A Perfect Game

by Reno MacLeod

Twenty-year-old Christopher "Kit" Pennington dreams of becoming a professional baseball player. He has the talent and the drive needed for the sport, but finds his lack of interest in formal education barring his way. Under threat from his wealthy father, an important alumnus and contributor at the private Christian college Kit attends, Kit has been barely muddling through. Not until the very handsome Liam Dalton replaces one of Kit’s regular professors at the exclusive school does higher learning take on any real meaning.

Genres: M M Romance, BDSM, Sports, Contemporary, College, Romance, LGBT

129 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Not For The Faint Of Heart---That sums up my work with Jaye Valentine. I've always spent a good deal of time with the darker side of my imagination. I was never afraid of the dark. In fact, some of my fondest memories are of Saturday afternoons with my dad watching Creature Double Feature with a big bowl of popcorn. Halloween has always been my favorite holiday. Werewolves, angels, demons and vampires were my childhood passions. I guess I never grew up.

I live in a little town famous for its historical ax-murderess, where the Ghost Hunters TAPS has a home office. Salem—famous for witches, Newport—famous for pirates, and Providence—famous for H.P.Lovecraft are all under an hour's drive. I guess I really didn't have a chance of not turning out the way I did."

Reno has also designed and created cover art for many of Reno and Jaye's books as well as the logo for StarCrossed and their website's banner art.

Reviews

[SheReadsALot · Rating 4 out of 5]

FREE ON AMAZON - 11/8/14!!!! - http://www.amazon.com/Perfect-Game-Ja...



That's right...I'm grunting! "A Perfect Game" has hit so many pluses in my book, that I can't help but grunt like Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor. This book has been sitting on my TBR mountain for months, MONTHS! and I am so upset with myself.

Have no fear, I think back on my favorite scene (I'll describe it soon) and I'm happy all over again.



Reno MacLeod and Jaye Valentine's "A Perfect Game" was not perfect for me but it was pretty damn close. I was in kinky glee while reading, wanting to high five my Kindle every time I started to read more of the story. There's kink, a younger top/ older bottom, student/teacher relations (don't worry everyone involved was legal) and some rock solid sex scenes (in some pretty interesting places like a porn store and locker room)!!



Twenty year old Kit Pennington is rich, slightly bratty and loves baseball. College...eh, not as much. Or should I say not until replacement professor to his visual Arts class, Professor Liam Dalton walks in with his blonde good looks. The two are drawn together, or should I say naughty Kit pursues the hell out of Liam. But with a dirty mouth like Kit's, who would want to resist? Not me, that's for sure.



Maybe you think the content or premise might not be for you. And that's cool. It worked for me very well might I add.

My favorite scene? Kit and Liam's first time together featuring a cigarette, bodies being shoved around and some sexy ass smoke! A teaser from the book:

His other hand went back to work on his cock, so hard now the swollen head pointed obscenely at Liam. "You want another drag, you're going to have to earn it."

That's a slam dunk (oh wait it's a baseball book so, home run) for me!!



Why this gif? Because it's touching the realm of disbelief and I visited the land of Highly Improbable for my main issue with the book. (My pros totally outweighed the cons so I'm not dwelling on it too much) What was my gripe? INSTA-LOVE! Kit and Liam fall for each other in a week. But I like this pairing so much, I'm trying not give two shits. (But in a few days...'I love you's'...really?)

I think weeks of heightened sexual tension would have made this a stellar read. I can just imagine, young Kit wearing tight uniforms daily to drive Professor Dalton into erotic tension supernova? Imagine Kit bending over ever so slightly because he dropped a pen? And he just grazed the professor with his lush tush? Brushing against him when leaving the classroom? Maybe even leaving articles of clothing for the teacher's eyes only, sporadically throughout the semester, each item becoming raunchier and raunchier as finals approach? Maybe little dirty notes at the beginning of class? Hotness right?

But I digress.

Continuing with the issues, there were a couple of typos but I'm not a perfectionist nor do I expect to find it in all that I read. (It'd be a plus. Luckily it did not detract from the story for me) Yes, some parts felt a bit rushed and easily resolved. (And there were spots of mush) But as I mentioned already, the pros outweighs the cons.



I'm still riding the erotic high. I'm not nitpicking so only -1 star for my overall rating from me.

