I don't normally read BDSM books unless there is a real connection with the characters involved, and while that wasn't missing in this book, there was a lot of narrative, which detracts from truly getting to know the characters. Especially when BDSM needs a lot of conversation, to begin with, it's missing when you get to know Eldridge and Dalton. Plus, the story is short and there isn't enough time to establish anything past the instant love Dalton and Eldridge feel for one another.

Eldridge's Release is the story of how Eldridge, with encouragement from his best friend who is a submissive, goes to a BDSM club and meets the man who is perfect for him.

Eldridge has responsibilities and works hard but has no outlet for his natural desires. He has also been hurt in the past by an abusive boyfriend when he shared these desires.

Dalton is part owner of the club and Eldridge is immediately attracted to his dominant presence from very first sight... "Eldridge wanted to sit at the man's feet, which completely through him for a loop, and he immediately locked the thought away in the recesses of his brain." Dalton, for his part, falls super quickly for Eldridge too.

The book gave a sense of the club and the environment that Eldridge found himself in but it was more like a little taste. I didn't get a real sense of activities in the club or enough of Eldridge's reaction to, what I would assume would be the pretty intense activity going on. I think this may be because of the length of the book. Anyhow, I wanted to see more of Eldridge's responses.

It's a fairly quick read and I enjoyed the story. It's relatively light - a bit of spanking and flogging and talk of wax play - however some of the references felt a bit 'textbook BDSM'..."You need the candy to get your sugar levels back up. You've expelled a lot of energy tonight," Dalton explained the importance of after care for any sub and what they care might entail."

For these reasons I believe this story is most suited to someone new to the genre, someone after a little taste of BDSM with a nice happy ending - doesn't everyone love a happy ending! :)

There are a couple of minor editing issues but nothing that really distracted too much from the story.

A copy of this book was provided by the author in return for my honest review.

Visit my blog if you want to see all my m/m reviews in one place! Because Two Men Are Better Than One!

Full review to come.

2.5*

This one didn't work for me at all unfortunately. It was a lot of tell and very little show. Outside of a shifter/true mate romance, this type of instalove needs some really clever plotting to make it work and for me, this one didn't have that.

Everything was on the surface and Eldridge and Dalton were in love within about 20 seconds of meeting each other! Okay, it wasn't quite that fast but the narrative really didn't justify that type of connection, especially within the BDSM world.

The writing was good though, the scenes are very well executed and there was definitely a connection between the two men when it came to the BDSM element but, overall, I just felt like I was being told everything instead of being given the chance to read it come to life.

#ARC kindly received from the author in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

ETA: The lovely Jaime actually explains the best my thoughts on this book in her review here (although she ultimately rates it higher than I did):

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1676864225