His Custody is the first book I have read from Tamsen Parker, but it definitely won't be my last. I didn't know what I was in for having never read anything from Tamsen Parker before, but I really enjoyed this book and I am already looking forward to reading more from her. His Custody had angst and emotion, and was a bit on the forbidden side giving me a bit of everything I look for in a good romance.

Keyne had everything until it all fell apart. Getting ready to start her senior year, Keyne finds herself suddenly in the custody of Jasper, her boyfriend's older brother. Though Jasper is rough around the edges and doesn't want the role of guardian, he knows that he needs to protect Keyne after everything that she has been through. But the more they are around each other, the more each of them feel things for one another that they know they shouldn't. Keyne needs someone to take care of her and keep her in line, but Jasper could find himself in trouble if he gives in to his desires and what he knows that Keyne really needs.

I really loved Jasper and Keyne. Jasper was strict and all alpha, while also being really caring. He genuinely wanted to help Keyne even though he really had no interest in being her guardian. You could tell just how much he cared though, and I loved him for it. I loved how him and Keyne interacted and how their connection and attraction built over the course of this story. Keyne had been through so much, and she needed Jasper. He was perfect for her and these two just seemed meant for one another. They had a lot to overcome and that threatened to stand in their way, but I really enjoyed seeing how they handled everything that came their way.

This book really was an emotional ride that I felt truly invested in while reading. I wanted so much for these two and I was just hoping that everything would work out the way I wanted it to for them. Jasper was a bit dark and had his Dom side, but the fact that he was caring and considerate was what had me falling for him. Like I said before, this was my first read by Tamsen, but I am already anxious to read more from her. If you are looking for something that has angst and emotion with a great story to the romance, this is definitely one that I would recommend checking out.

**ARC Provided by Publisher**

Source: Review copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley.

Content Warning: graphic descriptions and discussion of self-harm.


Keyne is a happy, privileged 17-year-old girl whose life changes abruptly after she becomes the sole survivor of an accident that kills her parents, her boyfriend, and her boyfriend’s parents. The two families were incredibly close, and now the only survivors are Keyne and Jasper, her boyfriend’s older brother who wasn’t on the boat that day. She has an aunt and uncle, but they are sketchy and she only feels safe with Jasper, so thanks to the magic of creative liberties, Jasper is awarded custody. He is 32.

A couple of days before I saw this book on NetGalley, I re-read Craving Flight. Ms. Parker is an incredibly talented and compelling storyteller. Her voice is lovely and although BDSM Romance isn’t my jam, I loved that book. I guess I was in the right mood to make the wrong decision, because I did not pay attention to the blurb. So, disclosure, I’m not the best match for this trope, but also, Jesus Christ, book, go sit in a corner and think about what you’ve done.

Where do I start? I already told you that Jasper ends up Keyne’s guardian, a position he’s utterly unqualified for. First, he’s a billionaire workaholic with an unstable personal and professional life. Second, he’s a drug user and an alcoholic, but he kind of quits those through the mighty power of the alpha male’s willpower--a willpower that isn’t mighty enough to keep him from lusting after, and eventually fucking, his underage ward, but more on that later. And he also has a girlfriend who, of course, is vocally against his decision to take care of Kayne, yet she’s nothing but a soon-to-be ex, so she goes away to join Romance’s Army of Evil Exes of Books Past, and next Christmas she will come back to remind us that internalized sexism is alive and well in our genre.

Keyne is deeply traumatized by the accident and she’s having trouble coping with all the grief. She’s depressed, she can’t sleep, she won’t eat, she won’t speak; it’s pretty bad. And to be fair, Jasper recognizes that he’s in over his head. She sees a therapist, but we mostly hear about this from his point of view, and it’s something mostly mentioned in passing.

Jasper is in rough shape as well, after all, he also lost his family, but he doesn’t do anything about it, and the progress he makes is because Keyne is in his life. This is a common genre character arc in which one of the protagonists (or all of them) finds solace and emotional healing through their love story. But the emotional and mental health issues these two are going through seem insurmountable without professional help, and that, among other more obvious things, renders the romance unviable to me as a reader.

At first, their relationship develops slowly. This is not an insta-lust story, but things get inappropriate quickly when Keyne, who has nightmares and trouble sleeping, goes to Jasper’s room in the middle of the night and next to him finds enough peace to sleep.