So.

Again.

[Darien · Rating 4 out of 5]

^^PERFECTLY SEXY!^^

All I am gonna say is Older man Younger dude, if that don’t catch your fancy, I will say D/s relationship younger guy the top. Head blown off yet! This one won’t win any awards for literary genius, but it offers a great love story and a beat all odds kind of thing.

Kit Pennington is a baseball player, a rich kid, college student and a Dom. Plus he is openly gay to the delight of his team-mates who revel in making his life a living hell. He hates school, but he loves baseball so no hateful set of punks is gonna keep him from his game, bonus he is the best on the team. He dislikes the whole school thing but he has to go to keep his game on, when he gets a new professor school life just got a whole lot better.

Kit comes on strong to the professor, all I am saying if I ever said this to any of my professors
“ I’ll bet you the fuck of your life” I would be writing this review from prison for sexual assault. Well lines like those makes this book sizzle, nothing says hot like forbidden fruit. Teacher/ student relationship is a no no but what they don’t know won’t hurt them.

Life seems all bliss and shit, but someone finds out and it’s the one person Kit has to listen to and it creates tension and some questioning moments between him and his professor. I will say this book brought a tear or two, the D/s aspect of the story is very panty throwing worthy and Kit is very HAWT.

What is very clear is that this story is the rebuilding of two very different people who found their happiness in each other. Blah to hell with that, older man/ younger dude, teacher/student I think I have listed what is really important.

[Shelby · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've had this book picked for me since the first ever MMR Gang Bang I ever participated in. For a long time it was out of print and thus it languished unread. While I'm glad it's finally going to come off of my TBR I can't say I really enjoyed the read. This is one of those cases where I found myself rolling my eyes repeatedly. Every bad trope that bugs the hell out of me pretty much made an appearance in this book. The one pass I'll give this one is that while the story is ridiculous and unbelievable for me, the writing itself isn't all that bad. It's smooth and easy to follow. This story gets the extra star for that alone.

First of all...insta-love rarely works for me outside of a paranormal mate bond sort of situation. It decidedly doesn't work here at all. Kit has absolutely no interest in school, is pretty much a little shit throughout our introduction to him, he's barely likeable other than some sympathy for him as the other guys on the baseball team barely tolerate him. He's gay so despite his superstar talent they make his life hell off the field. But hey take one look at the new teacher taking over his class and it's no holds barred get your sexy man flirt on. Instantly there shall be no other and a man whore is converted.

Next...Not a fan of age gaps generally, but usually I can ignore them. This is a teacher student thing and the age gap is very readily apparent. Though frankly neither of these two ever really comes across as all that mature. But what really compounds this problem for me is the...

BDSM...now I enjoy my BDSM novels immensely, but I just couldn't buy Kit as a Dom no matter how much I tried. Some twenty year old kid whose basically a slacker anywhere except the baseball field just doesn't have the smooth control and radiating power of a true Dom. And Liam never quite comes off as a true submissive either despite enjoying the acts the do together.

The way this story developed just read as patently false to me throughout. No parent is going to react the way Kit's father does, the dynamic always seemed off, and to top it all off no major league team is going to offer a college kid a contract right there on the spot, there's a draft for a reason!

This is plenty hot enough smut, but since I couldn't get behind the characters and their reality I found it much harder to read. I wanted to like Liam and Kit, but generally found them yawn worthy and frustrating. I really wanted more out of this story than I got.

[M'rella · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am so very partial to so many things in this book, I can easily give it 7 stars.
That said, I have to admit that parts of the book are somewhat confusing - there are so many baseball details and I have no clue to what they actually mean! I am not a baseball fan :(
One star off for that.
There isn't much of a real conflict in the story as well. Kit is tormented by his peers, but we don't see a lot of it. At one point his father is on a verge of disowning him, but later on somehow everything works out just fine, all the real turmoil hidden behind the scenes.
There goes another star.
Which leaves me with 5 :D

[Relly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not for me

2 ⭐️

This one just didn’t really work for me. I think it was the whole student/teacher dynamic that didn’t work.
I found Kit annoying and his smart aleck attitude at the start made me dislike him.
I ended up kind of understanding why he was like that, but it just rubbed me the wrong way and he never really recovered in my eyes.
Liam was a character I thought I would like, but he didn’t really work for me either.

