Bound by Deception

By: Ava March

Narrated by: David Thorpe

Length: 3 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's Summary

Lord Oliver Marsden has a secret. He's been in love with his childhood friend for years, though Vincent's never shown an interest in him beyond friendship. Ruggedly handsome, wealthy, and successful, Vincent is everything Oliver is not. And Vincent doesn't prefer men.

Then Oliver discovers Vincent hires a man during his visits to a London brothel. Desperate to be with Vincent, Oliver orchestrates a deception, switching places with the brothel's employee. When Oliver arrives at the bedchamber, he's in for another surprise. Restraints and a leather bullwhip? Apparently Vincent isn't as conservative as he appears.

Lord Vincent Prescot has a secret of his own. One kept locked away and only indulged once a month. But this month's appointment is different. The mysterious man is so perfect, so beautiful in his submission, rousing protective instincts Vincent can't deny. Yet he refuses to believe he might truly prefer men, for it could mean the end of his hopes of earning his father's respect.

Will betrayal destroy them or will they be bound together by deception?

Publisher's note: This book contains explicit sexual content, graphic language, and situations that some listeners may find objectionable: anal play/intercourse, BDSM theme and content, including bondage and spanking, male/male sexual practices.

©2016 Ava March (P)2017 Audible, Inc.

Porn with plot

This was a fun listen but It’s about 90 percent sexy times and 10 percent story and character development. However, based on the length of the story and the publisher’s summary no one should be surprised that it’s mostly porn. The porny bits are BDSM in nature and very explicit. Definitely not safe for public listening. (This is a historical m/m BDSM style romance just in case somehow someone missed that. )The summary gives away a lot of the plot but it’s well written and there’s just enough angst to keep things interesting without going overboard. I’m interested in hearing the next book in the series but only because it come in my romance package as a ‘free’ listen. Usually I prefer books in the 20+ hour range because I like a lot of plot. This book is extremely short. It should be noted that the last 25 minutes are a preview of the second book. If you’re looking for a long listen with deep characters and lots of plot and subplot, this is not the book for you. If you want a fun, sexy, light read -the equivalent of book candy- this is the book for you. I just finished a very long series and needed a break before starting another long series so this was perfect for me to clear my head. As for the narrator: nice job switching between voices. Very distinctive. Mostly hot. Although sometimes a little overdone when begging and desperate. But that could just be me.

Terrible Wattpad Fanfiction

Oliver deceives Vincent into having sex with him under false pretenses (taking the place of a sex worker)--because apparently lack of informed consent is hot to this writer? I found it disturbing. It's also completely absurd that this deception would work. Goofy. I had assumed the deception would fail, that Vincent would obviously know who Oliver is because DUH, they're lifelong friends, OF COURSE he'd recognize him. But he did not. Reading this felt like reading an embarassing Wattpad fanfiction from the cringiest, lowest quality tier.

Vincent's sexual desires are ordinary dom stuff, but outside the bedroom, Vincent displays anger in a violent, disturbing manner. It's not actually manly or cool that he wants to murder sex workers when they don't know where Oliver has gone. It's appalling and gross. The sex worker who tries to help is innocent, and Vincent's burning rage is both repulsive and illogical. He'd had sex with Oliver once without even knowing who he is, and now he's thrown into a possessive murderous rage that puts the workers of the brothel at risk? Again, this is some Wattpad nonsense. I'm insulted at Vincent being framed as romantic or the like in this context. He could have worried for Oliver and been frustrated at not finding him without it crossing the line into inexcusable garbage behavior. Nonconsensual violence is not hot, it's just cruel.

The Wattpad BS doesn't end there, though. There are constant references to a bullwhip--a freaking bullwhip--throughout the story. Has the writer never seen a real bullwhip? You're not comfortably swinging one of those inside a shabby room. Erotic whips used now have shorter thongs and other design tweaks so they can be used in small spaces, unlike the ones used for animals in ordinary life. If it had been one reference, I might have overlooked it, but it comes up over and over. At that point, it's just too obviously the result of an appalling lack of research. Cool, the writer knows dildos existed--but how the hell is a man purchasing an "array" of them safely? This might be erotica which is often held at a lower standard of research, but, God, Google is free. The laziness of this writing gives me horrendous secondhand embarrassment. A horse whip would have made physical sense and fit the time period significantly better, but the writer apparently didn't even try. There are several more anachronisms that don't suit the time period, and it pulled me out over and over. And, God, it's just embarrassing to say no dildo is as long as Vincent's member. You're not convincing me of that.

