Book Blurb

Give me six months, and I'll give you the world.


Brandon McKinney has scraped and sacrificed for what little in life he's ever had. Though it's been fifteen years since he escaped his father's abuse, the damage remains. Trust seems as far out of reach as his dream of becoming an architect, and though he's come to accept being gay, he can't deny the shame and confusion he feels at other urges--the deeply repressed desire to submit.

Jonathan Watkins is a self-made Silicon Valley billionaire whose ex-wife took half his money and even more of his faith. Comfortable as a Dominant but wary of being hurt again, he resorts to anonymous pickups and occasional six-month contracts with subs seeking only a master, not a lover.

When a sizzling back-alley encounter cues Jonathan in to Brandon's deep-seated submissive side, he makes the man an offer: Give me six months of your life, and I'll open your eyes to a whole new world. Brandon doesn't care about that; all he wants is the three million dollars Jonathan's offering so he can buy the construction company he works for. But he soon learns that six months on his knees is no easy feat, and shame and pride may keep him from all he ever wanted-and all he never dreamed he had any right to have.

Reader discretion advised. This title contains heavy kink. While consent is clearly established and frequently reaffirmed, some moments in Power Play push hard against the outer edges of consent.

Book Review 

I cannot remember the last time a book left me with so many conflicted emotions when I finished reading it.



One minute I feel so sick in the pit of my stomach that I was stopping myself from heaving my dinner all over the sofa.

The next I'm devising multiple methods of committing slow and torturous murder.


"Give me six months, and I'll give you the world."

These are the words Jonathan uses to convince Brandon into moving into his house and becoming his submissive for a period of 6 months after which Jonathan would give him $3 million so he can buy a business.

Brandon glared, stone-faced. “Three million dollars,” he said flatly. “For six months of my life.”
A bit blunt, but, “I suppose that’s the long and short of it, yes.”
“And how is that not prostitution, again?”
“Because I’m not interested in taking something from you, Brandon!"

Tempting, isn't it? Just six months out of your life especially if your life is currently going nowhere fast. So of course, Bran agrees. Who wouldn't?

If you read that you'll probably think this is a cross between Indecent Proposal and Pretty Woman.

Wrong!

While the proposal may be indecent, there's nothing pretty about this story. It's one great big, dark, disturbing, mind fuck.

Jonathan who started out as the tempting seducer soon turns into the sadistic torturer bent on breaking Brandon who wasn't exactly pliant and submissive and fought back every chance he got.


This is where I started hating Jonathan. To be fair I never really liked him. From the moment he made Brandon kneel in the dirty alley, I disliked him and knew he would only be trouble.

Any dominant worth his/her salt would have thought about all the possible outcomes before he wielded a contract for a submissive to sign. But to suddenly become pissed off because Brandon didn't trust him showed how immature Jonathan was.

Well, hello! You did nothing to earn his trust! You treated him like a slave/slut, the one thing he asked you not to do.

Anyway, the short of my review is that despite how much I hated Jonathan, I loved this story. I loved it because of Brandon's resilience. He fought back exactly the way I would've (except I would've probably committed murder too. Battered Spouse Syndrome anyone?). But this is supposed to be a romance novel not a suspense/thriller. So I guess forgiveness and reconciliation were the only way forward.

I just couldn’t put this book down once I started reading it. It was that compelling.

At the end I was praying that Jonathan would redeem himself for Brandon's sake. But of course he doesn't. And I'm left disappointed. But there is hope. There is a follow-on book.

So I'm hoping the next book is better for Brandon's sake and that Jonathan does something to redeem himself. Otherwise, I'll probably be committing fictional murder. I've got a fictional hit squad on speed dial. J



Disclaimer: This book was provided by the publisher Riptide Publishing for an honest review.