Access Rylands Sacrifice (Thrown To The Lions #1) Scripted By Kim Dare Shown In Hardcover

am feeling really conflicted about how to rate this, and how I feel about it,

The first chapter alone isand yummy, but after that, . . grrr! So frustrating. I wanted to like it, but there was a lot of illogic and unnecessary angstiness, A major pet peeve is roadblocks to a relationship occurring when characters won't talk to each other, As I say to my nephews use your words and talk to each other, I want the rest of it to be a one, but I think that is mostly due to disappointment that a promising start was wasted.
Principles don't pay tuition fees, When Ryland's math scholarship disappears overnight, he has two choices, He can borrow money from fellow student Jason Burrows, who has very interesting ways of collecting debts, Or, he can volunteer to be thrown to the werelions,

One night spent playing the part of a willing human sacrifice will give him enough money to finish his PhD.
It seems like a good dealright up until the moment he finds himself naked, blindfolded, bound and surrounded by lions, Not my cuppa tea. A little tiresome to read due to too much repetitions, One could only withstand so many mentions of 'lions' and 'instinct' throughout a story, Plus, I didn't feel much chemistry between the leads, Both leads are quite static and not well developed, Why did not one tell me this was student/teacher, I hate student teacher even if the student is a PhD candidate, and the teacher is his professor, I wanted sexy shifters. I got student/teacher, and what sounded like it might not have be, I didn't stick around to find outa fairly significant age gap also one of my least favorite things.
Not for me at all,

My disappointment might also stem from the fact the title might have lead me to believe that this would be some sort of sexy ménage, and that's what I really wanted.
Reread. It's a sure thing. Just as good as every other time I've picked up this book,.
Usually, i love Kim Dare's style of storytelling but this one was just unnecessarily complicated, . . i just wanted to shake both the MCs and go "Just talk to each other already, you nincompoops!"

And i also didn't appreciate the disconnect that was portrayed between shifter and human behavior.
it felt artificial and forced and that happens when things are not backed by some sort of logic, Even if the shifters were born as lions they primarily live in the human world and primarily in their human forms, . . The lions behave as if they've never set foot out of their house and have never interacted with humans apart from the pets "thrown" to them.
hmmm i guess the world building's a bit lacking that's why everything feels fuzzy and unreal and not in a good way, . .

That said, i liked Ryland's character a lot! : The way he stood up for what he believed was commendable! Ryland is a university student who's lost his funding and is in desperate need of money.
Faced with the choice of going to a loan shark with a scary reputation or spending one night with the lions, he chooses the lions.


When he's delivered to them he's blindfolded, hands bound and completely naked, Totally vulnerable and without a clue as to what is going to happen Ryland is surprised to find himself responding to the attentions of a man he can't see.
He's even more surprised when the blindfold is removed and he sees Arslan, a Professor from his university,

Arslan is the pride leader and a Dom, As the night goes on the dynamics of the Dom/sub relationship start to take hold as Ryland begins to relax and respond naturally to the older man.
All that changes however when Arslan makes Ryland an offer he desperately wants to accept but knows he can't, at least not until he's free to do so.
Unable to tell Arslan the truth he turns him down and the men part ways, each knowing they want to be with each other, but not how they'll achieve that.


As usual with the author's stories the theme of D/s is very well written even though it didn't feel as intense as some of her other works.
Ryland and Arslan's relationship was interesting to read and I especially liked that Ryland made his choices, some not as well thought out as others, but ultimately he was responsible for himself.
Arslan calls him his 'pet' and sees himself as having to take care of Ryland yet at no time was Ryland under Arslan's thumb as can sometimes happen in D/s stories.
Things happen to Ryland that normally would have the big strong Dom coming to the rescue but in this case the sub takes care of himself.


I really enjoyed this first book in sitelinkKim Dare's new series, I've always liked shifter stories and I was intrigued with the concept of werelions, The story didn't let me down, There are still questions to be answered about this new world such as just how well known the lions are to humans as well as the reason that they have the 'thrown to the lions' nights.
This first book in the series did it's job by capturing my interest, I'm looking forward to the next story, Mehhhh .

I still cant believe Im giving this two! Its the first book of Dares that I havent liked.
It was flat, unsexy, and very short on worldbuilding,

Lion Shifters live amongst humans, They are known. Why do they need weekly “sacrifices” brought to them There are a lot of unanswered questions in this tale, Unfortunately, I dont care to discover what their answers might be,

I got bored reading this and even skimmed through the final scene, Sorry Simba, Ill pass on the rest of the series, Another/star candidate for me, but I'm bumping it up because I find myself curious as to where the series will go.


Let's see. I think it's considered an "open" world as far as the existence of shifters, Ryland heard of the werelions' existence, or maybe their existence locally, through a rumor going around the college, He's a grad student, in need of tuition money, and he chooses the risky but strangely appealing idea of being "thrown to the lions" over the local loan shark.


