Sandra @ My Fiction Nook

A little uneven in the characterization. Difficult read due to subject matter, and odd turn at the end. First off, I'm not in the BDSM lifestyle, because there's not a submissive bone in my body, nor do I feel the need to go all Domme on my husband. However, I do appreciate a good BDSM romance/erotica. Unfortunately, this wasn't. The part where BDSM is supposed to be sane, safe on consensual was completely missing from the relationship between Noah, the Dom, and Jesse, the slave who enjoys pain. Jesse tried to stop the play when it got too much, and the Dom didn't listen. Bad Dom, bad. No crop for you!We first meet Jesse after his previous Dom Mark has broken off the relationship. Jesse is taking care of his cancer-stricken mother and tries to put on a good face for her, but privately feels entirely alone, left out in the cold and utterly lost. I can't quite figure out whether Jesse needs to have therapy to get his head examined or if he chooses to go with Noah out of misery or simple revenge. Either way, the kid needs rescuing. My protective instincts were in full force and I wanted to slap apply the crop to Noah's hide a few times. I also have to question the owner of the club that would allow a Dom with known issues to still be a member. My fists curled in helpless rage when Noah beats Jesse and draws blood, and then tortured him even when Jesse asked to stop. GRRRRRRRR!!!!Mostly, I felt sorry for Jesse. He got a raw deal when Mark left him, and when Mark failed to tell him up front that monogamy wasn't this thing. The POV then switches to Mark and that's where the novel took this unexpected turn. Mark sees what's happening, sees that Jesse is hurting and actually does the mature thing. He steps in. Good for you, Mark.As a short story, it's a quick read, and touches on some very important aspects. The erotica is nicely written, but what impressed me most was the author's ability to delve deeply into Jesse's psyche and deliver a protagonist that was clearly out of his mind, yet in such a subtle way that I as a reader couldn't help but feel for his plight.The novella is self-published and should be run through some serious proof-reading/editing as grammatical and punctuation errors are relatively frequent for such a short novel.Kol - this was a creepy, dark and yet fascinating tale. I'd like to see Noah get his just desserts. How about it? ;)