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Bottom of the Brokerage
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July 30, 2026
Furry femdom lovers and toxic masculinity haters, unite!
Bottom of the Brokerage is a role-reversal romance of people finding their sense of worth through erotic vignettes, and a bloody fucking fantastic one at that.
I generally don't like the implications of co-worker romance scenarios, but I was willing to make an exception to this since Marcus and Charlie mesh together like peanut butter and jelly. To me, Marcus sounds like Haida from Aggretsuko with his occasional nervous meekness, and Charlie sounds like Rouge the Bat from her seductive assertiveness.
Hell, I’ve got little to nothing in terms of criticism for the characters. Charlie likes Marcus for not downplaying or brushing off her assertiveness. He is the only one who saw her for more than what she could physically offer. Throughout her life, she dealt with men obsessed with their social status, and only saw her as something to get a quick release from. For a long time, that’s all she saw herself as, so she just accepted the nasty talk and flirting she still caught from them. After meeting Marcus, who saw her as a normal person for once, she hopes to alleviate that by asking him to be an equal to her when they start dating. No goddess treatment or “putting her on a pedestal” nonsense. In her words to him after their first sexual encounter,
Other people gave her queen treatment before, which is pretty much in line with her being treated like an object. This extends to asking Marcus not to defend her from toxic comments from male co-workers at their office, more on that later. Because of this, the book took a great approach to indulging in kinks without letting it dictate gender roles necessarily, as per the aforementioned quote from Charlie. She doesn’t treat Marcus like dirt just because she takes the reins in the sheets, a trope that I fear similar female characters fall under. Again, she’d rather be someone’s equal. No more, no less. She does exactly that for Marcus, and I’m glad to see she kept her word.
As for Marcus, he likes Charlie for making him feel seen and loved in a way he didn't anticipate. She also gives him a new motivation to indulge in his art skills given how sexy she looks. Marcus is just now exploring, and liking, a woman having (consensual) control over him after empty one-night-stands and bland relationships before. Whereas he likely wouldn’t have cared before, Marcus soon gains a conscience and rejects his co-workers talking sexist nonsense about Charlie. Although he was told not to, likely because it’s what Charlie thinks she deserves given how used she was before, he still can’t stand having the woman he loves withstand so much disrespect. Marcus thinks just because Charlie can tolerate sexism thrown her way, something she endured as a kid, doesn’t mean she should have to. No one sees her the way he does, so he is determined to uphold that positive perception in his mind. Just the thought of her makes him smile genuinely. Not the kind of forced smile one has to adopt professionally, or to convince people they don’t have resting bitch face, but one that comes from excitement of being around Charlie. To think his narrow scope of life would be widened from one woman’s assertions, yet he loves how alive it makes him feel, allowed to go against the grain and not be taunted. He also realizes how absent he was with previous girlfriends, so he makes a real effort to try getting to know more of her and her kinks.
Marcus is also a great example of an opposition to toxic masculinity. Throughout the book, Marcus’ co-workers live a life of always wanting to be in control of things since everything is a competition to them. They always have themselves in mind, wanting to screw over other people in the process of wanting to rise to the top, and taunting others below them or possibly sabotaging them so they don’t catch up (Chad does and his buddies do that a lot). This is especially a detriment to their love lives since they can’t fathom the concept of a woman being better than them at anything. It’ll be a massive blow to their fragile ego, so they only see them as objects to taunt or discard after a while given how they frequently hook up with ladies at bars and night clubs like it’s going out of style. Marcus never liked that routine despite indulging in it anyway to fit in as one of the boys. This caused him to hate his life as is. He prefers just doing and being what he wants without ridicule. It was killing his drive to live beyond that and work towards his passion for art. His past relationships didn’t fare much better. All of that changed when Charlie met him, who made his third eye open with possibility. Before he was living like he had something to prove that wasn’t there, but he allowed himself to give up control to someone else for once, which elated him. Him confessing that to Charlie, and getting soft spoken comfort and understanding from her in response proves that vulnerability is okay. A lot of men are scared of that since they were raised to believe such a thing was weak, and to a more insulting degree, gay. That makes them uphold their toxic “tough guy” I demeanor so much that it pretty much becomes their whole personality. Sure there’s a time and a place to let yourself be vulnerable, but to constantly repress yourself can result in the repulsive behavior Chad and the others adopt at work. Marcus rightfully rejects that notion more and more when Chad doesn’t let up with his sexism. The low self esteem from Charlie’s indifference to catching sexist remarks and Marcus’ mundanity in his job fade away when they treat each other like normal people, free from the clutches of nonsensical societal expectations. I’ll go as far as saying Charlie and Marcus are my favorite couple period because of this.