""Keyne was standing there in sleep shorts and a camisole, hugging herself and weeping. He knew this might happen. She’d been taking sleeping pills for the past couple of months and they’d decided with her doctor and her therapist maybe she shouldn’t anymore.

“Bad dream?”

She nodded and flung herself at him, making him glad he’d put on a shirt. Judge Pollard wouldn’t be excited about his attire, but it was better than nothing. Keyne’s hands fisted in the worn cotton at his back, her small frame heaving with violent sobs. He hesitated for a split second but then hugged her back. Of course he did. What kind of human being wouldn’t offer comfort to a sobbing girl?

“Okay,” he murmured into the top of her head. “You’re okay.”

When her keening had turned less convulsive, he pet her hair. It was soft and it smelled good. It had been a long time since anyone had let him hold them like this. Sarah wasn’t affectionate, and though he had hugged his family when he saw them, including the O’Connells, it hadn’t been like this. A quick, greeting squeeze, not a prolonged embrace. The longer he held her and the calmer she became, the more he became aware of her body pressed against his.

Which was flat-out unacceptable. She’s a kid, Andersson. A child who woke up from a bad dream and sought out the only person who was around to offer her comfort because everyone else was dead."


He is aware of how wrong the situation is, but of course, that’s not enough to keep him from eventually acting on his feelings. Yet those feelings never felt romantic as much as a mix of lust and emotional need. She makes him feel grounded and needed, and as her caregiver, why wouldn’t he feel that way? But because this is an erotic romance, we need courtship and sexual desire, so we get twisted versions of common courtship tropes, like the hero and heroine forced to spend the night on the same bed, and the hero suffering through it with lusty thoughts and morning wood, except that this time, the heroine is 17.

There's more. Keyne self-harms, and Jasper is furious, worried, and even considers bringing it up with her therapist. But then again, when presented with the possibility that she might be hurting herself, this is his immediate reaction, which to be fair, could be a form of panicked denial, but, well, you be the judge:

“I went to replace Miss O’Connell’s linens, and her door was closed. I knocked and she told me to come in. She happened to be getting out of the shower, but told me to do whatever I needed to do. I was hanging up some towels when she dropped her comb and when I picked it up . . .” The woman took a deep breath and set her jaw. What the hell?

“When I picked it up, I noticed a cut on Miss O’Connell’s leg.”

The gears in Jasper’s mind were turning, but not quick enough, they weren’t up to speed. He did his best to come up with a reasonable explanation. “She had just showered, right? She could have cut herself while she was shaving.”

The image of Keyne soaking wet, gliding a razor up her calf and then to her thigh while one foot was propped up on the bench in the shower was enough to derail his mind again. Jesus, Andersson, shut that shit down. Where the hell was this even coming from? It made him want to dig his own brain out of his skull and send it through the garbage disposal. Knock it the fuck off, you sick bastard.


It’s not surprise that he ends up handling the issue himself, because he doesn’t seem to know the difference between self-harm and blood play:

The thing was, it wasn’t so much the act of cutting that bothered him. It was the motivation. He’d been with a few women who liked blood play and one of his girlfriends had been really into it. It wasn’t his favorite, but she loved it, so he’d indulge her on special occasions. Happy birthday, kitten. I’m going to cut you.

He understood what she liked about it; the rush she got from him holding her life in his hands while he teased her by running the flat of the blade all over her body before selecting his sites: the underside of her collarbone, below her breasts, along the peak of her bottom ribs so the rivulets of blood would run down the slope of her solar plexus and pool in the hollow of her belly. She’d liked her inner thighs, too, and the memory made him acutely ill.


And how does he handle it? He gives her his blood play kit, and tells her to do it in front of him:

“I’m not going to stop you. I don’t know how.” Not without physically restraining her or getting her locked up in a psych ward, neither of which he was going to touch with a ten-foot pole. “So here’s the deal. You want to cut yourself? You’re going to do it in front of me.”



He doesn’t offer much of a rationalization for this, but I assume he wanted to be there to keep her safe and maybe make her stop. And it works:

“I mean, I’m done. I won’t do it anymore.”

His breath caught in his chest and then he did turn around. “Okay.”

