Awakening

2020 Reread:Even better the second time around! Upping my rating to 5 starsOriginal Review (4 stars):Thankfully I was not disappointed by this sequel to [b:Power Play Resistance 13484184 Power Play Resistance (Power Play, #1) Rachel Haimowitz https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1329195964s/13484184.jpg 19019159]. It was so good to see that Jonathan recognized his previous mistakes and made the effort to understand how Bran was feeling and help him learn to embrace the role of a submissive. I was relieved to see that Bran remained a smart-ass (cause that's why I love him so much) and especially that Jonathan recognized Bran's need to be productive and make use of his intellectual and physical talents. I was glad to see that in the end, Bran got that balance between independence in his professional career and submissiveness at home.I can't put my finger on why, but I failed to connect with Jonathan the way I did with Bran, which is odd because I typically go weak-kneed for Doms in books. Perhaps I feel like he broke my trust when he screwed up so spectacularly in the first book, which made me feel protective of Bran, and my trust is extremely difficult to earn once broken. I also was continually irritated at Jonathan's insistence on calling him Brandon despite Bran's desire to be referred to by his nickname, especially since he could only guess at Bran's reasons (which were irrelevant as far as Jonathan should have been concerned). I felt it was a huge sign of disrespect, and Bran deserved loads of respect for the sheer effort it took to change his life to such a degree. And as Bran pointed out, he respected Jonathan enough not to refer to him by his given name, and deserved the same courtesy in return.Also gotta say that at first glance, the cover looks ridiculous but upon closer inspection, it's actually pretty hot!