Unorthodox Therapy

So Unorthodox Therapy By Lilah Noir was very much swings and roundabouts for me.
Some things I loved and others, well not so much.
Because of this, I struggled with my rating a wee bit.
The first half of this for me was definitely Four material, then much to my disappointment, the second half I struggled with, pulling this four down to a three for me.
So I have settled somewhere in the middle of these two ratings at a three 1/2.
So the plot goes that Lina, CEO of her own software company is desperately trying to ditch the old cancer sticks. (Cigs) (without much success, I might add.)
Enter Thomas Much younger than our lovely Lady Boss, eleven years to be precise, he sees something in Lina that she hasn’t even recognised herself, a submissive nature, now Thomas is all raring to cure Lina’s smoking addiction with very unconventional methods.
He’s had fantasies about his sexy boss for years and plans to replace it with a different habit, a craving for the kind of control only he can offer Lina as beloved and adored Pet.
Thomas & Lina entering into this partnership agree to keep their arrangement on the low. Lina is Thomas’s boss which makes it difficult to openly fraternise with each other outside of work, also the nature of their involvement as master and pet is something Lina really doesn’t want to advertise.
So what did I think of our leading Man & Lady?
Well, This is where some of my grievances start to rear their head.

We have Thomas, twenty-Five, a bit geeky in a sexy lovable way but also surprisingly to Lina a Dom in all his personal involvements. I found him an extremely affable character, very well liked by his co-workers and an all round nice guy.
I personally loved Thomas, I adored how human and unsure he could be, in my eyes this only made him seem so much more real A genuine, human persona behind the Dom mask.
This contrast to his Dom personality, made for intense sexy reading, the softness and humour towards his Sub only adding to Thomas’s very unique charm.
I suppose this is why I was so shocked when all hell broke loose and he broke all the rules and went Psycho on his pet.
So Bar that one instance where Thomas went crazy with his jealousy, Our leading man tries to be a calm, methodical fun master.
And about that one episode, Thomas indulges in, A tantrum if you must call it something, well it really didn’t sit quite right with me.
I have read some extreme stuff over the years so I’m really not that shockable, but this occurrence, well it really smacked of abuse rather than control and humiliation, and I suppose that’s what made it so extreme in my eyes as it was quite tame in nature. I think this was because it didn’t seem quite consensual at all.
and the golden rule when it comes to kink is SAFE, SANE, CONSENSUAL.

Thankfully there is only this one scene from Thomas.
A bit like the Hulk ay! ANGRY!!!! You Wouldnt Like me when I’m angry!
Lina, Well all I can say here is I really found It difficult to understand how she has got to the grand old age of 36 while still being completely naive about the so-called characters of others. Lina was a very hard woman to relate to, I really wouldn’t have blamed Thomas for dumping her irritating ass at all, that girl could seriously give you whiplash with her lack of trust and issues to commitment.
Personally, I am also seriously offended on Thomas’s behalf at Lina’s disbelief of His overall character. this is what I mean by lack of judgement and respect she says she loves him dearly but believes he would actually do awful things to her, WTF so not LOVE!!! Whatever has poor Thomas done Lina to make you lump him in such an unflattering category?
Also, D/S is all about the trust, there is no trust on Lina’s part for poor Thomas, she automatically thinks the worst of him every single time, when he’s done nothing to warrant this.

So what worked for me and what didn’t float my boat

1/ I loved the overall concept, the age-gap and boss status of lina and then the balance of power switching towards Thomas as the Dom outside of workplace was a stroke of genius, this really worked with Thomas although younger really holding his own.

2/ I found the added tension and angst was not needed and in my opinion detracted from the story.
There doesn’t always have to be DUH DUH DUH Moment!!!! sometimes simple is best.

3/ Lina was not a very nice character NO LIKEABILITY FOLKS!!

4/Without giving away any spoilers I think her reactions to her ” experience” we shall call it, with Seth, were was a little extreme, yeh I get it traumatising, but Lina was meant to be made of stronger stuff, I just found it a touch let’s add some drama here to Jazz it up a bit.

5/ Trust! Trust! Trust! THIS IS AIMED AT YOU LINA!!!!

6/I loved this until all the angst came into play, for me exploring the connection between these age gap lovers was intriguing, you don’t always need big plot swings to attract and connect with readers, simple concepts can work just as well.I would have much preferred unorthodox Therapy to continue more along this vein.

7/And finally those Red leather boots, OMG!!! The mind visuals these gave me, way hot!!! Fanning myself here folks, Kinky Boots for sure !!!
So, in conclusion, I did enjoy this, It was very well written and the interaction between Lina and Thomas was off the hook in terms of the heat factor.
it just sometimes failed to connect with me and there were a few little niggles that bothered me some. Like not being able to stand Lina at all, Now, Thomas, I loved him, well most of the time, so overall in the grand scheme of things, this was a fascinating read that kept my interest and I would definitely recommend this to my fellow readers who like this type of genre.

So I have tried to be as fair as possible with this review, I will say that some of the initial D/S scenes between Lina and Thomas were some of my faves in as far as kink play is concerned,really hot and beautifully written, so when this worked for me it really pushed my buttons in all the right ways.
I received a free Readers copy of Unorthodox Therapy By Lilah E. Noir from the author
This is my own personal opinion.

Reviewed By Beckie Bookworm
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