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Bliss #1
Bliss
They're always happy.
Rory James has worked hard all his life to become a citizen of the idyllic city-state of Beulah. Like every other kid born in the neighboring country of Tophet, he’s heard the No crime or pollution. A house and food for everyone. It’s perfect, and Rory is finally getting a piece of it.
So is Tate Patterson. He’s from Tophet, too, but he’s not a legal immigrant; he snuck in as a thief. A city without crime seems like an easy score, until he crashes into Rory during a getaway and is arrested for assaulting a citizen. Instead of jail, Tate is enrolled in Beulah’s Rehabilitation through Restitution program. By living with and serving his victim for seven years, Tate will learn the human face of his crimes.
If it seems too good to be true, that’s because it is. Tate is fitted with a behavior-modifying chip that leaves him unable to disobey orders—any orders, no matter how dehumanizing. Worse, the chip prevents him from telling Rory, the one man in all of Beulah who might care about him, the in a country without prisons, Tate is locked inside his own mind.
Rory James has worked hard all his life to become a citizen of the idyllic city-state of Beulah. Like every other kid born in the neighboring country of Tophet, he’s heard the No crime or pollution. A house and food for everyone. It’s perfect, and Rory is finally getting a piece of it.
So is Tate Patterson. He’s from Tophet, too, but he’s not a legal immigrant; he snuck in as a thief. A city without crime seems like an easy score, until he crashes into Rory during a getaway and is arrested for assaulting a citizen. Instead of jail, Tate is enrolled in Beulah’s Rehabilitation through Restitution program. By living with and serving his victim for seven years, Tate will learn the human face of his crimes.
If it seems too good to be true, that’s because it is. Tate is fitted with a behavior-modifying chip that leaves him unable to disobey orders—any orders, no matter how dehumanizing. Worse, the chip prevents him from telling Rory, the one man in all of Beulah who might care about him, the in a country without prisons, Tate is locked inside his own mind.
230 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 18, 2014
14 people are currently reading
1742 people want to read
About the author
Lisa Henry
103 books2,281 followersI like to tell stories. Mostly with hot guys and happily ever afters. They gotta work for it though. No free lunches on my watch.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 195 reviews
July 17, 2022
well… that was kinda fucked up.
this book definitely satisfied my deranged brain in some ways, but it failed spectacularly in satisfying my need for good romance.
✦ if you ever want to read something messed up and don’t particularly care about the romance, then this isn’t a bad choice i guess. it definitely kept me interested throughout reading it. therefore i am not sure what to rate it. 2 stars sounds too harsh because i did kinda enjoy it, but i’m not sure i liked it enough for 3. (let’s just say 2.5 rounded up to 3).
✦ okay SO… in this dystopian world there’s two cities - Topeth and Beluah.
everyone in Topeth is struggling to survive.
everyone in Beluah is happy. Beluah is a safe paradise. Beluah is perfect….. OR IS IT? 👀
✦ to me, Beluah was fucking CREEPY. that’s the first word that comes to mind.
✦ the mc Rory James was born in Topeth, but he’s worked all his life to become a citizen of Beluah. like all people of Topeth, he’s heard about how perfect Beluah is. he obviously wants a better life for himself, so when an opportunity presents itself for him to work in Beluah, he jumps at it and moves there.
✦ the mc Tate Patterson is from Topeth too, but he snuck into Beluah illegally to steal some shit from the rich assholes there.
however, he fails spectacularly at the getting away part - he crashes into Rory during his getaway and gets arrested for assault.
✦ now where things get really interesting is that in Beluah, the people don’t believe in the prison system. instead, they enroll the people guilty of committing crimes to Beluah’s “rehabilitation through restitution” program, in which you serve the victim of your crime for seven years. so now Tate obviously has to serve his victim - Rory.
✦ what most people of Beluah don’t know is that the criminals that get enrolled into this program get fitted with a modifying chip that leaves them literally unable to disobey any kind of order, doesn’t matter how messed up the order might be. the chip not only makes them obey, but it only makes them happy if they’re making their victims/sponsors/masters happy.
✦ the fucking chip also makes you completely unable to actually tell the person you’re serving the truth.
the real person, trapped by the chip, is suffering in their own thoughts and literally can’t do anything to escape their mind prison.
does it sound fucked up yet? that’s because it is.
this book has a lot of non-con, so if you’re not into reading that, this book is definitely not for you.
✦ anyway, Rory is new to Beluah, so obviously he’s a little on the fence about having a rezzy (that’s what the chipped criminals are called).
however slowly he and Tate get into a routine. things obviously turn sexual.
✦ those scenes were fucked up in so many ways, because obviously Tate is chipped, so he wants to please his master, but his actual self is suffering in his own mind, because in reality he’s getting raped.
Rory however has no idea that he’s actually even raping the guy.
✦ now with all that said, tell me, how the FUCK were these two even supposed to fall in love????
if Tate got his chip out earlier in the book and him and Rory actually spent some time together with Tate not under the chip’s influence, i could have maybe seen them eventually getting together. but they didn’t!!!!🙄
✦ the trapped thoughts Tate had while being chipped and right after he got his chip out were so sad to witness and my heart hurt for him.
“afraid. hell, Tate had never been afraid of anything in his life, not before Beluah, and not before the fucking chip. sudden rage rose up in him, and he clenched his fingers into fists. what the chip had stolen from him, he’d never get back. even though it was gone now, it had changed him, and that wasn’t fair. it hadn’t been a punishment; it had been a violation, and it always would be.”
✦ the last 30ish percent of the book were a mess tbh. the trial, the way Tate and Rory got together, the epilogue… i just didn’t like it.
i liked the premise of this book a lot. this could have been absolutely amazing with a better execution.
but as i mentioned, the actual romance fell apart for me REALLY quickly and it ruined almost everything.
✦ like you want me to believe that they somehow managed to fall in love through everything that happened between them?
Tate was under the chip’s control for most of the time. Rory only met the real Tate when the chip got taken out. the chipped Tate and the unchipped Tate were like two completely different people.
✦ how am i supposed to believe that Tate could just get over the fact that he was essentially Rory’s sex slave for that long? how could Rory get over his guilt for what he unknowingly did and also not doing anything earlier, when he realised that things around him weren’t completely right? 🙄
✦ ANYWAY…….. i am obviously ranting here, but i’m kinda fuming if you couldn’t tell.
✦ the worst part is, i SAW this damn ending coming. i just KNEW they were gonna fall in love out of nowhere. but whatever i guess. 🤣 rant over!
this book definitely satisfied my deranged brain in some ways, but it failed spectacularly in satisfying my need for good romance.
✦ if you ever want to read something messed up and don’t particularly care about the romance, then this isn’t a bad choice i guess. it definitely kept me interested throughout reading it. therefore i am not sure what to rate it. 2 stars sounds too harsh because i did kinda enjoy it, but i’m not sure i liked it enough for 3. (let’s just say 2.5 rounded up to 3).
✦ okay SO… in this dystopian world there’s two cities - Topeth and Beluah.
everyone in Topeth is struggling to survive.
everyone in Beluah is happy. Beluah is a safe paradise. Beluah is perfect….. OR IS IT? 👀
✦ to me, Beluah was fucking CREEPY. that’s the first word that comes to mind.
✦ the mc Rory James was born in Topeth, but he’s worked all his life to become a citizen of Beluah. like all people of Topeth, he’s heard about how perfect Beluah is. he obviously wants a better life for himself, so when an opportunity presents itself for him to work in Beluah, he jumps at it and moves there.
✦ the mc Tate Patterson is from Topeth too, but he snuck into Beluah illegally to steal some shit from the rich assholes there.
however, he fails spectacularly at the getting away part - he crashes into Rory during his getaway and gets arrested for assault.
✦ now where things get really interesting is that in Beluah, the people don’t believe in the prison system. instead, they enroll the people guilty of committing crimes to Beluah’s “rehabilitation through restitution” program, in which you serve the victim of your crime for seven years. so now Tate obviously has to serve his victim - Rory.
✦ what most people of Beluah don’t know is that the criminals that get enrolled into this program get fitted with a modifying chip that leaves them literally unable to disobey any kind of order, doesn’t matter how messed up the order might be. the chip not only makes them obey, but it only makes them happy if they’re making their victims/sponsors/masters happy.
✦ the fucking chip also makes you completely unable to actually tell the person you’re serving the truth.
the real person, trapped by the chip, is suffering in their own thoughts and literally can’t do anything to escape their mind prison.
does it sound fucked up yet? that’s because it is.
this book has a lot of non-con, so if you’re not into reading that, this book is definitely not for you.
✦ anyway, Rory is new to Beluah, so obviously he’s a little on the fence about having a rezzy (that’s what the chipped criminals are called).
however slowly he and Tate get into a routine. things obviously turn sexual.
✦ those scenes were fucked up in so many ways, because obviously Tate is chipped, so he wants to please his master, but his actual self is suffering in his own mind, because in reality he’s getting raped.
Rory however has no idea that he’s actually even raping the guy.
✦ now with all that said, tell me, how the FUCK were these two even supposed to fall in love????
if Tate got his chip out earlier in the book and him and Rory actually spent some time together with Tate not under the chip’s influence, i could have maybe seen them eventually getting together. but they didn’t!!!!🙄
✦ the trapped thoughts Tate had while being chipped and right after he got his chip out were so sad to witness and my heart hurt for him.
“afraid. hell, Tate had never been afraid of anything in his life, not before Beluah, and not before the fucking chip. sudden rage rose up in him, and he clenched his fingers into fists. what the chip had stolen from him, he’d never get back. even though it was gone now, it had changed him, and that wasn’t fair. it hadn’t been a punishment; it had been a violation, and it always would be.”
✦ the last 30ish percent of the book were a mess tbh. the trial, the way Tate and Rory got together, the epilogue… i just didn’t like it.
i liked the premise of this book a lot. this could have been absolutely amazing with a better execution.
but as i mentioned, the actual romance fell apart for me REALLY quickly and it ruined almost everything.
✦ like you want me to believe that they somehow managed to fall in love through everything that happened between them?
Tate was under the chip’s control for most of the time. Rory only met the real Tate when the chip got taken out. the chipped Tate and the unchipped Tate were like two completely different people.
✦ how am i supposed to believe that Tate could just get over the fact that he was essentially Rory’s sex slave for that long? how could Rory get over his guilt for what he unknowingly did and also not doing anything earlier, when he realised that things around him weren’t completely right? 🙄
✦ ANYWAY…….. i am obviously ranting here, but i’m kinda fuming if you couldn’t tell.
✦ the worst part is, i SAW this damn ending coming. i just KNEW they were gonna fall in love out of nowhere. but whatever i guess. 🤣 rant over!
December 22, 2014
*2.5 stars*
Warning to all readers: This book is hard non-con, no two ways about it. If you have a problem with rape and sexual slavery, put the book down and back away slowly.
Now, going into this book I knew that this would push my boundaries. And it did. This was my first real non-con story and, even though I found it really hard to read at times, I was sort of fascinated by it in the way that some people are fascinated by horror movies. I also have to admit that I found this book to be smoking hot at times, and I sort of loved/loathed those scenes.
I think the strengths of this story are in the non-con and creepy nature of the dysopian world. If you are into non-con then this just might be a great story for you. I thought that the world that these two authors created was atmospheric and chilling. I loved that about this story, and honestly, I couldn't put this book down all day.
But where this book totally belly-flops is the romance.
When it comes down to it, I'm a romance reader. I'll happily read other genres, but if a book is billed as a romance, I expect a believable romance. This book was one of the most unbelievable GFY romances that I have ever read. I would have been thrilled, in fact, if this book didn't end with a romance. Up until 80%, I was sort of digging this book and I started praying that this ended with a bittersweet or HFN ending. But no. I refuse, REFUSE to believe that Rory and Tate created any sort of a romantic connection between them. Everything that they had was built on lies and those issues don't just magically disappear.
