Before Reading: Say whaaaa?

The villain from A Fostered Love is the MC?

Oh, Ms. Dane...you just upped the game by writing one of my favorite themes.

I still want to tap dance on his nuts though. Just twice.

After Reading: I've been in a...mood lately.

I wanted to read about a certain type of hero. And I know I won't be finding it in my review pile so I went spelunking in the cavernous TBR mountains of SRAL's books. (It's DEEP) And cleaned up some of my Kindle space in the process. win-wn.

And this was not supposed to a long review but I have a feeling it will be. *sigh*

A Fostered Love is one of my favorite books. I reread at least twice a year. Jonah and Christian are my onions. And the villain from that book got his own romance novel. I'm still reeling.

Suicidal stalker David just has been released from prison and went back to his hometown of Coleman, Florida. Don't worry, Jonah has got something for him. In the form of Ben Evans, private investigator. Ben is hurting still from his break up, has a foster background of his own and hard life that adds to a mega chip on his shoulder. And though he tries to fight the attraction, David, his case, might the lucky man to break through the tough shell.

At first, I thought David would be up to his old tricks but the author had an excellent handle on him. She showcased the submissive facets of him to a T without going into kink. David isn't misunderstood. The greatest part about him is he knows his illness and he isn't magically cured. He continues to be a work in progress. So while working at a local animal shelter, he gets hate from various people in his hometown including his family and a stalker of own.

My, my how the tables have turned, huh David?

This novel is filled with sex, drama, angst, tears, purple prose, spit, cum and more fucking. And dub con. David is sill a butt virgin and learning to accept himself as a gay man. And mentally not ready for a relationship. Ben Evans doesn't care. He's the bigger villain, if anything. But most importantly...a level 7. *exhales*

A level 7.

I had a level 7 on my Kindle for over a year... *smh* I can only blame myself. I get so easily distracted. What is a level 7? The highest level on the SheReadsALot's Seven Levels of Cray in a Relationship (patent pending)

And not since Landry from Mary Calmes' "Mine" have I met another level seven. I've gotten close with a few and I'm not counting Steter (which is a fucking given when written correctly) or Sterek. And guess what? Not both men from Brokedown Hearts are 7's. David is maybe a 5 Oh no no no! That honor is bestowed to none other than Mr. Ben Evans.

He was a level 5 when he started all the smelling and non-shifter shifter shit: smelling his "mate" (I'll get to that soon).

Then he hit level 6 when he forced David when he knew David was not mentally stable to handle a sexual relationship. Ben knew the fucking score and did it anyway.

But the piece de resistance to enter him into level 7 upper top echelon? When he stated not once but multiple times, if David left him, he would kill him. I fucking believed it. And he even admitted it to David in tears while telling him, he's not allowed to leave. But their love is a level of cray that is golden, baby.

We're talking: I'll-fuck-you-TAKE-MY-DICK-it's-the-way-I-love-you-honey-you-just-have-to-learn-okay-you-serve-me-I'll-make-decisions-for-you-let-me-be-the-alpha-and-spit-on-your-bud-and-put-my-dry-dick-in-you. And they fuck for forever, the scenes are sooooooooo long. If anything, the book could've been shaved by 20-30% and it could have started with the sex scenes.

And while I'm rating this Four Stars, there are buckets of moments when I just:

1) Not my first nor last Cameron Dane, but I'll call it like I see it. All of the pretty, purple prose, the "honeyed salt" semen and skin, the "bud" anus, the "ass channel, rear passage, channel, chute, striated muscle", "webbing" and my new least favorite "tail end" which brings to mind tail pipe and all the videos of dudes fucking actual exhaust pipes on cars. (Don't Google search -trust.)

The too sweet words mixed with some solid parts made for some ridiculous sex scenes.



2) Sweden - Um...why even bother with that subplot? Just double eyerolls for all of that. Weak. Who the hell did Ben think he was aside from a non-shifter shifter? A superhero? Pokemon? Batman?



*squints* Why didn't he do that the first time around when he flew out there? Probably to make the plot stretch out. :/ Because then there wouldn't have been the 'OMG what the hell is going moment; that is 70% and beyond, hm?



3) Ben Evans - from what the story stated he's 1/2 Swede, 1/4 Native American and 1/4 Cuban. 6'5" of prime alpha human male. At no point in time was any sort of shifter mentioned. This was all contemporary. What was up with all the shifter qualities to him? I was waiting for him to come out of the closet and admit that his big secret wasn't his love of aggressive sex but that he was a full fledged shifter whose species has yet to be determined. A non-shifter shifter.





All he needed what some fangs and a cock that KNOTTED, I swear.

