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REVIEW: 'Caged Jaye' by Lynn Kelling


Title: Caged Jaye

Series: Arctic Absolution Prequel

Author: Lynn Kelling

Published: April 12, 2016

Cover Artist: Siol na Tine

Genre: Dark Erotic Romance; Dark Contemporary Romance

Length: 176 Pages

Tags: Gay; M/M; Angst: High; Comfort/Hurt; May/December; Mental Illness; Taboo; Kink: Object Penetration and Voyeurism; HEAVY CW: Abusive Relationship, Degradation, Dub-Con, Non-Con, Emotional Abuse, Humiliation, Detailed Descriptions of - Murder, Rape, Self-Harm, Sexual Abuse, Suicide, Torture and Extreme Violence

About Caged Jaye

It’s Jaye Larson’s nineteenth birthday, and all he wants is to spend time with his boyfriend, Kris, and his mother — the people he loves most, who make life worth living. But faced with his mother’s demons, the imperfections of his relationship with Kris, and dangerous, homophobic strangers, one by one, all of Jaye’s dreams are soon derailed. Plunging into a waking nightmare, shortly after going to bed alone, Jaye wakes in an alley, pinned down by two men with slow, bloody rape and murder in mind. It’s just the start of Jaye’s fight for his life, and his sanity, as time and time again, he’s forced to make impossible choices to survive, no matter what it costs.

5 HEART READ

REVIEW: Caged Jaye, the prequel to Arctic Absolution, is the story of Jaye Larson’s attack and his following incarceration. Lynn Kelling does an extraordinary job in the telling of the prison system and the process Jaye must go through in order to survive. The story is chilling and extremely graphic so please heed the warnings.

You could absolutely enjoy the other two stories in the Arctic Absolution series without reading Caged Jaye, as Kelling fills in the gaps, so don’t let not reading this one prevent you from this incredible series.

Shockingly Jaye finds himself guilty of premeditated murder after being attacked and is thrown into a situation where he must do anything to survive. Anything!

Upon entering FCI Sheridan prison he approaches Cash Jones, the leader of the inmate gang The Disciples, and asks for protection in exchange for sexual favors.

The conflict for Jaye between whoring himself to Cash and actually enjoying parts of what he must do to survive changes Jaye indefinitely.

Cash is a complicated character and shows his depth immediately during a scene where Jaye convinces Cash to let him “be his bitch”. Even though putting on a show to demonstrate his ownership of Jaye, Cash shows a little bit of kindness to Jaye and gives us insight to the brutal beauty of his psyche.

Caged Jaye explains how Jaye’s character develops and becomes who he is. Jaye’s desire to survive and come through this experience, make it worth something and someday have a life he wants, is solidified during this time. The stage is set for his future relationship with Dixon Rowe. The parallels between Dix and Cash, between Jaye and Dix, and their motivations for everything they do, are all set up in this book.

I know it sounds hard to believe that a story about a 19-year-old boy having to spend two years in prison could be beautiful, but it is.

I love Cash and the tender moments between him and Jaye are so incredibly powerful.

Even through the many varieties of abuse Jaye suffers, after the hallucinations of his ghosts, and the medications which dull and change his reality, Jaye’s need for Cash becomes more than physical. There is love there. Cash’s support, and Jaye’s need to support Cash in return, get Jaye through this trying time. The bond which develops between them is real and it goes both ways.

In Caged Jaye Kelling makes the story of Jaye’s experience in prison a time of self-exploration and discovery. The man Jaye has become as he leaves FCI Sheridan, and knowing what he will face in the year to come is part of his journey. Jaye learns that, “the only support he could count on was what came from within, not without.”

A copy of Caged Jaye was provided to Kimmers’ Erotic Book Banter, by Lynn Kelling, at no cost and with no expectations in return. We offer our fair and honest opinion on behalf of our readers.

Meet the Author

Lynn Kelling began writing in order to tell stories that aren’t afraid of the dark, don’t hold anything back and always strive to be memorable, forging lasting attachments between character and reader. Her inspiration comes from taking a closer look at behaviors and ideas lurking at the fringes of life—basically anything that people may hesitate to speak of in mixed company, but everyone wonders about anyway. Her work is driven by the taboo in order to expose the humanity within it. Lynn is an artist, designer and lover of any form of creative self-expression that comes from a place of honesty and emotion, whether it’s body art or opera. She is an award-winning author who has written over fifty works of erotic fiction of varying lengths, and always has several novels in progress. Facebook; Goodreads; Twitter; Tumblr; Amazon

For more from Lynn be sure and visit her website.

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