I could talk about this book for days, but I'll leave you with this. Read this book if you like non-con sex or are interested in really dark dystopian stories, but absolutely don't read this if you want a romance you can believe in.
*Copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review*
Warning to all readers: This book is hard non-con, no two ways about it. If you have a problem with rape and sexual slavery, put the book down and back away slowly.
Now, going into this book I knew that this would push my boundaries. And it did. This was my first real non-con story and, even though I found it really hard to read at times, I was sort of fascinated by it in the way that some people are fascinated by horror movies. I also have to admit that I found this book to be smoking hot at times, and I sort of loved/loathed those scenes.
I think the strengths of this story are in the non-con and creepy nature of the dysopian world. If you are into non-con then this just might be a great story for you. I thought that the world that these two authors created was atmospheric and chilling. I loved that about this story, and honestly, I couldn't put this book down all day.
But where this book totally belly-flops is the romance.
When it comes down to it, I'm a romance reader. I'll happily read other genres, but if a book is billed as a romance, I expect a believable romance. This book was one of the most unbelievable GFY romances that I have ever read. I would have been thrilled, in fact, if this book didn't end with a romance. Up until 80%, I was sort of digging this book and I started praying that this ended with a bittersweet or HFN ending. But no. I refuse, REFUSE to believe that Rory and Tate created any sort of a romantic connection between them. Everything that they had was built on lies and those issues don't just magically disappear.
I could talk about this book for days, but I'll leave you with this. Read this book if you like non-con sex or are interested in really dark dystopian stories, but absolutely don't read this if you want a romance you can believe in.
*Copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review*
August 22, 2014
Beulah…
“Protectionist. Elistist. Creepy perfect. A lot of people said a lot of sneering things about Beulah. But Beulah was also safe.”
First things first, I’m taking out Mr. Lowell. And I’m going to make it look like an accident. It’s a kindness really. What he deserves is for me to shove him off a cliff into a pit of naked, writhing, horny and sadistic women. Hmmm… on second thought.
I digress.
Let’s talk about this book. THIS BOOK. ARGH! Anything that elicits homicidal tendencies, anxiety AND laughter from me deserves a read. BUT, heed the warning, people. If non-con isn’t your thing… you’d best skedaddle.
But in Beulah, everything was different. Everything was simpler and more complicated at the same time.
Have you ever had a pot of really beautiful flowers that you had to move for whatever reason and when you picked up the pot there were slugs and creepy crawlers underneath? That’s Beulah. It’s lovely at first glance, but take a closer look and EEEEEEEE. I kept picturing Pleasantville in my head and that’s what made it not just regular “yuck” creepy but WHAT-IN-HOLY-FUCK creepy. There are so many things that are sooooooo right about Beulah, but this whole system of “rezzing” someone is twisted, abhorrent and corrupt, tainting the whole community.
Basically, if you are accused of a crime, just accused, you’re for all intents and purposes railroaded into seven years of servitude and chipped to make you “like” it, need it even and if you don’t provide that service with gusto, glee and zeal there will be pain, excruciating, mind-numbing pain that you’ll do anything to assuage, debased and humiliating things. Wanna know what the alternative is? Lifetime servitude. Oh, you can choose a trial but there’s a 99.9% chance you’ll lose and get life. So, you take the seven, right? Problem is there’s still a part of you, the real you, in there that’s locked away in a glass cage, screaming, crying and silent. Good times. *shudders*
Bliss is an emotional roller-coaster. If we’re friends on Goodreads, my status updates will confirm as much. I spent a good deal of it reading it with my hands on or near my head in some way-peeking through fingers, clenched fists, biting a nail, on top of my head. It was a work out. It might even count as a work out? Yes? Never mind, rhetorical question. Aside from all my feels, there are some truly compelling insights on government corruption and the oftentimes cruel nature of humans given the right set of circumstances.
“If you can’t trust what the government says now, how can you trust anything they’ve ever said?”
*coughs*NSA*coughs*
Tate, Rory and Aaron have been through a war together and forged those sorts of bonds that will last a lifetime. Of this I have no doubt; however, the focus of Bliss is Tate and Rory, though Aaron made for a charming secondary character. Tate and Rory’s relationship development was gradual. Let’s face it, it developed under some rather unusual circumstances. There were times when I felt “it” and times when I leaned more toward the friends side of the spectrum. I think it could’ve done with little more progression. At the end of the day, they were fleshed out well and their individual personalities shown through which is what I like best about these authors; they individualize their characters, give them their own voice, sometimes they are humorous, sometimes pensive and sometimes they’ll break your heart, usually all of the above. That’s what makes me continue to read their writez.
“This kissing shit is nice, but it’s for schoolgirls.”
There are two things that I’m still puzzled over. Why did Tate punch Rory in the first place? This just never gels cohesively for me. The rationale seems flimsy. The worldbuilding of the world outside Beulah could’ve been developed better. I’m not asking for loads of expansion, maybe a paragraph or two to tell me why the outside world is such a seemingly dystopian society whilst Beulah is such a “utopia”? How did this happen? Does Tophet comprise the entire outside world or are there other communities, sectors, countries?
Bliss isn’t for everyone, and I won’t hold it against you if you pass. It does have a generally hopeful message and no cliffhanger! I’ve been waiting for Bliss for what feels like FOR-EV-VER and I wasn’t disappointed. So, if non-con doesn’t squick you out or you like Belleau and/or Henry, you’ll enjoy Bliss.
Reviewed for
January 9, 2015
Creepy - beautifully written - absolutely gripping!
On its face, Beulah is a Utopian society in the middle of a nation overrun with crime. The air is clean; the lawns are lush and green. There’s free healthcare, education, and the citizens are friendly… Which is precisely why Rory applied for a position within the protected walls of Beulah.
RORY JAMES
Rory was barely off the train when his perfect experience is ruined by a surprise punch to the face. Rory’s rude welcome to the idyllic community is headline news for a town with no crime.
There hasn't been a trial in Beulah in nearly a decade. Criminals are urged to take a plea deal and agree to "Rehabilitation through Restitution" - the program places the criminal into the home of the person they've victimized. The victim helps to rehabilitate their fellow citizen as they perform restitution labor for a period of seven years.
Sponsors don't have to worry about living in close proximity of their "rezzy" though. All prisoners are implanted with a microchip which tracks them using GPS and ensures that they are non-violent. Sounds perfectly reasonable, right? Rory thought so too...
TATE PATTERSON
Tate is given a choice: Go to trial and face a life sentence of indentured servitude if found guilty, or take the plea deal and serve seven little years in beautiful Beulah.
He didn't really have a choice when faced with the evidence piled against him. He took the plea deal and tried to prepare himself for the idea of Restitution. He wasn't counting on the chip, though...
The true purpose of the chip is kept secret for the residents of Beulah. It compels the prisoner to please their master in any necessary. A skull-splitting pain is the reward granted by the chip to any prisoner who fails to secure their Master's approval at all times.
So yeah... Behavior Modification Chips + A Prisoner who desperately needs to please his Master = Some serious non-consent.
It was terrifying to see the inner-monologue of Tate as he was fighting with the chip's programming... He's struggling to remember who he is. He knows that he doesn't want what's happening him, but he is completely powerless to stop it.
It was somehow even creepier to see things through the POV of Rory - who has no idea that his "rezzy" has a modification chip... He's a good person who is trying to acclimate to this strange new society, and he begins to genuinely care for Tate...
Poor Tate, who is locked in his own mind, slowly losing himself to the programming of the chip.
Dear readers, sometimes I tell you that a book has certain situations which you might find objectionable. That is not the case with this book - the entire premise of Bliss is carefully crafted to push you out of your comfort zone.
You already know if you can handle this book. If you're the type of person who relishes the darkness looming within the pages of a book - I recommend you rush out and buy this book immediately. You will not be disappointed!
“…You send a man to prison once and chances are he’ll go there again and again. Prisons and punishments create criminals; they don’t deter them. But you give him a chance to rehabilitate himself in a meaningful way and everyone wins. You do, he does, and so does society as a whole…”Sounds good on the surface. Which is just like the town of Beulah - Perfection to the naked eye… But there’s a darkness lurking in Beulah, unseen to outsiders and even the general population within…
On its face, Beulah is a Utopian society in the middle of a nation overrun with crime. The air is clean; the lawns are lush and green. There’s free healthcare, education, and the citizens are friendly… Which is precisely why Rory applied for a position within the protected walls of Beulah.
RORY JAMES
It was a little… nice. Yes. Safer to go with nice than with weird. Maybe it was a cultural thing. Maybe people here were just… happier.Rory spent his years growing up in the putrid city of Tophet – he struggled to keep safe, feed himself, and put himself through college – now all that hard work is paying off. He got himself a job in beautiful Beulah working as an assistant for Chief Justice Jericho Lowel – the perfect job, with the perfect boss, provided with the perfect little house, in the perfect town…
Rory was barely off the train when his perfect experience is ruined by a surprise punch to the face. Rory’s rude welcome to the idyllic community is headline news for a town with no crime.
There hasn't been a trial in Beulah in nearly a decade. Criminals are urged to take a plea deal and agree to "Rehabilitation through Restitution" - the program places the criminal into the home of the person they've victimized. The victim helps to rehabilitate their fellow citizen as they perform restitution labor for a period of seven years.
Sponsors don't have to worry about living in close proximity of their "rezzy" though. All prisoners are implanted with a microchip which tracks them using GPS and ensures that they are non-violent. Sounds perfectly reasonable, right? Rory thought so too...
TATE PATTERSON
The Chip.Tate thought that Beulah would be an easy mark – a town without crime is a town without security or prisons. He thought he could sneak in, steal enough to cover his debts, and then sneak back out. He didn't count on the random search at the train depot. He was running from the cops and tried to cause a distraction by punching the stranger standing on the platform.
The chip wants to make me forget the truth. Never tell you the truth. Never make you unhappy. Never break its control. I have to lie.
Help me.
Help me.
Help me.
Tate is given a choice: Go to trial and face a life sentence of indentured servitude if found guilty, or take the plea deal and serve seven little years in beautiful Beulah.
He didn't really have a choice when faced with the evidence piled against him. He took the plea deal and tried to prepare himself for the idea of Restitution. He wasn't counting on the chip, though...
"Just a little chip. Goes it the back of your neck and turns you into a nice boy."
The true purpose of the chip is kept secret for the residents of Beulah. It compels the prisoner to please their master in any necessary. A skull-splitting pain is the reward granted by the chip to any prisoner who fails to secure their Master's approval at all times.
So yeah... Behavior Modification Chips + A Prisoner who desperately needs to please his Master = Some serious non-consent.
It was terrifying to see the inner-monologue of Tate as he was fighting with the chip's programming... He's struggling to remember who he is. He knows that he doesn't want what's happening him, but he is completely powerless to stop it.
It was somehow even creepier to see things through the POV of Rory - who has no idea that his "rezzy" has a modification chip... He's a good person who is trying to acclimate to this strange new society, and he begins to genuinely care for Tate...
Poor Tate, who is locked in his own mind, slowly losing himself to the programming of the chip.
"How did that feel? Be honest."This is the kind of book which leaves you in a haze long after you've finished. It is certainly not for the faint of heart.
The words were out of his mouth before he could stop himself. "I hate it. I want more."
Dear readers, sometimes I tell you that a book has certain situations which you might find objectionable. That is not the case with this book - the entire premise of Bliss is carefully crafted to push you out of your comfort zone.
You already know if you can handle this book. If you're the type of person who relishes the darkness looming within the pages of a book - I recommend you rush out and buy this book immediately. You will not be disappointed!
