Bound by Lies
READ THIS BOOK… It’s excellent!!! 
If you love BDSM that is not sugar kink, Lynn Kelling has created two characters that will pull on your emotional heart strings, a big bad ass Dom, and an adorable sweetheart of a slave. Two lost souls, repressed and in denial of what is truly in their hearts and who also happen to be… Off. The. Charts on the hotness scale, as in the panty melting, puddle of lust kind… and Jenner, Oh my God… I WANT HIM!!!
Bound by Lies by Lynn Kelling is my PERFECT BDSM fix… with two MC’s I fell in love with, this was emotional, passionate, erotic and intense… it made me smile and also had me grabbing for the tissues, the characters pissed me off at times and Jenner had me giving him the evil eye on a couple of occasions… but I love that, I love that it made me feel, that I truly cared what happened to them, that I became so emotionally involved and invested in these boys my world practically came to a stand still for the duration… My Kindle informed me this book is 423 pages… that would be the 423 pages that have had to be pried from my hands to perform mundane tasks such as eating! I have devoured and loved every single page, not wanting to put this down for a minute, perfectly paced, with great characterisation… including the secondary characters… this I can only attribute to Ms Kelling’s excellent writing, the style and delivery, all of it, had me engrossed.
Jenner Parrish is a big man, powerful with a confidence that demands attention. He has but two friends, Max and Art with whom he lives and a family he alienates himself from, he is labelled as a cold hearted tough guy, intimidating but this is all a persona he projects, what he wants the world to see… but the real Jenner is hidden, private, keeping everyone at a distance, hiding behind walls and a stoically guarded facade that have kept his secrets hidden.
Brayden Clare, growing up in the small town of Robertsville, Pennsylvania had been both pitied and bullied, always feeling unwanted and alone after his father died and his mother abandoned him, he sees himself as a misfit, weak and worthless, so when he is called back home to the town he had for so many years longed to escape, he could already feel the oppression descending and he is flooded by painful memories from the childhood he thought he had left behind. His responsibilities bear a heavy weight, all at the cost of the freedom and happiness he had lost by returning home and he finds himself withdrawing into the shell of the boy he was, and so hates… once again lost, alone and trapped!
To each other they were the sum of their High school personas, Jenner the jock, Mr Popular… going along with, if not condoning the actions of his peers, something for which he admonishes himself constantly, trying to make amends in his own way as recompense, but he is still haunted by and tied to that past where being in with the “in crowd” was more important than standing up for the weak and vulnerable. Those like Brayden, who is still that boy who lives in fear of the Jenner’s of this world… the boys that took pleasure in tormenting him for his size, for his demeanour… Hell, just for grieving the death of his father!
An anonymous masquerade night at the local Gay Club, Manse see’s both of their lives changed forever… Jenner has been training in the art of domination since the age of eighteen, he is a sadist and in the club scene he can be himself amongst those that understand the lifestyle and he feels safe and comfortable, a way to channel and control his inner demons, but Jenner begins to have doubts about the only thing that has brought him peace… Is he an animal for wanting to hurt the man he loves and wants in his life? Is he taking advantage of Brayden being messed up? Brayden is a masochist, he has no understanding or idea of what it is that he wants or needs, in fact he has very little experience full stop… but his body is yearning for something and in his eyes, Jenner is the only man he wants and the only man who can help him.
“I want to trust you,” Brayden says, a little more loudly. “I want to belong somewhere. I want to be wanted, and not just for sex. I want to be wanted completely and belong… to you.”
I loved the dynamics and the power play of their relationship, it had me tingling from head to toe… how just being near Jenner, Brayden is immediately calmed, all panic and anxiety lost and how Jenner is empowered by having Brayden so selflessly submit because it’s what Brayden needs… Yes, Jenner went a little caveman on him, but Brayden needed to be controlled to finally feel safe and at peace. I also found it quite cute that Jenner is so possessive, his passion for Brayden, intense, erotic… and soooo damn HOT! …and Brayden just absorbs it all, taking it all in as his own, he is consumed by how much Jenner desires and wants him but rather than see him withdraw into his role as a slave, with Jenner he can be strong… but Jenner also allows him to be weak, cry and let out all the pain that has for so long stifled him… and we see him slowly blossom from the timid, shy boy tormented by his past into a man confident, happy, totally at ease and comfortable as Jenner’s slave, it’s what he desires and rather than supress his personality it shines, because he is loved and cherished by a man that is his perfect fit, Brayden finally feels like he belongs and Jenner has found the one thing he thought would never be his, a slave to protect and love.
This is a D/s, S/M, slave/master relationship… one that I can envision as being real, a true to life exploration of each other’s wants and desires, and the difficulties and traumas that I imagine would be part of it, compounded by being gay in a small town community. But it’s also what their personalities dictate they need, that side of the relationship doesn’t overwhelm you in the book either, it is there but it's not the complete focus. This is also an emotional journey for Jenner and Brayden with all their vulnerabilities laid bare and I was captivated by it, watching their relationship grow, seeing the strength they draw from each other to confront their fears, to finally shake off the shackles that had weighed them down… to at last be free. This is not a conventional relationship but it’s theirs and they both embrace it with commitment… to belong, to be seen for who and what they truly are was breath-taking and beautiful to watch… and yes, I was crying!
