This book is more about the concept of BDSM rather than the real action. There is a couple of bdsm scenes, but the rest is just main character's battle to accept his own submissive nature. Which is strange, provided he is 30 year old, openly gay, he lives in a big city with all the benefits it offers. There is obviously internet available for research. Why is he still convinced he is a twisted, inferior, pathetic person, I have no idea. Google it, man!
Clint, on the other hand is much older and more experienced. What was he thinking pushing Tyler, with all his insecurities, into a threesome?
3 stars. Sorry. ( )

Wow

Once again, Claire Thompson has written a beautiful love story on so many levels. There's never just one layer to look at, which is what makes her stories so compelling to me.

Tyler ran from his home and family because of a man in his family's ranch. He also tried to run from who he is, but that didn't work so well. You always take you with you.

Clint knows who he is and accepts it. When Tyler said to interview him, he senses there's more to Tyler than meets the eye. Clint makes it his goal to help Tyler.

Their connection is beautiful from the very start. Great story. ( )

I was not sure about the combination of such different element, cowboys, poems and BDSM, I was not sure the mix would have been good… and I was wrong. First of all I have to admit my ignorance since I didn’t know cowboy poetry was an art and apparently well known in some part of the US country; Clint Darrow is the dominant of this story, but he is also a well experience cowboy plus a cowboy poet… a lot of things condensed in one man, but the character manages to be realistic and also very nice. I wouldn’t mind to find such cowboy myself. Clint is so self-confident (something maybe he learnt also being a dominant) that he has no issue at all at being openly gay, and that confidence allows him to be well respected by his colleagues. His strength is not even something physical, actually Clint is lean and tall, but not muscular; Tyler Sutton, the man he falls in love with, his probably physically stronger than Clint, but nevertheless, Clint is the one in command.

Tyler is a young man who is still struggling with the idea of being gay and a submissive. Maybe he would be able to digest the first part of the concept, but he was abused as a submissive, and so he has not the wrong concept that trusting someone else with your body and mind is dangerous and not worthy it at all. Tyler knows that Clint is different, but knowing it on a logical level, and letting it arrives to his emotions is something completely different.

For once I liked that the main issue in this cowboy romance was not the main characters being gay; sure it’s not easy for them, and they will have to overcome some minor obstacles, but all in all, they have more trouble in finding the right balance between dominant and submissive than admitting they are gay and in love with another man. Between them then there is no issue at all, Tyler finds out Clint is gay from the first moment, while Tyler doesn’t deny he doesn’t neither advertise, and instead more or less Clint says it up front, even before starting a real conversation. But Clint is no interested in a one night stand, if Tyler didn’t let it out his submissive nature; I think Clint wouldn’t have though twice to their meeting. Clint understands Tyler’s needs even better than Tyler himself, and like he is good with skittish horses, he is even better with reluctant submissive like Tyler.

The BDSM side of the story is an important one, but not so overwhelming to obscure the characters and above all the supporting characters (in particular Tyler’s family is a nice surprise): I would recommend this romance to the BDSM fans to, for once, read a story where the dominant is as good as the submissive (truly, I usually tend to prefer the submissive, but that is not the case) and to the newbies of the genre to approach it with a milder version of the story.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1456325698/?tag=elimyrevandra-20

Claire Thompson never disappoints. This mixture of m/m and bdsm is another five star book in my opinion. The plot is simple, but her characters have such depth that you can't help but want to see them make their relationship work.

The only small problem I found was the fact that there wasn't a single line of poetry in the book and I was looking forward to that. In spite of this, I enjoyed every minute of the story. ( )