Review: Force of Nature (Coming About, #4) by J.K. Hogan

Everyone knows that bonds formed under extreme circumstances never last.

Harbor Patrol officer Neal Hesse has had his life turned upside down by a sudden break-up with his partner of ten years. After sleeping his way through Seattle failed to take his mind off his broken heart, he decides to take a leave of absence from work to find himself again. He hires a professional wilderness guide to take him up into the mountains, so he can get away from everything and live off the grid for a few days.

Travis “Rock” McCreary, ex-Army Ranger turned survivalist, hates doing guided excursions, but it’s his primary source of income while he’s working towards getting his own survival show. Working in such a testosterone-fueled profession has forced him so deep into the closet, he feels like he might never see the light of day again, which makes it even harder to put on a friendly face for his happy, normal clients.

When Rock is hired by clumsy city-boy Neal to take him up into the North Cascades for a survival adventure, his patience and his resolve are tested at every turn. He has to teach Neal to survive in the wilderness while fighting an attraction he can’t allow himself to act on. When their trip doesn’t go as planned, Neal’s getaway turns into a true survival situation, and he and Rock are forced to rely on each other to stay alive. If they make it out of the wilderness, can their newfound connection survive in the real world?

 *Possible trigger warning: situations where consent may appear dubious.

What should I talk about first?

*Jeopardy theme plays in the background*

Oh alright, let's start with the dub con thing. Lookit, I freely admit that I am a filthy perv and prolly unreliable in most respects when it comes to consent but... this wasn't dub con. Did their first time go down weirdly? Yeah, you bet. Was I expecting Neal to be that dude? No, I wasn't. But dub con? No. Not in my book. Not when they have a quick convo about barebacking before any penetration occurred. Certainly Rock was caught unawares but he asked to get fucked and not just with his body either. That to me voids any conversation about dub con and puts their first time firmly in the hate sex category. It was fueled by hate and revenge, and these two had been needling each other from the jump. Was it shitty for Neal to jump him like that? Absolutely. But as the narrative unfolds this is kind of their MO.

Rock likes it rough and Neal likes to give it to him roughly. They wouldn't describe their relationship as D/s, but I'd say sexually Rock is submissive. They just don't go in for all the pomp and circumstance. They do kind of fool around with breath play and I would *hope* one of them works out that they need a word/signal at some point if they keep up those shenanigans.

So in case you haven't worked it out, Force of Nature is sex heavy. Some of it was titillating but a lot of it felt like filler. They seem to equate sex to love and I don't subscribe to that in a romance narrative; I need the sex to have a purpose and to show their connection. Oftentimes Rock and Neal fuck in lieu of having a conversation. There's a greater likelihood of me swooning over a declaration or a romantic gesture than a sex scene. I like couples to express themselves at least internally and hopefully at some point verbally but these two seem uncomfortable with their feels. Thus I had a hard time truly investing in them as a couple. They have oodles of sexual chemistry and seem to like each other but as far as their long-term compatibility, I'm not sold on an enduring emotional connection.

Both of these characters are crafted well. Rock's pretty grouchy so I liked that. He's also deeply closeted which drives the majority of the conflict. Neal I liked less but I can't really pinpoint why. I don't hate him or anything. I'm just sort of meh.

The strength of this book, however, is Hogan's knowledge of survivalism. Either she did a boatload of research or she's a survivalist herself because there is a wealth of information about surviving on ingenuity and determination. Surprisingly, I really liked this part. It kept the pacing up, held my attention throughout and the climatic event had me on the edge of my seat. Stepping up and taking charge in a crisis always resonates with me and Neal comes through in the clutch.

The verbiage used to describe the Cascades was beautiful, evocative and made me want to see it for myself.

Man, I need a vacation! Stupid book left me with vacation envy. I'll pass on the survivalism but I could do the Cascades, especially from that Twin Peaks hotel.

Once they return from the trek things felt rushed to me. Big decisions were made quickly and the whole story lost momentum.

Overall, my first Hogan was a good experience. I found her writing style engaging and was immediately drawn into this story so I would definitely read something else of hers.

Recommend to survivalists and/or fans of Bear Grylls.

A review copy was provided.

Group Review: Consent by Bruce Rose

Only desperation could drive him to commit such a crime… 

Lonely survivalist Travis Winslet has everything in his underground bunker, everything but a companion. Determined to get his needs met at any cost, Travis decides to hunt for a man the same way he does for food. When he spots a blond-haired, blue-eyed cutie who matches his requirements, he acts. Only to find his target wants to be tied up and abducted.

Kinkster Skye Randall paid his Dom for a kidnap scenario, never expecting he’d come through with a captor who was just the right combination of scary and sexy. But there’s more to his abductor than just a man willing to fulfill all of Skye’s darkest fantasies. When Travis asks for Skye’s consent, Skye realizes the true power of giving himself to his master and what it really means to be submissive.

But what will happen when Skye discovers Travis isn’t the man his Dom hired?

