Love buried his heart in the cold, hard ground. Now he’s fighting to keep it there.

Title: Unearthed (Book 1)

Series: The Dungeon Black Duology

Author: Kora Knight

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Blurb

Love. The most powerful force in existence, but also the most ruthless. Cunning and deceptive. Man’s greatest Achilles heel. Leaving all who embrace it weak and vulnerable. At least that’s how Dom-for-hire Max Kelley sees it, after the love of his life knocked him on his ass. A brutal blow that not only stole his breath, but decimated his ability to trust. Turning him cold and cynical. The TKO he never saw coming. Love. A mistake Max won’t ever make again. Meaning no more relationships—not exactly a hardship. Just the thought of dating makes him queasy, and one of the reasons he doms for a living. To sexually engage without the poison of intimacy. The other reason? To keep his demons sated. With whips and chains, and scandalous kink. A fiery mix that always hits the spot. That is, until a bright-eyed beauty walks into his life and refuses to leave. Sean Matthews. College senior and flirt extraordinaire. Max’s newest—and greenest—client sub. Man, is he delicious; able to push Max’s buttons, able to make him crave the things he knows he shouldn’t. Sound the alarm, this can only mean trouble. Unfortunately, deterring Sean proves virtually impossible, and now Max finds himself at a crossroads. Man up and kick his favorite sub to the curb… or succumb to his own caged desires.

Warning: This erotic, gay, BDSM romance contains intensely explicit sexual scenes both inside and out of the dungeon.

Review

RATING:

As a fan of the Upending Tad series, you bet your patutie I was excited when Kora first announced that Max and Sean will get their story. (Reminds me that I haven't actually posted my review of that series here on the blog, so I should correct that soon). From that series, getting a glimpse of these 2, you can't help but wonder what's going on behind the dynamics that you're seeing between them.

So as a fan of that series, while this can complete stand alone, my review of this book will be tinged with my feelings about these 2 from that series. For me there's just no way around it.

This is the beginning of Max and Sean's story. You get Max' history and it shows what happened to make Max the person he is, the person I got a glimpse of in the other series. To see this 180 transformation for Max was quite emotional and sad in a way, but as you get to the present, kinda delish at the same time. By the time he meets Sean, he's fully transformed to the Dom he is.

Now Sean, I didn't to expect to fall in love with him as much as I thought I would. Of course I only saw only a small fraction of Sean's personality in the other series. Here, I got to see the witty, funny and flirty side of Sean. I saw the brat that's the right match for Max. But more than that, I saw the maturity, in a sense, arising from a messed up childhood. Seeing him reconcile some of his thoughts and feelings with Max' non-judgmental help, it showed a lot of depth.

Seeing this is only the first book, we're really not quite at the romance part. It's about getting to know Max and Sean individually and how the attraction is developing between them all within the context of the BDSM scene; some parts, I would admit, did push my limits. If you're like me and it's not a theme you tend to read, consider yourself educated more, hehe... And with Kora highly skilled with edging in her writing, prepare for one intense hot read.Hot dang! The droll exchange between these 2 (ok, of Max and Scott as well.. well, I cannot not mention Scott, hello! Oh, of Sean and his friend, Jonah, too!) coupled with the simmering heat between them... ooomph... talk about lethal combo!

Seriously can't wait for bk 2! At this point, I'm prepared to make a space for Max and Sean, next to Tad and Scott, in my fave couples category. Ready!!!