TEST
Willing Victim left Flynn and Laurel at happy-for-now, rather than happy ever after, so I knew there was a lot of potential in a sequel. That said, I had no idea where that sequel might take them. With the frank sexuality of Willing Victim, and McKenna’s bold forays into kink, I assumed that the future for Flynn and Laurel had more erotic discoveries in store. I expected them to further push their boundaries, maybe with some ménage. What I got instead was a deeply gripping, emotional ride about two people trying to figure out whether their love is for now, or forever.
Flynn and Laurel have spent the last nine months in lust-filled bliss, without moving too close to more serious territory. He’s made comments about living together, but they haven’t taken that step. Laurel is still struggling with depression, issues with her own self-worth, and trying to find a job in her degree field. There’s really not an issue there as they haven’t been together very long, and they’re both happy. It seems logical that things can continue as they are until one of them is ready for a deeper commitment.
That is, until Laurel finds out she’s pregnant. She was on the pill and taking it religiously, so she isn’t one of those heroines you want to groan at for ignoring all reproductive consequences to their actions. It was just a slip up, and one neither she nor Flynn knows how to handle. They don’t feel ready to have a child, and Flynn offers Laurel an out; it will be her choice whether to keep the baby, because he plans to stay either way. Laurel doesn’t really know what it is she wants though, and she wishes that Flynn would contribute a bit more to the decision.
If you aren’t familiar with Willing Victim, you should know that Flynn and Laurel’s sexual relationship is built around his kink for domination and consensual rape fantasies. Those are still happening, but much more of this book is about the pregnancy storyline and what comes after. There are some seriously sexy scenes, yet I’ve all but forgotten them. What packs the biggest wallop is the emotional impact of the story. I felt the struggle of this decision right along with Laurel, and cried more than a few tears.
I can’t say that the storyline is particularly unique because I could guess early on where the plot would take Laurel; but I fully appreciated McKenna’s take on it. There is so much realism in her writing and she doesn’t spare the reader a moment of the experience, even when it hurts your heart for Laurel and Flynn.
It’s also nice to get to see a tough-guy alpha like Flynn humbled a little. He’s hurting, vulnerable, and completely lost as to how to handle himself. It’s a big change from the usual manly men who seem either unfazed, or exist only as a support for the delicate women in their lives.
If you’re a fan of Willing Victim, I fully recommend picking up this short read and finding out what has happened to these two characters. I sat down to read a few chapters and ended up finishing the whole book, and I think you’ll be tempted to do the same. If you haven’t read the previous installment then I suggest reading my review to see if it might be to your tastes, and then downloading a copy. Believe me, McKenna has another winner with Brutal Game.
Buy it on Amazon/iBooks/Barnes & Noble/Kobo
Grade: A
Book Type: Erotic Romance
Sensuality: Burning
Review Date: 20/11/16
Publication Date: 11/2016
Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.
Haley K is a librarian-of-all-trades, book reviewer, writer, perpetual student, as well as a pretty crafty chick. She lives in Texas with too many pets and too little sleep.
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Having finished the story, I have to agree with the others saying there was really no way to avoid mentioning the pregnancy if you wanted to give a through review the book. Not only does it happen early on in the story, it’s the main source of emotional conflict. Any problems for the couple really arise out of it or their emotional responses to it. I unlike Haley, didn’t call what was going to happen in Brutal Game. I expected Cara McKenna to take a completely different approach. I was surprised (due to my own expectations of what I thought she would write) so nothing at all was spoiled for me. Even knowing about the pregnancy didn’t keep me from being surprised about how things unfolded. I greatly enjoyed the story, and though she expanded the characters of Flynn and Laurel, they were completely consistent with their personalities from Willing Victim. No one’s problems just went away (Laurel still struggles with depression and Flynn still feels the need to batter and be battered twice a week to get his aggressions out) but there is a natural progression in their lives and their relationship. McKenna has a talent for addressing very real problems in her work yet leaving the reader in a good place. Their story is very emotional, but never depressing.
Have to say that I think this review should be labeled that it contains a SPOILER…cause not cool to come here and be told exactly what their hard decisions focus on..
Luckily I’m pretty sure that I’m still going to enjoy it.
I kinda think it matters when the pregnancy was introduced. But I haven’t read it, so I don’t know if we spoilered or not.
It wasn’t introduced in the first book and I know the blurb alludes to “But when real life intrudes and hard decisions demand action,”
I tend to think first 1/3 of the book is not a spoiler, but I’ve written reviews where I didn’t follow that. I kept something you learn earlier in Kristen Cashore’s Graceling out of my review, and for Ann Leckie’s spectacular Ancillary Justice I barely went past page 2.
I’ve read the book, and in all fairness to Haley, the pregnancy storyline starts at about 25% in, so is really fair game for discussion as far as most reviewers would consider. It’s almost impossible to write a review that isn’t overly vague without mentioning it, and I think Haley did an excellent job of keeping the main points of what happens after they get the news (which makes up the bulk of the story) out of her review.
I’m sorry you feel that way however, I honestly didn’t think there was a way I could review the book without mentioning it. Not doing so would have been overly vague and confusing.
I was really torn when I found out Cara McKenna was writing a sequel to this short work of hers. It was the first thing of hers I read, and unlike most people, I didn’t mind that she didn’t spell out everything that happened with Flynn and Laurel. It’s been my experience a lot of authors can take things too far in their efforts to create problems for their couples, taking it to a point where it makes me no longer care as much about the outcome because it was crisis after crisis.
I am excited to read this “sequel” because McKenna has a way of writing every day people very well. The protagonists can be in difficult situations and have had difficult lives but she never takes it over the top so it just seems like “misery porn”. She also writes people in different strata of life and income very well. Flynn’s not educated but he never comes off as less than smart, and she never talks down to her characters (who are never billionaires). I appreciated that tough guy Flynn was actually more emotionally available than Laurel in the last book and I am very interested to see where she takes them both in this one.
I have to agree. I’m so leery of sequels that mess up a happily ever after just for more plot fodder. Luckily that was not the case here at all.