Tears welled in her eyes and her voice shook like she was about to lose it. “I—I just wanted to feel something that wasn’t that. It didn’t matter if it hurt or felt good but nothing felt good enough. I wanted to know I could feel something, that maybe, someday I’d be capable of feeling something other than empty, other than sad, other than hopeless.”

Her breath shuddered out and she put her head in her hands, her wet hair spilling forward around her face. “If I . . . if I feel like doing that again, will you tell me not to? I think I could stop, if you told me not to do it anymore. I don’t want to keep cutting myself, but I . . .”


I will be the first one to say that I’m not familiar with the subject, as my depression doesn’t manifest this way, but is this not an irresponsible portrayal of self-harm? Is this scene supposed to signal that this is not about mental health but about her budding kink? I found this part incredibly upsetting.

I DNF’d the book about the halfway mark, which is when they finally have sex, a month or so after she turns 18. I found the narrative contradictory at times. On the one hand, there’s a lot of emphasis placed on how mature and strong Keyne is; Jasper remarks how mismatched she and his gentle, immature brother were, and when she goes back to school she struggles with how different she feels from her peers and how she has trouble bonding and connecting with them at their level. But on the other hand, there are some elements that infantilize her: Jasper calls her Tinker Bell, her childhood nickname; every time she goes to his bed she acts like a little girl visiting a parent (until she wakes up and thinks about erections); and when they have sex, she’s a virgin, and he’s gentle, a bit patronizing and borderline didactic. That was my breaking point.

I don’t know what the eventual dark moment will be or what happens after. Maybe they get separated and reunite years later. I hope the book gives Keyne time to grow and have healthy experiences, so that the decisions she make feel truly informed. But I don’t plan to stick around and find out. I don’t know if this is a trope that’s possible to pull off convincingly, at least not to me. At times I felt complicit, because she is the one who initiates that first sexual encounter, he feels like a sick fuck (his words) most of the time, and she really likes and needs him, so that, to me, read like the book working hard for the reader to know that she had agency, that she consented, thus making it okay for me to consent and to go along with the romance.

I’m going to leave it here, because this has gone on for long enough and I didn’t really intend to write a rambly review. I see that the guardian/ward trope is having a bit of a comeback (by which I mean this is the second book I’ve heard of), and I confess that I don’t really remember ever reading one until now, but taboo romance has become popular and I guess this book counts as one. I don’t know, friends, I was already unhappy about Catholic priest Romances, but at least in those everyone is a consenting adult and there’s no power imbalance (I hope). Anyway, insert your own thoughtful closing thoughts here, because I’ve ran out of those.

Grade: DNF

His Custody is the first book I have read from Tamsen Parker, but it definitely won't be my last. I didn't know what I was in for having never read anything from Tamsen Parker before, but I really enjoyed this book and I am already looking forward to reading more from her. His Custody had angst and emotion, and was a bit on the forbidden side giving me a bit of everything I look for in a good romance.

Keyne had everything until it all fell apart. Getting ready to start her senior year, Keyne finds herself suddenly in the custody of Jasper, her boyfriend's older brother. Though Jasper is rough around the edges and doesn't want the role of guardian, he knows that he needs to protect Keyne after everything that she has been through. But the more they are around each other, the more each of them feel things for one another that they know they shouldn't. Keyne needs someone to take care of her and keep her in line, but Jasper could find himself in trouble if he gives in to his desires and what he knows that Keyne really needs.

I really loved Jasper and Keyne. Jasper was strict and all alpha, while also being really caring. He genuinely wanted to help Keyne even though he really had no interest in being her guardian. You could tell just how much he cared though, and I loved him for it. I loved how him and Keyne interacted and how their connection and attraction built over the course of this story. Keyne had been through so much, and she needed Jasper. He was perfect for her and these two just seemed meant for one another. They had a lot to overcome and that threatened to stand in their way, but I really enjoyed seeing how they handled everything that came their way.

This book really was an emotional ride that I felt truly invested in while reading. I wanted so much for these two and I was just hoping that everything would work out the way I wanted it to for them. Jasper was a bit dark and had his Dom side, but the fact that he was caring and considerate was what had me falling for him. Like I said before, this was my first read by Tamsen, but I am already anxious to read more from her. If you are looking for something that has angst and emotion with a great story to the romance, this is definitely one that I would recommend checking out.