January 3, 2015
Torn apart and impressed?
More like mildly annoyed, mildly horrified and mildly disappointed. Everything is very mild around here.
I rarely find myself dreading the next pages of a book, but during the first fourth of this novel I was in a state of barely controlled tension and profound disquiet. (Basically I was running from this via 1D fanfic, yes, fine.) So it started very well - I was freaked out as fuck, and I'm pretty sure that's the intended effect. But then I realised that Rory was such a passive dweeb I was never going to be able to like him, and we all know what it means when you don't like one of the main characters in a book.
I don't normally read non-con (not because I then have nightmares about it, but simply because I don't see the appeal), but by the time I realised this was going to be so rapey I was already hooked. That being said, I expected to be way more traumatised than I was by the end of the experience. And yet, look at me now. I'm fine. I'm pissed, but I'm fine.
So if you're interested, don't be deterred by the non-con aspect. I'm pretty hard to shake, but I'm also not used to this sort of thing. I mean, there's a giant plug and torn assholes and forced blowjobs and whatnot, but even though you know that deep down it's non-consensual, and even though it kind of shows, it doesn't completely feel like it.
However, you might view some scenes as bloodcurdling, careless viciousness, which I can't deny they are, and in that case you will be traumatised. Just be careful to know what you're getting into before you do get into it. I have very good mental blocking mechanisms - you might not.
My problem, as I said, is something else - something I haven't seen a reviewer mention yet. My problem is Rory.
Oh, he's not unkind. He's far from cruel. He's actually a pretty nice guy, all things considered. I mean, how mean can a guy who was completely traumatised by a punch to the face really be?
It's just - holy Christ, he's such a pussy. (I am aware of all the possible sexist connotations of using this word as a slur, and I don't give a shit.)
I get that he was probably tired of problems, tired of caring and worrying and being afraid, but he should have cared, he should have worried, and he should have been at the very least a little wary. He shouldn't have been so blindly trusting. He should have tried to understand, instead of cowering in a corner and trying to convince himself that it's all good.
I really only need one sentence to describe this twat in all his glory.
Only when it gets too much – when the wrongness starts to haunt his every waking minute – only then does he finally begin to ask himself some obvious questions. And it still takes him a couple centuries to make the most obvious connection in the history of ever. (Biggest DUH moment of history and also winner of the YOU DON'T SAY award of 2014, hands down.)
And at this point, I have to ask myself: how isn't everyone feeling the need to go ballistic on this guy's ass? Is it just me? How could I possibly like someone like him, and believe he deserves love and happiness? I mean, I'm not saying he doesn't. But he kinda doesn't.
If he'd been someone else - someone with morals and balls, for instance - the story would have gone in a completely different direction and developed much more quickly that it did, so the authors probably would have had to work on the plot a little more. And what reader is ever going to complain about a meatier storyline? (I can't use the word meaty without snorting since I started reading gay erotica. It's a thing now.) And maybe then I could have believed the senseless, saccharine HEA that everyone and their grandma is (understandably) bitching about.
There's no love here. Let's make this very clear. No one loves anyone, because Tate's personality is suppressed, and Rory doesn't have a personality to begin with. So that "We're not done" romantics are creaming themselves over is just a nice way to introduce a stuck-on stereotypical ending that will appease the masses, because change doesn't happen that quickly, and both Tate and Rory will need months of therapy before they'll be able to even think about sex again.
On that topic, the sex didn't do a thing for me, not only because of the blatant lack of consent (with complete consciousness and control of oneself obviously being a prerequisite of said consent), which I imagine was supposed to create internal conflict in the reader (because hot but wrong but hot), but also because of the amount of thinking and talking and exclamation marks going on during the action. Also, there's a sort of cold depravity in ignoring your partner's sounds of pain during sex, even if he says he likes it, Rory, my boy. Man the fuck up and ask him about it before you go on impaling him on your dick, yeah? Or don't, as the case may be.
One last thing: HOW DOES THE CHIP WORK, GODDAMMIT. (The lack of a question mark is deliberate. This is not supposed to sound like a question - it's supposed to sound like an insult to your mother.)
No one even wonders. Are Beulah and Tophet populated entirely by sheep? Oh, and since we're talking about that - where did Tophet and Beulah even come from? How was this aseptic, blissful little enclave created? Why is Tophet such a bleak, filthy place, morally and materially speaking?
World building and background are a thing, I promise. Give 'em a shot.
This is a well written novel that flows smoothly and relatively quickly, with a perfectly rendered atmosphere and intriguing side characters. But it's the kind of imperfect story that you can't fix, because you'd have to rip it apart and start all over again from the same brilliant initial idea to get something closer to a believable romance or a solid dystopia. Or both, but that'sManna Francis ambitious.
Huh. I guess my annoyance wasn't so mild after all.
More like mildly annoyed, mildly horrified and mildly disappointed. Everything is very mild around here.
I rarely find myself dreading the next pages of a book, but during the first fourth of this novel I was in a state of barely controlled tension and profound disquiet. (Basically I was running from this via 1D fanfic, yes, fine.) So it started very well - I was freaked out as fuck, and I'm pretty sure that's the intended effect. But then I realised that Rory was such a passive dweeb I was never going to be able to like him, and we all know what it means when you don't like one of the main characters in a book.
I don't normally read non-con (not because I then have nightmares about it, but simply because I don't see the appeal), but by the time I realised this was going to be so rapey I was already hooked. That being said, I expected to be way more traumatised than I was by the end of the experience. And yet, look at me now. I'm fine. I'm pissed, but I'm fine.
So if you're interested, don't be deterred by the non-con aspect. I'm pretty hard to shake, but I'm also not used to this sort of thing. I mean, there's a giant plug and torn assholes and forced blowjobs and whatnot, but even though you know that deep down it's non-consensual, and even though it kind of shows, it doesn't completely feel like it.
However, you might view some scenes as bloodcurdling, careless viciousness, which I can't deny they are, and in that case you will be traumatised. Just be careful to know what you're getting into before you do get into it. I have very good mental blocking mechanisms - you might not.
My problem, as I said, is something else - something I haven't seen a reviewer mention yet. My problem is Rory.
Oh, he's not unkind. He's far from cruel. He's actually a pretty nice guy, all things considered. I mean, how mean can a guy who was completely traumatised by a punch to the face really be?
It's just - holy Christ, he's such a pussy. (I am aware of all the possible sexist connotations of using this word as a slur, and I don't give a shit.)
I get that he was probably tired of problems, tired of caring and worrying and being afraid, but he should have cared, he should have worried, and he should have been at the very least a little wary. He shouldn't have been so blindly trusting. He should have tried to understand, instead of cowering in a corner and trying to convince himself that it's all good.
I really only need one sentence to describe this twat in all his glory.
Something wasn't right here, but Rory pushed it to the back of his mind.This is one of a couple dozen variations on this theme, and it's essentially Rory's standard MO for most of the book.
Only when it gets too much – when the wrongness starts to haunt his every waking minute – only then does he finally begin to ask himself some obvious questions. And it still takes him a couple centuries to make the most obvious connection in the history of ever. (Biggest DUH moment of history and also winner of the YOU DON'T SAY award of 2014, hands down.)
And at this point, I have to ask myself: how isn't everyone feeling the need to go ballistic on this guy's ass? Is it just me? How could I possibly like someone like him, and believe he deserves love and happiness? I mean, I'm not saying he doesn't. But he kinda doesn't.
If he'd been someone else - someone with morals and balls, for instance - the story would have gone in a completely different direction and developed much more quickly that it did, so the authors probably would have had to work on the plot a little more. And what reader is ever going to complain about a meatier storyline? (I can't use the word meaty without snorting since I started reading gay erotica. It's a thing now.) And maybe then I could have believed the senseless, saccharine HEA that everyone and their grandma is (understandably) bitching about.
There's no love here. Let's make this very clear. No one loves anyone, because Tate's personality is suppressed, and Rory doesn't have a personality to begin with. So that "We're not done" romantics are creaming themselves over is just a nice way to introduce a stuck-on stereotypical ending that will appease the masses, because change doesn't happen that quickly, and both Tate and Rory will need months of therapy before they'll be able to even think about sex again.
On that topic, the sex didn't do a thing for me, not only because of the blatant lack of consent (with complete consciousness and control of oneself obviously being a prerequisite of said consent), which I imagine was supposed to create internal conflict in the reader (because hot but wrong but hot), but also because of the amount of thinking and talking and exclamation marks going on during the action. Also, there's a sort of cold depravity in ignoring your partner's sounds of pain during sex, even if he says he likes it, Rory, my boy. Man the fuck up and ask him about it before you go on impaling him on your dick, yeah? Or don't, as the case may be.
One last thing: HOW DOES THE CHIP WORK, GODDAMMIT. (The lack of a question mark is deliberate. This is not supposed to sound like a question - it's supposed to sound like an insult to your mother.)
No one even wonders. Are Beulah and Tophet populated entirely by sheep? Oh, and since we're talking about that - where did Tophet and Beulah even come from? How was this aseptic, blissful little enclave created? Why is Tophet such a bleak, filthy place, morally and materially speaking?
World building and background are a thing, I promise. Give 'em a shot.
This is a well written novel that flows smoothly and relatively quickly, with a perfectly rendered atmosphere and intriguing side characters. But it's the kind of imperfect story that you can't fix, because you'd have to rip it apart and start all over again from the same brilliant initial idea to get something closer to a believable romance or a solid dystopia. Or both, but that's
Huh. I guess my annoyance wasn't so mild after all.
August 25, 2014
4.5 STARS
Two of my favourite authors and a winning combination… their writing as always is stunning and they have this ability to make their stories so much more than the sum of the words actually written on the pages. They make me ask questions of the characters, think outside the box and make my imagination work overtime and believe me, it’s not pretty. I got so caught up in this world they created, my emotions became real. And this could be so very real… in the back of my mind, my thoughts went to Hitler a man with so much charisma, he managed to brainwash his own nation into believing in the perfect race, the perfect people, in a perfect world. In Bliss we also see how that charismatic power and propaganda can be a powerful tool in establishing complacency, when the population begin to believe the hype of supremacy without realising the cost to humanity in achieving a false objective.
Two of my favourite authors and a winning combination… their writing as always is stunning and they have this ability to make their stories so much more than the sum of the words actually written on the pages. They make me ask questions of the characters, think outside the box and make my imagination work overtime and believe me, it’s not pretty. I got so caught up in this world they created, my emotions became real. And this could be so very real… in the back of my mind, my thoughts went to Hitler a man with so much charisma, he managed to brainwash his own nation into believing in the perfect race, the perfect people, in a perfect world. In Bliss we also see how that charismatic power and propaganda can be a powerful tool in establishing complacency, when the population begin to believe the hype of supremacy without realising the cost to humanity in achieving a false objective.
Rehabilitation through Restitution
Right from the start you have that feeling of impending doom, where the pain starts to creep across your chest. Knowing that the realisation of perfection and exactly what lies behind it in this world will be too painful to watch. Plus the fact that these two authors very rarely write anything that doesn’t rip a hole in my heart.
How seductive is the lure of perfection when you have lived in squalor. What price would you be willing to pay for that feeling of bliss. For Rory, disillusioned with life in Tophet, the corruption, crime, poverty and unrest, where everything seemed to be escalating out of his control, living in fear of the daily threat of violence. The thought of life in Belluah was a dream, a utopia, a perfect society… but we all know that when something seems too good to be true then it usually is, but Rory wants to believe in his dream so badly, he’s blinded by it all.
Where Rory used his education to escape from a life of drudgery in Tophet, Tate saw it as an opportunity to take advantage of this city state with no crime. Thinking a quick job, in and out, would be the solution to all his problems and a means to start afresh… all Tate wanted was a chance at a better life. I loved Tate’s voice and how the authors pulled me into his character so quickly, my heart went out to him immediately, he’s not a bad person, yes, he has lived his life on the wrong side of the tracks, but he is desperate to change all of that.