Unlike the ancient Roman tradition, being thrown to the lions, in this context, is being given to the lion pride as a sex toy for the night.
According to the lions, they typically see three types of volunteers adrenalin junkies, nymphos who will try anything sexually, and whores, Ryland is technically whoring himself out for the tuition, but he doesn't feel like a whore, he wants to stay among the lions for a deeper, more instinctual reason.


The hotness scale is definitely rocked with this one, The bondage games at the beginning and the helplessness Ryland feels when being played with by the lions is delicious,

When the blindfold comes off, a whole different vibe takes over, Ryland recognizes Arslan, the leader of the pride, he's been crushing on him for some time without realizing that he's a werelion.
They fall into a D/s relationship with no effort at all, And, although the pride normally all play with the human of the week together, the alpha wants to keep this particular treat to himself.


As for the "what type of were" details: this is the "magic" rather than the "hearing bones crack and reform" type of lycanthropy.
And apparently these werelions only have two forms human, and fully animal, although the alpha can have claws in human form,

Note: I don't think a location was explicitly mentioned, but the book uses British English conventions, A longer book from Kim Dareyay, Okay, now for the real info, This new series, revolving around werelions has much of the same style I have come to associate with K, Dare. Lots of introspection from the submissive in the relationship but not too much real soul searching from the Dominant partner, I expect that. Its probably a lot easier to come to terms with the dominant side of the power exchange but in this case I think we needed a little more insight into Arslan.
Maybe not his need for dominance but certainly more vision into the werelion persona, Since the werelions as a species living among humans needs some world building to let us all understand the human/werelion dynamic it could easily have come from Arslan via mental musing or his daily interactions.
Of course, standard for Kim also, . . the sex scenes are hot, hot, hot!

Ryland was a great sympathetic character who made choices I could understand, The BDSM Dom/sub relationship is not as dramatic as in past Kim Dare books, This felt much more subtle even though the beginning was very dramatic and tense, The secondary characters have stayed with me, I feel they added to the scenes they were in rather than leading the scene astray, I especially liked Kefir and can't wait for his book,

I didnt come away convinced that the whole werelion/human dynamic was fully fleshed out for this series as this first book was written.
I dont really understand the reason that they bring humans into their den in the manner that they do, What is the purpose for that What do the lions get out of it Does Arslan not know the people that procure these men Can he not contact them Does he really not know that these men are being paid to enter the lions den Lots of questions that were left unanswered but would have cleared up some of the decisions made and actions taken by both Ryland and Arslan.


Additionally, I am unsure of where the pride fits in with the world, Do the other lions work Go to school What is young Arslan muses to himself about their youth quite often, but how young are they really The way Arslan interprets his interaction with humans makes it seem, except for his students, its a rare thing for him to be in human presence.
Its like he has no idea how to understand humans and that seems unlikely unless there is a much larger werelion population than I originally thought.


The last

thing I noticed is that there are no women mentioned in this book, Are there no werelionesses Are there no female friends, students or colleagues for any of these men They mention not caring about gender relations but it doesn't explain the lack of women.
Not that I want any of them to be love interests, ewwwbut still, to have no female interaction anywhere in the book was confusing.


I have great expectations for this series as I can only imagine things will tighten up and holes will be plugged or explained.
Even though it may not seem like it, I thoroughly enjoyed the book and am looking forward to the next three, They cant come out soon enough for me,

MarchAs a general rule I enjoy Kim Dares work and I like shifters so hey it should be good for me.
I got to pageand if it had been paper I would have thrown it, Rather than explain in three sentences what had happened, Ryland comes up with some cockamamie plan I didnt even get as far as the whole plan to “fix” it and you just KNOW its going to end badly.
I did slam the lid down on my netbook in disgust and go watch a friends video of him opening his birthday gifts.
Much more satisfying. Sigh. Now Lily tells me it ends without Ryland having to be rescued so I will likely go back and skim the parts that make me crazy and see how it ends but I was kind of stunned by my strong reaction to be honest.
I can usually go with the flow with most books and it takes a lot to make be stop cold half way like that.
So Im sure youll see how I felt soon enough because Im compelled to see if Ryland can redeem himself, Stupid boys are not sexy,

MarchOkay, I finished it, I cant believe that Arslan didnt smack the shit out of him because the bloody kid I say kid although I think he was, he didnt act it made no freaking sense half the time he was “explaining”.
I read for pages with a frown on my face trying to figure out WTF he was talking about, To be honest, because I found him so frustrating and annoying I just didnt care about him much at the end, Im much more interested in the couple Blaine and Luthor or the little guy Kefir, I was kind of like “yeah yeah, go away now, youre annoying me, lets get on with the story of someone more interesting whom I like”.
Would I read another book in the series Depends on who its about and how much Im going to have to put up with Mr.
ITalkInRiddlesThatMakeNoSense Ryland. I liked the concept and as I said, I developed an interest in some of the other characters, I wouldnt say I disliked Ryland, I just stopped caring about him and whether he got a HEA, Not good. .