One Man's Trash

One Man's Trash

by Marie Sexton

5 out of 5

Synopsis
After four tours in Afghanistan, Warren Groves couldn't settle into civilian life. For the last twelve years, he's survived by working odd and often illegal jobs for some of Denver's less fortunate. His personal life is equally unsatisfactory. He can barely remember the last time he had sex, let alone the last time he got to use somebody hard and rough, the way he likes. Fate intervenes when a favor for a friend leads him to a pretty young rentboy named Taylor Reynolds.

Taylor's spent the last few years on his own, working as a hustler, going home with anybody who'll give him a warm meal and a place to sleep. He enjoys having a bit of force used against him, and he makes Warren an offer he can't refuse - all the sex he wants, as rough and dirty as he likes, in exchange for room and board.

At first, Warren thinks he's struck gold. Taylor's the perfect roommate - he cooks, he cleans, and he's dynamite in the sack. But Taylor has some dark demons in his head and some even darker cravings. Falling for somebody as volatile as Taylor is dangerous enough, but when Taylor's urges turn truly self-destructive, it'll be up to Warren to decide just how far to let things go.



Review
Warren has spent his whole life trying to defend the defenceless, but when he meets troubled sex-addict Taylor, he gets more than he bargained for.

I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Warren doesn't judge anyone's life choices. After a challenging childhood, and the death of his mother, he signed up to serve the army in Afghanistan, pouring his anger into something constructive.
Since he came back home, he's been unable to settle into anything resembling a normal life; working almost as a vigilante, to keep people safe from those that would abuse them.
He finally starts to see a life beyond his self-imposed mission, when he ends up taking home Taylor, a male prostitute with a penchant for pain.

Not wanting to touch a penny from his parents, Taylor has gotten by, exchanging sex for room and board with various men. As Taylor is sex-mad, it's a win-win situation for him.
Sometimes the arrangement lasts a few months, sometimes a few days, but in the end he's always kicked out.
Finding Warren seems to be a dream, as there's finally a man that can coax the darkness that keeps threatening Taylor.

This book had everything in it. Yes, there's sex and BDSM, but it doesn't overwhelm the rest of the story.
There's prostitutes, physical and sexual abuse, the trauma of victims, domestic violence... There's also some highly emotional stuff packed in.
This is in no way a light, easy, or purely sexy read; but I like the way Sexton has written this. It doesn't glory in the violence or the horrific-ness, just for a shock factor. These are presented as real challenges, with no easy answers. People deal with their issues in different ways, and even the worst ways are perfectly demonstrated as to share their (sometimes twisted) reasons).

There were some areas of the story that felt notably slower than the rest, as Warren and Taylor began their domestic bliss, but that was necessary to give their relationship time to mature.

Overall, this was a very powerful story, and I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series.

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