Firstly- justice for Pen! Oh, what, she's messy and poor at communication and has tantrum outbursts? You mean she's a human? I kept expecting something awful and manipulative to come from her lips, but no, she's just cursed with the immaturity of being gorgeous and insanely successful. When life gives you that good a hand, it's going to rob you of something of the hardships you need to make yourself a well-rounded person. And she does apologises for her behaviour sincerely when all is said and done, something that I'm sure a few people bagging on her would fail to do.

I wasn't here for her, anyway. A friend on here (who shall remain nameless) suggested I check this out for Lukas and his characterisation. I'm always a fan of women writing men; it gives insights into what's truly desired by the sex I'm attracted to. Some books lean on making men these impervious daddy-doms that exist as little more than machines you put presence into until pleasure comes out, but I was heartened that Hazelwood avoids that trap here an crafts a figure who doesn't strain believability. Yes, he's confident and hypertalented (Med School AND swimming prodigy? You're spoiling us) but he's also conflicted about his attractions and uncertain about what truly makes him happy. He has to overcome his ego, his obsession with self-control and denial that hurts his lover. He is not perfect, for all his sexual prowess, and frankly it's nice to see myself in one of these guys and not dwarfed by the expectations of fantastical perfection. There's a lot of OTHER reasons I identified with Lukas and found his masculinity not only aspirational but achievable, but that's too honest for this here website.

Credit to Hazelwood, too, for her prose. This is only my first of her books, so I know nothing of nothing, but I like the lightness of her approach. It's hard to strike the balance between deep knowledge of a subject (biology, considering her background as a neurobiologist) and the demands of a wider audience, but Hazelwood knows that the whispers of context are best, to give a suggestion of depth while keeping the story at the centre of the prose. This translates to the dialogue, words feels authentic to the young characters without being painfully Gen Z. The descriptions of what Scarlett is thinking and feeling, especially when she's engaging in the power-exchange sex are excellent at keeping us inside her head while she's losing hers, as she wants. The list of scenarios touted on the blurb are a MacGuffin; it's that moment, the complete confidence and trust in the other partner and feeling KNOWN by them enough to surrender control, that matters most.

For all my praise, I do find some faults with the pacing in the back half. One too many swimming competitions and minor characters bog things down and for all Pen's (understandable) outburst, it's a rather flat Coke finale for our leads. Am I just messy in my desire for a real conflict to bring everything to a climax and no don't think of a joke you perverts? Probably. Also, what on Earth was that subplot with Scarlett's old diving friend being a shady manipulator? Just fell off the face of the narrative, my word. But overall, a delightful and very enlightening read. I sense more of Hazelwood's works in my future, especially with the Love Hypothesis film out at the end of the year.

Firstly- justice for Pen! Oh, what, she's messy and poor at communication and has tantrum outbursts? You mean she's a human? I kept expecting something awful and manipulative to come from her lips, but no, she's just cursed with the immaturity of being gorgeous and insanely successful. When life gives you that good a hand, it's going to rob you of something of the hardships you need to make yourself a well-rounded person. And she does apologises for her behaviour sincerely when all is said and done, something that I'm sure a few people bagging on her would fail to do.

I wasn't here for her, anyway. A friend on here (who shall remain nameless) suggested I check this out for Lukas and his characterisation. I'm always a fan of women writing men; it gives insights into what's truly desired by the sex I'm attracted to. Some books lean on making men these impervious daddy-doms that exist as little more than machines you put presence into until pleasure comes out, but I was heartened that Hazelwood avoids that trap here an crafts a figure who doesn't strain believability. Yes, he's confident and hypertalented (Med School AND swimming prodigy? You're spoiling us) but he's also conflicted about his attractions and uncertain about what truly makes him happy. He has to overcome his ego, his obsession with self-control and denial that hurts his lover. He is not perfect, for all his sexual prowess, and frankly it's nice to see myself in one of these guys and not dwarfed by the expectations of fantastical perfection. There's a lot of OTHER reasons I identified with Lukas and found his masculinity not only aspirational but achievable, but that's too honest for this here website.

Credit to Hazelwood, too, for her prose. This is only my first of her books, so I know nothing of nothing, but I like the lightness of her approach. It's hard to strike the balance between deep knowledge of a subject (biology, considering her background as a neurobiologist) and the demands of a wider audience, but Hazelwood knows that the whispers of context are best, to give a suggestion of depth while keeping the story at the centre of the prose. This translates to the dialogue, words feels authentic to the young characters without being painfully Gen Z. The descriptions of what Scarlett is thinking and feeling, especially when she's engaging in the power-exchange sex are excellent at keeping us inside her head while she's losing hers, as she wants. The list of scenarios touted on the blurb are a MacGuffin; it's that moment, the complete confidence and trust in the other partner and feeling KNOWN by them enough to surrender control, that matters most.

