I received Consent through the Goodreads ‘Don’t Buy My Love’ review program for an honest and unbiased review. This story is told in third person through the eyes of both Travis Winslet, a Survivalist, and Skye Randall, who’s looking for a Dom he can connect with, and respect.



I’ve read a few of Bruce Rose’s books and have enjoyed all of them. Consent is the story of a kidnapping and how that kidnapping deeply changes the life of two men, even though they stayed with each other for only three days. Be forewarned, you’ll have to suspend belief because kidnappings in reality, don’t end up as nice as this one, plus the fact that Travis lives so far away from medical help, what if he has a serious emergency? He'd die before he'd get it. This kidnapping reminds me of a fairytale. The kind where the Pirate makes off with the Prince/Princess and then the adage, ‘If you love something, set it free,’ comes into play.

Travis is a very lonely man. So lonely that his common sense flies out the window, and he decides to kidnap a young man and try to convince this man to stay with him for the rest of his life. His actions made me think Travis was not smart, which we find out later is not the case. Travis is smart and quite attuned to people, but sadly he was hurt badly in the past which makes him stay away from people, although not so much that he isn't unfamiliar with BDSM. I find it hard to believe he hadn't practiced on others before to be as adept as he was with Skye. However, this is a fairytale so things like this are glossed over in the story.

Back to the plot. Fortunately, Travis kidnaps Skye, who wants to be kidnapped because he thinks it’s a paid kink scene. Once Travis figures this out and finds out how nice Skye is, Travis’ guilt over what he'd done and his lying, starts to eat at him. At the start of the story, Travis is all about what he wants. Yes, he does treat Skye well, but the idea to kidnap someone is all about what Travis wants. Skye is eager to please and continues to think that his days with Travis are a ‘scene.’ The juxtaposition of Travis keeping the secret of the real reason for the kidnapping from Skye, and Skye’s eager willingness to please lends a humorous air to the story. Skye's personality and innocence over the whole affair is what keeps the plot from dragging or from getting too serious.

Consent is character driven with Travis and Skye discovering each other, but mostly with Travis teaching Skye control and helping him find confidence in himself. Skye does the most growing, but he does teach Travis that he doesn't have to kidnap someone for that person to come to care for him. In the end, Travis puts Skye’s well-being above his own even though Travis knows he’ll be broken forever. Then comes the fairytale ending. The only thing I would’ve liked at the ending would’ve been some info on Skye and Travis discussing Skye’s fiber art, and how he planned to contribute to their household. Instead, it was glossed over with ‘both men had to adjust.’ I wanted more info and conversation after the two got back together, because the conclusion felt very rushed and it did take away some of the enjoyment I had for the rest of the story. It’s not a good way to end a book.

This is probably one of the top two books I’ve read by this author. I give Consent, 4 Stars



Updated to add my versions of Travis:




And Skye:

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