Laurence Dalziel is worn down and washed up, and for him, the BDSM scene is all played out. Six years on from his last relationship, he’s pushing forty and tired of going through the motions of submission.Then he meets Toby Finch. Nineteen years old. Fearless, fierce, and vulnerable. Everything Laurie can’t remember being.Toby doesn’t know who he wants to be or what he wants to do. But he knows, … do. But he knows, with all the certainty of youth, that he wants Laurie. He wants him on his knees. He wants to make him hurt, he wants to make him beg, he wants to make him fall in love.
The problem is, while Laurie will surrender his body, he won’t surrender his heart. Because Toby is too young, too intense, too easy to hurt. And what they have—no matter how right it feels—can’t last. It can’t mean anything.
It can’t be real.
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One of Alexis Hall’s best
I was hesitant to read but a book group I’m involved in kept recommending it. I did enjoy it. Great characters and an unusual love story.
Great insight into the world of Dominance and submission.
I shouldn’t be surprised, by now. In Glitterland it was a terribly damaged, depressed man confronted by a shockingly out loud glitterboy. In Waiting For the Flood it was a fellow so hurt and repressed that the kindest man in the universe nearly doesn’t get through to him. (That one is close to poetry.) Alexis Hall has a track record with this series. For Real does not disappoint.
It is a May – December pairing, but with D/s, kink, and terribly mismatched baggage. The tangles are intensely personal to each man, confusing to the other. Figuring out how to talk is often the hardest part of any relationship, and these two have that problem in spades. I adored that the Dom’s smaller and way younger and brand new to it, although he knows what he wants. I adored how much older the sub is, how resistant he is to any feelings, because of course this kid won’t stick around. Why would he? I loved that each sees the other’s physical flaws and it just feeds into the attraction in this intrinsically sweet way that is the underpinning of the entire relationship. Neither knows it. But we readers see it pretty quickly. I love how smart each guy is and I love how that sometimes just doesn’t help at all, but other times it is at the very heart of how they please each other.
If you skip kinky sex scenes, this one won’t work for you. Every scene counts toward the resolutions and character arcs.
Such a beautiful, lyrical book. The characters were provocative and original. It was an enthralling story, in a truly wonderful series. Really, really worth a read. One of the rare ones.
Wonderful, thoughtful writing, filled with beautiful images. A a realistic and very erotic portrayal of a DS relationship.