REVIEW: 'Grif's Toy' by Joseph Lance Tonlet
Title: Grif's Toy
Series: Tease and Denial Book One
Author: Joseph Lance Tonlet
Published: November 1, 2014
Publisher: JLT Publishing/Self-Published
Cover Artist: Reece Notley and
Genre: Erotic Romance; Contemporary Romance
Length: 303 Pages
Tags: Gay; M/M; BDSM; D/s; HFN; Tattoos/Piercings; CW: Kink-Humiliation, SPH, Degradation
BLURB:
Grif believes he’ll live his life as a virgin. After all, who would want him? How could anyone find him, a guy who came with less than man-sized equipment, worthy of their love? What he hadn’t counted on were the two amazing men who would change his life. After entering college, he meets Tate, his fun-loving, wealthy roommate. While years later, with Tate now just a memory, Wes, a handsome, rugged ex-marine who runs his own security firm enters his life. Both men force him to see his value, despite his size and insecurities.
5 HEART READ
REVIEW:
Originally Published in April 2015
I picked up Grif’s Toy by Joseph Lance Tonlet because the book blurb about Grif believing he would remain a virgin due to his “less than man-sized equipment” intrigued me, for reasons I will keep to myself, and I was hoping I might gain some insight.
The story ultimately delivered more than I anticipated.
Let me start by conveying that, like many people, Fifty Shades of Grey began my foray into more erotic romance. But after reading numerous authors over the past year I’ve come to realize I enjoy Dom/sub and M/M/F so therefore decided I might venture into M/M. One, because I like to think of myself as open; and two, because as I said, the Grif Toy blurb hooked me.
As I began Grif’s Toy I was a little skeptical, and wondered if I was not as open as I believed myself to be. There is a scene with Grif and Wes in a restaurant which made me feel heartbroken for Grif that he would allow someone to degrade him in such a way. If his sexual life had been altered as a result of his size, why would he want someone to cut him down for it?
Wes finds himself unbelievably lucky to have found Grif. Grif is someone who not only understands, “his desire–his need–to inflict both physical and emotional pain, but someone who appreciates it. Someone who burns with equal desire and gratitude in receiving it.”…but why? In the same regard, Grif seems to live for this humiliation and gets off on it. “Every time I revealed more, made myself vulnerable, there was every possibility that he’d use it against me in the most painful, and thus pleasurable, ways imaginable.” I just didn’t get it!
But Tonlet craftily took me back and forth in time and began to show me how Grif developed sexually as well as emotionally, in addition to how his relationship with Wes came to be.
This back-and-forth was crucial in my understanding of who Grif is and what he needs. I began to realize that without Grif’s time with his previous roommate, Tate, he never could have been able to begin to open himself up to any relationship, let alone open himself further to Wes. Although, in all honesty, I still shake my head wondering how you have a gay/sexual relationship with a “straight guy”.
Even as Tonlet wove his tale I still struggled with what, to me, seemed downright humiliating. I mean, Grif expresses at one point that, “Every single thought I had about my self-worth seemed to revolve around the size of my dick.” So during a scene at a tattoo parlor with Grif and Wes, it just ate at me! Wes also tells Grif that the overwhelming majority of the time he enjoys, “normal sex.” Since he controlled all of Grif’s orgasms, I had to wonder when he did so.
Then Tonlet began drawing me to the books close. I started to see the tapestry come together beautifully and I knew what Wes was doing and how very attentive he truly is to Grif’s needs and yes, how very lucky Grif is to have him.
To have Grif, Wes gets the best of both worlds…..to feed Grif’s, as well as his own, desires by giving Grif what he truly craves.
One of the best examples of Wes’ love for Grif is their first kiss. It is so romantic, and Wes is perfect when he tells Grif to listen, feel, smell: “Can you see this as the place–this as the moment–you experience your first kiss?” Then his note the next day, just WOW! There is also a shower scene toward the end of the book, I won’t give it away, but Wes manages to make that perfect and caring as well.
Through Tonlet’s very crafted way of drawing pieces in time together I learned, just at the right moment, that Grif has a masochistic as well as submissive need and there was no degradation or humiliation at all.
What Grif and Wes give and get from each other is beautiful!
The only thing I could have asked for more of was Grif’s family’s influence. His father is wonderful and accepting, and it would have been nice to know what they thought of how his business life turned out as well as his relationship with Wes.
Joseph Lance Tonlet definitely opened my eyes in more ways than one with Grif’s Toy and I am very much looking forward to Wes’ Denial. I also can’t wait to read more from this very talented author, who amazes me further by this being his first, and self-published, book.
A copy of Grif's Toy was purchased by Kimmers in order to provide a fair and honest opinion. Review was also posted to now exited QUEERcentric Books blog.
Smashwords; Payhip; ARe; Lulu; Amazon
If you enjoy Grif's Toy you might also enjoy Don't...., Don't Book One by Jack L. Pyke.
Joseph is a born and raised Southern Californian—with a twenty-year stint of living in the Midwest. He loves the laid-back lifestyle of San Diego and considers himself lucky to live where people dream of vacationing. A lifelong reader of m/m fiction, he began his writing career one night sitting at his MacBook and has never looked back. He writes to bring the characters he dreams about to life.
Get your JLT book merchandise at his shoppe and support The Trevor Project in one stop!
