katekintailbc | Rescue Me Saga #1 by Kallypso Masters (Reply)

Rescue Me Saga #1: Masters at Arms & Nobody's Angel
by Kallypso Masters
eBook

I wasn't sure if I'd like this book when I started it, but I downloaded it for free (thank you, BookBub) and gave it a chance because it's BDSM and looked good enough to try. In the opening story, Adam is grieving over the loss of his wife just before he is redeployed and sub but he instinctively protects a young runaway girl at a bus station when some men there try to get somewhere with her. Angst and an honorable protector!Dom? I was hooked!

These two stories, and I expect the whole series, operate with a SSC (safe, sane, and consensual) rule, which is the only kind of BDSM I like and will read. And just watch the Doms go to work on anyone who violates that with any of the subs in their charge. After returning from the war, Adam and several of the men in his unit open up a BDSM club together. They all have rocky pasts emotionally, more than once is PTSD in the forefront, but they're all good men with strong moral compasses and a passion for looking after people--subs in their club, women in distress, friends in distress, you name it. How could I not fall for them? And the women they encounter don't stand a chance, even when the men try repeatedly to distance themselves ;-) The women are not all helpless objects either, though. They might be subs for the most part, and they might have huge moments of weakness or vulnerability, but they felt strong and complex to me in ways the men didn't. I really enjoyed getting to see things through their perspectives as well. I hope many of them show up in future books.

The writing is honestly nothing special, but it's not bad either; it's just fine. The main characters aren't all that deep, despite all the emotional baggage they wade through both in their pasts and their presents. I constantly felt like I needed more about them. But maybe that's a symptom of the fact that this is a series. I'm sure there's a hell of a lot more to explore for each of these guys, and I'll probably buy the second in no time because of it.

Let it be said that I do like a good character who has a "saving people" thing ;-)