I'm not sure where to begin with this book. The first chapters hooked me into this story. I felt extreme sadness for the characters and their loss but had high hopes for both Keyne and Jasper.

The first half of the book is Keyne and Jasper dealing with the loss of their families and waiting for her to turn 18. The year went by rather slowly for this pair. It was a lot of I like you but I can't be with you.

The story began to fall apart for me when there was no real drama or plot. When I thought the author was going to give us a bit of drama she dials it back. The custody case , his ex-girlfriend, her returning to school. These are just a few early examples.

The second half of the book started when she turned 18. It turned into this weird BDSM novel. They started having sex where they explored his panache for kink. It felt like he was a Jack of all trades Master of none.
As soon as their relationship started to grow she's off to college and he's on a downward spiral.
I think if we could have focused on a few storylines and plot points this could have worked a bit better.

This was one of the hottest novels I have ever read! I absolutely loved the hero and the heroine and will read more from this author in the future.

I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this novel!

This was a great guilty pleasure read. I'm not normally one for BDSM but in this story it worked. The age difference and the death of the characters family was handled very gently and very well.
Ultimately I liked this book, but didn't love it. It's something outside of my comfort zone that I tried and I am glad I did.

***Review posted on The Eater of Books! blog***

His Custody by Tamsen Parker
Publisher: Intermix (Berkley)
Publication Date: March 21, 2017
Rating: 2 stars
Source: eARC from NetGalley

***Warning: this is an adult book, and for the eyes of mature readers***

Summary (from Goodreads):

He needs to be a better man for her sake, but she makes him want to be so bad...

Keyne O’Connell leads a charmed life. She has a caring family and a terrific boyfriend. Her senior year is about to begin, and her future looks bright. But one dark summer night robs her of everyone she loves, thrusting her into the care of her boyfriend’s intimidating, much older brother.

Dark and brooding, Jasper Andersson is not a good man. His business dealings are barely legal. He’s a womanizer and a casual drug user. He has no interest in becoming Keyne’s guardian, although given her limited options, he doesn’t have much of a choice. He knows he must protect her at whatever the cost.

But living in close quarters soon stirs up feelings inside them both that are far from platonic. Keyne needs a firm hand to keep her in line, but what she desires could lead Jasper into trouble...

What I Liked:

I'm going to begin my review by saying that I really enjoyed this book... until the last fifty pages of the book. Yes, I'm giving the book three stars, despite loving the book (again, until the last fifty pages or so). I'm so disappointed in the last part of the book because it had been so good (for me), until that point. Please be warned - this review will have spoilers (especially in the "What I Did Not Like" section).

I've never read a book by Tamsen Parker, and I don't think I've read a true "guardian/ward" book. I wanted to try one and test my boundaries, and I really enjoyed this book - minus the last fifty pages. I picked this book up on a whim, and while I wish I could say I was glad that I did, I really can't.

Life comes to a halt when Keyne's family - her parents her boyfriend Gavin, and his parents - are killed in an accident while they were on a cruise. She has known Gavin since birth, since their parents were best friends. Which means that she has also known Gavin's older brother Jasper since she was born. Jasper fights for custody of her, knowing that while she has blood family, he is her only real family. He doesn't know anything about being a parent or raising a teenager, but he isn't going to let Keyne go. Living together was never going to be easy, but it gets even harder when the pair recognize their fierce attraction to each other, and how deeply they've fallen for each other.

I loved both of these characters from the start, but especially Jasper. He is fourteen years older than Keyne (thirty-one at the start of the book), a successful and rich businessman with a very kinky dominant side, and a very pleasure-filled life. When his parents, Keyne's parents, and his little brother are killed, he has no time to process his grief. Keyne's grief is overwhelming and very present, and Jasper wants to be there for her before anything else. I love how Jasper puts Keyne first in everything, and takes care of her, from start to finish.

Keyne is incredibly broken after the five deaths, and for months. She doesn't process the grief well. It's good that Jasper is so caring and understanding because Keyne becomes a zombie for a few months, before she begins to be alive again. I liked Keyne and her fragility, but I also liked her quiet, budding strength. She leans on Jasper and learns to live again because of him.

