4✨

This book was recommended in one of the M/M Romance groups I'm a part of on Facebook. And damn, I'm so glad I downloaded it from Kindle Unlimited.

The story follows Cal and Gideon. Cal is a student at Roosevelt Academy and is hated by most of the students and the staff because his father swindled money out of a bunch of rich pricks. And, of course, it just makes sense to take it out on his kid. Because Cal has no family, no money, no friends, no home and has to find a way to pay for his insulin, he takes a job as a sex worker. It's when he meets Daddy Gideon that his entire world changes.

Leopold Gideon was married and lost his husband, but along the way he came into a crapload of money. He donates to charity and every so often he likes to spoil himself with a man: but never the same guy twice. It's a rule. Until Cal, where Gideon breaks all of his rules.

I don't mind a good Daddy Dom story; but I was more interested in the teacher/student aspect of this book! Technically Gideon doesn't teach him (okay, except for that one time), but they do have some hot office sex. I loved the moments of angst too. Everyone loves a good fluff piece every now and then, but when characters feel terror and you're not really sure what's going to happen?! Yeah, that's my bread and butter.

This was my first time reading anything by Onley James, but it won't be my last time!

3.5 stars. I think this might be my favourite Onley James book so far, lmao? Which seems wild. Or maybe it's tied with a couple of the earlier Necessary Evils books. The plot for this one is simple and unabashedly thin. A rich 19-year-old fallen on hard times takes a desperate one-time job as a sex worker. The guy he spends an amazing night with? Turns out to be the new interim headmaster at his private school. And then they bang a lot. I realised that this was going to be high heat, but it was almost pretty much erotica? Which is fine; it just would have been better if I'd known that going in. 

And I mean, there IS a plot, thin as it is. Gideon has a lot of baggage and trauma from his previous relationship. Callum's father was recently imprisoned, and he's being bullied horribly at school by both the faculty and his peers. That was one of the things that didn't really work for me. In the beginning of the book, Callum is really going through it, as the administration tries its best to force him out, and he's having issues with his diabetes, and getting medication, and at a certain point, all of his suffering felt very dramatic, and not in a good way? But in a way that made it clear that his exaggerated suffering was purely so that Gideon could swoop in and be his saviour. I'm not opposed to whump, not at all, but it needs to feel... idk, natural? Weird thing to be picky about, but I am who I am!

But anyway, the book succeeded at what I assume was its main goal: to be hot and taboo. It got really OTT, but I didn't mind so much. There was a reveal near the end which literally made me bellow with laughter, so that was great.

Spoiler

Imagine being a FED, bugging a headmaster's office, then getting to hear him rail a 19-yo every other day.

I did enjoy the details of Callum's diabetes and everything he had to do to manage it. And Alexa was super cute.

Not my favourite thing, but it worked for me more than I expected it to!

Fuck it, I’m giving this 5 stars. This is my favorite of Onley James’ books so far and I can definitely see myself reading it again. I couldn’t stop reading it at some points. I loved Callum and Gideon, loved their story, how they met and fell for each other. I wish this was longer, and the plot took an unexpected turn, but I really did love this. The 5 stars are for the characters and the emotional moments between them, because like I said I do wish it was longer. This was just so fun to read and I was really invested from the first chapter.

4.5* of pure Daddy sexiness.

I first came across this as a prolific works freebie short about Callum a down on his luck young man and Gideon the strong Daddy who never plays with the same boy twice. I am so glad to have it now as a full length novel. It has lots of the things I like, age-gap, Daddy kink, discipline, hurt/comfort, a little bit of angst not from the relationship and hot sex, this book has plenty of that. I will say not to read this book in the evening as you will find it hard to put down. There are some unresolved or skipped over threads to the story that make it seem a little incomplete but I loved the story so much I was willing and able to over look this slight niggle, this for me is an author who is quickly becoming an automatic one-click buy. Would definitely recommend this to anyone who loves Daddies and their boys.

3.5