Review: Feral King (The Dominant Bastard Duology, #1) by Sparrow Beckett

Rating (Out of 5): ~4.5

Genre: Erotica/Adult Contemporary Romance; BDSM, Dark, MMF

Publisher: Self-Published

Release Date: June 2017

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Minnow Korsgaard works a dead end job to make ends meet. When she’s hired to take care of a wealthy old man with no social skills, she’s excited to have found work in her field.

The new boss isn’t at all what she expected.

Severin Leduc is only thirty. He’s also a dominant, tattooed brute who’s needs someone to break through the walls he’s built. The exiled son of a wealthy family, he’s unapologetically rude and eccentric. Raised by servants, he doesn’t want extra people in his life, let alone a pretty girl who refuses to leave him in peace.

Minnow’s submissive nature sparks against Severin’s dominance. Torrid sexual attraction flares between them. Sharing her with his best friend, Rodrigo, only strengthens their growing bond, and Severin’s life is scattered into chaos. Will he learn to trust her, or will he live the rest of his life forgotten?


Warning: BDSM, dark themes. Character's memories of prior abuse may trigger some readers.

The Cover:

I really like this cover. It's a bit intense, but not a stereotypical romance cover. I think the font and placement of the cover works really well, as do all the tattoos and pose of the model.

 

Review:

I did not expect this book to be quite so dark, or so addicting.

Minnow ends up being Severin's new housekeeper/babysitter. She thinks she's going to be helping some old man, only to find out that he's a dominant thirty-year-old with no social skills. He wants nothing to do with anyone, doesn't believe anyone will stick around. He's constantly pushing Minnow, testing her and pushing her away. But Minnow is steady and she believes in him, and she's attracted despite the threat that he might actually hurt her.

I was surprised by how dark some of the sex gets. It's violent at times, physically scarring and rough and mean. I found it seriously hot, but I'm sure some people won't. I also rather understood why Minnow stayed and kept pushing him by being a steady presence, even if it seemed like he'd gone too far at times. I'm intrigued by the MM/MMF (or is it just MFM?) undertones that were present, and am hoping they'll become more serious in the next book. That makes me hopeful.

Severin has been through some awful things, and it's dark when he's finally honest with Minnow about it. I'm intrigued to see where that cliffhanger will go in the next one.

This book gave me a serious book hangover and it took me a while to get over it. I'm still a little obsessed, and am extremely excited for the next one to be released. I can't wait for it to arrive on my Kindle.