I hated watching the war raging in Tate’s head between his consciousness and that of the chip’s programmed required behaviour, it was heart breaking. He may not be incarcerated physically but his mind is trapped and he is lost to the feelings of helplessness and frustration. His mind screaming. But of course Rory only see’s and hears what the chip allows… and Tate must please his sponsor/master.
I initially struggled with Rory, not knowing whether he was truly oblivious or just choosing to ignore those niggles in the back of his mind or the unease he felt with Tate. Mentally justifying his actions to push away those doubts that despite, Tate’s willing compliance, his pleading, want and need for Rory, that something just wasn’t right! But of course we know the truth, so it makes for pretty uncomfortable reading, as does Rory’s guilt and conflicted emotions when the truth will out.
I felt like Tate, the voice in my head was screaming for Rory to hear me. I was so angry at the manipulative whisperings of Lowell, god, he made my skin crawl, the egotistical bastard that he was… evil painted in perfection. Which is something else both these authors excel at, they create believable evilness and depravity in their villains, so much so, that you hate them with every fibre of your being.
“You’re very beautiful. aren’t you? I’d make sure you remembered your time of service for the rest of your life, even when your time was up. Your whole body would remember.”
I love a book that takes me out of my comfort zone, I actually crave dark reads that get my adrenaline racing, it makes me feel alive. I want to champion the characters I fall in love with, I want to fight their battles with them and roar at the injustice of it all. And this book is a mind fuck of epic proportions where those that are chipped have no means to express their turmoil, where every aspect of their behaviour is a lie and belies their true internal chaos… understanding the ignorance and the crime hurts like a bitch!
This story however is not all non-con/dub-con and physical violation., there is a very emotional and intense romance of sorts simmering in the background, underneath all those layers, and it reaches a satisfactory conclusion with a nice little epilogue, just to confirm all was right in their world. Right up to the end this was a five plus star read for me, but I felt the authors, especially these two authors, (whom I hold in high esteem, so perhaps increases my expectations of them) let me down with the ending, it all felt a little too convenient (for them) especially with how elaborately detailed the rest of the book is. I know some readers don’t like overly long reads, but I feel this would have benefited from an extra couple of chapters. That being said, the true value of a book to me is whether I will remember this, will these characters, their story and experiences stay with me… then the answer to that question is an emphatic …YES!
This is without doubt another excellent read from two very talented authors who take me to their dark and depraved worlds… and I love every minute of it!
February 26, 2015
POSSIBLY SPOILERISH
Well I won't call it perfect, since we now know where that leads, but this is a creepy, brilliant little fable that manages to be fucked up and humane and disturbing and lovely all at once. Its picture of what happens when you violate the human will is unsparing and frightening, but without the gratuitous sadism you sometimes find, which allows the hope that blooms towards the end to feel deep and earned.
I still cannot get over Tate, the way his fierce, unconquerable voice explodes into the story when it's finally set free. But the very fierceness is also what lets the full horror sink in: for what must it have taken to crush that extraordinary will, that love, that fearlessness?
And then comes the line, "you and me, we're not done," which practically made me fall out of my chair.
Bottom Line: Loved it.
Well I won't call it perfect, since we now know where that leads, but this is a creepy, brilliant little fable that manages to be fucked up and humane and disturbing and lovely all at once. Its picture of what happens when you violate the human will is unsparing and frightening, but without the gratuitous sadism you sometimes find, which allows the hope that blooms towards the end to feel deep and earned.
I still cannot get over Tate, the way his fierce, unconquerable voice explodes into the story when it's finally set free. But the very fierceness is also what lets the full horror sink in: for what must it have taken to crush that extraordinary will, that love, that fearlessness?
And then comes the line, "you and me, we're not done," which practically made me fall out of my chair.
Bottom Line: Loved it.
July 3, 2017
2.5 stars
There were too many philosophical inconsistencies in this book. The scope of the "punishment" chip, which bends people to others' control and stunts their will, wasn't fully disclosed. The setting wasn't fleshed out enough to be believable, and when "judgement" came, it was too simplistic: the fall of a man and court trials don't bring justice to a society.
While I appreciate the deep ideas bandied about, they never fully gelled. I could have forgiven that, but the romance in this book felt forced. Tate falls for Rory when Tate is under the influence of the chip. Tate isn't gay; he finds sucking cock distasteful, yet he falls in love with Rory while chipped and that love/attraction somehow continues once the chip is removed.
I love HEAs; they are practically a requirement for me to enjoy a story, but this one felt forced. Perhaps too much was crammed in here? I was fine with Rory and Tate being together; I could believe in their love even. But did we really need
Of course, this was well written. Henry and Belleau are experienced authors. The premise was interesting, but the characters felt one dimensional, and the story tried too hard for my taste.
There were too many philosophical inconsistencies in this book. The scope of the "punishment" chip, which bends people to others' control and stunts their will, wasn't fully disclosed. The setting wasn't fleshed out enough to be believable, and when "judgement" came, it was too simplistic: the fall of a man and court trials don't bring justice to a society.
While I appreciate the deep ideas bandied about, they never fully gelled. I could have forgiven that, but the romance in this book felt forced. Tate falls for Rory when Tate is under the influence of the chip. Tate isn't gay; he finds sucking cock distasteful, yet he falls in love with Rory while chipped and that love/attraction somehow continues once the chip is removed.
I love HEAs; they are practically a requirement for me to enjoy a story, but this one felt forced. Perhaps too much was crammed in here? I was fine with Rory and Tate being together; I could believe in their love even. But did we really need
Of course, this was well written. Henry and Belleau are experienced authors. The premise was interesting, but the characters felt one dimensional, and the story tried too hard for my taste.
Want to read
March 27, 2014YUP.
Can't wait to read this one.
Remember that episode of Seinfeld where Jerry and George pitch a show to NBC called Jerry and it's about a judge sentencing a man to become Jerry's butler and do whatever he wants?
Can't wait to read this one.
Remember that episode of Seinfeld where Jerry and George pitch a show to NBC called Jerry and it's about a judge sentencing a man to become Jerry's butler and do whatever he wants?
April 15, 2017
Beulah is definitely -
Two guys, Rory and Tate, both want into clean, green, crime free Beulah for the same reasons, but in different ways. One to be an EA to Beulah's Justice Chief, Jericho Lowell, and the other to steal from a town that has no prisons. But it runs deeper than just that. Both are from Tophet, a poor, polluted, crime ridden town but have taken a different path in life. Both men want a better life and their lives are about to collide in a harsh and life-altering way in Beulah.
There is a lot of frustration in this book. To me, having your mind, your free will taken away is horrifying - and this book takes you right in there. You are in Tate's chipped mind.
Seeing how Rory is thinking and how he inadvertently throws curve balls Tate's way without even realising it, all while you are reading and pulling your hair, making you yell, "NO! Don't do that, don't trust him...Wake up and smell the roses. GAH!!
There is a romance here, but, for me, that is not the book's strongest suit. The emotion and behaviour is - it certainly elicited strong emotions from me. There are social statements in the narrative, including how easy it is to pick a mark and how easy it is to believe the beautiful lie.
If non-con and rape are triggers, do not read Bliss.
Bliss is a thought provoking book. It is dark and it seems so very possible - given human nature and behaviour. A couple of niggles, but I don't wish to spoil the book so I'll put them on the blog.
Full review, treat it as spoilerish - http://ontopdownunderbookreviews.com/...
Two guys, Rory and Tate, both want into clean, green, crime free Beulah for the same reasons, but in different ways. One to be an EA to Beulah's Justice Chief, Jericho Lowell, and the other to steal from a town that has no prisons. But it runs deeper than just that. Both are from Tophet, a poor, polluted, crime ridden town but have taken a different path in life. Both men want a better life and their lives are about to collide in a harsh and life-altering way in Beulah.
There is a lot of frustration in this book. To me, having your mind, your free will taken away is horrifying - and this book takes you right in there. You are in Tate's chipped mind.
Seeing how Rory is thinking and how he inadvertently throws curve balls Tate's way without even realising it, all while you are reading and pulling your hair, making you yell, "NO! Don't do that, don't trust him...Wake up and smell the roses. GAH!!
There is a romance here, but, for me, that is not the book's strongest suit. The emotion and behaviour is - it certainly elicited strong emotions from me. There are social statements in the narrative, including how easy it is to pick a mark and how easy it is to believe the beautiful lie.
If non-con and rape are triggers, do not read Bliss.
Bliss is a thought provoking book. It is dark and it seems so very possible - given human nature and behaviour. A couple of niggles, but I don't wish to spoil the book so I'll put them on the blog.
Full review, treat it as spoilerish - http://ontopdownunderbookreviews.com/...
March 4, 2015
Overall WIN. Bliss is fantastic dystopian fiction with engaging noncon erotic elements and a lackluster romance I won’t focus on. Long Review.
Or in other words, this book is deep if you read it that way. All major spoilers are tagged.
This book tells the story of the utopian Beulah, where the air is clean and energy is cheap; education is free and everyone’s happy. I like to believe that Beulah started off with the best of intentions, and then people fucked it up because that is what we do. And this tipping point between the best of intent and the worst of failure is exemplified in the story of Tate, forcibly rehabilitated for a violent crime, and his seven-year sponsor Rory, a naïve new citizen clinging to his black-and-white version of morality.
Don’t read this book if you don’t like chilling dystopias, and the corresponding Big Ideas. As readers, we don’t need the histories and details of Tophet and Beulah, because they were exaggerations, ideals…It was anarchy vs. order, corruption vs. righteousness, and we watched those models crumble apart. Neither one was ever real.
It goes without saying I loved Beulah in all its sterile, unsettling beauty. The dichotomies between what Rory saw and what truly went on were so poignant. Beulah was a society of free speech that functioned on repression. It was a place that needed to bring “new blood” into the city, but couldn’t justify itself to newcomers, nor could it justify harvesting eggs and sperm from outsiders. It was place without homophobia that used gay sex to shame its citizens. It was a place with gender equity where a man could punish the object of his affection for rebuffing his advances.
And the sex.
The sex was eerily, disturbingly erotic. It was chilling and hot, delicious and oh so wrong. When a person is implanted with a chip, it’s impossible to relax into a love scene. And to their credit, the authors never let you forget it, either. A kiss, for example, tainted by nosebleeds. Not many authors can write a scene that makes my mouth water as I simultaneously cringe. Here? Check and check.
Minor niggle:
I just want to underscore that Rory is raped here too. Maybe not physically, but mentally. It’s the psychological torment that made him such a sympathetic hero.
It’s his shame, despite how culpable he is, that makes Bliss work for me, and why a book like Strain fell flat. Tate’s anger and Rory’s shame were absent in Gormley’s work, and the narrative didn’t make up the difference. Tate’s anger, when it’s finally released, is a marvel to behold. His emotions are so raw, and his words so sharp, that you really feel the dearth of his personality in the rest of the book. It made me think of all the voices in our society we don’t hear because our own metaphorical chips. Like all the great minds we never heard when slavery was a legal part of own society.
In the end though, I can’t help but be amused by all the negative reviews of this book that deride the romance, and how unbelievable it is. This is literally how I feel about 95% of the books I read and why I have a shelf called 'best pairings ever' that I hardly add to. Did the ending make me roll my eyes, on multiple occasions? Of course it did; but honestly, I’ve learned to ignore it by now. The saccharine mush is not relevant to me. To me, the real story was never about Rory and Tate. It’s about Beulah, and what it took to expose all the hypocrisy. That’s what I’ll remember from this book.
I’ll remember Lowell talking about ideals of justice before the rot sets in.