Read for the 50 states challenge but wouldn’t read again

[Tully Vincent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Christopher "Kit" Pennington is a twenty-six year old rich guy with dreams of becoming a professional baseball player. He has loads of talent and drive when it comes to baseball, but not so much for formal education. He’s been barely getting by in his studies at the private school he attends. But when handsome Liam Dalton replaces one of Kit's regular professors, higher learning suddenly becomes more interesting.

I'm not a big sports fan, but I very much enjoyed this book about a younger Dom and an older sub. Kit is a naughty, potty-mouth, brat at the beginning. He’s floundering in his studies even while he excels at his sport, until he meets the right teacher who can change that.

The relationship is a bit on the insta-love side, but it worked for me due to Kit’s personality. Once Kit saw what he wanted, he was very much the aggressor, pursuing Liam for all he was worth. Kit didn’t have the smooth control and power of an experienced Dom, which I rather liked in someone so young.

Up until the book hit about 70%, I was finding it to be an enjoyable but middle-of-the-road read. I questioned exactly what drew Liam to Kit enough for him to risk his career and would have liked to see more of Liam’s background revealed as I think it could have helped with that. Plus, there are a few editing errors to be found.

Then all of a sudden, the book turned a major corner for me and soared straight into the better-than-average zone.

Kit seemed to come into himself once he was out from under his father's thumb and secure in his relationship with Liam. Liam also blossomed. The way Kit cherished Liam, the way he was so observant and attentive and earned his trust. And the vows Kit said when he put Liam's collar on! How I'd love for someone to say that sort of thing to me… especially the last sentence. *sigh*

I promise to love you and protect you with my life and never let any harm befall you. I promise I’ll never put you in a position where you are humiliated or feel embarrassed and I will never, ever cause you any reason for distrust.

Even Kit's grumpy father was changed by seeing how much these two two cared for and brought out the best in each other. And the end hit it out of the park. If only there’d been more of a buildup of sexual tension, this could have been a five star for me despite its imperfections.

[Elisa Rolle]

This novel collects some of my preferred themes in Gay Romance: it has a college setting, Kit, 20 years old is attending a Christian college to fulfil a promise to his wealthy father, maintain good grades while he is pursuing his real dream, to become a professional baseball player; Kit falls for Liam, the 36 years old college professor of one of Kit’s courses. So other than a college themed novel, this is also a very nice May / December romance, with a switch that I liked, the dominant lover in the couple it’s not the older man, Liam, but Kit: the dominant role serves to Kit to grew, not only in age but also in self-esteem. Kit has not a solid family behind, and above all, he has a troubled relationship with his father who treats him more like a teenager than a young adult. Kit is loosing himself in relationship with older men, probably a way to prove that he can “control” them and impose to them his decisions, while he is not able to do the same with his father. When Kit meets Liam, the need of Kit to “dominate” an older man, is matched to Liam’s need to be dominated; it’s not strictly necessary for Liam that his partner is younger, but probably Liam has a soft spot for younger men, and so to find a younger man who is also able to be an attentive and careful dominant, is the perfect combination for him.

Liam is not probably a strong man, if for strong you means an emotional independent man. Liam is very fragile on an emotional level; I think he can be easily wound with harsh words more than with a real physical pain. Liam is also the classical man who needs to take care of his partner in a very ordinary way, cooking dinner, doing chores, and so on. He has the need to prove his love with small things, and he has the need to have a life partner near him, someone to share his day-to-day life.

As you probably have already understood, there are two more themes: a BDSM relationship and the sport setting. While I’m not so fond of the first of the two, I can say that in A Perfect Game, the kinky side of BDSM relationship is well compensated by the love relationship, Kit never pushes too much Liam, he is always attentive of Liam’s changes of mood, and in the end, and their games are more sexy than painful. The sport setting instead is a bit on the behind scene, it’s not fully developed but hinted: there is probably space for a sequel, where this side of the story can be developed further.

I also liked a lot the real setting, the places where the novel is developed, Providence, Provincetown, Newport… all places I visited last September and that I recognized in their description. It’s clear that the authors are describing places they know and love, and this love transpires from their words. It made me want to come back there to see if my memories and their descriptions are up to the reality.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00336EWZC/?...

