Protege by Lydia Michaels #BDSM #BookReview

*** This review is SPOILER-FREE! Read on with confidence! ***

Keeping her off balance, he swiftly wrapped the tape around her waist and returned to his desk to jot down her size. “Slide off your skirt, please.”
“What?”
“I need the measurement of your hips, thighs, and ankles.”
“Am I being sized for a unitard?”
“No, a partner. We’re nosy. Strip.”

Colette craves something…more—to belong and to give up her choices to someone capable and caring—but she struggles with letting go and sinking into her submission for the sheer joy of it. Her mind wars with her heart: after all, shouldn’t a woman stand up for herself, know her own mind, show how capable she is of making her own decisions? But, oh, to belong to someone. To feel cherished and necessary and permanent.

Fernweh was a longing, a sense of homesickness that pulled and caused a yearning inside someone for something they had yet to discover. It was the simple draw to something more and the instinct that, whatever more was, it had to exist, because they felt it. Fernweh drove people to search out the unnamable thing they yearned for. And so their business was born.

Protege delves deep into the emotions that underpin a person’s need for BDSM elements in their life, and it treats the subject gently, expressing how vulnerable and exposed players on both sides of the lifestyle—submissives and dominant—sometimes have to be.

This story revels in the psychology behind the characters and their choices: the whys, the history, the personality traits and defining life moments that inspire and drive a person. The narrative can be quite explicit at times (sometimes even vulgar), but the characters are heavily introspective. Readers are treated to a front row experience of Colette’s first foray into the BDSM community and the waves she creates in Jude’s life.

“Let me make this clear. You will only kneel when you feel compelled to do so. While I recognize it as a sign of trust and honor, I don’t want it if the gesture isn’t genuine. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Sir. And I’m happy to kneel for you now.”
“Then I accept your gift, so long as we agree that submission isn’t ordered, but granted. In time you’ll understand the difference between punishable disobedience and an inclination to reserve your gifts until I’ve proven myself worthy to receive them.”
“Yes, Sir.”

Their journey is fraught with emotions as they push each other’s personal boundaries and take baby steps toward a happiness neither is convinced is possible. Protege is emotionally charged and deeply satisfying. Readers who love authors like Joey Hill and crave a softer, gentler Dom will adore Lydia Michaels’s Protege. This story is also a great introduction to the intricacies of the BDSM lifestyle for those starting to explore, as it demonstrates all the physicality while emphasizing the importance of personal choice and finding just the right partner for both safety and happiness.

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