This book portrays BDSM in a way that makes my face flush and my heart flutter simultaneously. Body bound straddling, butt play, going down on each other, pegging, explicitly stated consent, safe words, pet names, positive affirmations, even hand jobs are abound here. Because of how much of a good puppy Marcus is, he takes most of Charlie’s tricks well, and Charlie reassures him that everything is okay, and ceases when he shouts the safe word. The more sexy dominating tricks she does on him, the more confident Charlie becomes. I personally wasn’t jiving with the spanking and flogging, but it’s par for the course with most dominatrix scenarios I guess. I love love looooooove how Charlie is only insistent on boundary pushing when Marcus approves. Although she takes charge of their erotic high, not that I'm upset about that, she isn't obsessed toxically with him. She's soft spoken sometimes, asking and checking in on if he's still enjoying himself, even stopping when he says his safe word, and it’s adorable.
There’s a lack of sufficient transitions between scenes, likely contributing to its break next pace, and there are a few minor spelling and grammar errors here and there. Plus I don’t know if Charlie will last long at whatever her new job is at the end of the book, but those are minuscule matters. I love everything about this book and what it stands for.
Bottom of the Brokerage is a role-reversal romance of people finding their sense of worth through erotic vignettes, and a bloody fucking fantastic one at that.
I generally don't like the implications of co-worker romance scenarios, but I was willing to make an exception to this since Marcus and Charlie mesh together like peanut butter and jelly. To me, Marcus sounds like Haida from Aggretsuko with his occasional nervous meekness, and Charlie sounds like Rouge the Bat from her seductive assertiveness.
Hell, I’ve got little to nothing in terms of criticism for the characters. Charlie likes Marcus for not downplaying or brushing off her assertiveness. He is the only one who saw her for more than what she could physically offer. Throughout her life, she dealt with men obsessed with their social status, and only saw her as something to get a quick release from. For a long time, that’s all she saw herself as, so she just accepted the nasty talk and flirting she still caught from them. After meeting Marcus, who saw her as a normal person for once, she hopes to alleviate that by asking him to be an equal to her when they start dating. No goddess treatment or “putting her on a pedestal” nonsense. In her words to him after their first sexual encounter,
“Just because I’m on top in bed doesn’t mean I think you’re lesser, Puppy. I like to be on top. I like to be in control. Surprising as it may seem, women like to have sex. Good sex. Which you’ve provided.”
Other people gave her queen treatment before, which is pretty much in line with her being treated like an object. This extends to asking Marcus not to defend her from toxic comments from male co-workers at their office, more on that later. Because of this, the book took a great approach to indulging in kinks without letting it dictate gender roles necessarily, as per the aforementioned quote from Charlie. She doesn’t treat Marcus like dirt just because she takes the reins in the sheets, a trope that I fear similar female characters fall under. Again, she’d rather be someone’s equal. No more, no less. She does exactly that for Marcus, and I’m glad to see she kept her word.
