Compulsion by Clare London Published by Dreamspinner Press Publication Date: October 29th 2012
Pages: 256
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The past always catches up with you. Max Newman should knowβheβs been running from his ever since he dropped out of Uni and made a disastrous move to the seedier side of London. Now heβs returned to Brighton to lick his wounds. Though Max believes the club scene is better left behind him, one night he lets his friends drag him out dancing. And suddenly the simple life heβs tried to lead gets complicated.
At Compulsion, the Medina Groupβs newest hotspot, Max meets Seve Nunez, a member of the Medina management and a man used to taking what he wants. The sexual chemistry between Max and Seve immediately leads to an intimate encounter in the backyard of the clubβjust the kind of dangerous behavior Max tried to leave behind. Despite that, he can't help but crave more, and Seve seems just as eager.
But Max soon suspects that Seve may not be the scrupulous businessman he claims. Max has seen the Medina Group at work before, and what he saw got a good friend killed. He's not sure what future he has with Seve, but he'll have to decide whether to trust in Seveβs innocence or keep running. The wrong choice could land them both in mortal danger.
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I have to admit that I was disappointed in “Compulsion”.Β I liked the idea enough, and the blurb sounded a little sexy, but it wound up feeling a lotΒ longer than the 250 promised pages.
Max left college to disastrous results and comes back home to his old friends to try to get back on track.Β He wants to stay at home all day and night,Β hiding himself away from the world, until his friends convince him to come out with them.Β All of a sudden, Max’s world is turned upside down by a manΒ he meets at the club.Β Seve is mysterious, handsome, and wants Max.Β Badly.Β Soon, Max and Seve are having a passionate tryst behind theΒ club…something that Max had sworn away from.
The plot is a tad on the convoluted side after that.Β Max had to do some things he didn’t necessarily want to do to survive in London.Β He watched aΒ friend be murdered right in front of him, and there are bad people after him.Β It’s all tied to a club he was working out of, and it turns out thatΒ Seve’s family owned it…AND the new club where they met.
I found myself going back and forth between confusion and even a little bit of boredom.Β I hate to say that because I’m usually able to find somethingΒ about a book that I can get excited about.Β I had hoped the mystery would be that something, but it wound up being predictable, and it caused the storyΒ to continue downhill at a rapid pace.Β I was also anything but satisfied with the ending,Β In fact, I hated it.Β It made me very sad and then turnedΒ around to redeem itself only to be too late in my opinion.
I’ve been going back and forth trying to decide whether to give this one a 2.5 or a 3.Β I’ve decided on the 3 because Max and Seve are actually prettyΒ sexy together.Β I just wish that the sex could have saved it.