Okay, you probably wondering - he is thirty-one and she is seventeen and HOW is this a romance novel? I assure you, nothing sexual happens between them until she's eighteen. In fact, about half of the book is spent over months (maybe eight months? I can't remember), in which they live together and heal together, but they ignore their attraction as best they can. Nothing happens until she turns eighteen. But even before then, it wasn't really weird. Nothing about the situation struck me as weird.

And even then, Jasper is careful to always give her an out. He gives her so many options, and makes sure that she knows that she is safe with him and can stop him at any time. He is gentle with her in that regard... but nothing about the romance is gentle. He is kinky and a true dominant, and she discovers that she likes some kinky aspects of sex that she didn't fully understand. The two of them together are tough, passionate, and fiery, and a lot of the scenes with them in the second half of the book are scorching hot. There are BDSM-type scenes in this book, though nothing super super erotic or hardcore.

But the last fifty pages... the ending really threw a damp towel over the inferno. I'm very sad about the last fifty pages. There IS a happily-ever-after ending, don't worry. It's how we get there that makes me sad and angry. Read on for spoilers and my dislikes.

What I Did Not Like:

I'm going to be blunt - the last fifty pages made me angry, and disappointed. This is the part of the story in which Keyne goes to college. She goes to Yale, about an hour away. But Jasper, being the noble guy that he is, tells her that she should go and meet boys and have sex and do whatever, even though he also tells her that he loves her and will wait for her, and she clearly tells him that she loves him and only wants him.

You can probably see where this is going.

I'm 100% confident that Keyne didn't have vaginal sex (i.e. penetration) with anyone. But she did get a boyfriend in the first few months at college, and she lets him touch her and do stuff to her, and she does stuff to him. Again, no penetration, but... none of this sat well with me. How can you claim to love someone and be devoted to them, but also go "exploring" with someone else? Jasper was furious about that, but sad nothing, because he wanted her to be happy. Also, we as readers know that Keyne (probably) didn't have sex with that boy, but Jasper never knew that. And of course, I could be wrong, and Keyne most definitely could have had sex with the boy at some point. A lot of time passes.

Look, I'm all about choices and empowerment and whatnot. This really bothers me though, because Keyne loves Jasper, and she always claims she wants to make him happy and doesn't want to hurt him. But in a lot of ways, her "exploration" in college (four years, by the way) makes me feel like she did all of that to spite him for giving her this choice. Which is f***ed up, if you ask me. I get it, he told her to go and live life and have sex with whomever, but that does not mean she had to - especially since she really didn't want to. She didn't even like that boy! She recited her homework and schedule while he put his hands on her. Do you see my frustration?

Friends, while (penetration) sex is regarded as intimate and personal in most instances, I think the "other stuff" that people do is also really intimate and personal... and the fact that Keyne allowed herself to do those things with and to other people, when in fact she only wanted one man, really bothered me. Especially since Jasper was over there with his very celibate self, not letting anyone touch him.

Yup, those last fifty pages though.

Would I Recommend It:

I really don't recommend this book and kind of wish I hadn't read it. Which is a shame, because I loved it, up until Keyne goes to college (which is in those dreaded last fifty pages I keep mentioning). I'm so annoyed and also very disappointed and sad. This could have easily been a new favorite romance novel of mine, had the climax/ending not marred it so much for me. So, no, I don't recommend it.

That being said, I'm sure most readers will love this book. I'm very strange and strict when it comes to my tastes in romance, in that I'm usually on the conservative side (i.e. two people in the romance - no love triangles or outside partners or menages or orgies, etc.). And arguably, Keyne had one boyfriend (Tyler) and she may not have even had sex with him, and anyway this whole thing may not be a big deal to others. But it's a loyalty/cheating thing to me, and it's a big deal to me.

Rating:

2 stars. This hurts for me to dish out this rating for such a wonderful book that I loved until the climax/ending. I was loving this book, and flying through the heartbreak and the slow-burn romance and the sexy, sexy times! But the last fifty pages really ruined the story for me, and I can't look at this book this same. I might even delete it from my Kindle, because I can't stand to look at it anymore. I think I got too invested and then I got too hurt by this book!

