Review – Temperance by Lark Taylor

Temperance; Damned Connections #3
(#3 within a series)

Publication Date: May 16, 2024

Genre/Tropes: Paranormal/MM/BDSM/Suspense Romance

Author: Lark Taylor

Review Rating: 5 Gold Stars

Review/Synopsis:

Review:
This series continues to bring an emotional depth unlike any other paranormal romance I’ve ever read. Temperance brings together the worlds of paranormal, supernatural, and BDSM with perfection.

Blaise is a mage who believes he’s broken. A man so down on himself that his feelings bleed off the page and Toby is one of the few people around who feels like he can help bring him back from that darkness.🥹 Blaise made my heart hurt with his sadness.

Toby is a top, a dominant, who lives the lifestyle 24-7. Toby has helped subs in the past and while he wishes some of those subs would have stayed, he realizes that not everyone does. He sees Blaise hurting and decides yes, he can help, but he also won’t extend himself beyond a contract. Toby has been there, and he has the t-shirt. Several in fact.🥺 While he hides his pain better, he too made my heart hurt.

So much of this book is heartbreaking, but really as the story progresses it became clear how much growth and strength this couple displayed. The dynamic alone, just within their relationship, was everything.

Honesty, communication, trust.

It should be the foundation for every relationship and yet what so many lack. This is the core of Temperance and it’s beautiful that a book steeped in pain and darkness can teach us these beautiful lessons in love. I really loved how strong these two were together, hot as well, but also finding that power in love, not only within yourself, but with the right partner.

This book weaves through several timelines of Larks other books, but Temperance can be read as a standalone. Blaise and Toby pop up and help out through several stories, so it all makes sense for fans, but as a singular story, their relationship stands on it own as well.

Synopsis:
A fire mage who believes he’s broken. A vampire who believes he can fix him. A contract that’s going to change everything.

Blaise

I’ve never been good at doing the right thing.

A series of bad choices have left my life in tatters. Everyone is telling me to move on, but how can I? What I did was unforgivable, even if others believe otherwise. My whole world ceased to exist the night I left a human dying on a classroom floor.

I don’t deserve anything good in my life, I know that. But I’m desperate for peace. Just a few moments where I can escape from everything I’ve done.

When Toby offers me a solution that promises just that, I jump at it. I never imagined having a Dom, but with Toby in that role?

Nothing has ever felt so right.

Problem is, this is a contract, not a relationship. A temporary one.

Which means I need to guard my heart and stop myself from falling for this enigmatic vampire.

Like I said, I’ve never been good at doing the right thing.

Toby

I never learn.

Every time I see a needy sub, I can’t help but offer my help. Every time, I forget that it’s a contract and fall too hard and too fast.

I’m the one who fixes them, never the one they choose to spend eternity with. That’s the way it always goes.

When Blaise bursts into my life, I already know how it’s going to end. I can’t stop myself from wanting to help him, but this man has the capacity to break me in whole new ways. Maybe if I keep the boundaries strict between us, I can walk away at the end without another scar on my heart.

Like I said, I never learn.

Temperance is the third book in the Damned Connections series. Featuring a needy sub and a dom who’s trying to avoid heartbreak, this spicy MM PNR romance will pull at your heartstrings. Although this can be read as a standalone, it’s better enjoyed in order. Each book follows a different couple and has a guaranteed HEA.

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