Choices

Golden Collar, Book 1

By: Grace R. Duncan

Narrated by: Joel Leslie

Length: 15 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

Born and raised a gypsy in the late 11th century, Teman values freedom over everything. He and his best friend, Jasim, are thieves for hire - until one night when they're caught and their precious freedom is revoked. Given the choice between the dungeons or palace pleasure slavery, they become slaves, but Teman vows to escape someday.

Bathasar doesn't want the throne. He supports his brother instead, which suits their sadistic father, Mukesh. When Teman, the handsome slave Bathasar has secretly been watching, saves his life, Bathasar requests a slave for the first time. Before long, Bathasar and Teman fall in love. But all is not well. One day, Mukesh brutalizes Teman before the court, angering the empress of a neighboring nation. To appease her, he then offers her Jasim as a gift, and Teman decides to stay with Bathasar for now - despite the abuse he may suffer.

The peace doesn't last. Mukesh plans to invade Jasim's new country, and Bathasar must find a way to stop the destruction. But if he succeeds, he'll ascend to the throne and have the power to grant Teman his liberty. Then Teman will surely leave him. What other choice could a gypsy make?

©2013 Grace R. Duncan (P)2015 Dreamspinner Press

Wow. 🔥🔥🔥

After reading the reviews I was a bit hesitant to listen to this story, but happy I took the chance. I thoroughly enjoyed the story and journey the writer took us on in this world. I appreciate Grace’s bravery and incite into the platform of BDSM. Hot and steamy is the least I found this listen. It was f’g hot as hell!
Joel Leslie did an amazing performance.

so much sex

the basic foundation of this book is about sex, but i must admit at times it was too much. it was one sexual episode after the other. having said all that the overall story was pretty good and i loved the narrator voice so much.

Awesome story

Besides being a wonderful story, Joel's narrative made it come alive. He is the best.

ON EDGE

I love hot and steamy but I need more in-between. 15 hrs was just too long. I was on the edge waiting for the end after 5hrs. Narration was good. His female voices sounded more like old ladies but they were far and in-between so it was forgivable.
This should have been called on the edge...close to the edge or something. If I had a penny for every time they said edge...
I've read really hot romances book for 6 to 8 hrs. 15hrs is too long for me. Especially with a thin plot.

A fantastic, master/slave love story!

Fantastic, where do I begin? Easily, the best piece of MM/BDSM fiction I've read in the last year or maybe last couple years! For me this book was epic. Sure I agree what others have said about it being a little long is true but I really didn't have any problems with it as far as that is concerned. Sure there is also a lot of sex in it, every few pages there is a new sex scene but that didn't bother me either because I loved the whole thing too much. Let me start with the characters, this is a classic master/slave or you could say a rich man poor man story as we are dealing with a man who is in a royal position and another man who is in the lowly position of gypsy and thief. They are written so well I lived every moment of the story with them as it unfolded. I really felt the anguish that the situation caused between them but their love was so great that it made all of it worth something wonderful. I am dictating this right now and know the machine won't get any of the proper names used in the book correctly so please bear with me as I just talk about them as master and slave. The slave is a young man who is born a gypsy and a free man but he gets into some trouble and ends up as a palace pleasure slave in this fictional 1025 A.D. setting. The master is another young man who is next in line for the throne of this kingdom upon the death of his father. The father is a tyrant, a bully and shows no love for his two sons let alone any slaves he gets his hands on. When the gypsy is introduced to the court as a new pleasure slave the corrupt rulers eldest son sees him in there is an instant attraction. Now this man who I'm calling master doesn't agree with the whole pleasure slave concept and has never had one of his own. He is so entranced by the new slave however and he asks to have him one night and of course one thing leads to another and they fall in love. They have to deal with this whole master/slave thing and all goes well until the evil father starts to really become abusive toward the slaves to spite his son.

The plot then thickens here with how to get rid of the evil father who is the ruler of the country without implicating his son who is a good master to the new slave and in love with him. Amidst this backdrop there is such a tender love story of two young men for each other with elements of BDSM mixed in. For example there is a LOT of orgasm denial practiced here which seems to go on for days and days at a time almost making it seem impossible for anybody to be able to have such control. There is also a lot of the use of cock cages whereas the slaves are trained when and when not to have their orgasms. This of course is dictated by whoever uses the slaves which have given up any rights to control their own bodies.

At the end of the book the rich man poor man theme comes in and we are wondering how this master and slave can possibly stay together without the master losing his Royal position. At first I thought I knew how it would end but once I saw that I was wrong I came up with my next best ending and once again was wrong with this ending. With these twists and turns it becomes a real page turner to see just how it will end. I will leave it up to you to read to see just how it does end

The last thing I want to comment about is the narrator, Joel Leslie, who did a fantastic job in this book. At first I didn't like him and it took me a little bit to get used to him but boy did he grow on me! You knew exactly who was talking at all times with him and the fantastic voices and accents he used. I will definitely be looking for more books narrated by him in the future. To wrap it up, an easy five stars all the way down for story and narration and highly recommended.

awesome read

great story... all steam. perfect if you are looking for a long book to pass some time.

A WHOLE LOT OF SMEXY TIME!!!

This book was pretty good, story wise... but boy...there was a lot of smexy time... a lot of BDSM kinda kinky smexy time going on... Taimen gets caught stealing with his friend, Yasiem... they are sent to the royal palace to either be put in the dungeon or become pleasure slaves...well of course they chose to be pleasure slaves...

That is where this story begins... the reader/listener follows Taimen around as he first is trained then is put into action...

Taimen catches the eyes of the royal prince, after the cruel king has his way with Taimen, then that is where the bulk of the story takes place...

It was a good story...but I swear... there was so much smex, I just fast fwd through half the scenes to get back to the story...

I was well worth a listen to as Grace Duncan is an awesome m/m fantasy writer...

Narration was top notch as well...

This was more like a 3.5 book, not actually a four, as I had to skip scenes here and there...

Well worth a credit, buy or sale...

This book will keep you ON EDGE!

What a wonderful plotline! Beautiful and poignant, the story of two unlikely men destined to be lovers. A prince and a gypsy, a master and his slave...
The narrator for this book was AMAZING! The various accents and voices for the characters were really moving.
Hot and sensual, the sex scenes are MANY and varied, though they don't detract from the story (as sometimes can happen in the romance genre), only add to it. I love M/M, but even if you've never read a book with only gay love interests, I'd still highly recommend it. A great listen!

an enduring relationship a very good story

I really enjoyed the relationship dynamic between the two characters is it really good love story very heartfelt

To review or recommend, that is the question?

I shall choose to review. This is a well written story with substance, it is an in depth look at a period where royalty could and did use sex slaves. This book is LONG it has more sex in it then anything I have ever had my hands on, most of it is done while the characters are in "training". It is focusing on sex slavery being used as a punishment when given a choice after a crime is committed. It is a BDSM novel that shows the good, the bad and the ugly, with characters you will like and a plot you could love and yes their is a love story in there you get to see develop. I stopped the audio a number of times, however the narrator Joel Leslie does such a pleasant job I did go back and listen. It would have gotten all 5 stars if it was shorter. Can't say I would listen again but I do indeed like the way Grace Duncan writes.