Monday 22 September 2014

Legally Bound by JR Gray: Blog Tour | Excerpt | Review

Book: Legally Bound
Author: J.R. Gray
Genre: M/M BDSM



Blurb
The last thing Daniel, a hard-working public defender, expected to see the morning after a one night stand was his hook up staring back at him from the wrong side of the law. Assigned to work his case, Daniel vows to keep things professional with Rafael but has a hard time controlling his craving for dominance, the control and the connection they shared.

Rafael, a paid dominant in the Chicago underworld, has been dealing with a cop problem for far too long. Used to sex with no emotion, he’s entranced with Daniel’s submission, his innocence, and…could there be something more? Can Daniel clear Rafael's name, keeping him out of jail and in his life, with the odds, a cop, and the mounting evidence against them?

Excerpt
Daniel scanned them, looking for anything interesting to lift the dreary Monday, and his eyes went wide when they landed on the face of the man whose bed he had been in last night. “Oh shit,” he said too loudly, drawing the attention of the bailiff. He waved her off, muttering, “Nothing.”

“What?” Jesse hissed.

“I fucked one of our cases last night,” Daniel admitted, knowing he would get it out of him one way or another. There was no point fighting his partner’s excellent extraction skills.

“Which one?” Jesse asked, looking over his shoulder, way too amused.
He tried to nod subtly to one of the prisoners.

“You have to give me more than that.” Jesse stood up and blatantly turned around to study the men sitting in the rows behind them.
Stiffening in his seat, Daniel tried to keep his back to the man he had seen every naked inch of, as well as had his tongue buried inside of, till the early hours of the morning.

“Dark hair, six feet plus, green eyes.” He tried to speak out of the corner of his mouth so no one could read his lips.

“The one with the sleeve tattoo and the huge arms?” Jesse asked.
“Yeah,” he answered in a low, sheepish voice.

“I knew it was that one. You so have a type.” Jesse flipped back around to take his seat once more. He instantly went for the files, lifting up folders and setting the large stack right in front of him.

“What are you doing?” Daniel kept looking over his shoulder to see if the guy showed any signs of recognition.
“What’s his name?” He didn’t look up from the stack of files as he spoke. “Rafael,” he whispered as his face flushed just saying his name. “What are you doing?”

“Figuring out what your lay did,” Jesse said, positively glowing by now.
“I really hate you,” he responded, pulling at his tie and trying to loosen it.
“You’ll thank me later.” Jesse hummed, plucking out the file and flipping it open. “Oh, hot damn, you picked a good one.”

Daniel snatched the file out of his partner’s hands, his eyes going wide. Life just got a little more interesting.

All through the arraignment hearing, he found it hard to keep his mind off the previous night spent at Rafael’s apartment. They’d had an instant connection. He groaned to himself as it became increasingly hard to focus.

“Do you think he did it?”

“Who knows, but how many innocent men do we represent?”

Daniel’s stomach knotted. He didn’t want the allegations to be true. 

“Good point.”

Review
Foxy Rating = Four stars
*Copy provided by the author in exchange for an honest review

A great debut by JR Gray and although BDSM themed books are not regular on my reading shelf I was intrigue by the blurb. I’m glad to say I was not disappointed.

Daniel is shocked to see the face of Rafael the day after their one night stand, mostly because he, as a public defender, has been assigned Rafael’s case to defend. The crime? Soliciting. Daniel cannot believe that he had hooked up with a hooker! However he also cannot fight his attraction to the dominant man and wants more. After sharing this with his best friend and work partner, Jesse, things just spin out of control for both Daniel and Rafael, especially when it is divulged that a dirty cop is part of the reasons for the frequent arrest that Rafael has been subjected to over the last six months.

First off I loved the camaraderie of Daniel and Jesse, what a great friendship they have. Jesse just cracked me up with some of his ‘tongue in cheek’ wisdom he gives out and the way he got Daniel to ‘fess up to his sexual escapades was priceless.

Rafael was a hard one to understand at first, his cool demeanour just made me feel he was a lot older than he was but going from the bio given in the book he was only twenty-three. I would have preferred if he had another five years on that as that is the feel I got of his character and the way he spoke. Then on the other hand the immature reasoning he had for the drugs and betraying George kind of made it understandable he was younger. None the less he was one hot potato I fell for, mind you it is usually the Dom I fall for!

Daniel was a sweet and funny guy and easy to love. I liked that as a ‘would be’ sub he also had a hard head when it came to his professional life. His finger was on the pulse and he thought on his feet, well apart from that badly taken decision to visit that cop. I won’t divulge what happens in the storyline but it was an abhorrent scene played out.  

There was plenty of grit and substance in the story along with some fun and laughter intertwined with the romantic undertone of a BDSM read. It gave plenty of shade and light to the storyline. The secondary characters added to this, especially George aka King who I found totally captivating. That man is so domineering and mysterious I just want to know more about him. Hopefully this will be in the next book, Breach Of Contract, and with more Jesse I am guessing? It will also be interested to find out if the bad cop really did get his comeuppance. An enjoyable four star read. 

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About the author:

When not staying up all night writing, J.R Gray can be found basking in the warm glow of the Miami sun, or at the gym where it's half assumed Gray is a permanent resident. A dominant, pilot, and sword fighting enthusiast, Gray finds it hard to be in the passenger seat of any car. Gray frequently interrupts real life, including normal sleep patterns, to jot down nonsense. The bane of Gray's existence are commas, and even though it's been fully acknowledged they are necessary, they continue to baffle and bewilder.

If Gray wasn't writing…well, that's not possible. The build up of untold stories would haunt Gray into an early grave or possibly a mental institution where the tales would end up on the walls in crayon and finger paint.

Find J.R. Gray online
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A teaser from book two in the Bound Series, Breach Of Contract.

"I have a way out of your marriage, if you want it." George Sirus attempted to make the statement nonchalant as he stood at the bar uncorking a fresh bottle of wine with his back to Jesse. They were midway through their twice weekly dinners, something they had started up after Rafael's case was dismissed. He had found he liked the married man more than was healthy and started digging shortly after for a way to help Jesse's out of his unhappy marriage. George told himself it was to aid his friend out, but there were selfish reasons behind the gesture he would never admit to.

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