Power Exchange (Power Exchange #1) by A.J. Rose Review

This was a great intro to the male/male erotica genre for me. Thanks to Karen. L. who emailed me and recommended that I give this one a try! There was more story than sex, although there are definitely descriptive sex scenes throughout the book. The mystery wasn't difficult to figure out, but it was Gavin's journey to self acceptance and honesty that was the best part for me. Gavin is a homicide detective, who is married, uncomfortable in his own skin, and anxiously trying to please everyone in his life. Stresses and anxieties finally catch up to Gavin and fate offers him the opportunity to reset who he wants to be and how he wants to live his life. Gavin is faced with solving a horrific murder and is introduced to Dr Ben Haverson who will act as a consultant on the case. Dr. Benjamin Haverson is a psychiatrist who specializes in counseling patients in the BDSM lifestyle and happens to be a Dom himself.  Ben quickly becomes more than just an adviser to Gavin and things quickly progress from there.

There are some boundary pushing scenes in this story, they are not part of Gavin and Ben's relationship, but they are integral to the story. One of the things that I appreciated the most about this book is the incredible amount of research that Rose must have had to do in order to write this book. Any crime or mystery story needs to feel real and authentic and even though the killer wasn't all that hard to peg, the lead up and information given felt smart and made the story flow smoothly. There were no eye rolling moments, which is always a good thing. The BDSM experiences in the book were uncomfortably real as well. If you only enjoy light, fluffy and hot BDSM books that only flirt with the lifestyle this may not be the read for you. There was one scene in particular involving breath play that made me blink rapidly until it was over. Yeah, that's my tell and if an author makes me do that I know that the story is a winner for me!

There is a book 2 to this series that I will be putting on my to read list. I need to know how things continue between Gavin and Ben, as well as Gavin's family. All in all I am glad that I finally got over my trepidation about male/male reads because after all a good story is just a good story no matter who the main characters are. That being said, I am not so interested in the female/female story line though, it's just a personal preference. I need a little hot dog in the bun if you know what I mean!

Happy Reading!
Monica

You can read my review of book 2 SAFEWORD here!

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