As for Marcus, he likes Charlie for making him feel seen and loved in a way he didn't anticipate. She also gives him a new motivation to indulge in his art skills given how sexy she looks. Marcus is just now exploring, and liking, a woman having (consensual) control over him after empty one-night-stands and bland relationships before. Whereas he likely wouldn’t have cared before, Marcus soon gains a conscience and rejects his co-workers talking sexist nonsense about Charlie. Although he was told not to, likely because it’s what Charlie thinks she deserves given how used she was before, he still can’t stand having the woman he loves withstand so much disrespect. Marcus thinks just because Charlie can tolerate sexism thrown her way, something she endured as a kid, doesn’t mean she should have to. No one sees her the way he does, so he is determined to uphold that positive perception in his mind. Just the thought of her makes him smile genuinely. Not the kind of forced smile one has to adopt professionally, or to convince people they don’t have resting bitch face, but one that comes from excitement of being around Charlie. To think his narrow scope of life would be widened from one woman’s assertions, yet he loves how alive it makes him feel, allowed to go against the grain and not be taunted. He also realizes how absent he was with previous girlfriends, so he makes a real effort to try getting to know more of her and her kinks.
Marcus is also a great example of an opposition to toxic masculinity. Throughout the book, Marcus’ co-workers live a life of always wanting to be in control of things since everything is a competition to them. They always have themselves in mind, wanting to screw over other people in the process of wanting to rise to the top, and taunting others below them or possibly sabotaging them so they don’t catch up (Chad does and his buddies do that a lot). This is especially a detriment to their love lives since they can’t fathom the concept of a woman being better than them at anything. It’ll be a massive blow to their fragile ego, so they only see them as objects to taunt or discard after a while given how they frequently hook up with ladies at bars and night clubs like it’s going out of style. Marcus never liked that routine despite indulging in it anyway to fit in as one of the boys. This caused him to hate his life as is. He prefers just doing and being what he wants without ridicule. It was killing his drive to live beyond that and work towards his passion for art. His past relationships didn’t fare much better. All of that changed when Charlie met him, who made his third eye open with possibility. Before he was living like he had something to prove that wasn’t there, but he allowed himself to give up control to someone else for once, which elated him. Him confessing that to Charlie, and getting soft spoken comfort and understanding from her in response proves that vulnerability is okay. A lot of men are scared of that since they were raised to believe such a thing was weak, and to a more insulting degree, gay. That makes them uphold their toxic “tough guy” I demeanor so much that it pretty much becomes their whole personality. Sure there’s a time and a place to let yourself be vulnerable, but to constantly repress yourself can result in the repulsive behavior Chad and the others adopt at work. Marcus rightfully rejects that notion more and more when Chad doesn’t let up with his sexism. The low self esteem from Charlie’s indifference to catching sexist remarks and Marcus’ mundanity in his job fade away when they treat each other like normal people, free from the clutches of nonsensical societal expectations. I’ll go as far as saying Charlie and Marcus are my favorite couple period because of this.
This book portrays BDSM in a way that makes my face flush and my heart flutter simultaneously. Body bound straddling, butt play, going down on each other, pegging, explicitly stated consent, safe words, pet names, positive affirmations, even hand jobs are abound here. Because of how much of a good puppy Marcus is, he takes most of Charlie’s tricks well, and Charlie reassures him that everything is okay, and ceases when he shouts the safe word. The more sexy dominating tricks she does on him, the more confident Charlie becomes. I personally wasn’t jiving with the spanking and flogging, but it’s par for the course with most dominatrix scenarios I guess. I love love looooooove how Charlie is only insistent on boundary pushing when Marcus approves. Although she takes charge of their erotic high, not that I'm upset about that, she isn't obsessed toxically with him. She's soft spoken sometimes, asking and checking in on if he's still enjoying himself, even stopping when he says his safe word, and it’s adorable.
There’s a lack of sufficient transitions between scenes, likely contributing to its break next pace, and there are a few minor spelling and grammar errors here and there. Plus I don’t know if Charlie will last long at whatever her new job is at the end of the book, but those are minuscule matters. I love everything about this book and what it stands for.
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