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A review by kaje_harper
Blue Steel Chain by Alex Beecroft
4.0
This is something I've been looking for, a book about an asexual main character, where he is not saved by the power of true love and shown the error of his ways. This book allows Aidan to be who he is, to be homoromantic but Ace, and still have a HEA.
This is also a book about domestic abuse, some of it shown on page, so trigger warnings should be noted. Aidan was only 16 when Piers took him off the street and into his home, grooming and molding him into the man he has become. But Piers became more and more controlling and abusive over time, and as the book opens he has progressed to physical violence and constraining every minute of Aidan's days. He has all the money and all the power, and the caged life is beginning to really chafe at Aidan, although Aidan is still trying to please him.
Aidan slips out and meets James, a museum-worker and archaeologist who is the opposite of Piers - soft-spoken, absent-minded, intellectually curious, and gentle. James has a boyfriend, Dave, who is a musician, often gone for long periods on tour. And it turns out that his own relationship is far more rocky than he ever realized. The celebrity-groupie lifestyle has a strong hold on Dave, and James is being left behind in the dust of ordinary life. In fact, Dave's casual assumptions about James become use, almost psychological abuse, and James's diffident personality makes it hard for him to act strongly enough to deal with Dave.
Both men have to win free of the entanglement of their previous relationships, to be open to something more.
I had a few quibbles. I wasn't crazy about the degree to which James pushed Aidan for something physical between them fairly quickly. In the first place, James's own relationship with Dave was barely cold. And even not knowing that Aidan considers himself Ace at that point, anyone who has come from a relationship with the degree of trauma and violence and non-con of all kinds that Aidan did, might not want any kind of physical relationship. In fact, while Aidan's understanding of his own sexuality might be completely accurate, that still felt tainted by the fact that the only sex he had really known as an adult was with someone severely abusive. His distaste and disinterest could well have been inborn, but I'd have liked a bit of a longer time frame and a boat-load of counseling to help him untangle the past trauma from his intrinsic desires.
I also had hoped that the abusive-ex storyline wasn't going to go the route that it did. There was plenty happening between the two main characters that needed to be worked through, and that dramatic moment felt contrived to provide a definite climax to the more interesting and lower-key aspects of the story. So while I liked both MCs, applaud the presence of an Ace character not "healed" by the magic penis of love, and was caught up in the story, I'd actually have liked something slightly slower and gentler and more psychological in the exploration of the two men.
This author writes smoothly and evocatively. I have enjoyed all the books in this series, and do look forward to any new one that might be released.
This is also a book about domestic abuse, some of it shown on page, so trigger warnings should be noted. Aidan was only 16 when Piers took him off the street and into his home, grooming and molding him into the man he has become. But Piers became more and more controlling and abusive over time, and as the book opens he has progressed to physical violence and constraining every minute of Aidan's days. He has all the money and all the power, and the caged life is beginning to really chafe at Aidan, although Aidan is still trying to please him.
Aidan slips out and meets James, a museum-worker and archaeologist who is the opposite of Piers - soft-spoken, absent-minded, intellectually curious, and gentle. James has a boyfriend, Dave, who is a musician, often gone for long periods on tour. And it turns out that his own relationship is far more rocky than he ever realized. The celebrity-groupie lifestyle has a strong hold on Dave, and James is being left behind in the dust of ordinary life. In fact, Dave's casual assumptions about James become use, almost psychological abuse, and James's diffident personality makes it hard for him to act strongly enough to deal with Dave.
Both men have to win free of the entanglement of their previous relationships, to be open to something more.
I had a few quibbles. I wasn't crazy about the degree to which James pushed Aidan for something physical between them fairly quickly. In the first place, James's own relationship with Dave was barely cold. And even not knowing that Aidan considers himself Ace at that point, anyone who has come from a relationship with the degree of trauma and violence and non-con of all kinds that Aidan did, might not want any kind of physical relationship. In fact, while Aidan's understanding of his own sexuality might be completely accurate, that still felt tainted by the fact that the only sex he had really known as an adult was with someone severely abusive. His distaste and disinterest could well have been inborn, but I'd have liked a bit of a longer time frame and a boat-load of counseling to help him untangle the past trauma from his intrinsic desires.
I also had hoped that the abusive-ex storyline wasn't going to go the route that it did.
Spoiler
Having the ex return to stalk Aidan.This author writes smoothly and evocatively. I have enjoyed all the books in this series, and do look forward to any new one that might be released.