Just in case you get the wrong impression as you read further through this, I’m going to state now that I loved this story. I continued reading it far too late into the night and picked it up as soon as I awoke the next morning. This was 5 stars all the way, all the way, though you might not guess that from what I’m going to say later in the review.


Julie, the heroine of this tale, totally, utterly and completely made the book a winner for me. Every scene from her pov absolutely captivated me, she drew me into this story and I adored her. She coped bravely, and fiercely with all the slings and arrows life threw her way. She never bent, never broke, but forged her own, quiet path to happiness.


That total and utter enjoyment was in spite of, but confusingly also because of, what a self-centred, narcissistic prick Gabe is. After having read 3 of the interlinked books, I fully expected to adore him and worship at his feet. Instead I frequently wanted to throat punch the selfish, self-pleasing, sack of excrement. A fantasist who liked to paint himself as the knight in shining armour, which he was very much not. The whole implied threat of 'be my slave or you aren't safe from Brian', even after all his promises, proved that to be true.


Oh he generally said all the right things, mainly because he was so convinced by his own pretty lies, but he didn’t really care about the trauma Julie had been through. What he truly cared about was how it would affect his training of her, and her responses to it, or whether she would ever agree to submit. It’s rather funny because he is one of the very few Kitty Thomas heroes to actually use the 'love' word, but he was the one I least believed that emotion from. I know the author deliberately avoids that word in general, as her men aren’t good guys, they aren't men who know normal emotions, except social norms, so I do wonder if this was another of her little mind fucks for the reader to unravel and digest!


But folks, BUT, this in no way ruined my enjoyment, in fact I think it added extra layers and depth. Because I chose to view this not as all Gabe’s desires and dreams coming home to roost, but as Julie’s journey into not only surviving her time at Dmitri’s but in finding a way to live with it and live beyond it. Gabe fulfilled her needs perfectly and because she was happy and content, so I was too. I didn’t even mind that he also got all his wishes granted too. Though I'm still a little mad at him for not recognising how much Julie had needed him after their first proper session in the dungeons.


I loved how Kitty messed with my head, how she made me so angry with Gabe, made me really dislike him but also made me want him to adore and treasure Julie, because SHE deserved it. And he did adore her. And it did scramble my brains into mush. And I still want to knee him in the balls. That is as long as it wouldn’t upset Julie too much.