Listen all jokes aside, this couple in real life is not okay. But this is fiction. I get why there are 1 stars all over the place for this novel, it's polarizing and that kind story.

But if Cameron Dane actually made me:

1) sympathize with David (I actually called him sweet, the nutbag)
2) root for his HEA

There was something there, underneath the abundance of sex.

Sweet Cheesus, do they fuck all the time! How did their fuck parts not try to secede from their bodies, I don't know. Maybe that is the true mystery?

And there was a mystery, I figured out the villain but I still had to see how it all ended. Hint: full of cum, tears and DRAMA.

And I ate that all up.



To myself...and to Ben Evans. I hope to never meet you in real life. Actually, I wouldn't be afraid because David a level five would be there to keep him in check...with his striated muscle dripping with saliva.



This book definitely helped ease my mood of possessive as fuck alphas. Tenfold. " ( )

[a:Cameron Dane|1585457|Cameron Dane|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/f_50x66-e0ba3b90c110cd67123d6a850d85373e.png] took quite a leap of faith with this novel, the third in the Foster Siblings series. She made loathed stalker and villain David Joyner from [b:A Fostered Love|6235225|A Fostered Love (Foster Siblings, #1)|Cameron Dane|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1237874462s/6235225.jpg|6417894] a MC in this book. He is just coming off spending five years in hospitals and prison. She makes Brayden Crenshaw's ex-boyfriend Ben Evans (both introduced in [b:Something New|8477800|Something New (Foster Siblings, #2)|Cameron Dane|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1278592381s/8477800.jpg|13342742]) David's MC hero. Not a whole lot of positives to work with right off the bat.

The rest of the review will be under a spoiler tag. If you plan on reading the book, I suggest you do not read any further.

With David fresh out of prison and choosing to come home rather than relocating, his stalking subject's (Christian) boyfriend Jonah hires Ben to follow David to be sure he is no longer a threat. Ben is on a mandatory 6 week leave of absence from his job as a private investigator, so he accepts the job and begins following David and learning everything about the man. For whatever reason, Ben is unable to stay hidden for long and he and David meet and start a relationship.

As we learned in [b:A Fostered Love|6235225|A Fostered Love (Foster Siblings, #1)|Cameron Dane|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1237874462s/6235225.jpg|6417894] and are reminded in [b:Brokedown Hearts|22428738|Brokedown Hearts (Foster Siblings #3)|Cameron Dane|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1407688460s/22428738.jpg|41849031], David has never had a real, healthy romantic relationship. His family shamed him for his sexuality and then completely disowned him, and continue to disown him even after he has served his prison time. He is full to the brim with psychological issues relating to his homosexuality and sex is a problem. But when he and Ben begin their sexual relationship, Ben completely disregards all of this and tells David repeatedly to "work through the pain to the pleasure" whether that be physical pain or psychological pain. This was dubious consent, no if's, and's or but's, and it made me incredibly uncomfortable and soured my feelings for Ben and for the romance.

Here's the thing about dubious consent. I actually rather enjoy it, when it is used in the right context. It's not a dealbreaker for me and some of my favorite books have contained dub-con and even rape. But NEVER between the two heroes when both had 100% control of their faculties! This dub-con happened pretty early in the book and while it was happening and throughout the rest of the book, Ms. Dane kept dropping little tidbits here and there like these: David has a dream that Ben is a wolf before they even begin their relationship. Words and phrases like growl, mate, rubbing-his-scent-on and clawing were being used and used often. Animal imagery was everywhere:

Vivid and raw images of fucking David in endless positions for untold hours consumed Ben, pushing the animal within to break free and assume total dominance over his partner. Ben abhorred that base side of himself, and he mentally shouted at it to back the fuck off. Ben didn't dare let himself lose complete control with anyone, let alone David, someone so unprepared for aggressive sex.

Now, while the Foster Siblings series does not contain shifters, several of [a:Cameron Dane|1585457|Cameron Dane|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/f_50x66-e0ba3b90c110cd67123d6a850d85373e.png]'s books do, so I didn't think it was out of the realm of possibility that Ben was a shifter of some sort and he didn't know it yet and that explained his odd and inappropriate behavior with David. That's what I WANTED to happen. So very, very much. Unfortunately, it didn't. In the end, it was explained that they were just each other's soulmate and they couldn't live without each other. And that just wasn't enough to excuse Ben's behavior. *shrugs*

The good things are, you get to see the old gang from the Foster Siblings series and the sex is off the cuff! Holy shit folks, hold onto your hats. It's [a:Cameron Dane|1585457|Cameron Dane|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/f_50x66-e0ba3b90c110cd67123d6a850d85373e.png] is top form. Fuck yeah! I'm sorry I am not able to recommend this one, but as always, make sure you read other reviews and see how others feel.

( )