Lords of Pain: Boys Trying To Be Men

I never claimed to be a good girl, but I definitely never asked for this.
Killian, Tristian, and Rath.
These three men are a part of my past--one that I'd rather never look in the eye again. In high school, they knew my secrets and I knew theirs. They had power and I had nothing. The night everything fell apart, my stepbrother allowed his two best friends to take their rage out on me while he watched. While they laughed
But what happened that night wasn’t my biggest secret. So I ran, planning on never coming back.
Three years later I’m standing on their doorstep like a stray. They’re more powerful than ever now, having risen to the rank of Lords at Forsyth University. But I’m still on the run and there's another monster chasing me down.
What could bring me back into their lives, their homes, and ultimately, their beds?
Fear.
Shame.
Desperation.
Killian, Rath, and Tristian aren’t the only ones who want me. There’s someone far more dangerous out there who's been stalking me since I left town the first time. Someone who makes the evil I know feel less dangerous than the evil I don’t.
But being their Lady is more than just fancy clothes and reputation.
I might be under their protection, but I’m also at their mercy.
And there's nothing a Lord loves more than taking control.

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*Note: this is my first post I’ve written using the Block Editor. I’ve always used the Classic Editor, but I’ve been seeing so many cool features that can be done using Blocks. But bear with me…I feel like this is teaching an old dog new tricks. I have no idea what I’m doing!

This is the first time I’ve dipped my toes into smut in a very long time. I think the last one I read was Hades Hangmen – so it’s been years. But I recently subscribed to Kindle Unlimited again where there is an abundance of smut available! I decided to give a genre I’ve never read before a chance – bully romance.

And I don’t know if it’s for me.

Let’s just get into the nitty gritty, rip the band aid off so-to-speak.

Almost all of the sexual encounters are 100% sexual assault. It is all non-consensual. Even the ones that are consensual are clouded by the mental abuse Story (our MC) experiences. You could argue the lines are blurred because Story voluntarily signs up to be what is essentially a sex slave. But look, voluntarily giving up sex favors is a lot different than some of the sexual acts that happen in this book. It’s uncomfortable how close most of them are to straight up rape.

Yet, the masochist in me was curious how the story would evolve. I thought “this can’t possibly be 411 pages of rape“.

I was half right.

While the boys kind of warm up, it’s still masked by their little point game (they all earn points if they get Story to do certain sexual things, and whoever gets the most points get to have sex with her). But y’all, these boys aren’t even worth the trouble.

1. These kids would never be able to get away with their games and sex slave endeavors in today’s college world. There would be a whistleblower somewhere. And I think women just have way more self-respect.
2. These are kids. I’m sorry but they’re all supposed to be like 20 or 21 years old. They’re supposed to be leaders on the campus and some sort of south side/underbelly criminal masterminds or something (this plot line is clearly meant to be covered in another book. At least I hope). But they’re all just fumbling through the day and obsessing over sex. They’re like boys going through puberty but with a little darkness sprinkled in.
3. They’re not even that great individually. Killian is just a rape-obsessed dude with no consequences in life and a father that enables his actions. Tristian (or is it Tristain? Tristin? I don’t know) is the one with the most game/swag but also rapey. Rath is just a cliche of the bad boy but oh…he’s also a musician. So dark and mysterious. Also, rapey.

Also, the whole Lords aspect is absolutely ridiculous. These are college students and there are various groups of men that all have one of these sex slaves. The Lords. The Princess. The Barons. There are others but I forgot already. That premise alone is silly and requires me to suspend my disbelief a little too much.

The most believable part of the the whole thing is Story being a teenage high school student selling her body online to pedophiles in the beginning. Which doesn’t make any of this better. It’s all quite sad actually.

After all of this, I’m leaving you with the fact that I am currently reading book 2. Book 1 left so many unanswered questions that I feel like book 2 has to answer those and build an actual plot. Not just rape. It has to…right?

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