Oh, sorry, I've neglected to mention the emotional element of the story until the last second--much like this story did. Listen, just be PWP if you're going to be PWP. Randomly and illogically, Vincent has the sudden realization that Oliver has saved him from a life of self-hatred because of his desires for men. Huh? Our man Vinny is out here "bullwhipping" (ugh) men at the brothel each week for a decade, and he's only now accepting he's into men? Puh-lease. Maybe I would have bought a tortured soul thing where he lives in denial and hides behind the excuse of the brothel if it had actually been written into the story, but dropping that idea last minute into the conclusion of the story feels shallow.

I really hated this story, actually hated it.

The narrator has an extremely whiny voice that seems to be on the verge of cracking at all times. He can't do female voices at all. The terrible writing was made even worse by a poor narrator.

Perfection

One of the best performances AND audiobooks I've ever heard. I can't believe how much I enjoyed this title. One of the most respectful books with BDSM I've ever encountered. 100%, all of it.

Terrible protagonists, gross attitudes

Wow. The author's contempt for sex workers absolutely reeks off the page, which makes it difficult to figure out why she chose to set half the book in a brothel. I gott a few hours in, but the love interest just threw a tantrum and threatened to murder a bunch of prostitutes because his boyfriend isn't available on demand. Gross, regressive, unreadable.

loved, loved the story and the performance!

Right On! now that's a story! in the beginning I wasn't able to guess the plot, then it all made sense! FANTASTIC

Entertaining, trashy fun.

I will preface this review by saying: I found these books because I am the biggest fan of The Song of Achilles, and I thought my love for it could go no further... until I downloaded the audio version and met my new obsession: David Thorpe.

I couldn't get enough of David's reading voice. For the first time in my life, I looked up a *narrator* and selected my next read from those options. That is what lead me here.

The writing is a solid C. It's not bad, but it's definitely not good either. I keep comparing it to a bad fanfiction that was not beta-read.

But the plot? Predictable and trashy, yes, sure -- but it also felt like Eva March stole my dream journal and wrote the perfect story for me. It's my FAVORITE flavor of trash. Oliver is sweet and as comfortable with himself as one can be, given the time period. Vincent is a closet case with a head filled with highly problematic, homophobic ideas. They find each other and things improve from there.

All in all, if you can handle cringing through way too many tropes, poorly chosen adjectives, and wholly misused British sex slang, to see through the flaws of the writing and enjoy the plot and characters... then, I recommend these books.

Did I mention DAVID THORPE reads these? Though, to be fair, I'd be happy listening to him read the phone book.

A favorite of mine

Love this series. Treats BDSM really well which is unusual, meaning that it’s enjoyed not suffered through. In fact as this series isn’t included in audible plus I will probably buy them as I repeatedly listen to them.

Having said that there are some definite flaws/one has to suspend one’s disbelief about. Character development could be stronger esp. when Vincent acts very controlling and abusive; 100% historical accuracy isn’t high on the list esp. about sex workers; also a man not recognizing a lifelong friend is strange regardless of the following: a few days beard; darkness; a faked accent; he’s deep in the closet and can’t imagine a childhood friend being gay; and the last and perhaps most difficult.

As long as readers can get over the above you’ll really enjoy this series.

Historic sexy BDSM/ MM Romance with Heart

Although short, I liked this book very much - the story is believably and fluently written. The main characters share real intimacy and display authentic emotions. The narration was great - one could clearly distinguish between the two characters and the voiceover caught all the moods perfectly.

A great new series

Sexy but also a good story and character building. Can't wait to get the rest of the books

Enjoyable

A thoroughly enjoyable read and the narrator is lovely. Only one real complaint: if he's using a bull whip indoors, that's a gigantic room. Just call it a whip and let readers use their own imaginations.