Warning: This review might contain what some people consider SPOILERS.
Rating: 9/10
PROS:
- I love the premise of this story. It's vaguely familiar in that the novel is an interpretation of a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale (this is evident right from the beginning), and the structure of the story is similar to the structure of werewolf stories because the main characters are half-human and half-animal. The most interesting aspect to me was how Dare gives each species of bird different characteristics and tendencies--and how the human version of each bird shows those same qualities.
- The book also explores one of my favorite romance themes: the abused, neglected man finally finding someone who cherishes and protects him. Ori is no withering flower...he isn't completely helpless before Raynard finds him, but Raynard's kindness toward him certainly allows him to flourish in a way that he couldn't before they met.
- Ori and Raynard are perfect for each other. Ori is clumsy and emotional and completely devoted to his master, and Raynard is growly and uber-protective of his submissive. Ori has a fairly dangerous accident at one point, and I loved how violently Raynard reacts to the situation. He's incredibly worried about Ori, yet he's unable to admit what that means about their relationship.
- The sex scenes are hot. Plentiful (but not TOO much so, at least not for my taste), fairly detailed, and lightly BDSM--mostly bondage, blindfolds, etc. and one scene of whipping.
- Dare's writing style is, for the most part, smooth and pleasant and easy to read quickly. Her descriptions are detailed enough to give a full picture of the story's setting without being too dense.
CONS:
- Dare has a tendency to use descriptors rather than the characters' names to indicate what each man is doing. For example: "The submissive smiled against the hawk's mouth." The author was probably trying to avoid using the characters' names too often, but after a while I felt as though I was being beat over the head with the fact that Ori is "the duckling" and "the submissive" and Raynard is "the older man" and "the hawk" and "the dominant."
- Mistakes and typos and misspellings are fairly common in this genre, especially in ebooks, but this book struck me as having more than its fair share. There are quite a few missing and/or misplaced commas and a fair number of misspelled words (some of which are rather important words within the story): "ducking" instead of "duckling," for example.
Overall comments: This story manages to convey as beautifully as any other I've read that submission is a natural part of certain people's personalities--and that they're miserable if the ability to serve is taken away from them. The angsty period in the novel isn't as long and painful as some I've read, but it's nothing to sniff at, either. There's some definite pain before the sun comes out again; however, I really, really liked the ending. It felt wonderfully happy and settled to me.
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LA
At last, an erotic ebook that is a book and not a short story.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 13, 2013