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A review by smutty_sully
Touch-Starved by Johannes T. Evans
5.0
"There's a good lad," says April coolly, and Rice's dick gives a jerk in his trousers.
Five overflowing good boy stars.
"Good boy, you sweet boy, that's it, sweetheart, just take it."
So much praise. Poor Rice is just lapping it up and soon discovers his close friend has been giving orders and appreciating him all along. Even at work.
Sometimes, he'll come over when Rice is working and stand next to his chair and he'll put the hand that's not on his cane on the back of Rice's neck.
First off, I loved this book. I don't often do gush/rave reviews, probably because I'm not good at it, my emotions and thoughts are all over the place if I'm excited. And I am very excited about this book.
It crammed in (not crammed, more like gently inserted) a bunch of kinks and tropes I like (praise, natural D/s, somnophilia, inverted tropes, size difference, begging), it had excellent dialogue (sharp, succinct), it was heartfelt, and it was erotic.
April and Rice are coworkers and friends until they are more. Watching that unfold was just pure bliss. April's dirty talk and praise were practically sex scenes on their own.
"You're so helpful, Arden," says April warmly. "It's very kind." Rice shivers.
"There you are, good boy," murmurs April.
And Rice, touch-starved, insecure, and lonely, has to stumble his way past internalized homophobia, ableist thoughts, and a bit of misogyny to get there. I didn't get the impression Rice was a malicious person, it felt like learned behavior, parroting what he thinks to be true, and luckily he says that stuff aloud, so April can respond.
"Stop using Reddit, you ingrate," says April. "Calling women girls doesn't help you, but nor does trying to project some imaginary social hierarchy onto all your relationships. You're not the alpha between us because of all your muscle."
"You been waiting to say this a while?"
April is there every step of the way, correcting, pushing back, explaining and establishing boundaries (for both of them), and being firm on what consent is. Yet somehow all of that is interwoven into the story without feeling like a lecture on how to be a decent fucking person. The conversations felt natural and familiar, I think we've all heard or said shit that is cringe-worthy at some point, unfortunately.
"I can't sit in your lap," he says. "I'm not a fucking girl."
"Neither of us are fucking girls," agrees April. "Although I fail to see what that has to do with the price of milk."
"Men don't sit in each other's laps."
"Yes, they do."
"Not men like me!"
The inverted tropes were great! The nerd/jock here had the nerd be the experienced and confident one and the jock was floundering and unsure of himself. The D/s relationship had the shorter and smaller man as the Dom and the much taller and bulkier man as the sub. And this did not go unnoticed by either of them.
"You thought you were taking pity on the nerdy guy, hm? You thought you were the alpha between us, or some nonsense like that."
He brushes past Rice in the kitchen, touches him so easily, casually. He's small, compared to Rice, so fucking little.
How come Rice feels like he's the tiny one? Why is now the smallest he's ever felt?
I have to talk about the somnophilia scene. This is my favorite kink and I sure as fuck wasn't expecting a detailed, lengthy intergluteal somnophilia scene. I have a doc full of over 80 somno books, and this is easily in my top 5, top 3? Amazing.
April is still snoring, and Rice slowly grips at the waistband of his trousers, his thumbs sliding underneath it. (That's all you're getting, go buy the book!)
Rice wasn't just touch-starved, has no one loved this man? Given him a hug or told him he's gorgeous or appreciated him for anything? That was a bit heartbreaking, to be perfectly honest.
"So responsive,” murmurs April. "You really are gorgeous, aren't you?"
So much touching going on in this book and a lot of it was nonsexual touching that was overstimulating for Rice.
"Touch-drunk," he repeats. "Not a clinical term, I grant you," says April. "You're not used to being touched, and suddenly I'm touching you all over."
And tit-worshipping! Admiring, twisting, biting...
"They bounce when you pace too vigorously, and in those little thirst traps you post I've always felt your nipples just call out to be bitten and sucked on. Mouthwatering."