I can always count on this author to push the boundaries, and that's definitely evident here in this guardian/ward story. Jasper and Keyne lose their families in a boating accident, at which point Jasper takes over as guardian for Keyne (she's 17). Nothing happens between them until she's 18, and everything that happens is consensual, with Keyne initiating the sexual relationship. I'll be honest, I'd have felt more comfortable if she was 20 and not 18, but that's my personal preference, and obviously part of what makes this more of a forbidden/taboo romance. It's kinky (Jasper is an experienced Dom and Keyne is just learning about her submissive side), it's sexy, and there are definitely going to be controversial thoughts on what happens later in the story. An intense and sexy story, the couple gets a sweet HEA.

This review has been posted at Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Goodreads.

Keyne O'Connell is devastated by the loss of her family and boyfriend in a tragic accident. The only familiar person in her life afterward is her boyfriend's older brother and family friend, Jasper Andersson.

Jasper isn't that much older than Keyne and getting custody of her isn't all that easy, especially when there's an uncle that wants her too. But Jasper and Keyne manage to convince the judge that he'll be the best guardian for Keyne.

These are some rough times for Keyne, as she deals with her grief and all the changes that come with her circumstances. Rough times for Jasper too, as he gives up his kinky lifestyle and partying to do the right thing by his new charge.

When Keyne's nightmares drive her to find Jasper in the middle of the night, he's tempted and torn, but he manages to keep everything beyond reproach, that is until Keyne decides she wants him on her eighteenth birthday..

While His Custody flirts with with impropriety, it never quite gets there and I appreciated that. The kink that eventually becomes a temptation for both Keyne and Jasper made for a very interesting situation between these two.

I seriously loved how this book brought things to a conclusion. My heart hurt for Jasper and Keyne and their pain was portrayed beautifully by the author. Sometimes doing the right thing hurts.

I adored the gothic feel to this story, with Jasper the older, experienced male and Keyne the young ward. There were only a handful of secondary characters, which made for a laser focus on the compelling love story between Jasper and Keyne. The spotlight was on them for the entire book, and I really liked that about His Custody.

If you are looking for a kinky tale with a dash of darkness and light, His Custody might be for you. The writing will keep you turning the pages, and Jasper is very hard to resist.

ARC provided for review

The guardian/ward trope in romance is one of my all-time favorites - right up there with the best friend’s older brother one. However, I usually have to get my fix in historicals or in older Harlequin Presents as this a rare-ish trope in today’s contemporaries. So when I heard that Tamsen Parker was writing a contemporary (but erotic, of course) guardian/ward romance, I was incredibly excited. And His Custody met every expectation I had for it (something that is routine for Tamsen Parker books). This is no fauxboo story; Parker pushes some serious boundaries here.
 
Admittedly, this story ventures deep into some taboo areas, and it will not be for everyone. The hero, Jasper Anderson, gets custody of high school senior, Keyne O’Connell, after both of their parents and his younger brother Gavin are killed when their yacht sinks. Keyne is the only survivor. The Andersons and the O’Connells were extremely close and intertwined in each others’ lives. Jasper refused to leave Keyne to the not-so-tender mercies of her remaining relatives and fights hard to get custody. Thus, Keyne becomes Jasper’s ward.
 
As mentioned earlier, Keyne comes to live with Jasper the summer before she begins her senior year of high school. She is broken, devastated by the loss of her parents, Jasper’s parents and Gavin, who was her boyfriend. But Jasper provides a stable home and structure for Keyne. While nothing sexual happens between the two until after Keyne is eighteen and after she has finished high school, there are times that their relationship ventures into questionable areas - like when Keyne sleeps with Jasper in his bed. Also, there is obvious sexual tension between the two which makes it no surprise when that sexual tension becomes something more (again, after she is 18).
 
Once Jasper and Keyne begin having sex, things between them get down and dirty fairly quickly. Jasper is a dominant man who is not easy on his lovers. Fortunately, Keyne’s burgeoning sexual desires match Jasper’s almost exactly. And while they get together, they don’t broadcast their relationship as they know it could cause them issues. As a result, their relationship seems to exist in a silo for them. This is threatened when Keyne goes to college in the fall when the two need to deal with the realities of their situations.
 
