Book safety below.
I’m going to start this review on a negative note, which I rarely do, but this is one of my biggest pet peeves. Why is there no character descriptions?? Like, at all? No eye color, height, hair color.. just nothing. It frustrates me so bad.

On to more positive things. I’m certainly no expert, but I felt like the kink was done very well. It made sense for the characters, especially Nathan who is exceptionally scatterbrained. He needed to quiet his mind sometimes, and puppy play/subspace was perfect for him. Nathan didn’t really know what got his motor running, but he knew something was missing. His roommate Gabriel had kind of been acting like his Daddy/caretaker for months already by the time their relationship changes. Nathan needed someone to care for him, and Gabriel was perfect for it.

We didn’t really get to know Gabriel a whole lot other than that he was a teacher and kinky. We did get to see how patient and caring he was though, which made me like his character.

Nathan was definitely OTT sometimes, but it was endearing all the same. His lack of a filter was cute, and a character trait I enjoy a lot, but it felt like beating a dead horse after a while in this story.

Overall, it was perfectly enjoyable, but for a book focused on kink, surprisingly.. bland? Maybe I’ve just strayed so far off the vanilla-path that there needs to be something crazy for me to notice, lol. The puppy play parts of the book made me smile though, I only wished there was more of it.

Book safety! Spoilers ahead.

Spoiler

Cheating: No
OM drama: No (there’s a girl in Nathan’s friend group that tries to stirr up shit. She’s batshit)
Third act breakup: No
Strict top/bottom or vers: Strict roles

TW/CW: explicit sexual content, kink, puppy play (and all that entails), absent parents, (mild, if possible) accusations of domestic abuse (there is no abuse)

Favorite quotes:

«‘I’m not a kid.’ ‘The last time I sent you to bed when you were this tired I ended up finding you on the bathroom floor. You’d sat down for just a minute, God only knows why, and had forgotten to get up. We’re not doing that again. You scared the hell out of me. I thought you were dead or something.’»

«Walking around unfulfilled and knowing you were missing something would make you a miserable person to be around.»

«Nathan might be my little space cadet sometimes, but he put a lot of effort into trying to understand his emotions and reactions. He was a funny little nut. That was one of the reasons I liked him so much.»