"What the fuck," he whispers.
There's even some humor in there! This is a kitchen sink novella, even at 51 pages. Ridiculous.
"Toppers are for ice cream and mattresses, sweetheart..." (Poor clueless Rice.)
"Let's walk before we can run, shall we?"
"What would you know about running?”
“I've seen it on TV.”
And a cat!
God, it's weird to be horny over the way a guy talks to his cat, right? (No, no it is not.)
I'm cutting myself off here, my highlights are plentiful. Just one more, to convince you to go buy this book:
"Like it? Don't like it?"
"Like it," whispers Rice. "I like it, I like it."
I stand by my original blubbering attempt of a review:
Intergluteal somnophilia!!
Now that I got the most important part out of the way:
This gem is 99¢ on Smashwords and Amazon, and Kobo+.
I highly recommend grabbing it if you enjoy touch-starved MCs, praise kink, affection, D/s that just happens naturally in everyday life, size difference, begging, edging, I could go on and on. Holy shit. RTC.
My tags are often spoilery, so don't read below here if you want to be surprised.
Tags: Novella, coworkers, close friends, size difference, over 6ft/under 5'5 (165cm), praise and appreciation kink, asthma rep, disability rep (leg, uses a cane), D/s, smaller Dom/larger sub, consent clarifications, back rubs/scratches, head scratches, shower intimacy, washing/shampooing, lap-sitting, pet cat (December), snuggling/cuddling, touch-starved, power dynamics, rough sex, first time (very inexperienced virgin), coming untouched (in clothing), massages, intergluteal somnophilia, just the tip please?, begging and pleading, feeling embarrassed/humiliated (lite), following orders, CWs for ableism, mild misogyny, homophobia & slut-shaming (acknowledged with pushback), somnophilia without permission (acknowledged, discussed, accepted), MC Names: Arden (Rice) & Sebastian (April) (surnames used mainly)
"Oh, you like that, don't you?" asks April, as if he doesn't know. "Good, good."
Five overflowing good boy stars.
"Good boy, you sweet boy, that's it, sweetheart, just take it."
So much praise. Poor Rice is just lapping it up and soon discovers his close friend has been giving orders and appreciating him all along. Even at work.
Sometimes, he'll come over when Rice is working and stand next to his chair and he'll put the hand that's not on his cane on the back of Rice's neck.
First off, I loved this book. I don't often do gush/rave reviews, probably because I'm not good at it, my emotions and thoughts are all over the place if I'm excited. And I am very excited about this book.
It crammed in (not crammed, more like gently inserted) a bunch of kinks and tropes I like (praise, natural D/s, somnophilia, inverted tropes, size difference, begging), it had excellent dialogue (sharp, succinct), it was heartfelt, and it was erotic.
April and Rice are coworkers and friends until they are more. Watching that unfold was just pure bliss. April's dirty talk and praise were practically sex scenes on their own.
"You're so helpful, Arden," says April warmly. "It's very kind." Rice shivers.
"There you are, good boy," murmurs April.
And Rice, touch-starved, insecure, and lonely, has to stumble his way past internalized homophobia, ableist thoughts, and a bit of misogyny to get there. I didn't get the impression Rice was a malicious person, it felt like learned behavior, parroting what he thinks to be true, and luckily he says that stuff aloud, so April can respond.
"Stop using Reddit, you ingrate," says April. "Calling women girls doesn't help you, but nor does trying to project some imaginary social hierarchy onto all your relationships. You're not the alpha between us because of all your muscle."
"You been waiting to say this a while?"
April is there every step of the way, correcting, pushing back, explaining and establishing boundaries (for both of them), and being firm on what consent is. Yet somehow all of that is interwoven into the story without feeling like a lecture on how to be a decent fucking person. The conversations felt natural and familiar, I think we've all heard or said shit that is cringe-worthy at some point, unfortunately.
