I'm in a dark-romance-era (yes, again). Here's Rina Saint's "The Contract." It's the first novel in her Dangerous Games series.
["Dante
My moral compass is broken. That’s why I need rules. They keep me from killing people I shouldn’t. They keep me from crossing certain lines. I’m possessive. Obsessive. Deviant. And I like to fight.
That’s what I see in Tristan when I spot him working in the swanky nightclub. His cool detachment is a mask. He’s angry, he’s lost, and he’s totally new to what he’s feeling.
I want to feel that anger. I want it to burn me. I want him to fight me—then I want to feel him submit. He won’t have any choice, not in my play room. He would look perfect there on the black sheets … with red blooming across his creamy skin.
Tristan
Okay, so I’m not as straight as I thought. I can deal with that, but I don’t know if I can deal with him. I could tell Dante was dangerous even before I saw him talking to a mobster connected to my brother’s death. I mean, Dante cornered me and bit me. I don’t even know him! He’s a thousand red flags. And yet … my body has never responded to anyone like it responds to him. That’s why I sit down with him one night after work.
Is this real? Are we actually about to discuss a sex contract? It looks so normal at first. He can’t hit me in the face. He can’t maim me. Why do we need rules for this?
“I don’t think you’re understanding this,” Dante tells me in his dark, sexy voice. “These are hard limits. Everything else—everything else—is fair game.”
He won’t tell me what that means. Half the fun, he says, is finding out."]
This book/plot reminded me of...something. I'm not sure what/who, but I was so here for this micro-tropes! As much as I was here for the larger oh-I-see-it-now trope when Kenzie met Tristan. And the way Dante changed and altered his reality and pushed as his own past traumas to be better for Tristan. Though I wasn't a fan of the I'm-losing-myself-my-demons-are-coming-I'm-self-destructive third-act shit.
God, this book was delightful. It was dark and dangerous and constantly changing. But the growing love and trust was beautiful, even if everyone (literally everyone) thought it was trouble.
Also, the "past traumas that are really fucking horrible but really fucking spoil some major plot lines" trigger warning below reminds me of a case I listened to on Crime Junkie, a really old one. That plot line might have been based on that, which is intriguing as fuuuuck, even if it's horrible as fuck. Granted, that Crime Junkie episode was also half-conspiracy.
Trigger Warnings: dub-con/cnc, abduction, drugging, knife play, homophobic slurs, depression, past traumas that are really fucking horrible but really fucking spoil some major plot lines, and more.
#thecontract #theclub #dangerousgames #dangerousgamesseries #rinasaint #books #queerbooks #queererotica #bodicerippers #bookstagram #bookphotography #ilovebooks
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