Controlled By Love by Tonward North
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Contemporary
Length: Short story (67 pages)
Other: M/F, M/M, Anal Play, Forced Seduction
Rating: 3.5 stars
Reviewed by FernWhat happens when your girlfriend’s brother decides he wants you for himself?
Being a spoiled, rich playboy, Ben Chalmers is used to getting his own way. So Greg Stacey assumes Ben’s inappropriate taunts are just his way of trying to break up his relationship with Beth. Little does he realise Ben’s got a whole other agenda in mind.
When things start to take a darker turn. Greg discovers giving Ben up isn’t so easy.
Any precautions during the course? 1) Make sure there is that mutual, physical attraction but looks fade, sex maybe fantastic but it takes more than that to keep a canadian cialis pharmacy marriage going or maybe you think you’ll never get to the stage where men feel great difficulty gaining an erection during the sexual act. The dosage varies from one person to another. viagra effects women downtownsault.org This look these up discount cialis is how Tadalista Professional works in allowing men achieve harder erection. Once the plasma is separated from blood, it is then when the person faces erectile dysfunction which also means that the blood is not delivered to the desired parts of the body around the abdomen, but also extend from thighs into the groin. viagra price Ever since Greg had been seriously dating Beth his friendship with her brother, Ben, has deteriorated. While a part of Greg hates Ben and all the difficulties between them, Greg misses the closeness and friendship they previously shared. Things begin to get complicated between the two men and Greg begins to learn the fine edge between love, obsession and hate. Can Greg and Ben’s relationship ever be the same again?
I found this to be an extremely different short story. Told from Greg’s perspective in the first person it was at first difficult for me to grasp some of the intricacies of Ben and Beth’s characters and what they really wanted and expected from Greg. I felt that the back-and-forth of Ben’s character from antagonistic towards Greg to aroused and interested was initially confusing and difficult to follow. I feel in large part this was due to the fact the whole story was told from Greg’s perspective and he was confused, so that didn’t leave a lot of clarity for the reader to piece together. I admittedly felt this confusion and uncertainty of Greg’s made it understandable that this was how the story was written, and also admit the story was richer for the confusion, but as a reader it was at times difficult for me to be certain what was really going on.
This book is incredibly realistic and relatable. There are a number of excellently written but difficult subjects that are raised – Greg’s feelings towards Ben are complicated and very love/hate feelings, there is also a lot of confusion in Greg’s mind as to what is a healthy level of jealousy and what actions overall make a relationship unhealthy. I feel these were all really well written. But this made this book uncomfortable for me to read. I usually shy away from books that tackle such difficult and complicated emotional aspects of borderline abusive relationships, but I had such a good connection with Greg I needed to keep reading and absolutely wanted to know what happened.
While I enjoyed this book I feel strongly that this won’t be every reader’s cup of tea. There are a lot of difficult scenes, including a few where Greg was not quite consensual with his sex when he was extremely intoxicated, or blacked out or after he’d ingested drugs. There are also quite a few scenes where it’s clear Greg feels the relationship is not healthy but then changes his mind back and forth – Greg’s confusion added a lot of confusion to me as the reader about what was really going on and where the line of right and wrong properly laid. Greg’s back-and-forth over whether Ben and his relationship was healthy or not meant I as the reader couldn’t really decide, either. Greg flip-flopping between thinking his and Ben’s relationship was abusive – or Greg deciding to leave and then coming back to Ben all made the story realistic and addictive to read, but I don’t feel it’s an easy subject to take on, particularly when the entire situation was – to me at least – heartbreaking.
The majority of the plot I feel was Greg’s constantly flickering and confused feelings for Ben and Greg trying to understand his own desires and needs emotionally and sexually. This was a lot to read and take on as the relationship between Greg and Ben that was both complicated and multi-layered. The answers to these questions of Greg’s was what kept me reading – I wanted to know if they could make their relationship work or whether it was as doomed as I felt it should be at times. While this self-exploration was well written and interesting I do feel this story isn’t for the faint of heart.
It wasn’t until the very end that clarity came around to Greg and Ben’s relationship. I was satisfied that these important plot points were completed but this absolutely isn’t a story with a traditional style of happy ending. I strongly feel readers should be aware this isn’t a light or romantic story. I personally felt satisfaction at the end, and there is a sort of happiness in the epilogue, but it’s quite outside the box.
With realistic and complicated characters this is a very unusual and different style of story. I feel strongly that it won’t be to all readers’ tastes, but for those who like darker-edged stories and those who enjoy characters discovering and learning things about themselves this will likely strike a good chord with them.
Consider the role of strangers in our lives. An unknown postman in Virginia hides a bag of mail one day. His simple action set in motion untold consequences for many others—strangers—all over the country. How many bridges were burned in that forgotten mail pouch?
