Summary
I’ve been good long enough. As the eldest son of Austin’s most prominent preacher, I’ve lived my life on the virtuous side. No scandals. Flawless image. Clean reputation. That’s the way it must be if I’m going to take his place someday. But everything changes when I find out my father is a VIP member of a local kink club. A liar. A cheater. A hypocrite. Now, I’m done being righteous. And when the club owner’s jaded girlfriend comes to me with a proposal, I can’t resist. Sage is nothing like the women I’ve dated before. Pink hair, tattoos, piercings. I know it’ll burn my father’s reputation to the ground when she and I are seen together. But our fake dating scheme isn’t enough. We need videos— dirty videos. The more we film these scenes, the more I like it. She wants me to degrade her, hurt her, violate her. And God help me, I want it too. But it’s hardly fake anymore, and before long I don’t recognize the Goode man I used to be.
Review
That one was a rollercoaster! From instant connection at first meeting, to revenge sex, to fake relationship, to–of course–real relationship, Sage and Adam’s journey is an eventful one for sure.
I’ll start with my main complaint, which is so trivial: the male character’s name. From his first name with a heavy religious meaning, Adam, to his last name, homophone to the quality he’s doubting so much, it’s so obvious. I like hidden meanings to be hidden, thank you.
Is is telling that, besides that, there’s little bad I want to say about this book? Okay, maybe the last stretch of the story bothered me a bit. It was needed–Adam’s father needed to fall completely, feelings needed to be revealed, and Adam needed to come clean to his family. But the hospital scene was a bit cliché, in my opinion.
Now, let’s talk about the good things. First of all, the characters. Both Adam and Sage are the heroes–or the anti-heroes, AH!–of their story. They have purpose and dreams and a personal journey to achieve outside of their relationship. It just happens that the other’s support and help is necessary, and that their dreams can take a new shape once they’re commited to each other. Adam is exploring what being a good man entails, in and out of dogma, while Sage tries to find her worth.
They first unite for dubious reasons, and keep questionning them while their goals slowly shift. For a long time, they seem to advance side by side instead of together, as they both further their personal objectives and don’t see a future for their relationship. Really, the evolution in their connection was quite interesting.
The focal point of the story is the bad guy, Adam’s father. He’s introduced as a violent man right from the beginning, and I needed some suspension of disbelief to accept that he was indeed a preacher. And maybe he was a bit too bad for me to be believable. His motivations were unclear, especially once he jeopardizes everything with very stupid decisions. Or maybe it was just arrogance and self-confidence? I’m not sure. But while he’s the origin of Adam and Sage’s relationship, I couldn’t see him as a ‘real’ character instead of just a function.
And let’s not talk about the other characters, who are mostly peripheral.
As for the steam, it was Hot with a capital H. Both characters are discovering kinks and interests together that they never even imagined having. Though I thought it was a bit unrealistic for them to dive into them without some research, I loved that they embraced them and felt no shame–mostly.
Erotica with a dark-ish tone and meaningful elements, what’s more to love?
Quickie
- Series: The Goode brothers #1 (can be read as a standalone)
- Hashtags: #erotica #age gap #opposites attract #fake relationship #religion #sex club #sex tapes
- Triggers: various kinks, cheating, parental neglect, homophobia, violence
- Main couple: Sage Astor & Adam Goode
- Hotness: 5/5 +++
- Romance: 4/5
- + the underlying questioning about faith and religion
- – I’m not a fan of villains without any redeeming quality–or at least, an origin story
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