“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do… Explore. Dream. Discover.” — H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
Holy Sexapalooza Batman! Taking A Chance was relatively short, only about 11,000 words. I think approximately 8,100 of them were sex scenes. The sex was really well written, but it sometimes felt like porn with a litte plot thrown in for good measure.
Alan is waiting outside a restaurant for his blind date Timothy to show up. The two have spoken on-line and Timothy is interested in exploring the submissive side of himself with the Dominant side of Alan. While Alan is waiting, Benjamin happens by. He finds Alan sexy and alluring, and since he is a part-time actor and feels he can play any role he needs to, to get to know Alan better, he approaches him. Alan assumes that Benjamin is Timothy, so Benjamin goes with it, and they begin their date.
During dinner, Alan begins to ask Benjamin about his safeword and limits and what he was interested in exploring. While Benjamin had never given much thought to being a submissive, he found it intriguing and somewhat of a turn-on when talking to Alan about it. He decided to continue to be “Timothy” and see where the night went. From the first paragraph of this review, I’m sure you can imagine where it went.
Both Benjamin and Alan are very charming, sweet characters. Not many Doms are referred to as sweet, but this was really more D/s lite than a true BDSM book. I really kept wishing Timothy wouldn’t show up because Ms. Brooke brings the heat between Alan and Benjamin to the page right away. The sparks were flying in that restaurant and beyond. I was really rooting for them to be compatible in and out of bed.
While short and sexy, Taking A Chance had enough meat to it to satisfy my need for story. If Alan and Benjamin hadn’t been so well written, it could have been a train wreck and come across as plain old porn. But that was a non-issue because they were warm, funny and Alan was very caring. It wasn’t insta-love, which is a major pet peeve of mine (even though I’m told by a reliable gay male source that insta-love is as real with gay men as it is reputed to be with anyone else) which gave the story more credibility. It was what it was: a short, fun, sexy read. I would have loved a novel length version so these characters could be better developed.
Highly recommended.
You can buy Taking a Chance here:
