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noraxellen's review
5.0
I love David and Jazz. Absolutely adore them. Really not ready to say goodbye to them. And the worst: there is no Fanfiction for me to nurse my book hangover that I have now.
giddybubble's review
4.0
This is the final instalment! The story was told from David's single POV. We got to see that David's attachment to Jazz had grown to the extent that he couldn't bear contemplating a future without Jazz. The problem was he stubbornly believed that, given their age gap, their relationship would go nowhere. It was heart-warming to see David working on his trust issues, finally feeling secured enough to submit, and Jazz being all understanding and trying so hard to be a trustworthy partner/dom. The court hearing drama was too much for me (although I did get what the author was trying to accomplish here), but I loved the rest of the story.
If you want to read more about David/Jazz, you should check out Eleanor Kos's patreon. She has posted more than 40 short extras!
If you want to read more about David/Jazz, you should check out Eleanor Kos's patreon. She has posted more than 40 short extras!
frogy927's review
5.0
By the time you get to the fifth book in a series like this, you already know whether or not it's your thing. But if you're on the fence, this book was wonderful. It was incredibly emotionally satisfying. It's less about the external stuff and more about how terrifying trusting another person with your heart can be. And after all of the ups and downs of the earlier books, we see real, sustained character growth in David and Jazz. While it hasn't been said this is the last book, it ties everything up nicely. And while I'd be sad for it to be over, I'm really happy with where we're leaving them.
kaje_harper's review
5.0
This is a review for the whole 5-novella series, since it pulled me in to where I bought one after the other without stopping, reading until 2 AM. I no longer remember individual installments, but the series as a whole was engaging, with distinct characters whom I cared about, so I'm giving it 5 stars despite any improbabilities and flaws. Each installment ends on a resting point, not a cliffhanger, but the HFNs are thin and I think it does need to be read as a whole.
David is a guy in his late thirties who needs his sex with an edge of danger and pain, humiliation and submission. When he was younger, he sought that in BDSM clubs and in bars and alleyways, knowing that he was risking his safety, unable to find satisfaction in tamer ways. One evening, walking home from a costume party, he's grabbed from behind by a young man who holds a knife to his neck and demands his money. He isn't carrying any, and as the would-be mugger gets frustrated, David finds himself turned on by the encounter, and offering his services instead. The mugger sends him on his way, but a week later David finds himself heading through the same park and gets jumped by the same guy and that encounter goes much more in the direction of his fantasies.
The improbable start to this relationship is made to seem somehow plausible by David's needs, his ennui, his taste for reckless danger with his sex, and his underlying desperation that he can never get exactly what he craves elsewhere. His satisfaction with his wealthy life is at such a low ebb that it becomes just barely plausible he would endanger it with the choices he makes towards a young stranger. The very unlikeliness of it was oddly appealing.
Jasper/Jazz turns out to be a broke 21-year-old musician, living rough, desperate for just enough cash to land a piano playing job, and far from a hardened criminal. As they dance around the edges of each other's lives for a while, they find that Jazz's natural bent toward domination fits David's need to subjugate himself to someone else. Jazz has never been with a man before, and his willingness to accept his bisexuality, D/s, and the bits of exhibitionist kink, seems a bit smooth, given his small town working class background. On the other hand, he is a musician with an artist's openness to experiences.
This is a fast-sex, slow-romance series. Jazz has never even thought about a relationship with a man, and David has always assumed he wasn't the relationship type. Jazz is prickly about finances, seventeen years younger, and still figuring out his future. There's a lot of working through on both the emotional and physical sides of things. And as David begins to include Jazz in various parts of his life, they will encounter people who have known David a long time, who have preconceptions, affections, grudges, and jealousies that can derail a determined but fairly naive young man.
As improbable as the beginning was, this still felt real, as these two very different men forge their obstacle-laden way forward. David mostly fights his own fears and habitual ways of thinking, and his perception of their age difference as an inevitable ending, with his awareness of how little Jazz has yet seen and decided about the shape of his future. Jazz deals with the wealth difference, his jealousies, and his musical ambitions set against his life with David. Both men have some family baggage that tinges their lives. The series is emotional, but not angsty, hot but not gratuitously so as each encounter plays a part in their developing relationship. The BDSM is far more D/s than SM. (In fact, my one real quibble was the degree to which David's needs and desires for sharper play seemed to soften when with Jazz.) I finished the series satisfied, and yet would read more of these two any time. Added to my favorites.
