Flight into Fantasy

Title: Blue Ruin 1: Some Kind of Stranger
Author: Katrina Strauss
Genre: Contemporary erotic romance
Source: I bought it.
Reason for Reading: After the utterly depressing and nonromantic Revolutionary Road I wanted a romance. Trouble is, I’m still suffering from romance burnout, and the one book I started didn’t appeal enough for me to finish. So I decided to go for something a bit edgier than I normally prefer in erotic romance. Plus, Ms. Strauss has been recommended to me, though, as usual, I cannot remember by whom.
Synopsis:

Derek Graves’s desire for the perfect sexual “prisoner” has left him with a dark reputation and a string of jilted lovers. He needs a partner who wants the pleasure and the pain he can give. After his search lands him on the wrong end of the fantasy at the hands of ruthless predator, Derek returns to his accustomed hunting ground of Blue Ruin with one purpose in mind: revenge.

He gets it, but he also ends up rescuing the predator’s next intended victim, a homeless blue-haired waif who is just Derek’s type. He brings the incoherent young man home, needing to find out what he saw, and ensure he won’t tell anyone. The scenario couldn’t be more perfect to service Derek’s dominant fantasies –

Shane “Blue” McGowan wakes up groggy, blindfolded, and chained to a stranger’s bed. Upon finding himself in luxurious surroundings, the cunning Blue realizes two things: he has no desire to return to a life on the streets, and his handsome captor stirs strange and unfulfilled longings in him.

Manipulating the terms of his own “imprisonment,” Blue swings a place to stay in exchange for his silence about a second stranger left beaten and unconscious behind Blue Ruin. To sweeten the deal, Blue agrees to become Derek’s submissive. But as their relationship progresses, Derek finds himself wondering whether Blue is truly at Derek’s mercy, or is Derek at his?

Publisher’s Note: This book contains explicit sexual content, graphic language, and situations that some readers may find objectionable: BDSM (including bondage, Domination/submission, spanking), homoerotic sexual practices (male/male), masturbation, strong violence.

My Thoughts: The synopsis I quoted above sounds so skeezy. I don’t think I read all of it before I plunked down my fictionwise credits, or I probably would have found something else to read. I mean, really, I would have been offended if Blue had been a woman in this scenario. Of course, if I’d done that, I would have missed out on this little story, which left me with a smile on my face even though it deals with some pretty heavy-duty erotica.

The truth is that Derek isn’t nearly as sleazy as the synopsis makes him sound. He was attacked, and so he’s seeking revenge. He finds it but in the process rescues Blue, who he takes home. I didn’t get the impression that Derek would have actually kept Blue a prisoner, and Blue never gets treated like one aside from a couple of obviously erotic scenes that it’s clear he’s enjoying.

These two characters are pure fantasy. Blue is preternaturally pretty and young and effeminate, though he does act like a real guy in that he is constantly making fun of Derek’s propensity for nice-smelling shampoos and moisturizers. Derek is, of course, the strong and stern alpha male, but he did have a very tender side that endeared him to me. I liked both of these guys a lot, but I doubt very much I’ll ever run into their like in real life. I think it was the fantasy aspect of the characters, who weren’t particularly deep, that made it easy for me to accept the BDSM aspects of the story. BDSM doesn’t normally turn my crank, but these two had some excellent chemistry, and their encounters were sexy.

The only thing I really had trouble with about this story was that there were times I could see the author’s hand. There’s a climactic rescue scene that practically screamed deus ex machina, and then there’s the whole premise of Blue waking up chained and blindfolded to Derek’s bed. The explanation for why Derek found it necessary to do that didn’t quite ring true. And Derek at one point wonders if he’s not actually some kind of monster, but sort of shrugs this off after one sexual encounter with Blue. I would have liked to have seen that aspect explored in a bit more depth.

Final Thoughts: For a bit of fun with a slightly darker edge, this is a good erotic romance. I think I’ll be reading the rest of the series, because I like the author’s voice and style. Hopefully, in future books, I won’t feel like there’s quite so much obvious authorial manipulation going on.

Final Grade: B

Other Opinions

<.li> Madame Butterfly
• JenB