• Choices

  • Golden Collar, Book 1
  • By: Grace R. Duncan
  • Narrated by: Joel Leslie
  • Length: 15 hrs and 57 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (151 ratings)

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Choices  By  cover art

Choices

By: Grace R. Duncan
Narrated by: Joel Leslie
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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

What listeners say about Choices

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

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.

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30 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

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.

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27 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

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.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

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...

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
  • JD
  • 06-04-23

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.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

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.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Exceptional🔥❤️🔥

I loved the story. It is full of adventure, heartfelt moments, horrific moments, humor, love and plenty of 🔥hot steamy
M/M sex🔥. I only have one problem with this novel and that is that its main character can be unbelievably dense at times, enough to drive me crazy.

The sheer NUMBER of DISTINCT voices that Mr. Leslie puts into this performance is astounding. I don't think I've heard another narrator do what he has managed to with this novel.

***There are scenes of sexual torture so if this is a trigger, be forewarned!

If you think that this might be the type of novel you can enjoy then I encourage you to get it. It is WELL WORTH a credit and you won't be sorry.
Also, book two isn't on Audible just yet but can be read the old fashioned way on kindle!
It too is well worth the money.
ENJOY!!!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Ooh-la-la Smorgasbord

Welcome to world of smut. Where sex is continues, blow job's are costumery and edging is a life-style. To be royalty means carrying custodian keys. Opening a candy factory of choices. Hanky panky, spank bank quota filled. This is straight up LGBT with a PhD in the red-light district. Without the high cost flight. So detailed it makes you feel like the director. It's wild imagination hyped up on sugar with Adderall thrown in the mix for good measure. Mrs. Duncan has left me a starry eyed zombie (for the pent-up). I so want at your brain. Like the story too. Though it has a bit of a loop, but go broke or go home. . . rights erotica? is somewhat undersated. She's still handing out blue balls like Halloween candy (and I'm a chick)!

On a scale of 1 to 5
Hanky Panky is 5⁵ (for the lovers of math)
Overall 5
Performance 4.5
Story 3.5

Narrator Joel Leslie is phenomenal. He only gets a 4.5, because I'm so used to his mix-up on the voices. That wasn't really present here. But I still feel like a teenage at heart over his concert voice.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

awesome read

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

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

95% Erotic scenes, 5% plot to get to each scene.

There is legit like, nothing going on in this book other then one Erotic scene after the next.

If I'm in the mood I usually don't mind as erotica is there to serve a purpose. However, this is just a bit too poorly paced to really get into it. It feels like it's at a level 10 out of 10 for nearly the entire book. There's no ups and downs to kinda pace out the Erotic scenes to at least give the illusion of a plot to help with the fantasy.

The plot is purely there to serve as reasoning for the character to leave one Erotic scene and get to a new Erotic scene, for variety I guess, but the scenes really arnt all that different, blend together and don't add too much. It's really hard to enjoy Erotic scenes when the characters are like non existent.

For character building, you're basically given a brief descriptor then an Erotic scene and then suddenly they are besties, lovers or confessing their love for eachother. It's like... How exactly am I supposed to believe any of that without any of the work to sell the fantasy? One particular scene I just really got annoyed with the laziness. These two characters like meet for the first time, have an Erotic scene, and then the next day they are confessing their undying love to eachother then another Erotic scene, then another, then another, then they confess their love again, then another Erotic scene, etc. Etc. It's cringey and exhausting and sure the writing is spicy for the scenes but the whole point of a book is to deliver a fantasy. When you're just delivering scene after scene with no fantasy to support any of those scenes, it feels just like hollow erotic stuff that's not that interesting to get into.

This book is also very heavy with its non-consensual Erotic scenes, violent Erotic scenes with serious injuries and unwanted contact.

I kinda figured going into this but honestly didn't really expect the violent scenes, they were gross and didn't feel like they added much other then a reason to build tension to have a 'I'm sorry' Erotic scene to soon follow.

Listening to this on Audible is what made this at least halfway digestible because how amazing Joel Leslie is. Honestly, good for Joel Leslie, narrating a book like this I feel would just be soul sucking having to try and sell all these Erotic scenes one after another, that takes stamina.

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