Sometimes when a review request in the clubhouse, we get a unicorn pile of excitement and for some reason it seems to happen more when the blurb mentions something about kinkery. Huh. Strange. So, when that happens we take that unicorn pile and group review the kink. Fantasy Living, Chelsea and myself (Ann) had a menage of a review for Consent and everyone ended up with a sated smile on their face and a happy heart for Skye and Travis. Here's what we all had to say . . .


Fantasy Living - 4 Hearts

This story was really fascinating as an idea. What are the odds, something Travis does try to work out at some point, that he would kidnap a kinkster who was waiting to be kidnapped for a kinky fantasy? Seriously!

Travis is a survivalist who lives off the land. He’s been living in a bunker in the mountains for a while now. But he’s lonely, and for some reason, (probably a result of the mountain air and being alone so long) he thinks that kidnapping some guy from a camp site is a brilliant way to meet a mate. Naturally…..

Skye is camping with his friends, waiting to be kidnapped by his Dom, but when a man, not his Dom, grabs him from the woods, he thinks nothing of it, and believes his Dom has hired someone to make it more realistic.

Back at Travis’ lair they start to interact, and the bond between them grows into something they want to make more permanent. Except Skye still doesn’t know that Travis was not hired to kidnap him, and the kidnapping is real.

I loved this premise. It just sounded so weird (good) to me. I liked the way they bonded, and the way Travis seemed to dissolve into someone good, and not a psychotic kidnapper. His quirks were fun. The way he made his living was something I almost choked over. But it was actually believable, and fitting with the landscape.

Their chemistry was hot. There was so much hotness in that bunker. The kink was edging…….Edging is so hot. Everyone should edge! I’m getting distracted by the hotness of edging. 

Anyway, moving along - the writing was well done. I got a feel for where they were, their personalities, and their developing feelings for each other. The story was well rounded, and the resolution worked well. These two were great together, and I would love to see a follow up on where they are now.

Recommended for most kinky readers who enjoy bondage, kidnap fantasy and edging!


Chelsea - 3.5 Hearts

Great start! A man hunting for another man to take back to his lair. Loved it! Unfortunately it did fizzle a bit, but I'm giving some extra credit due to the author's notes about suspending reality.

“Hey, it’s fantasy time. Don’t take anything you read here seriously…”

It was also fun and pretty damn hot!! Travis lives as loner in a cabin isolated in the woods. He's attempted to ‘take’ men before to help with his loneliness, but has never been very successful. When he sees Skye out camping, he knows he's found his next target. The kicker is, Skye is waiting to be kidnapped as part of a role-playing game set up by his Dom. So things go a little more smoothly than Travis anticipated.

Unfortunately everything was a bit too fluffy for me. Skye and Travis hit it off and most of the book is them getting to know each other and having sex. I wasn't complaining about the sex at all, there was lots of bondage and edging and the edging scenes were particularly delicious.

And then he felt Travis’s tongue sliding against him. Skye angled his hips, offering himself completely. He dug his fingers into his flesh so that he could expose every inch of his needy hole for Travis’s probing tongue. Around and around in a maddening circle he went, heightening his need, tightening his resolve.

Some of the dialogue was slightly stilted and Skye's mood swings were pretty similar to a teenagers, but ‘suspend reality’ so I still had a lot of fun. 

Who knew a story that starts out as a kidnapping ‘dub-con’ could turn into such a fluffy bondage story. Very sweet.

 Ann - 4 Hearts

Suspend belief all ye who enter here!

Which the author states very clearly at the beginning. The set-up is a fantasy, roll with it. Make sure you do that so you can enjoy Consent for the kinky delight that it is. I like to think of it as a pervy rom-com with a twisted meet-cute that brought two charming characters together who wouldn’t have otherwise found one another. And when two guys get a perfect kink alignment, it’s worth an improbable/impossible meeting to make sure these guys got a story.

Travis is a very lonely survivalist with some serious past heartbreak and Skye is a man trying to find his way through his kinkster inclinations. Skye thinks he just needs to keep upping the ante but what he really needs is to find someone who appreciates him and feeds his needs. Turns out, Travis is that guy.

They actually got to know one another pretty well in the short time they were together on Travis’s mountain. I loved the banter between the two of them and that’s where I got the rom-com feel, in the more lighthearted moments. Travis showed Skye what it meant to slow down and appreciate, well, everything. Just because Skye was missing something in his life, didn’t mean he had to have everything harder, faster and more.

Travis taught Skye all about orgasm delay and denial. It was definitely more on the delay side, because they did get off and the denial was a matter of days, but the author worked that tension into his writing really well. It was edging that was delicious to read.

“Making him a party to his own denial increased his longing.” 

There were some very sweet feels that came with the budding relationship between the two of them. Neither could believe what a perfect match they found in the other. But, there was the little thing about the very big lie that would keep them from being together forever. So, there was the sacrifice of an HEA by Travis to save Skye from the truth, but every good love story, no matter how improbable, has a redemptive HEA that has more value that any ending would have the first time around.

So, I’m off to buy more Bruce Rose books. This was my first Rose and I’m definitely a fan. All I have to hear in my head is Travis asking Skye, “Do you consent?” and I’m all in.


For more information on Consent by Bruce Rose, check it out on Goodreads.