Title: Yogi and the Bear
Author: Nix Knox
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Pages/Word Count: 315 Pages
At a Glance: A flipped relationship that blew me out of the water.
Reviewed By: Jennifer
Blurb: If the fall is inevitable, might as well enjoy the tumble.
Months after a scaffolding accident leaves him in chronic agony, construction worker Ryan Powell has exhausted all that Western medicine has to offer. He’s willing to try anything, even yoga, to get some relief.
He expected to feel out of place at the New Age Center, but he never expected a power-outage bathroom encounter to magically erase his pain. When he discovers the man with the magic hands is his drop-dead-sexy yoga teacher, Ryan decides that there might just be something to this metaphysical thing, after all.
Yogi Niklas Baumgartner has found it remarkably easy to keep his shiny vow of chastity untarnished—until now. Still, a bathroom hand job doesn’t really count as sex, right? But his footing on the no-nooky wagon slips when he realizes the big, blond bear at the back of the class is his man in the dark.
Their unlikely attraction brings out sides of themselves they never knew lurked beneath the surface, sides it takes courage to accept. But when trust is broken, repairing the damage might just tear them apart.
Warning: Contains a gentle giant, a dominant orgo-bunny, a pair of weighty manacles, too many movie references, accidental porn, overcoming stereotypes, and deliciously kinky sex.
Review: God, I loved this book. There was so much to love about it, I’m trying to remember it all. I highlighted a lot as I read, to keep track and then tell everyone how amazing this was, but I’m afraid I’ll forget something!
First, I have not read other books by Nix Knox, and though this is not part of a series, characters from one of the author’s previous books are mentioned briefly and do play a role in the lives of Nik and Ryan, even if they personally are never on the page.
Second, HILARIOUS dialogue. I laughed so many times. The back and forth between Ryan and Nik is just great. Ryan has a habit of saying something, usually making a poor word choice, Nik questioning that word choice, Ryan amending it, and Nik picking which of the two he prefers. It happens throughout the book, and I loved that back and forth between them. It made them such unique, real characters to me, and I wanted to get to know them personally. I wanted to pull them from my pages and just watch them talk. My favorite line from the book? Ryan and Nik go into Ryan’s room for privacy to fool around. Nik leaves to get his backpack and comes back to a suddenly naked Ryan: <i>“I don’t know what happened.” Ryan shrugged as he spread his arms wide. “Some clothing monster came in and snap, here I was, naked.”</i> I’m laughing again rereading that. And let’s not even get started on the fact that Ryan names his dick Mr. Winky, and his reason for it.
Third, the angst. Oh, believe me it’s there, despite the humor. I felt for Nik and Ryan. Both of them are treading waters they haven’t before, and even though they’re given advice from a longtime Dom, when they start testing the BDSM waters, they don’t listen. And they pay for that. My heart broke for Nik and his need to keep his Dom-self separated as Julian. It truly seemed like he had a split personality at times, and as hot as it was to watch him switch between Nik and Julian, the pain that went with it was palpable. And watching Ryan suffer from his work injuries and the weight of stress from his family…whoever thinks stress isn’t painful should read those scenes.
Four, the book challenges perceptions of gay relationships, especially in the BDSM community. A lot of people automatically tend to think small man=bottom, big man=top. They don’t consider the vast array of personalities that accompany the size of those men. Just because a man is physically smaller than another doesn’t automatically make him submissive, just as a larger man isn’t automatically a Dominant. Nix Knox takes those stereotypes and throws them out the window. Sure, they’re addressed. Ryan admits he does want to submit to a man, but doesn’t voice it because the one time he does, he’s pretty much laughed at by his partner. Nik doesn’t laugh. Though much smaller, he has a side to him, Julian, who wants to Dominate another man, especially one larger than him. Ryan and Nik fit perfectly together in that sense. But that’s not all they are, they’re not always in a scene or a BDSM mindset. There are times when Ryan is protective and a bit Dominant and Nik is the more submissive and craves the security and protection Ryan offers.
Have I mentioned how much I love them?
I’m just going to stop here because I could go on about this book for quite some time. Basically, you should read it for yourself. Now, excuse me while I go off to find the author’s other books.
You can buy Yogi and the Bear here:
sounds so good I had to buy it right now!
It was phenomenal! I adored it. :)