Book Reviews

Book Blurb

With so many fences between them and happily ever after, two men wonder if it’s worth opening the gate.

Ten years ago, Eddie Crane, an actor on the rise, loved his costar and dreamed of the day they could be together. But his love, with his submissive nature, couldn’t handle fame, and before Eddie could help him, he died in a car accident—with Eddie at the wheel.

Now, scarred and guilt-ridden, Eddie buries himself in bad decisions and prays that a stunt—on or off camera—will go wrong.

Teenaged fantasies about the actor on his wall distracted Arthur Pike from real life—his dead father, runaway mother, gruff grandparents, and his unrequited love for his cousin’s straight husband. Now grown and off the farm, Pike is a horse stuntman hired to teach a reluctant Eddie to ride.

Pike is drawn to Eddie’s dominant nature despite the sadness clinging to the actor. Eddie let one lover down, but in Pike’s submissiveness, he sees the possibility for redemption.

 

 

First edition published by Dreamspinner Press, June 2015.

 

Book Review

With two men who are equally confused, messed up, and at a loss as to what to do with their lives, this story is bound to be depressing before it gets better. Eddie makes one bad choice after another to try to ignore/overcome/not have to deal with the fact that his submissive lover died in a car crash ten years ago – a crash where Eddie was at the wheel. Pike comes out of an awful, abusive childhood and a bad family situation only to fall hopelessly in love with his cousin’s husband. Neither man can move on, and I spent about the first third of the book tearing my hair out and almost losing the will to live. The utter hopelessness of both men ever finding happiness, never mind with each other, was really getting to me.

But then something wonderful begins to happen, and I perked up a little. Pike is drawn to Eddie and his dominant nature, which reduces Pike’s obsession with the unattainable husband. Edie discovers Pike’s submissive nature, and begins to crawl out of his shell. As unlikeable as I found Eddie in the beginning, he (eventually) redeems himself as more about his background is revealed. Pike is totally messed up, and needs a lot of patience. But I cared about both of them, and their emotional growth as they heal each other, though slow, is amazing. The resulting relationship is complicated, but clearly worth all the trouble.

The idea of an actor and his stunt double bonding in this way is interesting and unusual. The BDSM element added not just spice, but an extra level of complexity and intensity. They underpin what happens between Eddie and Pike on an emotional level with a physically visible aspect, and that supported the credibility of the psychological growth and development or me.

If you like complex (not to say complicated) characters, if a journey through hell and some challenging conflict is what you like to see in your romances, and if you’re looking for a read that is intense, emotionally draining, but ultimately uplifting and hopeful, then you will probably enjoy this novel.

 

 

 

 

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Additional Information

Format	ebook and print
Length	Novel, 476 pages
Heat Level
Publication Date	15-September-2020
Price	$3.99 ebook, $16.99 paperback
Buy Link	https://www.amazon.com/Bound-Fall-Redemption-Romance-Novel-ebook/dp/B08H5LG2XJ