Reviewed by JustJen
Title: Caged Sanctuary
Author: Tempeste O’Riley
Heroes: Kaden Thorn/Deacon James
Genre: MM BDSM
Length: 204 Pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: December 29, 2014
Available at: Dreamspinner Press, Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads
Blurb: Kaden Thorn, a dental surgeon who lives a quiet life, has no hope of finding the love he craves. A vicious gay bashing cost him the use of his legs and confined him to a wheelchair. He has given up hope of finding a Dom or even a nonkink partner to love him. When his best friend practically forces him to attend a dinner party, the last thing he expects is a strong Dom who can see beyond his wheels.
Deacon James is an architect and a demanding Dom, but he has spent the past couple of years without a sub or partner. When an employee invites him to a dinner party to meet his girlfriend, Deacon smells a setup but agrees anyway. He prides himself on being an excellent judge of character, and when he meets the younger dentist, he sees past the chair and finds a sweet submissive man who more than piques his interest.
Kade’s fears and demons continue to haunt him, challenging Deacon to use everything he’s learned as a Dom to earn Kade’s trust and submission. Deacon’s determined, though, willing to battle all of it to have Kade by his side and at his feet.
Review: Oh boy was I excited for this one. I love reading about damaged characters overcoming and finding the right person. That definitely happens here.
Kaden is really sweet. He pretty much has his life together – he is a successful dental surgeon with everything set up to accommodate his disability. He seems to have, as best as can be expected, come to grips with his situation. He is in a wheelchair, legs paralyzed after almost dying at the hands of his homophobic attackers. But, it’s only his legs that don’t work. Before the accident, he was a sub; after, nobody wanted anything to do with him. But he was determined that he could still be a good sub, even given his limitations. Luckily, he eventually meets Deacon, a dom who sees Kade’s potential right from the get go.
Deacon isn’t like the other doms. He isn’t so much into the club scene, instead looking for someone to have a relationship beyond the dom/sub aspect, although not 24/7. He is mature and even a bit formal, but these guys seem perfect for each other, almost too perfect. Deacon bends over backwards to make accommodations for Kade, anticipating his needs, finding new ways for him to submit, etc. I loved this aspect of the story and watching it all play out.
These guys move fast, but, under the circumstances, I thought it was understandable. Kade was longing for a dom yet was afraid to even step foot back inside the club where so many turned away from him. Then, Deacon comes along, a guy who is not only interested but seems too good to be true in all other ways. That said, I didn’t enjoy how quickly they jumped into the roles of “boy” and “sir,” as it just felt a bit over the top so soon in their relationship.
I had a lot of trouble trying to picture how Kade did things. Aside from not being able to see how he performed surgery while sitting in a chair, he often moved around in ways I found disbelieving for someone who had no use of their legs. His biggest issue was his self-worth and his ability to submit to someone as well, or in as satisfying a way, as other fully functional subs. I would have liked to have seen more about his dealing with his disability, how he mentally overcame what happened, as it felt as though we missed a very important part of his recovery.
One other aspect that bothered me a tiny bit was how much time was spent with Kade worrying about Deacon getting tired of accommodating him. That Deacon would dump him before long, etc. While certainly a plausible worry, it just came up too many times not to become tiresome.
However, this was a really sweet story that had many refreshing aspects to it, especially concerning the BDSM. As I said earlier, it was great to see the various ways Deacon found to make their sessions work. He did everything possible to make it physically easier for Kade to submit. They even play with Kade’s friend and fellow sub, Jake, and his dom, Sam, which I absolutely loved in this instance. It was all a part of healing for Kade, from renewing his friendship, to allowing other people (a dom specifically) to see him submit now that he is different. These scenes were very well done.
I’m a bit picky at this point when it comes to my BDSM stories, and while I didn’t have any issues with the BDSM aspects of this one, the other things didn’t wow me. But, if you’re new to the BDSM readership, I think you will most likely love this story.
Overall Impression: It was good
*I received a copy of this book from the publisher in return for a fair and honest review.*
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