[* A Reader Obsessed * · Rating 3 out of 5]

At first I wasn't so sure about this because I'm not big into bdsm especially if it's contemporary. However this was free so I figured, why not? If I choose to ignore the absolute eye-roll inducing insta-love, I think this was an overall pretty decent story

You've got Kit who's a star baseball player at his college. He's a cocky little shit and he lays eyes on his substitute teacher Liam and is instantly smitten. He sets out to seduce him and Liam of course, shuts him down. All caution is thrown out the window when they run into each other in Provincetown literally a few days later and proclaim love at first sight. I'm not joking. And the rest as they say, is history.

So first you have an age gap and then a role reversal where the older, more experienced guy is the bottom/sub. Then comes the kink. Now I haven't read a lot of bdsm and not to say that there's an age requirement… but this 20 year old is well versed in hot wax, whippings, exhibitionism, collars/claimings, master/slave situations, as well as fear play. Yep. He also remarked he would never do these things to another unless he himself had experienced it. And when did this all start? In between his playing baseball and camp and jr high through high school?? There was mention of him learning the whip starting at age 14 under the ruse of having an interest in Renaissance fairs! Wow. But what the hell do I know? I was a bit like a deer in headlights; I couldn't look away. These scenes to me were pretty separate from the actual smexy times so I could easily detach myself from that and enjoy the more "vanilla" parts.

In and amongst all of that was a pretty sweet love story, as well as some topical issues of parental acceptance and being out of the closet as a professional sports player. Suffice it to say, this had a lot of different elements to it - maybe one or all will strike your fancy.

[Vivian · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
Tenderness, caring and some sexy play between this student athlete and college professor. Big heart, but a little rushed in places to condense time. A romantic read.

[JenMcJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting twist to this book that I didn't expect from the blurb. Unfortunately the story was slow to start and clunky as it continued. It found its feet closer to the end which brought it up to 3 stars for me.

I asked myself, what exactly did they know about each other before they fell in love? The lust was evident but they flung themselves into the relationship and started with the "L" word so quickly I just didn't feel the emotional connection. Additionally, Kit's dad was pretty easy on Liam (Kit's Professor) doing his son even if he was of age. Speaking of ages, it took me a while to realize Kit was 20. With uniforms required at his college and other descriptions I had it in my head Kit was in an expensive Prep school.

I know a lot of us like the May - December romances. With Liam 16 years older than Kit, this certainly qualifies but it also made the relationship harder to believe and was part of what never quite brought me there. I was very turned off by Kit in many ways at times. At various points in the relationship, Kit would impress himself with his own maturity all the while living off his Dad and bad mouthing him the whole time.

Without spoiling any of the plot, I will say that there are some other circumstances, experience and abilities that were difficult to suspend disbelief over as well.

Considering how much I love Soft Focus, not to mention Jace and Konnor from their other series, comparatively speaking I don't think this was on par with past efforts.

[Karen K · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good story about a younger guy who pursues (though not for long) an older teacher who's been burned in the past. Kit is young but very much the aggressor in his relationships and it's no different with Liam who really wants to be submissive but has some bad history behind him.

Kit is a fascinating character, very multi-dimensional, appearing so young when he's in college classes and playing baseball, but then morphing perfectly into the dom that Liam really needs. I think Liam calls him an old soul or something to that effect, and it totally suits him. He's rich, spoiled, used to getting his way, not so interested in actual school and would rather be playing ball, but he's also kind, loving and vulnerable in his feelings when he lets them show. He just wants to be excepted for who he is and he's unwilling to accept anything else.

Liam is a gentle man and falls quickly for the young stud that keeps coming on to him. He's definitely submissive but he can take charge when he has to, doing so in a loving way. I think he was looking for his soulmate and he found just that in Kit.

I got a little lost in the middle of the story, maybe felt a little over-sexed, but once it continued I fell immediately back into it. The ending was about as perfect as you can get and it brought about some emotions in me that I didn't even know I had for the story and the characters.

[Wendy❤Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love stories that throw traditional stereotypes up in the air and let something altogether different emerge instead! This wonderful book had several surprises that just left me appreciating it more and more as it progressed. The pairing of Kit and Liam was one of those unconventional aspects of the book, and while on the surface you might go “no way is that going to work”, in reality they were perfect for one another. Their interactions felt extremely sensual and surrounded by love. I was sad to reach the end of the book – I definitely wanted more of this wonderful couple. I’ll have to satisfy myself by reading it again instead – definitely no hardship involved in that task!

