Title: Deviations #1: Submission
Authors: Chris Owen and Jodi Payne
Publisher: Torquere
Genre: Contemporary M/M, BDSM
Length: Novel (240 pages, print)
Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5
Summary Review: This book changed my perspective and perception of what a BDSM relationship should be. Deviations: submission is the story of two men who were searching for that one person to complete them, and then they found each other.
THE BLURB
Tobias is a skilled Dom and Noah is a man in need of just that. He wants to sub badly, but has yet to find someone he believes in. Through a series of encounters in the world of bondage and discipline, we learn why Noah has trouble trusting, and why Tobias is reluctant to let himself love.
Still, Tobias can’t resist Noah’s charms, and the two of them set about making a scene for themselves, one that works for them and their unique set of problems. But can they stay together in a world where learning to love means accepting all of their dark secrets?!
THE REVIEW
I have to say upfront that of all the D/s books that I’ve read, this series is one of the most engrossing, intense and enjoyable for me. I’m not a fan of heavy BDSM but the Deviations series really hit all of my hot buttons and I learned a lot about the lifestyle, the consensual aspects of being a submissive, as well as how much trust figures into a D/s relationship. Submission is the first story of Tobias’s and Noah’s journey which took 5 books to complete and come full circle.
Tobias is a veterinarian and Noah is a police officer and when they met they had both come out of relationships that hadn’t worked.Tobias had been with Phantom, his sub/slave for about 6 years when their contractual relationship came to a mutual end, but they remained close. Noah had been searching for a Dom after an unfortunate experience with a previous Master. Since they broke up he had not been able to find anyone who met his needs on an ongoing basis.
For his 41st birthday Tobias decided to have an evening out at his club where he had been a member for 19 years. He had not been there for sometime and on arrival he was met by his old friend Bradford, the new owner, who introduced him to Noah and suggested that they might suit each other. After one session both men thought that they had found what they were looking for but it took another session before they decided to meet outside of the club to seal the deal. Their first weekend together was initially a trial run even though they had both signed a D/s contract for 6 months, but it was obvious that the emotions and need for a long term relationship was already being formed.
Tobias’s excitement the first weekend he spent with his ‘boy’ was beautiful to witness and Noah’s joy was no less powerful. They had a number of trust issues to resolve as a result of Noah’s past experiences and resulting hangups. The scenes throughout the book were sensuous and hot, although a few of the discipline scenes were painful to read even though it was clear that Noah wanted and needed the rigor of what Tobias provided in order to center him and give him focus in his life.
I never understood what the ongoing ‘lifestyle’ was all about until I started this series even though I have read many BDSM books, including Switch and Submission Times Two by Claire Thompson and Volume 1 of Sean Michael’s Velvet Glove series. More recently I also read Mr. Benson by John Preston, the classic BDSM novel, referred to as one of the top ten S/M novels ever written, which is as far from the Deviations series as possible. I won’t kid you, Deviations is not for everyone, especially those of you who are squeamish about pain. BDSM is more than pain, bondage and domination obviously – there should be respect and caring on the part of the Dom for his submissive and the scenes should never involve humiliation. The lifestyle is definitely outside the norm for most people, but when Tobias and Noah were in a scene it was easy for me to imagine it as the right thing for them.
The emotional needs of both protagonists were clearly met in Submission but I didn’t get as much information about Noah as I would have liked, even though he was quite outspoken about what his unmet needs were. I would have liked access to some of his internal dialogue to ‘get’ him and find out how he felt about this new journey on which he was embarking. There is no doubt that Tobias took his responsibilities towards his sub seriously and entered into his role with the mindset that Noah’s needs came first.
What I liked
The relationship between Tobias and Noah and the caring between them.
The fact that I was able to be a participant in Tobias’s life outside of his relationship with Noah, especially with his delightful 83 year old housekeeper and the partner in his veterinary practice.
The role play in the scenes of “let’s pretend” which were like another world.
Phantom, Tobias’s ex slave/submissive who, in addition to being a bit of a devil, was also a good friend to Tobias
All of the other supporting cast.
What I didn’t like
I was taken aback at Tobias referring to Noah as “sweetheart” from their very first scene which I didn’t feel was appropriate between a Dom and a sub, especially on their first meeting.
Another misstep – Brett, Noah’s former Master who called him “baby.”
There was a lot of emphasis in the book on Noah’s physical appearance.
The tenderness and kiss in the first session seemed a bit off for a serious BDSM scene
I thought that some of the language initially might have been too much like lovers would speak to each other, rather than a Dom and his sub.
Some of the pain and whipping was a bit much for me even though I understood that this is very much part of the lifestyle.
Some of the role reversal between Tobias and Noah which didn’t ring true for a Dom and a sub.
I’m definitely no expert in D/s relationships but over the years I have read many BDSM books. Some of them are okay, but others distort what these relationships are supposed to be because the authors don’t do the research and they present half baked ideas of the BDSM lifestyle as fact. Typically, readers end up with a book that misrepresents the lifestyle and portrays it as one protagonist being totally subservient to another who beats and mistreats him because he’s on a power trip. There are a few books that give a balanced view of the D/s relationship and Deviations: submission may be one such book. In this series you will come away, hopefully, with what is in fact, a love story between two people who need each other in the worst way. This is an intense and emotional journey between the characters, as their emotions are stripped away and they learn to love all over again in a different type of relationship. If you read this book you won’t be able to resist picking up the other stories, it’s that good. Despite the reservations mentioned above I thoroughly enjoyed Submission. Highly recommended!