A broken voice saying, Help me.
I’ll remember the scars on their legs.
God, “I’m so sorry for ever teasing you.”
And two rape victims holding onto each other for dear life.
So yeah, the ending was rushed and frankly, nonsensical, but the essence of this book was an erotic dystopia, which was an overwhelming success. And
Kudos, Lisa, if you read this review - I’m a still your huge fan :D
And hi, Heidi, I’m a new reader.
Or in other words, this book is deep if you read it that way. All major spoilers are tagged.
This book tells the story of the utopian Beulah, where the air is clean and energy is cheap; education is free and everyone’s happy. I like to believe that Beulah started off with the best of intentions, and then people fucked it up because that is what we do. And this tipping point between the best of intent and the worst of failure is exemplified in the story of Tate, forcibly rehabilitated for a violent crime, and his seven-year sponsor Rory, a naïve new citizen clinging to his black-and-white version of morality.
Don’t read this book if you don’t like chilling dystopias, and the corresponding Big Ideas. As readers, we don’t need the histories and details of Tophet and Beulah, because they were exaggerations, ideals…It was anarchy vs. order, corruption vs. righteousness, and we watched those models crumble apart. Neither one was ever real.
It goes without saying I loved Beulah in all its sterile, unsettling beauty. The dichotomies between what Rory saw and what truly went on were so poignant. Beulah was a society of free speech that functioned on repression. It was a place that needed to bring “new blood” into the city, but couldn’t justify itself to newcomers, nor could it justify harvesting eggs and sperm from outsiders. It was place without homophobia that used gay sex to shame its citizens. It was a place with gender equity where a man could punish the object of his affection for rebuffing his advances.
And the sex.
The sex was eerily, disturbingly erotic. It was chilling and hot, delicious and oh so wrong. When a person is implanted with a chip, it’s impossible to relax into a love scene. And to their credit, the authors never let you forget it, either. A kiss, for example, tainted by nosebleeds. Not many authors can write a scene that makes my mouth water as I simultaneously cringe. Here? Check and check.
Minor niggle:
I just want to underscore that Rory is raped here too. Maybe not physically, but mentally. It’s the psychological torment that made him such a sympathetic hero.
It’s his shame, despite how culpable he is, that makes Bliss work for me, and why a book like Strain fell flat. Tate’s anger and Rory’s shame were absent in Gormley’s work, and the narrative didn’t make up the difference. Tate’s anger, when it’s finally released, is a marvel to behold. His emotions are so raw, and his words so sharp, that you really feel the dearth of his personality in the rest of the book. It made me think of all the voices in our society we don’t hear because our own metaphorical chips. Like all the great minds we never heard when slavery was a legal part of own society.
In the end though, I can’t help but be amused by all the negative reviews of this book that deride the romance, and how unbelievable it is. This is literally how I feel about 95% of the books I read and why I have a shelf called 'best pairings ever' that I hardly add to. Did the ending make me roll my eyes, on multiple occasions? Of course it did; but honestly, I’ve learned to ignore it by now. The saccharine mush is not relevant to me. To me, the real story was never about Rory and Tate. It’s about Beulah, and what it took to expose all the hypocrisy. That’s what I’ll remember from this book.
I’ll remember Lowell talking about ideals of justice before the rot sets in.
A broken voice saying, Help me.
I’ll remember the scars on their legs.
God, “I’m so sorry for ever teasing you.”
And two rape victims holding onto each other for dear life.
So yeah, the ending was rushed and frankly, nonsensical, but the essence of this book was an erotic dystopia, which was an overwhelming success. And
Kudos, Lisa, if you read this review - I’m a still your huge fan :D
And hi, Heidi, I’m a new reader.
August 19, 2014
Clockwork Orange meets Stepford Wives with a m/m twist. Ms. Henry is a favourite author of mine. She writes out of the box. When she teams up with Ms. Belleau, magic happens. In Beulah, the population is blissfully ignorant of how their humanitarian rehabilitation works. The guiding principle of Beulah is to take ownership of one's mistakes and make a correction. Those who go through this program demonstrate their remorse for committing a crime and after they do their time to make it up to the person they transgressed against, all is forgiven. This lovely city-state contains no crime and everyone lives in similar homes so there are no haves and have nots. There isn't even any poverty with hunger. Is this utopia or what? Jaded readers like me won't believe in this mythical place. It all falls apart when crime from an outsider is committed.
Tate Patterson commits a simple assault crime. His punishment is seven year serving the person he hurt, Rory James. Rory is from the same outside city as Tate - Tophet. Rory doesn't understand how this restitution works and he's not too interested in these "Rezzies". Why would anyone want a rezzie who hurt them to be under foot all the time? Mr. Lowell, Rory's boss, and a person of influence in Beulah, will show Rory the ropes. Ropes are literally involved.
Rezzies are treated as sex slaves by many "owners". They have no free will and they must do whatever their owner orders. In addition, they must always present a happy façade - hence Bliss. The way rezzies are controlled is a bit of far-fetched sci-fi with a perverted flavour. When a group of people are able to control another through mind-control, what kind of inhuman acts could occur? How much abuse could occur? Ms. Henry and Ms. Belleau pen a love piece of corruption through dehumanization. Surprisingly, they only add a couple of darker sexual torture scenes. For the most part, they gloss over the depravities and tease a deviant reader with possible sexual violations behind closed doors. For those who enjoy the darker sexual slavery themes, this is one to whet the appetite. It's a bit of foreplay which a reader may yearn for edited taboo scenes. Perhaps the duo authors will grace devoted fans with the torments of Aaron and Tate in an outtakes novella.
What I really enjoyed about this story is the debate between right and wrong. The theory behind the rehabilitation is excellent. There are no jails and people aren't wasting money to support criminals who will not be able to re-enter into society as productive members. Instead, this program helps people to learn their lesson and pay their time. What is problematic is the execution of it. The risk of abuse is so high that it's a concept which will never work. Because there will always be a group of individuals who will use it for their own selfish desires and satisfactions. Where is the argument then? What is the cost of this kind of abuse? When one weighs it against the community as a whole, perhaps it is allowable. Because if jails are used instead, what will happen to these criminals? What other impacts will there be to the society? Will there be more crime? Will there be more poverty? The society as a whole seems to take a step back when the rehabilitation system is examined.
This story may be predictable, but it still reads smooth and sexy. The non-con sex is delicious. The characters, Tate and Rory are well designed. The world building is just right to set the mood. The evil villain in this story is devilish good and makes it an erotic read. My only wish is for more sexual violations. A bit more medical kink scenes would kick up the sexual heat. Still, the authors did an excellent job in their balance of sex and plot. If they added as much debauchery as I'd prefer, this story may end up as a porn without a plot. Instead, this is a provocative tale of how the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Recommended for kinky m/m readers who enjoy speculative fiction with sexual slavery.
*provided by NetGalley
Tate Patterson commits a simple assault crime. His punishment is seven year serving the person he hurt, Rory James. Rory is from the same outside city as Tate - Tophet. Rory doesn't understand how this restitution works and he's not too interested in these "Rezzies". Why would anyone want a rezzie who hurt them to be under foot all the time? Mr. Lowell, Rory's boss, and a person of influence in Beulah, will show Rory the ropes. Ropes are literally involved.
Rezzies are treated as sex slaves by many "owners". They have no free will and they must do whatever their owner orders. In addition, they must always present a happy façade - hence Bliss. The way rezzies are controlled is a bit of far-fetched sci-fi with a perverted flavour. When a group of people are able to control another through mind-control, what kind of inhuman acts could occur? How much abuse could occur? Ms. Henry and Ms. Belleau pen a love piece of corruption through dehumanization. Surprisingly, they only add a couple of darker sexual torture scenes. For the most part, they gloss over the depravities and tease a deviant reader with possible sexual violations behind closed doors. For those who enjoy the darker sexual slavery themes, this is one to whet the appetite. It's a bit of foreplay which a reader may yearn for edited taboo scenes. Perhaps the duo authors will grace devoted fans with the torments of Aaron and Tate in an outtakes novella.
What I really enjoyed about this story is the debate between right and wrong. The theory behind the rehabilitation is excellent. There are no jails and people aren't wasting money to support criminals who will not be able to re-enter into society as productive members. Instead, this program helps people to learn their lesson and pay their time. What is problematic is the execution of it. The risk of abuse is so high that it's a concept which will never work. Because there will always be a group of individuals who will use it for their own selfish desires and satisfactions. Where is the argument then? What is the cost of this kind of abuse? When one weighs it against the community as a whole, perhaps it is allowable. Because if jails are used instead, what will happen to these criminals? What other impacts will there be to the society? Will there be more crime? Will there be more poverty? The society as a whole seems to take a step back when the rehabilitation system is examined.
This story may be predictable, but it still reads smooth and sexy. The non-con sex is delicious. The characters, Tate and Rory are well designed. The world building is just right to set the mood. The evil villain in this story is devilish good and makes it an erotic read. My only wish is for more sexual violations. A bit more medical kink scenes would kick up the sexual heat. Still, the authors did an excellent job in their balance of sex and plot. If they added as much debauchery as I'd prefer, this story may end up as a porn without a plot. Instead, this is a provocative tale of how the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Recommended for kinky m/m readers who enjoy speculative fiction with sexual slavery.
*provided by NetGalley
Read
April 10, 2014Mind control non-con in squeaky clean utopia-that's-secretly-a-dystopia.
Lisa Henry and I bring out the worst (best?) in each other probably.
Lisa Henry and I bring out the worst (best?) in each other probably.
August 17, 2014
3.5 stars
Beulah. The promised land… “Beulah land, my heaven, my home forever more.”
Such a great name choice for this setting… this modern-day Eden. This Beulah is an idyllic, ultra-gated community, a kind of ‘promised land’. With it’s own brand of justice. Beulah, where there is no crime. Because anyone daring to break the law pays by being ‘chipped’ into rehabilitation and service to the one you harmed.
Tate Patterson comes to Beulah with a plan to steal from the rich folks there to help his baby daughter back home in the outside slum-world of Tophet. The problem, as Tate finds out, is that the chip put in his head for a minor infraction forces him into more than rehabilitation. It’s slavery with a forced smile. Why are they, the chipped ones, always happy? Yes, all seems wonderful in Beulah.
Tate is no innocent, he’s a lad of the streets and the slums of Tophet and he’s filled with the anger of never being able to get ahead there. Tate’s plan goes to shit, though, when a quick get-away with the loot turns into his being caught for accosting Rory, also a newcomer to Beulah. Tate’s punishment is seven-years under Rory’s ownership.
So Rory is new to Beulah, too. Like Tate, he’s looking for a way to a better life than what Tophet can offer. But Rory is here legally, he’s taken a law clerk job, it’s a blessed new start for him. And he’s not at all happy with being saddled with a ‘servant’ right off the bat, even one who suddenly seems strangely and excessively eager to please. In any way possible…
ohhh… a kind of… gay Stepford Wives.
This is not really a romance. It’s a dystopian horror story-- it’s about the evil that lurks within us all. It’s about how easy it is to be coerced towards what we know is wrong. And how a seemingly perfect utopia can go to dystopian hell in a hand basket.
I think the hardest thing about reading Bliss is how it pushed those deviant buttons in me and then made me squirm for liking it. The authors do a great job of setting up a prurient slavefic fuckfest…
(did I like this? Yes, I did.)
… and then yanking the proverbial rug from under my feet
(so it also made me very uncomfortable).
Is that a bad thing? No, not at all… I’d call that pretty damn good storytelling.
But, in the end, I didn’t buy the romance. I didn’t get the sweet after the sour. Rory’s complicity and his (and the authors’) struggle to put himself just enough on the side of the wronged innocent, doesn’t hold up completely. We’re given a good line for it, but it’s what ultimately diminishes the stuttering romance: that I’m asked to believe that Rory and Tate, after everything they’ve been through, might have something lasting after all. I’m not quite there.