There are many things that make His Custody a taboo story: the 14 year age difference (or thereabouts), the fact that Jasper is Keyne’s guardian, the kink and power exchange, and Keyne’s fragile mental state after the accident. However, Tamsen Parker makes the romance work despite these taboos - or more accurately because of them. She doesn’t shy away from forbidden topics but faces them head on and the story is that much better for it.
 
His Custody is taboo romance at its best, add in the creative kink that Tamsen Parker is well known for and you have one of the best books of 2017.

3.5 stars

I'm no stranger to Tamsen Parker's work and, knowing how she has the has the ability to put a twist on things, I was looking forward to seeing what His Custody held in store.

"I’m going to teach you. And I’m going to start here."

This story holds much of what enjoy reading: older guy, forbidden feelings, emotion, angst and some kink. Yet I'm not sure where to categorise it; Age 17 is YA, 18 is NA and whilst sex and the D/s aspect enters the equation when Keyne is the latter, much of the story does take place when she is the former with feelings brewing between her and her much older, guardian, Jasper. But to clarify, nothing physical happens between them until she's 18.

"It didn’t matter if it wasn’t against the law, it was still wrong. But it didn’t feel wrong."

Whilst the first half of this story gives us a real opportunity to get to know Keyne and Jasper and the pain they're going though--particularly Keyne because their mutual loss is immense--at the same time I never fully became invested in them. And I think this can be attributed to the pace of the first half which I found because a bit too drawn out and possibly Keyne's age initially.

"I will always be here for you. I know it’s hard to remember when you wake up in the middle of the night, but I swear on everything I have it’s true."

Whilst I didn't enjoy this as much as I was hoping to, it did kick up a notch in the second half as Keyne and Jasper cross that line and realise they're compatible in more ways than they imagined. And as always, Tamsen has written a Dom who is considerate, although there were certain aspects that don't exactly float-my-boat sot to speak. It's simply a case that whilst the majority of her books have worked for me, His Custody is the one that didn't quite so much: when you've read so many from an author there'll possibly be one or two that don't always hit the spot.

I was intrigued by the premise, however in the end I just don't think this one was for me. And i definitely had to nope out at the cutting that Jasper decided to turn into light blood play part. Again...just not a kink that's for me. So i sort of struggled through the rest of it to the end and i guess I never really got into it, sadly.

I must admit, I wasn't sure what the time span this book would have. I mean, His Custody, a BDSM romance novel, kind of brings the LEGAL alert all blaring with lit marquee and stuff. But I've met Tamsen. I should've known she'll do right by those characters.

But not before she wreaks havoc on their lives. Like, to the nth degree! Read more…
Look; she kills off their parents, his brother (and her boyfriend) and basically leave them alone in the world. So yes, he's 32 years old and has done very well for himself, but she's only 17. After a short legal battle with her uncle for her guardianship, Keyne is given to Jasper. She's his responsibility until she turns 18 (at least).

Oh whoopsie, didn't introduce the characters. So we have Jasper Andersson and Keyne O'Connell. Jasper has known Keyne her whole life. His little brother was her boyfriend, they were inseparable since birth. Their parents best friends. You know, the usual.

It's funny (not funny ha-ha) how when two people are grieving, but one is responsible for the other, they sort of push their grief away, put it on hold, in order to care and support their ward. And that's exactly what has happened with His Custody. Jasper is so focused on caring for Keyne, that he's ditched his bad habits, his unsupportive girlfriend, and has dedicated his whole self to bringing her back from the dark place she's at.

And part of that is basically dictating her daily schedule. With her consent, of course. A hidden crush Keyne has on Jasper, her trusting him with her life and her self, and their daily interaction brings out a secret she's been keeping.

All bets are off the day Keyne turns 18 years old. And that's when she gets to know Jasper as she never has before.

This novel is bringing forth a new, bolder voice from Tamsen Parker. Having read all her published work so far, I can safely say this one is stronger, more absolute and is crafted in a very compelling way. The conflict in the situation did wonders to make the book a definite page turner. I couldn't wait to read more, get to where I can finally understand how those two can get their HEA.

If you're conflicted about the age difference, about the sensitivity and about anything else... don't. Give it a chance. I can guarantee you'll get back to your book retailer of choice and grab the rest of Parker's works.

I enjoyed His Custody it has a great balance between story and romance. I liked the interaction between Jasper and Keyne and found both characters likeable. I would recommend this book and look forward to reading more by this author