"I can't sit in your lap," he says. "I'm not a fucking girl."
"Neither of us are fucking girls," agrees April. "Although I fail to see what that has to do with the price of milk."
"Men don't sit in each other's laps."
"Yes, they do."
"Not men like me!"
The inverted tropes were great! The nerd/jock here had the nerd be the experienced and confident one and the jock was floundering and unsure of himself. The D/s relationship had the shorter and smaller man as the Dom and the much taller and bulkier man as the sub. And this did not go unnoticed by either of them.
"You thought you were taking pity on the nerdy guy, hm? You thought you were the alpha between us, or some nonsense like that."
He brushes past Rice in the kitchen, touches him so easily, casually. He's small, compared to Rice, so fucking little.
How come Rice feels like he's the tiny one? Why is now the smallest he's ever felt?
I have to talk about the somnophilia scene. This is my favorite kink and I sure as fuck wasn't expecting a detailed, lengthy intergluteal somnophilia scene. I have a doc full of over 80 somno books, and this is easily in my top 5, top 3? Amazing.
April is still snoring, and Rice slowly grips at the waistband of his trousers, his thumbs sliding underneath it. (That's all you're getting, go buy the book!)
Rice wasn't just touch-starved, has no one loved this man? Given him a hug or told him he's gorgeous or appreciated him for anything? That was a bit heartbreaking, to be perfectly honest.
"So responsive,” murmurs April. "You really are gorgeous, aren't you?"
So much touching going on in this book and a lot of it was nonsexual touching that was overstimulating for Rice.
"Touch-drunk," he repeats. "Not a clinical term, I grant you," says April. "You're not used to being touched, and suddenly I'm touching you all over."
And tit-worshipping! Admiring, twisting, biting...
"They bounce when you pace too vigorously, and in those little thirst traps you post I've always felt your nipples just call out to be bitten and sucked on. Mouthwatering."
"What the fuck," he whispers.
There's even some humor in there! This is a kitchen sink novella, even at 51 pages. Ridiculous.
"Toppers are for ice cream and mattresses, sweetheart..." (Poor clueless Rice.)
"Let's walk before we can run, shall we?"
"What would you know about running?”
“I've seen it on TV.”
And a cat!
God, it's weird to be horny over the way a guy talks to his cat, right? (No, no it is not.)
I'm cutting myself off here, my highlights are plentiful. Just one more, to convince you to go buy this book:
"Like it? Don't like it?"
"Like it," whispers Rice. "I like it, I like it."
I stand by my original blubbering attempt of a review:
Intergluteal somnophilia!!
Now that I got the most important part out of the way:
This gem is 99¢ on Smashwords and Amazon, and Kobo+.
I highly recommend grabbing it if you enjoy touch-starved MCs, praise kink, affection, D/s that just happens naturally in everyday life, size difference, begging, edging, I could go on and on. Holy shit. RTC.
My tags are often spoilery, so don't read below here if you want to be surprised.
Tags: Novella, coworkers, close friends, size difference, over 6ft/under 5'5 (165cm), praise and appreciation kink, asthma rep, disability rep (leg, uses a cane), D/s, smaller Dom/larger sub, consent clarifications, back rubs/scratches, head scratches, shower intimacy, washing/shampooing, lap-sitting, pet cat (December), snuggling/cuddling, touch-starved, power dynamics, rough sex, first time (very inexperienced virgin), coming untouched (in clothing), massages, intergluteal somnophilia, just the tip please?, begging and pleading, feeling embarrassed/humiliated (lite), following orders, CWs for ableism, mild misogyny, homophobia & slut-shaming (acknowledged with pushback), somnophilia without permission (acknowledged, discussed, accepted), MC Names: Arden (Rice) & Sebastian (April) (surnames used mainly)
"Oh, you like that, don't you?" asks April, as if he doesn't know. "Good, good."