Title: For Real
Series: Spires Universe
Author: Alexis Hall
Genre: Contemporary Erotic Romance, M/M Romance
Sensuality Rating: Erotic
Source: review copy provided by publisher
Published: June 1, 2015 by Riptide
Laurence Dalziel is worn down and washed up, and for him, the BDSM scene is all played out. Six years on from his last relationship, he’s pushing forty and tired of going through the motions of submission.
Then he meets Toby Finch. Nineteen years old. Fearless, fierce, and vulnerable. Everything Laurie can’t remember being.
Toby doesn’t know who he wants to be or what he wants to do. But he knows, with all the certainty of youth, that he wants Laurie. He wants him on his knees. He wants to make him hurt, he wants to make him beg, he wants to make him fall in love.
The problem is, while Laurie will surrender his body, he won’t surrender his heart. Because Toby is too young, too intense, too easy to hurt. And what they have—no matter how right it feels—can’t last. It can’t mean anything.
It can’t be real.
Reviewed by: Crissy
In A Nutshell: Oh, you guys, this one is a keeper. Sexy. Romantic. Heartbreaking. Beautiful.
What I Liked: This is not your typical BDSM. That's always a plus for me. These guys are both lost and tremendously broken. For one thing, I love a good May/December but this author puts quite the unique twist on it. From the newbie top to the experienced bottom who is hung up on his past. These guys traverse some uncomfortable, uncommon ground. They screw up and they're all kinds of imperfect, but they fit. It's a long way around to falling in love but that's the powerful point in this story—Laurie and Toby take time to fall in love, even when they don't realize it.
What I Also Liked: Nothing about Laurie and Toby should have worked. Laurie is a doctor/consultant and Toby works at a café and has no idea what he wants to do with his life. Laurie is thirty-seven. Toby is nineteen. Laurie is a veteran on the scene and Toby is as green as they come. They are so far apart in life and in status that nothing should have been possible for them, yet they find this way to make it. And when they're on point, these guys are a powerful duo—not bending to what others expect of them.
For the level of skill Toby holds, this story is wonderfully steamy. The tension inside and outside of the bedroom is spectacular. The author does a great job with the depth and character while delivering deliciously erotic scenes.
The subtle changes in POV struck me as ingenious. I won't lie, present tense is far from my favorite, the way Toby's POV is played out, it barely registered to me. Laurie's voice came in past tense, Toby's in present, but the shift was not glaring. I enjoyed it.
What I Didn’t Like: The thing is: I did like it. I did. BUT and it's a big but, I just kept wondering why they couldn't simply find a moment in all of the time they spent getting to know each other to talk about what was bothering them. I didn't get why Laurie had such a hang up with his past. I needed him to move on quicker, I think.
In My Opinion: I really liked this one. While it's not my favorite in the Spires Universe, it is definitely a great one.
Crissy’s Rating:
I had never heard the May/December term, but that was a cool one to look up. Hadn't read a novel with that kind of relationship. but I think I'm adding this novel on TBR list because now I really want to! I like how you describe the two guys that sound like they really won't go well together, yet you say they do, as that makes me super curious how the author pulls it off. Thanks for writing a great review!
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