Title: Power Play
Series: Camassia Cove
Author: Cara Dee
Publisher: Self-Published
Length: 276 Pages
Category: BDSM, Contemporary
At a Glance: Although I’m rating with 4 instead of 5 stars, because of one scene in particular, I actually liked the rest of the story very much.
Reviewed By: Ky
Blurb: I was my own worst enemy. For as much as I depended on order and a structured life to easier manage my bipolar disorder, fire was irresistible and indisputably my favorite toy to play with. On the ice, it turned me into a hotheaded hockey player. In the bedroom, my attitude was my last defense, a front I wanted to see tumbling down. But lately, all I got was burned.
Love sucked. Correction: it sucked when you were in love with your parents’ closest friend and he didn’t feel the same. I admitted my feelings for Madigan Monroe over a year ago, and I was still waiting for a response. Now my balance was gone. My anxiety was all over the place, my fits of rage had just earned me a suspension from the team, I questioned myself at every turn, and being home for two weeks was gonna make it impossible to avoid Madigan.
I used to be his Abel, his sweetheart, his trouble. It’d been the two of us against the world since I was a kid. I’d even discovered we had kink in common! On paper, I was seemingly perfect for him. Maybe that was why his nonverbal rejection hurt so much. Or maybe it was because, recently, he seemed hell-bent on us “being friends” again.
Whatever. I was a loser, and I couldn’t resist him for crap.
Review: That was interesting….
This is not the first time I’ve read a BDSM book, but it’s the first time I’ve read one with Daddy kink, and while I don’t see myself reading another one anytime soon, I’m definitely not sorry that I read this one!
I thought the relationship dynamic was going to make me feel uncomfortable, and I was prepared to have to stretch my limits pretty thin in order to finish this. Well, that didn’t happen! The way Cara Dee handled the relationship and the connection between Abel and Madigan was amazing. It made sense for them to have that dynamic between them. It worked so well for them, and it was exactly what both of them needed from a partner. This type of relationship was right not only for Abel, who struggled with so many things in his everyday life, but for Madigan too.
The fact that they knew each other for so long made the speed of their relationship and the obvious outcome to the feelings they tried to suppress for so long more natural. Their relationship was intense right from the start, even without the added kink element to it. The fact that Madigan was best friends with Abel’s parents was an added bonus to the age gap trope.
The one and only thing I didn’t like was a scene towards the end of the book (I’m going to be very vague here, so no spoilers ahead): I found the scene entirely unnecessary. I don’t know why it was in the book in the first place, as it didn’t add anything to the story or their relationship. On the contrary, it went against everything I though their relationship was like. More than that, against what the character of one—if not both—of them was like. I would have been much happier if it wasn’t there at all, and I can even say that I was a bit disappointed when I realised the story would go there.
Although I’m rating with 4 instead of 5 stars, because of what I said above, in the grand scheme of things that scene didn’t take away very much from the story for me, especially since I’m just trying to forget it happened, and I actually liked the rest of the story very much.
There is age gap, friends-to-lovers, BDSM, hurt/comfort… There’s also a fair amount of Nutella!
Power Play is another great addition to the Camassia Cove series. Highly recommended—both the book and the series!
You can buy Power Play here:
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