Review: For Real

For Real by Alexis Hall
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I've never really enjoyed reading BDSM books, they always feel too much about a power trip for the Dom, but clearly I have just been reading the wrong books.

Laurie Dalziel is a 37 year old emergency hospital consultant, the sort they send to major incidents. He's feeling very lost, tired of the BDSM scene and heart-sick at seeing his ex with his new boyfriend at every turn. He's got a severe case of ennui, been there, done him, and everything feels fake. Then one night his long-suffering friends drag him to a club where he meets a young man, Toby Finch. Whilst Toby might be short, skinny and only 19 years old, he isn't a submissive, he wants to be a Dom, of course the sad thing is that everyone expects a Dom to be big and strong, possibly blindingly handsome, and a lot older.

At first Laurie is trying to help Toby, trying to stop him from being hurt in a club full of jaded middle-aged players, but soon he realises that Toby doesn't need saving.

This is a touching, heart-wrenching love story, about finding love in the strangest of places, about banishing pre-conceptions, about surrendering to love. It also taught me a lot about BDSM, I don't know how much is real, but it felt more truthful than all those m/f romances where the hero is 100% kink all the time, like there's never any spooning or snuggling or even plain old vanilla sex.

I just loved this, Alexi writes such different characters in each of his books, great to see a glimpse of Edwin, although I didn't recognise him at the time, and Marius was as much of an a-hole as I expected him to be.

On to the fourth book and I can't wait.

*edited for reread of ARC in 2024*

I echo all my previous thoughts about this book. The BDSM is very full-on, and yet is so much more real-life than FSoG and that ilk. There's laughter, and cuddling, and not being able to tie knots, and being taught how to use a flogger. There's tears, and an age-gap romance and best of all, no easy solutions.

BTW, Marius isn't as much of a a-hole as I recall, maybe because he has his own HEA now.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley for an honest review.



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