Title: An Inch at a Time
Author: Heidi Belleau and Amelia C. Gormley
Length: 15,700 words
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Genre: m/m contemporary BDSM romance
Rating: B
Blurb:
James Sheridan is failing history. Luckily, his professor is a rumored pervert, and James isn’t too proud to pay for a better grade with his body. Professor Carson lives up to his reputation, but he’s not unethical enough to take sexual bribes. What he can offer is some highly unconventional tutoring . . . creative use of a ruler included.
The deal? Studying, followed by a “quiz.” Wrong answer? Spanking. Right answer? Reward. Ace the final, earn some mindblowing sex. It’s harder work than sexual bribery, but it beats the volunteer tutors at the student center.
After a few study sessions, James realizes he wants way more than a grade from Professor Carson, even if he’s not sure what that is. Carson’s a silver fox, all right, but James isn’t “bent” the way Carson is, and for him, the spankings are only supposed to be a means to an end. But the better he gets at history, the more he realizes he likes getting answers wrong just as much as getting them right.
Review:
Let’s start with a warning here, this book contains a consensual relationship between a college student and his current history professor. If that strikes you as completely unacceptable, unethical and unprofessional then you are not going to like this book. It didn’t bother me and so I enjoyed this prequel to the previous book Giving an Inch.
James is failing history which could mean getting kicked out of college. As a last resort he decides to act on some gossip which claims that the class professor, Carson, would be willing to give a good grade in exchange for kinky sex. Things don’t go quite according to plan though when Carson offers to tutor James instead to ensure he passes the class, especially as the lessons involve a strict punishment for a wrong answer and delicious pleasure for a correct one.
The fun of this story for me was in the way it filled in the back story from the first book and allowed me to see things only hinted at previously. James is very different to the confident young man in the first book and it made me appreciate how much he had changed. In this book James is not only nervous but he has a large streak of self-loathing as he tries to come to terms with his submissive masochistic nature. Carson leads him through that change but I liked that Carson too has his problems and was’t the all-knowing, powerful Dom. Carson makes mistakes and finds it hard at times to keep his equilibrium at times. Their struggles made both characters seem human and real. The age difference between them wasn’t pushed under the carpet and instead used to show the differences between the two men. There’s an immaturity about James which fit with his age and situation, and this contrasted nicely with Carson’s calm experience.
The BDSM scenes are well orchestrated as well as being hot and I particularly liked the way that James (and the reader) is teased with delayed gratification until the end of the story.
Overall, this was a strong and sexy read which helpfully filled in the gaps and allowed me to see the development of the relationship hinted at in book 2. I liked James and Carson and would be interested to read another story furthering their broken relationship from book one.
