Book 775: Taming Tristan (Winder Wonders #2) – Leighton Greene

If Winter Wonders was an introduction to BDSM/kinky mm romance, this one directly to advanced. Not only are we thrown into the deep end of the LA kink scene, but we’re thrown into what I’m gathering is a pretty niche group, primal, within the scene.

This being said I felt Greene did a thorough job of further educating her readers about the various aspects of D/s play and relationships. I mean I feel more educated even if I did have to Google (incognito of course) various things.

Taming Tristan is the story of Seth, a primal dominant who is a loner in the kink scene but has had his eye on Tristan, a “bratty sub” that is on the edge of being blackballed from the scene. It also included quite a few appearances of Jon and Connor from Winter Wonderland and Ezra, Tristan’s roommate, who is one of the protagonists of Star Spanked.

It’s a strange old world, this world I’m part of. What Jon has told me makes perfect sense to those who understand the lingo: no subs have accused this Dom of dangerous activities; Jon has had at least one negotiation session with him, but their individual likes and dislikes didn’t complement each other enough to go further than talk; this Dom is into some edge-play activities; he’s not looking for a relationship. (18)

This book is 100% a play on the bet to seduce and then accidentally fall in love trope. I mean it’s one step away from fake lover so in general I do like these. The difference in this one is both characters are trying to get something out of it, Seth wants money to help out his dad and sister and gets to interact with the guy he’s been watching for a while, and Tristan gets to say he’s not pissed off every Dom so can stay in the scene for now.

This book’s sex scenes were a lot more intense than the first in the trilogy and that comes directly from the type of play these characters like. Greene did a great job with the highs and lows of this type of play from how she wrote the dialogue and descriptions of the various scenes. She definitely paced her sentences to be shorter and more dramatic during the primal play and soothing and soft for the aftercare scenes (learned what that was) .

I get it now. I thought sex was the most basic instinct, and maybe it is in animals. But I’m not just an animal. I’m human, too. And community, acceptance, connection—they’re just as important to me as sex. (207)

I’m not 100% sure I get the D/s relationships because I was very confused when the whole book/bet was about Tristan kneeling for Seth. I guess some portion of that had to be in public to satisfy the bet, but also to say this is my sub? I honestly thought it was achieved in Chapter 13 after the first wrestling scenes, but I guess that was situational and not a permanent kneeling?

The big drama of the book happened simultaneously to Tristan realizing he wants Seth and kneeling willingly for him in public, even though Tristan at that moment was calling the bet off. It’s dramatic and powerful and the aftermath is swift. I felt Seth’s public penance was well written and the rekindling of their relationship via a professional need worked really well.

The two biggest problems I had with the book (and series as a whole) is that first it took Greene two full books to realize how Uber worked.

I tell him, taking the heavy cardboard tray of coffees from him so he can finalize with the Uber guy. (141)

For some reason she wrote about them as if they were taxis and you had to negotiate/talk to the driver when it ended, when really, we all (especially millennials) know you can do everything via the app and not even have to talk to anyone at all if you don’t want to!

The other part was the quality of the proofreading and editing. I noticed pretty early in this book that the proof reading wasn’t up to par and that led into the next book as well. For the most part it was extra or missing words and slightly odd punctuation, but it definitely dropped the rating of this one and the next one by a star for me. It does suck for individuals who self-publish, but I’m always going to hold it to a higher standard—especially after reading so many these past few weeks without too many errors. I mean I pick at the big publishers who also fail on copy editing, but then again when they do it it’s like 1-2 for the entire book and not 1-2 per page.

Recommendation: This one is a lot more intense than Winter Wonder, but it was a good story even if it wasn’t what I was looking for at the time. I’d say you probably want to be at least somewhat interested in kink/BDSM/Dom/sub relationships or be open minded. I liked that Greene continued to educate as she entertained, but you’d have to look to someone else to tell you whether or not what she wrote/included is accurate.

Opening Line: “There is a snarky, smug blond guy sitting across the room from me and I haven’t been able to take my eyes off him all evening, until my view is interrupted as a very different guy slithers into the seat opposite me.

Closing Line: “‘Promise,’ I tell him, and hold on tight to his neck as he dives in with a growl.” (Whited out to avoid spoilers, highlight to read.)

Additional Quotes from Taming Tristan
“In any other situation, I’d probably tell this guy that his Daddy can do the dealing if that’s the way he wants to play. This is the kink night, where people are property, men turn into puppies, and everyone celebrates the exchange of power at the heart of our play in one way or another. So this is just their way of playing, I guess.” (7)

“‘I trust you enough now to know you won’t instantly destroy anything you get your hands on. But there’s one more test, Padawan.’ Scott has been on a real Star Wars kick lately, so I let the comment pass with no reaction.” (120)

“Seth radiates sex without even trying; the way he pushes Miles into position reminds me of our own wrestling on the floor of his dark room, and I feel simultaneously aroused and nauseated. Arouseated? Is that a thing?” (153)