Ana J. Phoenix

I received Lab Rat’s Love from the author through the Goodreads M/M Romance Group’s Don’t Buy My Love review program. This story is told through the eyes of Nex, the ‘lab rat,’ and Kane, the man who's in charge of the company that came up for the experiment that Nex is a part of. We also have a ghost character in the story, Styx, Nex's twin brother, who pops up every once in a while through letters written to Nex and Kane.



The story sucked me in right away. Nex and Kane meet under unfortunate circumstances but I liked the interaction between them immediately. The tension is created by their snarky banter and their physical attraction to each other. We learn that Nex is the twin brother of Styx, who happened to be the partner, of Kane in business and in love. Nex is pulled into the world of Kane and Styx because Kane needs something from him. He needs Nex to be the lab rat for an experimental chip that is to be implanted in the brain. It was designed for his and Styx’s DNA, by Styx, only Styx died. Nex refuses at first until Kane agrees to pay off all of Nex’s debts. See Nex has a problem, he’s a drug addict and a gambler. Also motivation for Nex is that Kane is a Dom and Nex a sub and they have great sex. Styx and Kane didn’t mesh well in the sexual area since both were Doms.

Here’s were the problems come in. Nex thinks Kane wants him only because he reminds Kane of Styx. Kane is confused and keeps seeing Styx, but Nex is pulling at his heart. We learn that Nex has PTSD and Styx was a manic/depressive, and a very manipulative s.o.b. at that. The illnesses the twins had, had a large impact on what goes on in the story, as does their traumatic childhood background.

Nex has always thought he was stupid because Styx was such a genius and their dad always compared Nex to Styx. Nex wasn't stupid however. He may not have been a genius, but he had people smarts and he could figure out connections that other people didn't notice. Styx had his issues also, through back the story and talking with Kane and the letters, we find that Styx couldn't let anyone too close. He couldn't handle letting go and he hated drugs so he wouldn’t even take his anti-depressants. He was just as messed up as Nex, but in a different way. We find that even though Nex was an addict, he was the stronger one of the twins, he just needed someone to support and care for him. As for Kane, he needed someone to care for. The relationship with Styx worked for a while, but Styx was too much of a control freak like Kane, to give himself over, and Styx was a suicide victim ready to go off at any moment. In the end, Styx was manipulating Nex and Kane from beyond the grave. By the end of the story both Nex and Kane have changed and grown.

There are a few secondary characters, like Nex’s ex-roommate who supplies Nex with drugs. It appears to outsiders that Ty doesn’t care about Nex, but I think he does and not because they were occasionally f*** buddies. One part of the story I wished to have seen explained more, is what happened to Ty after Nex moves in permanently with Kane.

The one thing I had trouble with was the idea of the chip. If the chip had been successful, I can easily see an unscrupulous person kidnapping someone, implanting it into someone’s brain they wish to ‘keep,’ and then conditioning that person to become dependent on them. Not a good invention. Besides, I think it’s an easy shortcut instead of having the sub learn self-control or the sub learning to tolerate more pain. It takes training. I didn’t care for the chip idea much, but it gave the romance part of the story a focal point to revolve around.

There is BDSM in this story, but it’s mild. I would say the story is more about D/s than kink, even though kink is a part of Kane and Nex’s sex scenes. This was an entertaining read for someone who wants to read light kink. The pacing was good, not to slow or too fast and the editing was good. I only saw a few missed words.

I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to others. I give Lab Rat’s Love, 4 Stars.


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2.25 pieces of cake
What happened? I'm not sure, but while the story was cute, if a little tense with the alpha off running around Aidan's back (for a really sweet reason), and Aidan trying to decide if and when he's ready to become a werewolf, he's still not sure. With his mate's erratic behavior, he worries that maybe their relationship is a little too lopsided.

In order to become a wolf, he needs to actually have sex with his mate, which would have been fine in and of itself if combined with the more typical mating bite, however, with this story, we have something I really do not buy into: magic dick syndrome. There is no bite. It's just magic semen that causes someone to become a wolf.

Is it me or is there some undercurrent here that I'm totally missing? There was no romance in the gesture, no real build up to the scene. It just was there purely so the one mate could "impregnate" the other with his magic go juice. It was gross to be honest.

I was expecting more cute romantic gestures and instead got told once again that a relationship only counts when sex is involved (at least that's my impression). Very disappointed reader here.
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