Breaking the Stallion

Hell Bent for Leather, Book 1

By: Rain Carrington

Narrated by: J. Sampson

Length: 11 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

With a less than fulfilling relationship in his rearview mirrors and a 50,000 dollar watch in his pocket, Elijah James heads out on the open road, in search of something real. And in search of himself.

What he finds is peace. His bike breaks down on the side of the highway, and a quiet rancher comes along to help him off the road. At Noah Oliver’s ranch, Eli finds everything he’s ever needed, including a man with his own painful past and the love of a lifestyle Eli enjoys.

Something Eli didn’t count on, however, was that Noah had plans for him. Noah sees the nearly shattered man and knows what he needs. As he would a wild horse, he knows he must break through Eli's pain without breaking the man’s spirit.

Will Noah gain Eli's trust, respect, love, and finally, his submission? Find out in Breaking the Stallion today!

Cover images licensed through Paul Henry Serres Photographs, please do not recreate.

Please see trigger warnings inside book!

©2023 Rain Carrington (P)2023 Rain Carrington

Loved it

I loved this book. J. Sampson's voice really brings this story to life. Elijah James leaves a dead end relationship with a 50,000 dollar watch in hand. In his search to find himself his Harley breaks down and a rancher named Noah stops to help him. Noah lets Eli stay on the ranch or leave when he fixes his bike. Eli decides to stay. Noah is everything Eli needs but will he love and submit to him?

MATCH MADE IN THE COUNTRY

Rain Carrington is a MAGNIFICENT writer who is not afraid to write of Taboo topics. Narration by J SAMPSON was the PERFECT voice for these men with an AMAZING performance. Eli is a man on the run. A veteran trying to out run his PTSD and the man he just left. Noah is a rancher. He gives this Beautiful man and his broke down Harley a place to fix his bike and a filling meal. Then he schools him in what BDSM is truly about. This is a sexually charged book where this Author has some unimaginable kink. The bottom line is true love but the scenes are pure decadence between these two. Off the chain where Noah shows Eli horse sense and the benefit of training. Come to the Double OO Ranch where the city learns to live in the country. I HIGHLY, HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS AUDIBLE AND THE HELL BENT FOR LEATHER COLLECTION.

🔥Got me out of book slump🔥

Never a dull moment in this sweet story. Love these two. Looking forward to the next book in this series for the next guys story.

Toothless

This book accomplishes something I thought was impossible: taking rather hardcore BDSM practices and somehow making them toothless, saccharine, and frankly boring. I feel like this author should have written a textbook about BDSM instead of a novel, because she sure spends a lot of time on making sure we know how it's supposed to work. 90% of the characters' time is spent negotiating their kinks or aftercare. Every once in a while the dom (I've forgotten his name already and I just finished listening today, that's how bored I was) remembers he's supposed to do something sort of nasty, and he does it, but almost always it's punctuated by constantly asking for consent--despite the fact that it's already been given and the sub knows the safe word--and making sure the sub (again, no idea what his name is) is ok and comfortable, which... how does that not take the sub out of the scene a bit? At one point he actually makes the sub say the safe word just to make sure he knows what it is. So much time is spent discussing what they're ok with and what they're not ok with and how things are supposed to work that they don't actually get into doing anything until literally FIVE HOURS IN, which is longer than a long novella, and even when they finally get to the kink, they do like one thing and go straight back to the negotiations and discussions.

Who is this written for? The author obviously has talent, because there's some genuinely good character development and writing, and what little actual sex there is is hot (minus the incessant cuddling and asking for consent), but I can't figure out if this book would appeal more to people who like the cuddling or to people who like the kink. For what it's worth, I'm pretty sure it's neither, since I think both have their place and the weird juxtaposition of trying to have both in the same scenes just sort of squicked me out. This novel is what comes from trying to pander to a demographic who likes to think of themselves as sex-positive but in reality are mostly massive prudes.

Like I said, I do think it was well written and I would be curious to read or listen to another work by this author. However, I don't want to be lectured to about proper BDSM practices for 12 hours again, because I've already heard it. In fact, I'm pretty sure just by finishing this book I'm actually a qualified sex therapist now.