Bliss is a three-and-a-half star read for me. But I’m rounding up for the great premise, set-up, writing, and that twisty button-pushing (ahem), even if the bliss was way too ephemeral and the romance too shaky.
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A copy of this book was provided by the publisher/author in exchange for an honest review.
February 13, 2015
3.5 stars
This review may contain spoilers!
I've got a case of the disappoints. Not because Bliss was bad. It was quite a good book and I enjoyed it a lot. But it could have been so much better.
Bliss is about Rory and Tate, two newcomers to the most magical place in the world (i.e. the city-state of Beulah). Both of our MCs have different reasons for why they're there, but they come to Beulah to better their lives. In comparison to the rest of the world, Beulah has a functioning government, a peaceful and progressive society and, most notably, an extremely low crime rate. Beulah also has a justice system in which no prisons exist. Instead, wrong-doers, known as 'rezzies,' become indentured to their victims, known as 'sponsors,' for a period of seven years, so that they learn that their crimes have a human cost. But this supposedly-perfect system hides a sinister plot, something which the vast majority of Beulah citizens know nothing about.
When Rory and Tate meet, they become part of Beulah's justice system. Tate is arrested for stealing and assaulting Rory, and so becomes indentured to Rory. In the process, he has a chip implanted, ostensibly to make sure that any violent tendencies are suppressed. In reality, this chip makes him unable to deny any order he is given, and modifies his brain in to thinking that he actually wants to serve others.
Rory is oblivious to this, though he does at times feel that things aren't as they seem. One thing which sets off warning bells for Rory is that everyone he meets expects that he'll have sex with Tate. Rory is told repeatedly that rezzies and sponsors often engage in sexual relationships, supposedly because of such close proximity for seven years. In reality, the chip forces rezzies to feel that they have to sexually cater to their sponsors, and also denies them any chance to say no.
One person who pushes Rory to have sex with Tate is Jericho Lowell, who will henceforth be known as 'Dipshit.' Dipshit is Rory's boss, and a high-ranking justice in Beulah, and therefore closely involved in the rezzie/sponsor system. Dipshit is creepy as fuck, and doesn't know how to keep his hands to himself, especially around his younger male interns. Dipshit convinces Rory that rezzies like to have sex with their sponsors, particularly rough abusive sex. Rory isn't entirely convinced, but the power-dynamics of Dipshit being his boss corner him into some very unpleasant situations that involve himself, Dipshit, Rory and Dipshit's rezzie.
I had significant issues with Rory and Tate's relationship post-chip. It's never made clear how Tate, who was a macho straight guy, suddenly accepts that he's attracted to a man. Is it just because of the chip screwing with his mind, or because of Stockholm syndrome? Another thing which I didn't like was how simple the solution to Beulah's corrupt justice system was
I also had issues with Tate's back-story and how it comes full-circle at the end. To me, it just seemed like an easy way to provide the 2 MCs with a cookie-cutter MM romance ending. Given that this was, until near the end, a dark dystopian story with very little sunshine, it was off-putting to see such a generic MM conclusion just attached at the end like an afterthought.
So those were my issues with the book. But I would still recommend this for anyone who wants to read something dark and MM. The characters are great. Even Dipshit, who can go jump of a cliff, was very well-written. The setup was intriguing and very different from anything else I've read. And the romance, while it definitely needed work, wasn't so bad that it was unbelievable. With a bit more fleshing out, this would easily have been 4 stars.
P.S. Dipshit (Lowell) can go fuck himself. With a cactus. Twice.
This review may contain spoilers!
I've got a case of the disappoints. Not because Bliss was bad. It was quite a good book and I enjoyed it a lot. But it could have been so much better.
Bliss is about Rory and Tate, two newcomers to the most magical place in the world (i.e. the city-state of Beulah). Both of our MCs have different reasons for why they're there, but they come to Beulah to better their lives. In comparison to the rest of the world, Beulah has a functioning government, a peaceful and progressive society and, most notably, an extremely low crime rate. Beulah also has a justice system in which no prisons exist. Instead, wrong-doers, known as 'rezzies,' become indentured to their victims, known as 'sponsors,' for a period of seven years, so that they learn that their crimes have a human cost. But this supposedly-perfect system hides a sinister plot, something which the vast majority of Beulah citizens know nothing about.
When Rory and Tate meet, they become part of Beulah's justice system. Tate is arrested for stealing and assaulting Rory, and so becomes indentured to Rory. In the process, he has a chip implanted, ostensibly to make sure that any violent tendencies are suppressed. In reality, this chip makes him unable to deny any order he is given, and modifies his brain in to thinking that he actually wants to serve others.
Rory is oblivious to this, though he does at times feel that things aren't as they seem. One thing which sets off warning bells for Rory is that everyone he meets expects that he'll have sex with Tate. Rory is told repeatedly that rezzies and sponsors often engage in sexual relationships, supposedly because of such close proximity for seven years. In reality, the chip forces rezzies to feel that they have to sexually cater to their sponsors, and also denies them any chance to say no.
One person who pushes Rory to have sex with Tate is Jericho Lowell, who will henceforth be known as 'Dipshit.' Dipshit is Rory's boss, and a high-ranking justice in Beulah, and therefore closely involved in the rezzie/sponsor system. Dipshit is creepy as fuck, and doesn't know how to keep his hands to himself, especially around his younger male interns. Dipshit convinces Rory that rezzies like to have sex with their sponsors, particularly rough abusive sex. Rory isn't entirely convinced, but the power-dynamics of Dipshit being his boss corner him into some very unpleasant situations that involve himself, Dipshit, Rory and Dipshit's rezzie.
I had significant issues with Rory and Tate's relationship post-chip. It's never made clear how Tate, who was a macho straight guy, suddenly accepts that he's attracted to a man. Is it just because of the chip screwing with his mind, or because of Stockholm syndrome? Another thing which I didn't like was how simple the solution to Beulah's corrupt justice system was
I also had issues with Tate's back-story and how it comes full-circle at the end. To me, it just seemed like an easy way to provide the 2 MCs with a cookie-cutter MM romance ending. Given that this was, until near the end, a dark dystopian story with very little sunshine, it was off-putting to see such a generic MM conclusion just attached at the end like an afterthought.
So those were my issues with the book. But I would still recommend this for anyone who wants to read something dark and MM. The characters are great. Even Dipshit, who can go jump of a cliff, was very well-written. The setup was intriguing and very different from anything else I've read. And the romance, while it definitely needed work, wasn't so bad that it was unbelievable. With a bit more fleshing out, this would easily have been 4 stars.
P.S. Dipshit (Lowell) can go fuck himself. With a cactus. Twice.
September 7, 2014
So first things first - I'm not sure how these authors read my oh-so-secret journals to find all my fantasy wants but I'm a gonna look the other way if they do it again. Doors open Ladies- Come on in.
I love non-con and I love dystopian and I love sexual slavery type books. I know. I'm twisted as hell. Deal with it. This is like the trifecta of Smut goodness but it's also a damn fine story. Tate and Rory mesmerized me - I felt truly like I was in their heads completely and it was creepy and scary and tantalizing. I hated Lowell - yet understand that the fundamental issue is NOT Lowell but perfection. We all want it, desire it, strive for it. Yet it rarely is obtainable because we are, after all, human. You don't get something for nothin' rings completely true here. I loved the layers - how the book got to you on so many levels. The superficial one with the guys, but there were much deeper meanings hidden and overt all over the place. What is consent? Does the end justify the means? Are we, as people, ever capable of not doing bad things - and just how the hell does everyone going along steamroll into rape and control - without seeing it coming? How do we ignore what our heads or our hearts, or both, are shouting at us.
Every day we have a choice. We can live by principles, by convictions, by what we believe is right. Or....we can choose not too. We can dig our head under the sand, tell ourselves everyone else is doing it, or just hope we can trick our own brain into convincing ourselves despite the facts. I gush, spin effuse prose, and could be considered to fangirl authors who bring all this out in a book for me. Because they wrote it for me you know. It feels like that anyway.
Exactly my type of book, I'll be thinking of this one for some time to come and I am sure its a re read. Since I re read less than .1% of all my books that's about the highest compliment I could give. In fact the only books I've re read the last few years are: Finding Zach, Power Play: Resistance, Power Play: Awakening, and Tribute. That's it. There's some themes and commonalties in those. I highly recommend this book - and the others I've re read of course. If this is your type of book you'll love it. KEEP WRITING MORE!
I love non-con and I love dystopian and I love sexual slavery type books. I know. I'm twisted as hell. Deal with it. This is like the trifecta of Smut goodness but it's also a damn fine story. Tate and Rory mesmerized me - I felt truly like I was in their heads completely and it was creepy and scary and tantalizing. I hated Lowell - yet understand that the fundamental issue is NOT Lowell but perfection. We all want it, desire it, strive for it. Yet it rarely is obtainable because we are, after all, human. You don't get something for nothin' rings completely true here. I loved the layers - how the book got to you on so many levels. The superficial one with the guys, but there were much deeper meanings hidden and overt all over the place. What is consent? Does the end justify the means? Are we, as people, ever capable of not doing bad things - and just how the hell does everyone going along steamroll into rape and control - without seeing it coming? How do we ignore what our heads or our hearts, or both, are shouting at us.
Every day we have a choice. We can live by principles, by convictions, by what we believe is right. Or....we can choose not too. We can dig our head under the sand, tell ourselves everyone else is doing it, or just hope we can trick our own brain into convincing ourselves despite the facts. I gush, spin effuse prose, and could be considered to fangirl authors who bring all this out in a book for me. Because they wrote it for me you know. It feels like that anyway.
Exactly my type of book, I'll be thinking of this one for some time to come and I am sure its a re read. Since I re read less than .1% of all my books that's about the highest compliment I could give. In fact the only books I've re read the last few years are: Finding Zach, Power Play: Resistance, Power Play: Awakening, and Tribute. That's it. There's some themes and commonalties in those. I highly recommend this book - and the others I've re read of course. If this is your type of book you'll love it. KEEP WRITING MORE!
December 24, 2014
1.5* rounded up.
The premise was very interesting. Unfortunately the execution and where the plot went didn't truly live up to it. I'd have liked a more actualised reflection of current society with this dystopian one.
I also can't say that the erotic content or the inherent sadomasochism did anything for me, for that it wasn't non-con enough. Indeed, it courted a trope I dislike seeing in BDSM/SM-themed books: being made to want something someone doesn't want. I'd prefer control which extends only to the physical side, and allows the victim to fully loathe and resist what happens.
The HEA at the end was definitely unnecessary.
Well-written technically, so rounded up.
The premise was very interesting. Unfortunately the execution and where the plot went didn't truly live up to it. I'd have liked a more actualised reflection of current society with this dystopian one.
I also can't say that the erotic content or the inherent sadomasochism did anything for me, for that it wasn't non-con enough. Indeed, it courted a trope I dislike seeing in BDSM/SM-themed books: being made to want something someone doesn't want. I'd prefer control which extends only to the physical side, and allows the victim to fully loathe and resist what happens.
The HEA at the end was definitely unnecessary.
Well-written technically, so rounded up.
June 7, 2018
There was an idea, really interesting idea,but completely wasted at the end.
