Tough Love (Special Delivery: Book 3)

Title:  Tough Love  (Special Delivery: Book 3)

Author:  Heidi Cullinan

Publisher:  Samhain Publishing

Length:  312 pages

Rating:  A List

Up All Night Satisfaction

 

Blurb:  It takes a strong man to be this fabulous.

Special Delivery, Book 3

Crescencio “Chenco” Ortiz pulled himself up by his garter straps after his father’s will yanked the financial rug from under his spank-me pumps. He doesn’t need anyone, yet when Steve Vance steps into his life, the prospect of having a sexy leather daddy on tap begins to take on a certain appeal.

There’s a hitch when he learns Steve is friends with Mitch Tedsoe—the half-brother Chenco never knew except through his father’s twisted lies. Despite his reservations, soon Chenco is living his dreams, including a performing gig in Vegas. Now if only he could get Steve to see him as more than just a boy in need of saving.

Steve’s attraction to Chenco is overshadowed by too many demons, ones he knows his would-be lover is too young to slay. Yet as he gets to know the bright, determined young man whose drag act redefines fierce, Steve’s inner sadist trembles with need. He begins to realize Chenco’s relentless tough love might be the only thing that will finally set him free.

 

 

Review:  After Mitch’s proposal in Special Delivery, and Randy’s declaration of love to Ethan in Double Blind, I never expected Tough Love to surpass that.

But as incredibly kinky as Chenco and Steve can get, their love declarations were even more powerful, more romantic, needy, unexpected and sexier than anything else.

These two can light a fire with just one look. Sexual tension that drips off the pages of this book.

A whole new world, the drag queens world. Completely unexplored for me, learning the ins and out of how to address them . Steve seems to know everything from the start giving Chenco not just a sense of security but a sense of completion and acceptance that is completely new to Chenco.

The gang is back together, and every interaction reminds me of how much I love these characters. They are the most unconventional family I have ever seen, and they are also the strongest one.

The addition of a half-brother to Mitch’s family, you know how he is about feelings. It takes awhile to wrap his head around it, and funny enough Chenco’s fears are completely unfounded. There is no other family more welcoming and accepting than this one.

Nothing is too much for Steve, he is the one that helps Chenco explore his desires, his needs. Always pushing a little bit more. Because in this relationship the one with the real doubts is Steve. He is afraid once Chenco knows everything about him it will be too much.

But it isn’t, Chenco only sees love in Steve’s actions. A connection, a  need that runs so deeply inside Steve that it is a part of him, and just like everything else Chenco opens his heart and his mind to accept it, to share it, to understand.

“You saw me, though.  In the alley.  You looked at me and you saw me.  I was hiding, but I couldn’t hide from you. “

I don’t have a lot of hard limits when it comes to reading, but Heidi pushes them all here. I like to say that boundaries and limits really depend on the writer.  Like I don’t read fantasy but if Kaje Harper is writing it I’m there. I don’t read paranormal, but nothing can keep me away from Mary Calmes shifters. Well, here is the same thing, I don’t do a few kinks like water sports but if Heidi is writing it sign me up!

I will never doubt her capability. I was so IN the story that if it didn’t happen I would have been annoyed with her, honestly. I was looking forward to it. That and the blood play, bring it on!

It all feels perfect, it all fits perfectly too.

Steve is a man with a past, a dark past that he can’t get rid off. He doesn’t want that past to cost him his relationship with Chenco and when he is not sure of how to deal with it, without getting more and more involved, his family comes to the rescue.

Chenco finally finds a place where he belongs, a man that loves him unconditionally. Someone that even with all of his dominance needs Checo’s strength to be able to let go.

Tough Love is the kinkier one by far, but it is also the most emotionally demanding book in the Special Delivery Series.

I really hope the warnings do not scare you off this book, because it really is absolutely worthy pushing your limits a little bit.

Reviewed by Connie