[Dee Wy · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars. I allowed this book to sit on my shelf for more than a year and a half. It doesn't look like a BDSM book and the title doesn't sound like BDSM, but it certainly is a BDSM story. Not only is Liam a submissive, but he has his own playroom in the basement. Kit, though much younger by nearly 20 years, becomes a very caring Dom. His relationship with Liam is sweet and Liam learns to trust him completely in spite of a previous bad experience when his safe word was ignored. I loved this pairing and together they are "A Perfect Game". Great read.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure what I thought of this story. There were parts I really enjoyed, but also parts that I skipped through. While I enjoyed the story for the most part, I think everything happened way too fast - I'll admit that sometimes I'm okay with insta-love, but in this case it just didn't feel right at all. Still, I thought it was sweet in places, and pretty hot too. It certainly held my attention for long enough that I read until the end (even if I did skim through several pages here and there).

[La*La · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at 50%.

Why would you turn a perfectly good, full of explosive chemistry and potential smut teacher-student story into a sap-fest? And so abruptly? Like, literally in the middle of their first sex scene? From one paragraph to another the heroes go from heated kisses to then stopping and exchanging confessions in love and plans for future...never mind this is the third or so time they see each other? Ugh.

Big dislike.

[Purplegirl · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just adored this story. It was so sweet. I liked the older man younger man storyline as well as the D/s. 4.5

[Gigi]

I’m going to pass on this one. Personal preference only, one of the MC’s is barely out of his teens. Not my age group of comfort. Usually.

[J · Rating 2 out of 5]

Similar to the sensation of having the wrong shoe on each foot, I felt that certain strands of the story never really meshed.

Many of the details, from packing lunch to being dropped off on campus for class, felt much more suited to a high school experience, not college. The early behavior of Kit made him less relatable and sympathetic, and the interactions with his father gave the story a soap opera feel.

The paltry development of Liam's story had us learning him almost exclusively through reactions to Kit. Even the play scenes felt superficial and disconnected from developments outside the bedroom. None of these were poorly executed per se, but they simply didn't come together for me, and I found myself tempted to skim to reach the end.

I selected this read based on positive reviews from other readers, but came away puzzled, wondering what they were draw to.

[Lexi Ander · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, this start out a little slow for me. The bratty Kit is bored with school and desides that seducing his professor would help him pass the time until baseball season started up. His whole attitude almost turned me off but I continued to read. It was odd that the brtty kid was the dominate in the relationship but not the most mature one in the relationship...if that makes any sense. But you do get to see Kit grown up and grow into a relationship with Liam. I did expect more of a sports aspect.

[Beck · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really didn't like this one ... at all ... I found Kit's personality repugnant; his arrogance irritating; & his persona annoying ... reading about Liam's submission to Kit's character just left me cold ... my dislike of all things Kit was so great that I can't separate my emotional reaction to him long enough to determine if the book is any good ... I cannot be objective at all ... Kit's ickyness has left a bad taste in my mouth.

[Bookbee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really did enjoy this story. While I liked the change-up in the D/s dynamic (younger D/older s), I did have difficulty, every once in a while, believing that Kit, at 20, could already be such an experienced Dom. Liam felt quite real to me.

[Ashley♥Alexis · Rating 4 out of 5]

loved it! I did skim a few sex scenes but I loved the story!

[UnusualChild{beppy} · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

Kit is on track to becoming a professional baseball player. He is enduring college, because the college that he is at churns out amazing baseball players that make it to the majors a large majority of the time. He doesn't get along with his teammates, who are largely homophobic, and doesn't do well in his classes, because all he wants to do is play baseball. But one day, a new professor walks into one of his classes, and Kit determines that he is going to have this professor. Liam hasn't had the best luck with love, and when this brash student comes on to him, he turns him down...at first.
Meh. This wasn't horrible, but it wasn't awesome, either. Kit came on really strong, Liam caved really quickly, and they were in love by like day 2. I would have appreciated learning more about Liam's backstory and even Kit's, although Kit wasn't my favourite character. And the random POV by this random character who really doesn't have a say in the story was jarring. I'm not sure that I believe entirely that Kit and Liam will stay together forever, just because they got to the twue wuv so quickly and there never seemed to be any getting to know one another outside of scenes on page. Or mention of things happening off page.

