Cream

Title: Cream

Author: Sean Michael

Publisher: Torquere Press

Publisher URL: www.torquerebooks.com

ISBN/BIN: 978-1-61040-844-8

Genre: {M/M} BDSM Series

Rating: 2.5 Nymphs

Literary Nymphs Reviewer: Dragon Minx

Making Beat & Cream bakery a success is Storm’s passion. He works hard, making  cakes, cookies and pastries to entice customers into his store. He even makes custom naughty confections that have become popular with some members of the Hammer Club.  He’s not into the BDSM lifestyle himself but is more than happy for his creations to provide a steady flow of customers.

Zeb has a serious sweet tooth and hears about Storm’s bakery from other members at the Hammer club. He has to check is out and as soon as he does, is hooked on the confections and their creator. As an unattached Top at the Hammer, Zeb could have any sub, but now he’s fallen for someone uninterested in the lifestyle he leads. What does it mean for them?

Cream is the latest release in Sean Michael long-running M/M BDSM Hammer series. A Top being involved with someone not in the BDSM lifestyle isn’t a usual premise for a book in this series. I was enthralled with the idea and curious as to how it might be handled, only to be totally disappointed in the direction the plot took.

From the blurb I expected to read a story of Zeb learning to adjust to life with a lover outside the BDSM world. Instead of letting Storm be the person he already is—happy, healthy, hardworking, and seemingly without any issues in his life, Zeb decides, for whatever reason, that he’s a sub. Storm is the one changed to make the plot line work. Unfortunately, his initial personality set-up never gave any indication that he’s a sub or leans in that direction—at least not that I saw. This didn’t work for me—at all. Yes, it works within the series formula writing style, but it means taking an already established character personality and turning him into someone he wasn’t at the beginning of the book—needy and a bit whiney, in my opinion.  I don’t know that I’d recognize Storm as the same person. I certainly didn’t like him as well after Zeb changed him. 

So, I’m sorry to say, I didn’t like this one. Not only for the above mentioned issues but because there really isn’t any story backbone. It’s all about changing Storm into a sub and Zeb loving sweets. So there is lots of sex and Zeb sampling baked good. No fights, no conflicts and no angst. There just isn’t anything to hold it together or recommend it. For a series that I’ve read for so long—I expected more.