Author: Alexandra Blunt
Publisher: Loose Id
Pages/Word Count: 93k Words
At a Glance: Ravenous is Alexandra Blunt’s very first novel—and what a debut!
Reviewed By: Carrie
Blurb: Just when Julian Schwarzenberg accepted that discarding his kinkster skin might be for the best, a call from the owner of one of London’s BDSM clubs rekindles his need to have someone to call his own; to dominate and nurture to his heart’s content. Julian was hurt in the past, and he’s reluctant to accept a mystery invitation that could very well lead to a massive case of heartache. And to welcome Christopher into his life might just be Julian’s undoing.
Christopher’s life is like a permanent construction site: unstable and filled to the brim with flakes of emotional plaster. His eating disorder is consuming him from within, and his quest for Dominant Mr. Right–the one thing keeping him going–is a mirage akin to finding water on Mars. But fate finally delivers one effective punch–a smokingly hot Dom who is on the hunt for Submissive Mr. Right. Love may be waiting for Julian and Chris, but it will require them to take a leap of faith. They might just be willing, because they’re both Ravenous.
Review: Excerpt from Alexandra Blunt’s blog post—March 21, 2016:
For love we suffer; that was my very first rational thought about love. One that inspired these lines:
You grieve over the loss of a long lost lover,
You lie restless in the grave of passion.
Eros in the sweet bitterness of winter,
The caress of desire into an abyss of sorrow.
This idea of an unbreakable tie between love and pain stayed with me for many long years.
It stayed with me until I let go of the fear and understood that love doesn’t just break us; sometimes it’s the one thing keeping us sane, our very unique lifeline.
And my novel was born out of that very discovery; that’s why Ravenous is all about opening up to love. And through love, to life.
§§§§§
Julian Schwarzenberg has given up the lifestyle, quit his membership to the local club and suppressed his dominant tendencies for months. He feels old, a throwback to when the D/s lifestyle was serious and a commitment—worth something to those involved—not just the latest fad. He receives a call from an old friend, the owner of his old club, who asks him for a favor. She has a sub, a man who desperately needs help.
Christopher has been made homeless by his older brother. He is alone, and coping with his eating disorder is no joke. He longs to serve but cannot find a Dom who will take him on with all his emotional issues.
This match is not necessarily made in heaven, and the two men struggle to reach their HEA as they both have issues to solve. Chris is a man rigidly in control of himself and his surroundings; it’s the way he deals with his anorexia. Getting Chris to surrender his control of his disease is a major hurdle he must overcome. Julian assumes control of every aspect of Chris’s life in an attempt to ease the boy’s burden, all the while giving Chris the freedom to laugh and play, be affectionate without the risk of angering his Master.
I will say that the issue of anorexia could have been handled in a more proactive way in this book. I realize the Master/sub dynamic has to come into play, but I feel that Chris should have had professional help long before he actually did. The issue of anorexia is not one a Dom alone can handle. The pathway for these men to finding their HEA is a believable one, though, and it didn’t feel contrived. They have to open up to each other equally, and that isn’t easy for either man.
Alexandra Blunt created solid main characters and supported them with secondary characters that added to the storyline and kept it rolling. If parts of this novel were redundant to other mainstream works, I can forgive the author because other parts were fresh, and that can be hard with all the BDSM books on the market. I am not going to belabor story arcs or other literary points because this is her first novel. Is this a great novel? No, but it is a really good debut. Ravenous is a solid work of fiction and this author shows so much promise. You can see how she will mature in the future and hone her craft. In a genre that is growing and changing with such leaps and bounds, it is encouraging to see a fledging author with such promise; she is and will be a solid addition to the M/M universe.
I would recommend this story and look forward to other books from this author in the future.
You can buy Ravenous here:
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