Great review Wave :). I’m fairly new to this series, having only started reading it a couple of months ago and so far have only read books 1 & 2. I’m really enjoying them so far. I love the interplay between Noah and Tobias, and the way both men are not afraid to open up to each other.
I also quite like BDSM books in general so that side of things wasn’t as off-putting for me, as it has been for you.
I look forward to your review of book 2 :).
Jen
I don’t know what happened but I responded to your comment but it’s lost in cyberspace, so I’ll start over again.
I love this series and Noah and Tobias but one of my favourites is Phan who is a little devil. I do like BDSM but maybe not as much as you although I have read my share. I read this series when it was first released in print 5 years ago, and loved it then and still do.
My quibbles had to do with some of the conventions of BDSM and how the language of this book was not quite in sync what what is considered appropriate.
Maybe you could review books 3 and 4. 🙂
I really liked this one because of the richness in details about the lifestyle, the story, the development in the relationship. And the goodness continues for 4 more books!
Wave, I think you need to read the other books and more about Phantom to understand the role reversal.
Ingrid
I did read the other books but I couldn’t reveal all in my review of Submission since many of the revelations don’t come up until later.
I have to do this one book at a time.
I love this series and have read the books many times.
I was always under impression that the series had four novels: Submission, Domination, Discipline and Bondage. Which one did I miss?
Hi LadyM
There is a new book coming out in September which I believe will complete the series. 🙂
This is the book that introduced me to BDSM properly and I love it. I’ve read all four and can’t wait to read book five. Great review! 🙂
Thanks Lily. I did read a few BDSM books before this series but none resonated like Deviations.
I wish Chris and Jodi would write faster so that book 5 would be here already, but then I would have to finish all of my reviews faster than I intended. 🙂
You’ve definitely encouraged me to get a copy. I’ve been doing BDSM for 25 years, including being a co-founder of a major BDSM organization, so I’m very interested in seeing how the authors handle the subject matter. I started reading m/m romance only about a year ago and have some catching up to do.
Hi Dilo
I hope you do get the books, or at least try Submission, because despite my few niggles I really love this series which gets better. I bought these books in print but they are still available as ebooks. If you want to get them in print I believe amazon resellers have them at discounted prices.
I have read many BDSM books and another one that I enjoyed, which is actually het, is Natural Law by Joey W. Hill, published in 2004. This might have been my first BDSM but I’m not sure. If you read het you HAVE to pick up Natural Law – it’s that good.
Wave, re your comment about getting more of Noah’s POV, I don’t know if you’re aware that Jodi’s site has posted a few of Noah’s journal entries that I think she wrote when they were first developing the book, but that weren’t eventually included. I found them a really useful insight in to Noah’s POV.
I also liked the occasional role reversal, I think it adds to the complexity of Tobias as a real person rather than the stereotypical Dom who never lets go his control for a second…
Hi Beck
I wasn’t aware of Jodi posting parts of Noah’s journal on her site. I’m ashamed to say that I’ve mostly visited Chris’s site because I believe Jodi does a lot of f/f (not sure but I had that impression). I will definitely check it out. They should have been part of the story because I think the journals would have helped Noah’s characterization. It’s been years since I read these books so I had to do a quick recap of the story.
My comment about the role reversal related to the way the BDSM discipline is structured. The Dom usually doesn’t show any weakness and doesn’t let his sub ‘top’ him, unless he’s a switch, which happened in a few instances in the series. However, I admit it made Tobias more human and I loved his relationship with Phan.
I read Submissions years ago.I think it was the first m/m-BDSM themed novel I`ve read. -I didn`t like it!
Now I´m reading your review and it`s the total opposite of what I can remember. I will read the book again because it happens that I change my opinion drastically after re-reading a book a few years later!
Thank you VERY much for the review.
s.
Hi Sims
I wish you would give this book another chance. I’m not as into BDSM books as say, Jen, but I love this series and a few other books about the lifestyle. If you do re-read it let me know how you like it the second time around.
Hi Wave,
thank you for this thorough review! I think I have to move this closer to the top of my TBR pile. I honestly don’t know why I haven’t done that earlier because I rather like good BDSM stories. Especially since this series seems to address aspects of the lifestyle that not many stories do, like the contracts aso.
In regards of a role reversal I think I remember reading about it in one of Claire Thompson’s stories, “Golden Man”. There, iirc, the Dom let himself be f$cked by his sub whith the sub being bound and blindfolded, maybe even gagged while doing it. I found that to be an interesting concept.
Hi Lilli
I did understand why Tobias allowed Noah to top from the bottom and take control at one point but that would be revealing a spoiler so I had to leave it up in the air. If you haven’t read this series you are really missing out if you love BDSM, because I read books 1 and 2 five years ago and they still resonate. Books 3 and 4 came along a little later and I loved them as well. I can’t wait for book 5 which I believe is the last in the series.
When I’m finished reviewing this series Golden Boy/Golden Man are next on my agenda. 🙂
BDSM recommended by Wave? Must be good. 😉 LOL It sounds like a very good series; I’ll check it out, thanks. 🙂
Kendall
While I do read BDSM it’s not my favourite theme, so when I got hooked on this series I was quite surprised and pleased. The emotions between the protagonists as well as the supporting characters really moved me. I hope you try Submission .