Spires Book #3
e-ARC provided by NetGalley
Author: Alexis Hall
This is a first. I just read a 500-page book and I am lost as to what to say about it. Alexis writes masterfully (in several subgenres) and he never disappoints. In this one, he awed me. If you ask me to tell you the plot, it’s basic: Laurie, 37, doctor, meets Toby, 19, line cook at a greasy spoon, in a BDSM club. Pretty basic and you think: Oh, I know where this is going! Well, you are wrong. Yes, it’s a very spicy book but the BDSM elements in this are used in a way that throws you off. For starters, the Dom? It’s the 19-year-old. The emphasis is much more on the psychological and emotional aspects of domination and submission than on whips and chains.
The development of their relationship is organic. Laurie is pretty much stupefied that, after becoming a little jaded for Reasons, he is engulfed in feelings for this (as his friends called him) fetus. Toby is very 19 in some instances but incredibly mature most of the time.
What I mean is that, as he always does, Alexis pulls you into this unexpected romance and you fully drawn and invested.
All in all, this is book about connection, finding out everything about someone and being vulnerable enough to let them know everything about you.
Though book 3 in the Spires series, this is a standalone as all the other books. It has been previously released but this edition has bonus material, including detailed annotation by Alexis at the end (my Literature-loving heart was geeking out) and a recipe for a lemon meringue pie… you’ll get it.
NOTE: the audiobook, beautifully narrated by Paul Berton and John Hartley will not be rerecorded.
Thanks, Sourcebooks Casablanca, NetGalley and Alexis Hall for the book.
Content notes: grief, loss of a loved one, cheating (mentioned, not MCs)
