Book Review: Losing Control by Riley Hart

Reviewed by JustJen

Title: Losing Control
Author: Riley Hart
Series: Broken Pieces #3
Heroes: Ben/Dante
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 225 Pages
Publisher: Riley Hart
Release Date: February 27, 2015
Available at: Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  On the surface, Ben seems to have it all: money, influence, good looks. He smiles and jokes in all the right places, but it’s all a façade. Inside he’s a wreck, and it’s only getting worse. With his Congressman father using Ben’s recent kidnapping for his own political agenda, and Ben still struggling to get over the only guy he’s ever loved, he feels like he’s losing his grip on reality and he’s quickly spiraling out of control.

Then he meets Dante, an enigma of a man with as much self-hatred as Ben has. In Dante, Ben finds what he didn’t know he needed: Dante’s control, his power, is the only thing that clears the fog in Ben’s brain. For the first time in his life, Ben has a lover who just might need Ben as much as Ben needs him. When they’re together, the demons from their pasts don’t lurk so heavily on their shoulders.

But Dante can’t fix him. Not when a memory from Ben’s past is haunting him in ways he doesn’t understand, waiting for him to put together the missing pieces in his head…and what he discovers just might have the power to break him for good.

Review: I was so excited to read Ben’s story. We met Ben in the previous books. He’s Tristan’s bff though they have a somewhat complicated relationship. They have a past sexual relationship, but have been close friends pretty much since then. Unfortunately, Ben wanted more and was, in fact, in love with Tristan. Sadly, Tristan didn’t return those feelings. When Tristan eventually found what he needed with Mateo and Josiah, Ben had a bit of a difficult time coming to terms with it all. But, he remained the good friend, always there when Tristan needed him. Turns out, Ben was a little more screwed up than we thought.

This story opens with a bang, Ben is laying it all out in letters to Tristan that he doesn’t actually plan to ever send. He is in a major downward spiral, especially after the recent events involving his kidnapping. But there is so much more behind his issues. I won’t get into them, but they all explain his current activities of mindless sex to try and lose himself, get over Tristan and to escape the memories and voices from his past out of his head. It is during one of these club encounters that he notices and is noticed by Dante.

Dante has a few issues of his own – he’s chasing a few ghosts as well. He thinks he is too broken to help Ben, though he sees exact what Ben is trying to hide since he feels he was in that same position. When Dante is able to help Ben with a certain performance problem, it is the start of their rocky relationship of give and take, needing each other but not wanting to give in to or accept it. Ben thought he was the one in control and need to be the one calling the shots, but Dante quickly shows him that is not the case.

While there were some areas of repetitiveness throughout, I did not have nearly the issues with it that I had in Full Circle. Here, we are learning more and more about the cause of Ben’s issues, and the flashbacks show more of his mental instability. This was a fast-paced story that keeps you a bit on the edge of your seat wanting to know the details and see things play out.

I was ready for the one-on-one that this story promised, and I was not disappointed. It was good to see the threesome again, especially when they all come together at the end. While I enjoyed watching Ben and Dante working things out, I really would have liked to have seen more of them after that point. Maybe we will get to see them again. 🙂

Overall Impression: I loved it

*I received a copy of this book from the author in return for a fair and honest review.*