC rules, I now have to disclose the entire reason I’m reviewing this book. Short answer, I love Kim Dare books. I bought it with my own money and yes, I do follow her on twitter although I never actually talk to her so I assume we can safely call it stalking from afar. She has participated in events before but has never solicited a review from our site, though I’d bite her hand off if she did.

In this one, the lovely Mr Nolan is still grieving the loss of his long term submissive and his friends are starting to get worried he’s going to grow old alone. Tired of setting him up with cloned replicas of his ex, only to have them shot down in flames, they bring him a “project” in the form of Mark, a truly damaged submissive who picks the worst Dom’s. His confidence in himself and other relationships is at an all time low and he needs a Dom to help him gain back some sort of self-respect. Although Nolan doesn’t really want to be set up, he cannot allow the sub to continue being in so much pain. He allows him into his home, into his play collar and he starts to build him up. I loved Nolan. With a passion. I often love Ms Dare’s books because of her ability to write Dom’s that are both aloof and sensitive, and Nolan is amazing. He never pushes Mark further than he is ready but he keeps him moving forward nicely.

Mark is damaged beyond belief. His taste in men runs to Dom’s that are abusers and users and every single one has created their own hole in his self-worth. One of the reason’s I love Nolan so much is that you can see Mark’s self worth growing throughout the tale. I loved the fact he wasn’t willing to dismiss his submissive side just because others had taken advantage of it. I loved the fact he embraced the chance to be Nolan’s submissive and didn’t close himself off. Basically, I admired his resilience. Oh, and the BDSM isn’t as full on as in some of her other books so this is good for newbie’s to the genre too J

Overall, this is a fantastic short read from an author that I love. You don’t need to read any other in the series, you can just enjoy this for what it is which is a lovely gruff Dom finding that, just because you have loved and lost, doesn’t mean that you can’t love again. ( )