For all my praise, I do find some faults with the pacing in the back half. One too many swimming competitions and minor characters bog things down and for all Pen's (understandable) outburst, it's a rather flat Coke finale for our leads. Am I just messy in my desire for a real conflict to bring everything to a climax and no don't think of a joke you perverts? Probably. Also, what on Earth was that subplot with Scarlett's old diving friend being a shady manipulator? Just fell off the face of the narrative, my word. But overall, a delightful and very enlightening read. I sense more of Hazelwood's works in my future, especially with the Love Hypothesis film out at the end of the year.

Sometimes you're recommended a book and you like it just that little bit more than you enjoyed it because you want to see it through the eyes of the person who recommended it to you. Rarer, and more special, is when the book succeeds on its own merits. Games is one of those happy occurrences. I was so engrossed in the text that I found myself sliding off a London bus seat, completely unaware we had taken a right turn. Perhaps I am a simple man, but I really connect with any book that manages to turn complex (for me) arguments into engaging prose, especially if it's a subject I know little about; like economics and determinism. Reminded me a little of what I know of Rousseau's Emile or Disraeli's output, albeit I doubt both men included sex scenes where a woman goes unconscious from pleasure.

The smut itself is good, if you like that sort of thing (as with Deep End, good expressions of the inner states of someone in submission), but it's the characterwork that kept me engaged. Lili is a maddening sort when you begin reading, a faux Leftist who uses ideology as a way to construct an identity. It is an identity predicated on being pushy and self-righteous to protect from intimacy and actual contact with others. That she then meets her match in a man equally uncomfortable with intimacy, albeit far more direct with his methods, makes for an excellent matching of wits that sees her slowly reconsider herself in such a manner that you feel deeply for her by the time she's vomiting her guts out on the side of a rural French road.

I must also sign myself a fan of Aleksandr as a man investigating men in smut. I like any man who is able to balance self-assertiveness with tenderness and who does it with the utmost respect for his female partner. That he also happens to be incredibly perceptive and intellectually acute makes him all the more readable, albeit with the caveat that I did laugh out loud when I heard him say "blyat" and I immediately heard the hardbass.

Amazed to find this was once Darklina fanfic, on talking to the person who recommended it to me. There is a richness of intellectual dialogue, conveyed with a lightness of tone, that makes it incredibly readable. One to return to again and again, and to write better reviews about in the process.

Firstly- justice for Pen! Oh, what, she's messy and poor at communication and has tantrum outbursts? You mean she's a human? I kept expecting something awful and manipulative to come from her lips, but no, she's just cursed with the immaturity of being gorgeous and insanely successful. When life gives you that good a hand, it's going to rob you of something of the hardships you need to make yourself a well-rounded person. And she does apologises for her behaviour sincerely when all is said and done, something that I'm sure a few people bagging on her would fail to do.

I wasn't here for her, anyway. A friend on here (who shall remain nameless) suggested I check this out for Lukas and his characterisation. I'm always a fan of women writing men; it gives insights into what's truly desired by the sex I'm attracted to. Some books lean on making men these impervious daddy-doms that exist as little more than machines you put presence into until pleasure comes out, but I was heartened that Hazelwood avoids that trap here an crafts a figure who doesn't strain believability. Yes, he's confident and hypertalented (Med School AND swimming prodigy? You're spoiling us) but he's also conflicted about his attractions and uncertain about what truly makes him happy. He has to overcome his ego, his obsession with self-control and denial that hurts his lover. He is not perfect, for all his sexual prowess, and frankly it's nice to see myself in one of these guys and not dwarfed by the expectations of fantastical perfection. There's a lot of OTHER reasons I identified with Lukas and found his masculinity not only aspirational but achievable, but that's too honest for this here website.

Credit to Hazelwood, too, for her prose. This is only my first of her books, so I know nothing of nothing, but I like the lightness of her approach. It's hard to strike the balance between deep knowledge of a subject (biology, considering her background as a neurobiologist) and the demands of a wider audience, but Hazelwood knows that the whispers of context are best, to give a suggestion of depth while keeping the story at the centre of the prose. This translates to the dialogue, words feels authentic to the young characters without being painfully Gen Z. The descriptions of what Scarlett is thinking and feeling, especially when she's engaging in the power-exchange sex are excellent at keeping us inside her head while she's losing hers, as she wants. The list of scenarios touted on the blurb are a MacGuffin; it's that moment, the complete confidence and trust in the other partner and feeling KNOWN by them enough to surrender control, that matters most.

For all my praise, I do find some faults with the pacing in the back half. One too many swimming competitions and minor characters bog things down and for all Pen's (understandable) outburst, it's a rather flat Coke finale for our leads. Am I just messy in my desire for a real conflict to bring everything to a climax and no don't think of a joke you perverts? Probably. Also, what on Earth was that subplot with Scarlett's old diving friend being a shady manipulator? Just fell off the face of the narrative, my word. But overall, a delightful and very enlightening read. I sense more of Hazelwood's works in my future, especially with the Love Hypothesis film out at the end of the year.