Rory and Tate met under unusual circumstances. Both are from Tophet and both came to Beulah, idyllic, utopian city-state in search for better life. Tate crossed the border illegally and running from police, he crashed into Rory and knocked him down. In crime-free Beulah those who break the law have choice to either admit the crime and go through the restitution program for several years or go to trial and risk life sentence. And nobody choose trial. For Tate restitution means that he will have to go through medical procedure of installing bio-chip in his head that acts like character adjustment and doing house chores for a guy he knocked out for seven years. Very soon he realized mistake he made because chip makes him obedient- a slave who only lives for his master's praise. Rory gets crash course on Beulah judicial system even before he began his new job as assistant for Justice Lowell- he will have to live in the same house with the man who attacked him and he's not happy with these arrangements at first. But Tate is really attractive and sweet and he looks at him like he is everything he ever wanted, so Rory decides to give into him and starts relationship with him.
Triggers:
I'll tackle this first because I just want to get over it. And let me be straight- this is not bad in terms of rating, it affected me, but it wasn't the only; it wasn't even the biggest reason for my rating.
Plot:
This is actually the main reason for my rating. And plot failed in two ways imo:
Lowell- So,Tate is of course being all obedient per chip's conditioning, and Rory says to Lowell that Tate is being all nice....Lowell says to him: "He is playing you, he is pretending." This is the part I lost all my respect for plot. Lowell is a villain- I get it. He lied on purpose, but what is his purpose? I loved dystopian setting at the beginning because Beulah had that futuristic society feel- progress is directly proportional to restriction of human rights and free thinking. Yes, chip is bad and evil to us, but Lowell at the beginning believed in that shit, he thought chip fixed them and made them better for Beulah, he was this complicated bad character because he was charismatic and nice to his employees and he was passionate about restitution program... But all that was wasted and Lowell became just villain we read so many times about- he knew that chip is bad and he used it to fuck boys. From rehabilitation through restitution ideology we come to fucking using position of authority. Yawn. Boring... Why put it into dystopian setting then? Why put this story in Beulah?
Rory - I had a same feeling I had with Strain- at some point plot became a servant of kink. They are behaving like slaves, but chip makes them happy to serve. What, suddenly every "criminal" is into domestic discipline and that's not suspicious? Folding your socks is highlight of his day and you don't find that strange? We know that chip is not perfect- Tate actually manages to say few words before his nose starts bleeding- if that's not a sign something is wrong, I don't what is. Tate cried after sex, Aaron's face is contorted in pain...Rory, just came to Beulah and he is really uncomfortable with rezzy arrangements- he has to live in house with a criminal, yet he doesn't inform himself about chip. He doesn't even read Tate's papers until Alexandra tells him about her suspicions. There is actually a resistance group fighting against restitution and Rory never heard of it, before he finally gets that something is iffy about the whole thing...after well scenes and scenes of humiliation and fucking... Basically, we had to read Rory being stupid and blind so Tate and Aaron would go through a lot of humiliation and torture scenes with monster butt-plugs and other stuff- like I said, plot in service of kink. -__-
Romance- Hmm... I liked the challenging idea of romance between Tate and Rory having their circumstances in mind, but I didn't like white picket fence ending. Aaron for example deals with ptsd but Tate is all sunshine. It's true Rory was a..."good master" :shudder: but Tate was sexually used by other, disgusting people as well and the fact that his consciousness was intact during his ordeals I would expect he came out of it at least little bit mindscrewed...but no, he is completely unaffected. I'm glad he kept his shit together, but it would be more believable if he at least have nightmares about it. :\
This turned into TL, DR...Sorry.
February 23, 2015
Arc provided via Netgalley in exchange for honest review
"They are always happy."
3.75 stars
This review is posted on Way Too Hot Books.
Psst, psst, where can I get me some of those chips, huh??? Kidding. This was again one of those reads I picked because of the pretty & "innocent" cover and because it is a mm read and I was in need of one of those after a couple of truly disappointing m/f reads in a row. So, imagine my surprise when I started reading and discovered that the story is faaar from innocent.
As one of my friends pointed out :)- I should have been more focused on that part from the blurb which clearly states "any orders, no matter how dehumanizing", to get some idea what the story will be like, but she should know by now that my brain usually doesn't think so deep when it comes to books, lol. Sad, but true. Either way, even if I had had some idea about the plot of the story it probably wouldn't have stopped me from reading it, because it's well known that I do enjoy a good dark read, and this turned out to be pretty good & pretty dark too.
Imagine a world where criminals don't get sentenced to prison or other regular punishments, but they get a behavior-modifying chip installed in their neck and become servants to the people they offended. The chip makes them obey any type of order and their sole goal is to serve and please their "masters". Only then can they be truly happy and the side-effect in case they fail to do that is that they endure severe pain. That type of society is the society of Beulah where the MCs Rory & Tate meet for the first time.
Beulah seems as an idyllic place for them both to start their life, better from the one they had before, but...What if that type of chip ever came to the wrong hands? Considering the corruption of laws and its society, is it really possible to create a perfect society with no crime? Lies, secrets, corruption, a big fraud. Nothing and no one is as it seems, but they are always happy, or are they really? Think something in style of that creepy movie Stepford Wives (2004), that type of behavior, only much, much worse. That's all I'm going to say.
Interesting, dark, twisted, gripping & way-too-hot.
I was hooked from the very beginning, but you should have in mind that this book is not for everyone, only for my fellow fans of dark reads who like mm romance too. I liked the story and its characters very much. It was refreshing and unpredictable. The only thing I would have preferred is, as far as the romance is concerned, that we saw Rory & Tate spending more quality time together and the ending also left me wanting for more. Another big plus, at least for me, was that it was a GFY type of mm romance.
This is my first read by these two authors, but it won't be the last. Good job!
"Is it really this easy to be happy?"
"They are always happy."
3.75 stars
This review is posted on Way Too Hot Books.
Psst, psst, where can I get me some of those chips, huh??? Kidding. This was again one of those reads I picked because of the pretty & "innocent" cover and because it is a mm read and I was in need of one of those after a couple of truly disappointing m/f reads in a row. So, imagine my surprise when I started reading and discovered that the story is faaar from innocent.
As one of my friends pointed out :)- I should have been more focused on that part from the blurb which clearly states "any orders, no matter how dehumanizing", to get some idea what the story will be like, but she should know by now that my brain usually doesn't think so deep when it comes to books, lol. Sad, but true. Either way, even if I had had some idea about the plot of the story it probably wouldn't have stopped me from reading it, because it's well known that I do enjoy a good dark read, and this turned out to be pretty good & pretty dark too.
Imagine a world where criminals don't get sentenced to prison or other regular punishments, but they get a behavior-modifying chip installed in their neck and become servants to the people they offended. The chip makes them obey any type of order and their sole goal is to serve and please their "masters". Only then can they be truly happy and the side-effect in case they fail to do that is that they endure severe pain. That type of society is the society of Beulah where the MCs Rory & Tate meet for the first time.
Beulah seems as an idyllic place for them both to start their life, better from the one they had before, but...What if that type of chip ever came to the wrong hands? Considering the corruption of laws and its society, is it really possible to create a perfect society with no crime? Lies, secrets, corruption, a big fraud. Nothing and no one is as it seems, but they are always happy, or are they really? Think something in style of that creepy movie Stepford Wives (2004), that type of behavior, only much, much worse. That's all I'm going to say.
Interesting, dark, twisted, gripping & way-too-hot.
I was hooked from the very beginning, but you should have in mind that this book is not for everyone, only for my fellow fans of dark reads who like mm romance too. I liked the story and its characters very much. It was refreshing and unpredictable. The only thing I would have preferred is, as far as the romance is concerned, that we saw Rory & Tate spending more quality time together and the ending also left me wanting for more. Another big plus, at least for me, was that it was a GFY type of mm romance.
This is my first read by these two authors, but it won't be the last. Good job!
"Is it really this easy to be happy?"
August 20, 2014
Creepy utopian society where everyone is oh-so-happy? Yes, please. Because you know that some strange shit is going on somewhere in there. In Bliss it's more or less obvious from page one, and finding out what is really going on and who actually knows about it make for an interesting read. In short, I pretty much loved this up until the 81% mark. The story had a high entertainment value up until that point, featuring creepiness, uncomfortable scenes, suspicion and mixed feelings. A great mix.
Then the inevitable happened. I will conceal it behind a spoiler, but it's all pretty much obvious to anyone in the predictable world of MM, so there are no very specific spoilers anywhere here.
Then the inevitable happened. I will conceal it behind a spoiler, but it's all pretty much obvious to anyone in the predictable world of MM, so there are no very specific spoilers anywhere here.
August 21, 2014
For me Bliss was really good until around the 80% mark. It went downhill from this point on and the last chapters and the epilogue were big disappointment.
The story drew me in from the first pages, the idea of the utopian city of Beulah where people wronging the law, as rarely as this happens there, are persuaded to undergo a seven years ‘Restitution through Rehabilitation’ program was interesting to say the least. Add to this the fact that Beulah is not nearly as perfect as it seems on the surface - this so called rehabilitation is the means for a powerful person to commit violent crimes - and you get a real page turner.
My problem with Bliss was that I didn’t buy the romance and love between Rory and Tate. Considering what they went through, especially Tate, the way things were wrapped up in the last 20% was not only rushed and unbelievable but also unnecessary. For me, a more ambiguous ending hinting to a better future for both of them would’ve been the right end for their story.
August 19, 2014
I cannot decide if I am more excited about this book, or Sweetwater, but I do know that this last month before release is torture. TORTURE.
July 14, 2017
This was perhaps a bit too dark for me. It strongly reminded me of the horror film "Get Out". Being locked inside your head, silently screaming for help. *shudders*
I think this book works really well as a thriller, not as a romance. Tate and Rory's HEA with a kid and a picket fence was unrealistic, unnatural and unnecessary, considering the rape and abuse Tate had suffered.
I think this book works really well as a thriller, not as a romance. Tate and Rory's HEA with a kid and a picket fence was unrealistic, unnatural and unnecessary, considering the rape and abuse Tate had suffered.
January 16, 2016
*** This title was kindly provided by Riptide Publishing via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. ***
It's so hard for me to rate and review these kind of books. I feel like a horrible person for liking them. But I did. I really like this book.
The fact that it was kind of a Dystopia made things different. I don't know exactly what to because things like this revolt me so much. How can people do things like that ?? This horrible! Completely twisted!
I was so mad during most of the book. So revolted and screaming internally of how wrong and unfair all of it was.
Lowell and the others with part in the chip are disgusting! You can even imagine how I hate that man. Disgusting and twisted and... I hate him.
I was mad at Rory too great deal of the book. I knew that he was a good man. He was good to Tate and loved him and he didn't knew the truth but I couldn't stop resenting him. He was so clueless. He was being so blind. And even after he knew the truth he was always making excuses and wanting to trust the wrong people. It was driving me totally insane. That night in Lowell's place was horrible. My skin was crawling.
But he's a good man and I like how things turned out.
Tate kept breaking my heart. I like Tate. He was the character with who connected more.
I really liked how the book ended. I wish that it had been a bit longer in the end and that we could have seen a little bit more of Rory and the real Tate together. It was really sweet. I love that they are finally together and in love and that they are raising Emmy together.
"Our daughter."
It was really sweet. I like happy endings.
It's so hard for me to rate and review these kind of books. I feel like a horrible person for liking them. But I did. I really like this book.
The fact that it was kind of a Dystopia made things different. I don't know exactly what to because things like this revolt me so much. How can people do things like that ?? This horrible! Completely twisted!
I was so mad during most of the book. So revolted and screaming internally of how wrong and unfair all of it was.
Lowell and the others with part in the chip are disgusting! You can even imagine how I hate that man. Disgusting and twisted and... I hate him.
I was mad at Rory too great deal of the book. I knew that he was a good man. He was good to Tate and loved him and he didn't knew the truth but I couldn't stop resenting him. He was so clueless. He was being so blind. And even after he knew the truth he was always making excuses and wanting to trust the wrong people. It was driving me totally insane. That night in Lowell's place was horrible. My skin was crawling.