David is a guy in his late thirties who needs his sex with an edge of danger and pain, humiliation and submission. When he was younger, he sought that in BDSM clubs and in bars and alleyways, knowing that he was risking his safety, unable to find satisfaction in tamer ways. One evening, walking home from a costume party, he's grabbed from behind by a young man who holds a knife to his neck and demands his money. He isn't carrying any, and as the would-be mugger gets frustrated, David finds himself turned on by the encounter, and offering his services instead. The mugger sends him on his way, but a week later David finds himself heading through the same park and gets jumped by the same guy and that encounter goes much more in the direction of his fantasies.
The improbable start to this relationship is made to seem somehow plausible by David's needs, his ennui, his taste for reckless danger with his sex, and his underlying desperation that he can never get exactly what he craves elsewhere. His satisfaction with his wealthy life is at such a low ebb that it becomes just barely plausible he would endanger it with the choices he makes towards a young stranger. The very unlikeliness of it was oddly appealing.
Jasper/Jazz turns out to be a broke 21-year-old musician, living rough, desperate for just enough cash to land a piano playing job, and far from a hardened criminal. As they dance around the edges of each other's lives for a while, they find that Jazz's natural bent toward domination fits David's need to subjugate himself to someone else. Jazz has never been with a man before, and his willingness to accept his bisexuality, D/s, and the bits of exhibitionist kink, seems a bit smooth, given his small town working class background. On the other hand, he is a musician with an artist's openness to experiences.
This is a fast-sex, slow-romance series. Jazz has never even thought about a relationship with a man, and David has always assumed he wasn't the relationship type. Jazz is prickly about finances, seventeen years younger, and still figuring out his future. There's a lot of working through on both the emotional and physical sides of things. And as David begins to include Jazz in various parts of his life, they will encounter people who have known David a long time, who have preconceptions, affections, grudges, and jealousies that can derail a determined but fairly naive young man.
As improbable as the beginning was, this still felt real, as these two very different men forge their obstacle-laden way forward. David mostly fights his own fears and habitual ways of thinking, and his perception of their age difference as an inevitable ending, with his awareness of how little Jazz has yet seen and decided about the shape of his future. Jazz deals with the wealth difference, his jealousies, and his musical ambitions set against his life with David. Both men have some family baggage that tinges their lives. The series is emotional, but not angsty, hot but not gratuitously so as each encounter plays a part in their developing relationship. The BDSM is far more D/s than SM. (In fact, my one real quibble was the degree to which David's needs and desires for sharper play seemed to soften when with Jazz.) I finished the series satisfied, and yet would read more of these two any time. Added to my favorites.
azelius's review
4.0
Nooo wtf I was not ready for this to end!!! Why isn't the next book out!!
I can feel the reading slump from here.
Ugh I love them so much.
Edit: omg I just realized this is from 2017... this is the ending???!! Wtfff noooo
I can feel the reading slump from here.
Ugh I love them so much.
Edit: omg I just realized this is from 2017... this is the ending???!! Wtfff noooo
thesincoucher's review
5.0
I just could read about these two forever, to be fair. I love where the author is taking them in their relationship and I loved Ian in this one, which is a surprise. Also I really liked Grant, he is the only non-asshole. Looking forward to the next one (I know I just finished but this is just solid good).
caroline_reads's review
3.0
It is so damn refreshing to read a series (not just one book, but five! five!!) that is written well, has captivating and believable characters, then also combines the majority of my favourite kinks in d/s writing.
The Air We Drink is – it's incredible how Kos has taken us on a journey with Jazz and David, has gifted us the opportunity to see them grow into each other. Over the series, the sharpness of their anxieties softens into more blunt fears, such as David's fear that Jazz will leave him, and although these never disappear, these worries hum in the background for the most part and are carried with far less pain by both Jazz and David.
Really beautiful writing with great pace, enough tension and hot sex!. Thank you so much, Eleanor Kos!
The Air We Drink is – it's incredible how Kos has taken us on a journey with Jazz and David, has gifted us the opportunity to see them grow into each other. Over the series, the sharpness of their anxieties softens into more blunt fears, such as David's fear that Jazz will leave him, and although these never disappear, these worries hum in the background for the most part and are carried with far less pain by both Jazz and David.
Really beautiful writing with great pace, enough tension and hot sex!. Thank you so much, Eleanor Kos!
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