PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 234 pages
SUMMARY: On his sixteenth birthday, Francisco “Cisco” Aguilar first sets eyes on Maximilian De Ferrari, owner of Wicked Grounds, an exclusive BDSM club. Cisco has been lost, unsure of what is missing in his life. Over a century old, Max leads a vampire clan, and Cisco is drawn to him in a way he can’t explain. The moment he sees Max he knows his quest isn’t about what he’s been missing, but who.
Five years’ wait seems more than Cisco can bear, but he perseveres and on his twenty-first birthday he walks into Wicked Ground. He’s unafraid to meet the vampire he’s sure is his destiny. Max has been waiting for him, too.
What Max has known all these years, and what Cisco soon discovers, is that more than fate is drawing them together. Iunctiō Cōpula is a powerful binding link capable of restoring cold, dead hearts. With Max and Cisco bound, Cisco will be Max’s greatest weakness. Unable to let Max go, Cisco is thrust into a dark world, where he’s nearly powerless, left to fight for his life and his future with Max. Worse, he’s at the mercy of those who will use him—and hurt him—just to get to the powerful vampire king.
REVIEW: A BSDM story with a vampire and a human. Reading the summary of the story, I didn’t think that it would work or that I would end up liking the book. I was pleasantly surprised but there were also things that I didn’t quite like about the book
I liked the vampire/human BDSM aspect of the book. That’s not something you see a lot of, so that’s good. I’ve read one other book where the human was the Dom and the vamp the sub. I liked that and this one so I’ll definitely BOLO for more books with this D/s human/vampire theme.
This binding link, Iunctiō Cōpula, this…thing that restores a vampire’s heart and causes it to beat again is an interesting twist . It’s not like some of the other stories where the vampire smells or bites his mate or something of that sort to find out if the person is their true mate. The author came up with something different, something fresh and new that sets this vampire mating apart from other books, so that was really cool.
Now on to what I kinda didn’t like about this book. There were a few holes in the story. I felt like you were kind of tossed into the story at the beginning of it.
Cisco and Max catch a glimpse of each other, know that they’re mates and then…nothing until several years later. Then it’s like they finally meet and Cisco tries really hard to gain Max’s attention when there’s really, no need to. He’s already on Max’s radar and I felt that Max would’ve played it cool for a just a bit. Not be an asshole, just not expose the other vampires—his enemies especially—his weakness. I mean, he went full tilt psycho on the first night when another vamp tried to handle Cisco. Once that happened, the rest already knew what it was and how much Cisco meant to him. From then on, Cisco was a walking, talking target for these guys.
I also didn’t think that Max was a very good Dom. He expected way too much from Cisco, this human who had absolutely no experience either sexually or in the D/s world and he offered little in the way of training. I felt that he went too hard too soon on an absolute beginner.
I also got the feeling there was a hint, a whisper of a secret plot…a conspiracy but it was like a memory you try desperately to grab but never able catch. So now there’s a mystery that hasn’t—at least for me—that remains unsolved, like a loose end that wasn’t tied up. Maybe there will be a follow-up to this story.
I liked the book more than I thought I would. I would’ve done without the mild violence, and the plot would’ve been more filled in, but overall, the dialogue, the book was pretty good. I really would like to see what happens with Benny and Angelo’s characters; I really liked them and would love for them to be features in their own story.
RATING: ❤️❤️❤️
