Title: ⟫ Sicken of the Calm (Fox Lake #1)
Author: ⟫ Marina Vivancos
Rating: ⟫ 3.5/5
Blurb: ⟫ Joaquin would never forget the boy who came out in the middle of the school cafeteria when they were both fifteen. Would never forget his bright eyes and clenched fists, in defiance of the rest of the world. Ezra. His unapologetic bravery was something that would haunt Joaquin who, despite being the captain of his high school football team, was too reserved to come out before college, let alone approach the boy he admired from afar.
Joaquin is in his third year at Fox Lake University when he sees Ezra again. Joaquin expects the distance between them to remain unbreeched, but Ezra, as brash and impetuous as he was in high school, crashes into his life. At first, it’s just a shared class project, but it doesn’t take long for things between them to heat up. Before Joaquin knows what’s happening, he’s squirming on a chair as Ezra watches him jerk off, those clear, intent eyes pinning him in place. This starts a friends-with-benefits relationship with the aim of exploring a submissive and Dominant dynamic in bed, dipping a toe in the BDSM world together.
However, nothing is ever so simple. As their sexual relationship amps up, so does their friendship deepen, fed by those gentle moments after sex, underbelly-soft and vulnerable. As Joaquin gets to know Ezra better he realizes that his assumptions about who Ezra is, and even the assumptions he has made about himself, have to be challenged in order to break the cycles that may lead to their relationship breaking apart.
[This story contains plenty of banter, a fuckbuddies-to-more romance, and light, exploratory BDSM themes revolving around Dom/sub dynamics and kinks such as orgasm delay, praise kink and mild bondage. Although part of a series, this story can be read as a standalone with its own HEA.]
Review: ⟫ I wanted to love this book far more than I actually did. I found it incredibly wordy – beautiful, evocative words, but wordy nevertheless. It felt like the author veered between paragraphs that were almost like poetry and then complete and utter BDSM smut. It was – jarring isn’t the right word, but it made it difficult for me to figure this book out, which marred my enjoyment.
Another thing that marred my enjoyment, and perhaps should have had a spoiler warning, was a threesome scene. I still can’t figure out why that scene was in there – it felt so unnecessary, and for me unwelcome. Perhaps it was to show that Joaquin would do whatever Ezra wanted because he was under his spell, but that had been made plain in other ways so this felt superfluous. I have enjoyed other books by the author, but this one didn’t resonate with me and I was a little disappointed.
From other reviews I’ve read, it definitely seems like one of those books where YMMV with some people loving it, whilst others have left it unfinished. By the end of the book, I realised that I didn’t have any particular feelings for either Joaquin or Ezra, which felt more than a little sad. Not for me.
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