[Tommy Moreno · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Perfect Game by Reno MacLeod is a good example of explaining how to play baseball and for a pitcher to throw a perfect game. The Perfect Game is when a pitcher allows no runners on, no walks and No errors. A young man named Christopher “Kit” Pennington was lacking from being interested in the game when he was in college but he kept trying to succeed at the game. He put a lot of hard work and determination to be the best at the game but he was still failing then he realized failure was only making him a better player. During his college season he was struggling with a class. He didn’t like the way his teacher was teaching so he struggled and one day the school ended up replacing the teacher he was failing with a better one and he wasn’t struggling after but he was still kinda worried he was going to fail the semester but he didn’t. During a game he ended up getting hurt with a come backer and was out for a couple weeks. After a couple weeks later he recovered and was good as new his next start was rough because he didn't get to practice much so he did pretty bad that game. After the game the next day he worked harder and harder everyday to get better until one day he got a call he was going to get a start on the mound. He was very nervous to get back out there and pitch.

[⚣Michaelle⚣ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.2 Stars

I liked the inverted roles making the inherent power imbalance less obvious; there's just something about a younger MC being the Dom that appeals to me.

Otherwise, I dunno. Something didn't click with me. It felt like 2 books unsuccessfully woven together...or like there was just too much going on that didn't seem to advance the plot? *shrug*

[Caitlyn Pereira · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dnf

[Tammy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was a little hard to get into at the beginning. The role reversal of the younger/older, dom/sub was different. Kit came across as being a lot older than 20 in some ways and Liam a lot younger than 36. Kit knew what he wanted and went after it. I do wish we had a little more of Liam's backstory and what drew him to Kit.
As I continued reading the story it really came together.

[Theresa · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. Kit was an unconvincing dominant. Kit behaved younger than his age. His family treated him as though he was younger. The school setting was like a prep school instead of a 4 year college.

[Krummi í klettagjá · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was really good. I loved the characters, the premise and just the story overall.
I loved how the dynamics in Liam and Kit's relationship worked. I liked how they interacted with each other and that Kit was the Dom.
I actually liked how Kit's dad was written - it was extremely realistic, he wasn't an Eee-vil homophobic asshole, but he wasn't the liberal gay-loving open-minded dad type either. I liked how things ended with him and to be honest, I could relate a lot with Kit's relationship with his dad.
I kind of have to say something more about the sex in this review, don't I? So... the sex. Well. It wasn't too hard core but it certainly wasn't vanilla either. Also, I loved that Kit let Liam fuck him

So, for the things I didn't like.
Liam and Kit's insta-love. I'm sorry, but I'm just not into that. It's just so unrealistic! Like who the fuck would move in with a guy they met like literally a couple of days ago? Or better yet - who would move in with their teacher they just met days ago? Would you though, would you really?
Now, this will not affect my review of the book because this is just my very personal opinion, but I did feel that the BDSM part of the book was a bit too much for me. I didn't dislike it - it was just not for me. For example: the whipping and the wax play. Also, that party they went to.

All in all: good characters, nice plot, good main relationship, sweet ending.
2.6 stars

[Jane (PS) · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars.

This is a BDSM style romance - I hadn't realised this when I first picked up the book. The warning is there, but there is no mention in the precis, so I assumed it was more 'on the side' as opposed to a key plot element. BDSM is not my favourite style, but I can really enjoy them if I can understand the motives.

My main issue: I just couldn't settle in my mind on how these two MCs worked within their relationship. I try not to be hidebound; I try to keep a very open mind. But I couldn't work out how a 20 yo college student could successfully dominate a 36 yo college professor, to the point of master/slave... (And I have to say, that master/slave thing came out of nowhere for me! - just as I was sort of coming to terms with the domination.) Added to this, I had trouble thinking the professor was anything other than stupid to risk his livlihood so blatantly. And why did he take any notice of Kit to start with? Kit was just a punk in the beginning.

There is no doubt that both characters grew within the story, but they just didn't ever gel for me.