Review: Duty Bound


Duty Bound
Duty Bound by Sidney Bristol

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Turning to the man who dumped you, for help, is a humbling experience. For Lisette, it is her last hope. She doesn't know where else to turn and going to Mathieu for a safe haven is her best chance for survival. Lisette is being stalked by her ex-boyfriend who is some kind of wet works covert agent.

The premise of this story is a scary possibility for those entering the kinky lifestyle. For Lisette, she journeys into kink and makes the mistake of dating a man without a conscience. Seth is the ex who equates BDSM with beating a woman to a pulp. His delusional grasp of the lifestyle is typical of those who vilify kink. While this is an extreme shown in the story, it is something which can happen in real life. Ms. Bristol does a good job of showing the extreme as well as a more balanced view of BDSM.

The flogging and bondage in this story is accurate and delicious. Ms. Bristol does a decent job in her flogging 101 teachings. The tone is just right to give those outside of kink factual information whilst avoiding a lecturing tone. For example, those who have never been flogged before probably didn't know there are different types of sensation when being flogged. The two most prevalent are thuddy and stingy. Explaining how it feels as well as which kind of flogger would create these two different sensations is well done in the story. There are a few other examples, such as the rope bondage scenes where Ms. Bristol provides more factual information.

The suspense part of this story is written in a manner easily understandable. What woman doesn't fear for her life when her ex-boyfriend attacks her and sends her to the hospital? They way Ms. Bristol uses social media as a tracking mechanism is actually more on point than she gives herself credit for. For those who are not aware, in the electronic age, anonymous is not so anonymous. Once an on-line personality is revealed, many social media applications can identify location of the person. In this one, it dealt with blogging and photos taken. Many applications will track and post the location of a picture taken. Sometimes, just updating a blog or twitter feed will post the location too. Seth tracking Lisette so easily is plausible as part of the story.

From a character perspective, Mathieu is the battered knight riding in to save the day. He's an easy archetype to like because he's a bad boy with a heart of gold. Plus he's an alpha male with a sensual touch. What romance lover doesn't sigh over this type of hero? Lisette is the typical damsel in distress who is a victim. Perhaps later she will be a survivor. She didn't do much for me because she classified herself as a victim and her actions were not conducive for staying alive. She's a bit naïve. Still, this is probably true to most women in reality so I can't really pick on her that much.

Overall, this is a sweet erotic romance. The suspense is mild and predictable. The characters are likeable if a bit forgettable. The kinky parts are well done and enjoyable. Recommended for kinky suspense readers who enjoy lovers reuniting.


 *provided by BDSM Book Reviews


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Comments

Mistik said…
Hey Dude! *waves*

Is this interracial BDSM?

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