Shaken Up by Nicole Forcine

ShakenUp

 

From Dreamspinner:

Tim Myers is the flamboyant and overly fastidious owner of the adult shop Little Earthquakes. In his spare time, he moonlights as a sub for his friend’s BDSM classes, and while he’d love to find a Dom to cater to his domestic servitude kink, he’s wary of exposing his body and his heart. When Jae Seong comes into Tim’s shop and asks him for help with a wax play demo, Tim is turned off by the idea. Jae is nothing if not persistent, though. He’s a skilled Dom and soon finds out why Tim is so protective of his body, his neck, and his heart. Over a series of play dates, the two grow close, and it dawns on Tim that he might be looking at a match made for collaring.

Marieke’s thoughts:

This story starts out very funny, with Tim helping a woman trying to convince her very straight man to take a dildo in the back door. Tim’s funny, helpful and very confident, but that’s only when it comes to his shop. In real life he’s scared and closed down––with good reason. He’s a sub but doesn’t want a Dom for himself, or so he tells himself. To get his nerves under control he sometimes helps David and Reggie––two friends who happen to be big bad Dom’s––to do demo’s for a local BDSM group.

In walks Jae, who’s a Dom but not one of the overly macho ones. Jae asks him to do a demo in wax play and somehow convinces him to not only do it but also practice a few times. David is the one to tell Tim that maybe Jae could be more than just a temporary play partner. Tim is scared but secretly a little excited.
When they do the practice scene, Tim and Jae connect and Tim finally tells Jae the story of why he’s so afraid.

The story started so funny that I was sure this was going to be one hell of a good story, but somewhere it went a bit askew. Not that it isn’t a good story, but it didn’t get to the great stage. The characters are all very likeable, the story line is great, the setting is wonderful, yet somehow it’s just not….awesome. Maybe it’s the fact that it’s pretty short and the author doesn’t go into the depths of feelings and situations. Whatever it is, I’m missing something.

I did enjoy the story. The connection between Jae and Tim is sweet and the kinky side of the book is very nice too. David and Reggie are funny Dom yenta’s and Gloria is the dirty minded best friend. The bad guy––who only gets talked about but never appears–– is a big bad Dom who scared Tim off pretty badly…but not bad enough.

All in all, this story was worth the read, but I won’t be rereading it, I think. A sweet short, with a dash of kink.

3