But he's a good man and I like how things turned out.
Tate kept breaking my heart. I like Tate. He was the character with who connected more.
I really liked how the book ended. I wish that it had been a bit longer in the end and that we could have seen a little bit more of Rory and the real Tate together. It was really sweet. I love that they are finally together and in love and that they are raising Emmy together.
"Our daughter."
It was really sweet. I like happy endings.
August 22, 2014
This is one disturbing book. I'm not sure there could be much that's more terrifying than being locked inside your own mind, not only unable to stop people from doing whatever they want with you, but unable to even show that you don't want it. I had trouble putting this down last night before bed, and I'm pretty sure I had a nightmare about it! There's just something so creepy about a squeaky clean, too perfect society masking such a dark and horrific secret.
I would rate this story 4 stars if it weren't for the ending that completely didn't fit. I found it a bit ironic that a book demonstrating that perfect happiness is too good to be true would end with a totally contrived, too perfect ending. It's creepily happy in the same way that the citizens and rezzies of Beulah were, but I don't think it was meant to be, which is why it doesn't work. I saw it coming and hoped I was wrong, but I knew most readers would be wholly unsatisfied if the book ended realistically. I also thought Rory was too slow figuring out things weren't right. Hell, I was creeped out by Aaron in the beginning and he was supposedly normal! I think I'd have run screaming after one hour of being in Beulah. Ultra perky people freak me out.
So to sum up, I loved the majority of this book and found it intriguing but was disappointed by the ending. If you don't mind suspending your disbelief in a big way for the sake of getting an HEA, you'll probably love Bliss.
I would rate this story 4 stars if it weren't for the ending that completely didn't fit. I found it a bit ironic that a book demonstrating that perfect happiness is too good to be true would end with a totally contrived, too perfect ending. It's creepily happy in the same way that the citizens and rezzies of Beulah were, but I don't think it was meant to be, which is why it doesn't work. I saw it coming and hoped I was wrong, but I knew most readers would be wholly unsatisfied if the book ended realistically. I also thought Rory was too slow figuring out things weren't right. Hell, I was creeped out by Aaron in the beginning and he was supposedly normal! I think I'd have run screaming after one hour of being in Beulah. Ultra perky people freak me out.
So to sum up, I loved the majority of this book and found it intriguing but was disappointed by the ending. If you don't mind suspending your disbelief in a big way for the sake of getting an HEA, you'll probably love Bliss.
June 12, 2014
When you read a book like this, you think to yourself: it would be so simple for the world to be a completely, bone-chillingly horrifying place.
This book was something else. Well, first of all, you have to leap over the hurdles of dubious consent and non-consent to even get to the meat and bones of the story, but once you do that you’re in. There were parts of this tale that were simply horrifying to read. I kept thinking to myself, are the authors going to go there – oh, yep, okay, they are. And they do. Again and again and again.
At first, you’re caught up in this dystopian tale, reading about Rory’s hope and desperation, suspicious of every person he meets and hoping he will Wake. The. Eff. Up…but no, he doesn’t. And Tate…Henry & Belleau were very sparse on the details of this supposed criminal at the start of this story and all you know is that he’s punched Rory and that he’s got an attitude. But is it justifiable? You realize that the punishment – or should I say rehabilitation? – far exceeds the crime pretty early on and from there all you can do is strap on your seat-belt and hope for the best.
This is a four star story for me because the romance was skimpy at best, and let’s face it, I’m here for the romance. I felt that the romantic elements of the story could have been better fleshed out, but I was okay with what we got. The craziness and simplistic horror made up for it. Yep, you should read this.
This book was something else. Well, first of all, you have to leap over the hurdles of dubious consent and non-consent to even get to the meat and bones of the story, but once you do that you’re in. There were parts of this tale that were simply horrifying to read. I kept thinking to myself, are the authors going to go there – oh, yep, okay, they are. And they do. Again and again and again.
At first, you’re caught up in this dystopian tale, reading about Rory’s hope and desperation, suspicious of every person he meets and hoping he will Wake. The. Eff. Up…but no, he doesn’t. And Tate…Henry & Belleau were very sparse on the details of this supposed criminal at the start of this story and all you know is that he’s punched Rory and that he’s got an attitude. But is it justifiable? You realize that the punishment – or should I say rehabilitation? – far exceeds the crime pretty early on and from there all you can do is strap on your seat-belt and hope for the best.
This is a four star story for me because the romance was skimpy at best, and let’s face it, I’m here for the romance. I felt that the romantic elements of the story could have been better fleshed out, but I was okay with what we got. The craziness and simplistic horror made up for it. Yep, you should read this.
May 26, 2024
So many unanswered questions and the plot was a bit unbelievable but I couldn’t put this down at all.
May 13, 2015
Thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for the review copy of this book.
Welcome to Beulah, where everything is picket fences and puppies. Where there is no crime (except there is), where there are no prisons (except there are) and where everything and everyone is Stepford creepy. Sound good? Step right up!
What makes this book really frightening is I can almost see this scenario happening.
Crime is almost unheard of in Beulah and they prefer to rehabilitate their criminals rather than imprison them. The criminal pays restitution to their victim by serving them for seven years -- no matter how small the crime. What isn't in the brochure, however, is that the rehabilitation is done with chips implanted at the base of the skull makes it very unpleasant and pretty much impossible to disobey in ANY way. The citizens of Beulah actually think they are helping! Everyone thinks that the chip is only for GPS (so they don't run away) and to curb violent tendencies. While it does those things, too, the chip is so much more. Have I mentioned creepy?
Rory was accepted for a job in Beulah as the executive assistant to a judge. However, on his first day in town, he is assaulted by Tate, who was trying to create a distraction on his way out of town back to Tophet where he lives (and also where Rory is from).
So, Tate is assigned to Rory for rehabilitation, since it was Rory that Tate hit. Rory, has no idea that Tate is incapable of refusing anything that Rory might ask for. A recipe for disaster, for sure. Rory, of course, thinks the idea of his assailant living with him is more than a bit suspect, but he is fed the party line and he certainly does not wish to go back to Tophet, so he figures that the system must be working or there would be more crime, so maybe he should give the system a try. He gets a bad case of cognitive dissonance, but figures he is being paranoid because of where he is from.
Rory has no idea that Tate is being coerced. None. Rory doesn't realize that he is raping Tate.
And Tate... I feel awful for him. He is essentially trapped inside his head with no way at all to get out. If he even thinks about telling Rory about the chip he is in excruciating pain. That is worse than prison.
So this is a book about how we shouldn't judge a city by it's very much too shiny appearance. Sometimes things we don't want to see or think about lurk beneath the surface. And unless people pay attention to the things around them, the danger could get ugly.
This was a difficult read. There were times I was literally reading between my fingers. The story telling was exceptional. I think the next couple books I read will be a bit lighter. This one was intense.
Welcome to Beulah, where everything is picket fences and puppies. Where there is no crime (except there is), where there are no prisons (except there are) and where everything and everyone is Stepford creepy. Sound good? Step right up!
What makes this book really frightening is I can almost see this scenario happening.
Crime is almost unheard of in Beulah and they prefer to rehabilitate their criminals rather than imprison them. The criminal pays restitution to their victim by serving them for seven years -- no matter how small the crime. What isn't in the brochure, however, is that the rehabilitation is done with chips implanted at the base of the skull makes it very unpleasant and pretty much impossible to disobey in ANY way. The citizens of Beulah actually think they are helping! Everyone thinks that the chip is only for GPS (so they don't run away) and to curb violent tendencies. While it does those things, too, the chip is so much more. Have I mentioned creepy?
Rory was accepted for a job in Beulah as the executive assistant to a judge. However, on his first day in town, he is assaulted by Tate, who was trying to create a distraction on his way out of town back to Tophet where he lives (and also where Rory is from).
So, Tate is assigned to Rory for rehabilitation, since it was Rory that Tate hit. Rory, has no idea that Tate is incapable of refusing anything that Rory might ask for. A recipe for disaster, for sure. Rory, of course, thinks the idea of his assailant living with him is more than a bit suspect, but he is fed the party line and he certainly does not wish to go back to Tophet, so he figures that the system must be working or there would be more crime, so maybe he should give the system a try. He gets a bad case of cognitive dissonance, but figures he is being paranoid because of where he is from.
Rory has no idea that Tate is being coerced. None. Rory doesn't realize that he is raping Tate.
And Tate... I feel awful for him. He is essentially trapped inside his head with no way at all to get out. If he even thinks about telling Rory about the chip he is in excruciating pain. That is worse than prison.
So this is a book about how we shouldn't judge a city by it's very much too shiny appearance. Sometimes things we don't want to see or think about lurk beneath the surface. And unless people pay attention to the things around them, the danger could get ugly.
This was a difficult read. There were times I was literally reading between my fingers. The story telling was exceptional. I think the next couple books I read will be a bit lighter. This one was intense.
Read
September 18, 2016DNF at 42%
So nowhere in the description did this mention that it's basically a book about a guy being graphically raped. Over and over again. And having no control over his own life, his mind, anything. And that you're supposed to find that appealing. And in the end, he falls in love with his rapist and they live happily ever after.
I was like, okay, maybe this is going to be dark and fucked up and quickly will turn into a "one guy helps rescue the other guy so he can be free story" but... it's clear the author(s) wants you to enjoy the rape scenes. They're written erotically, as if everything going on here is sexy and appealing.
I actually think the master/slave dynamic is a fun one to read? IF IT'S CONSENSUAL??? This was absolutely not consensual.
Kink-shaming everyone rn but. Uh. Sorrynotsorry I don't think it's fun to read about gay men being raped? Especially when it is written by (ostensibly straight) women? Really fucking not sorry about that.
No star rating because clearly this book was Not For Me. The writing was fine, the worldbuilding was illogical but interesting, and craft-wise this was a decently done effort. But. Just. Holy shit, dude.
So nowhere in the description did this mention that it's basically a book about a guy being graphically raped. Over and over again. And having no control over his own life, his mind, anything. And that you're supposed to find that appealing. And in the end, he falls in love with his rapist and they live happily ever after.
I was like, okay, maybe this is going to be dark and fucked up and quickly will turn into a "one guy helps rescue the other guy so he can be free story" but... it's clear the author(s) wants you to enjoy the rape scenes. They're written erotically, as if everything going on here is sexy and appealing.
I actually think the master/slave dynamic is a fun one to read? IF IT'S CONSENSUAL??? This was absolutely not consensual.
Kink-shaming everyone rn but. Uh. Sorrynotsorry I don't think it's fun to read about gay men being raped? Especially when it is written by (ostensibly straight) women? Really fucking not sorry about that.
No star rating because clearly this book was Not For Me. The writing was fine, the worldbuilding was illogical but interesting, and craft-wise this was a decently done effort. But. Just. Holy shit, dude.
October 9, 2015
I was so very wrong when I was deterred by the less than stellar reviews. Never gonna doubt Lisa Henry again)))
I loved this book. It was fast-paced, suspenseful, gritty...I was so anxious while reading, my heart in my throat the whole time. Poor Tate, he went through so much...I ached for him. His struggles, his desperation, his internal screaming...damn, it ripped me apart. And as much as I felt for Tate, I was even more heart-broken for Aaron.
I wish we got more time with chip-free Tate&Rory. Angry and alive, Tate is so much fun to read about.
Brilliant, brilliant story.
I loved this book. It was fast-paced, suspenseful, gritty...I was so anxious while reading, my heart in my throat the whole time. Poor Tate, he went through so much...I ached for him. His struggles, his desperation, his internal screaming...damn, it ripped me apart. And as much as I felt for Tate, I was even more heart-broken for Aaron.
I wish we got more time with chip-free Tate&Rory. Angry and alive, Tate is so much fun to read about.
Brilliant, brilliant story.
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