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

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.

Page after page of Steamy Arabian Nights.

This is one hell of a sexy book... It's has strong characters, and an intriguing blend of fairy tale and 50 shades. A street rat Aladdin type gets caught stealing and he ends up as body slave to a handsome prince. The sex in this book is hardcore and plentiful. Almost every other page... so if you like erotica with a romantic plot structure this will be right up your alley. There's so much sex it occasionally feels like it's getting in the way of the storyline...but the physical scenes are well written and super hot. There is a lot of 'edging' which is something that was new to me in m/m fiction.

The book has a lot of light bdsm but the main relationship is very much about master and slave dynamic set in a fantastical Arabian setting. The characters are well developed... especially Temen (the street rat) and his prince. I really loved the character of Salehi - the caretaker er of the body slaves. Definitely erotica...but well crafted. It's an epic read... but if you want something to warm you up on cold winter nights... this book will sure do it. The narration is excellent... great versatility in voices and he handles the sex scenes really well... love his accent SO much. Definitely a very romantic fairy tale take on sub/dom relationships.

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.

Good....but

I like a good sex story as much as the next person. But with the 10+ hours in then length of the story...three hours is the actual story and the rest is filled with sex. So much sex that it becomes tedious to listen to.

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...

Edging and cock cages

Not much plot here. The author has an obsession with cock cages and edging. Anything gets boring if it's overdone. I had to skip over a lot just to see if the plot was as predictable as I expected. It was. I love Joel Leslie but even his talent couldn't save this one.

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

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!

Awesome story

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

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.

nearly died of boredom

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

a better story and better narration

Would you ever listen to anything by Grace R. Duncan again?

probably not

You didn’t love this book--but did it have any redeeming qualities?

no

Any additional comments?

I got to chapter seven and was bored to tears.. it might help if the narrator didn't sound like he was about to burst nto tears any moment