Dark Romance with elements of Domestic Discipline, D/s and SM -- this unusual tag combination had me intrigued.
What I found was not exactly an easy read. In many ways it was not an enjoyable read either. In many ways I found it a difficult and uncomfortable book.

And that had to do with its main characters, Max and Lucy, mainly. On page 1 already, Max struck me as obnoxious and Lucy as silly. At that point, with a whole book still ahead, I was tempted to declare the author insane for choosing characters who are difficult to like and/or relate to.
I'm not the only one who thinks Max is obnoxious: "He had explained on the ride home more about himself. That previous girlfriends had claimed he was chauvinistic, misogynistic, a bully, possessive, antiquated, abusive. He used those words. And he said he didn't care if that's how today's world would view him. He only cared about being true to himself. And about how I viewed him."
But, lucky for Max, Lucy is not like his other girlfriends. She's pliant. She goes along with everything Max does. She nearly kills me when she says, "I want you to tell me what to do...to control me like you like to do. You do like to be in control don't you?" and a few sentences later, she says "I'll do whatever you want, Max...whatever you command. I like that you're old fashioned...controlling..."

What also didn't help was the sentence building in the first half of the novel in particular. The sentences seem staccato rather then flowing. Verbs and/or indications of subject are often missing, especially in sentences where lines are spoken by the main characters. But there are also other instances of odd sentence structuring, and various SPaG problems.
Examples:
- "Can I get a Knob Creek neat?" Trying to keep my voice from breaking after being at the club for awhile, too much dancing and yelling to be heard over the thumping music and people. (Ch.1)
- Opening my eyes to the sun just spreading across the brick wall next door. (Ch.2)
- Wouldn't mind getting to see that in real life, the middle finger of my left hand absently rubbing my pussy through my sleep shorts. (Ch.2)
- "Good things…small packages," my patented response, with a squinty smile looking up at him. (Ch.2)
- "...she always asks the craziest questions to try to through off her candidates." (Ch.2)
- “I play beach volleyball sometimes. My friend, Tracy, she was with me last night...she’s really good. I just try to avoid getting hit by the ball or making too many mistakes,” starting the conversation back up. (Ch.4)
- I'm from a small town in Indiana, more corn that people. (Ch.4)
- Hopefully he can't see how much affect his words have on me in the poor lighting. (Ch.4)
- Her hands automatically go to my shoulders to stop from falling forward, her tits gently pendulum in front of my face. (Ch.8)
- "He did more than that. e showed us how to be a family, ..." (Ch.17)


The slow tempo at the start of the novel was unexpected as well.

But.
In the second quarter of the text, it becomes clear that this novel focusses on the courting stage of what may or may not become a longterm romantic involvement between Max and Lucy. It also becomes more and more clear what a creep Max really is. And it baffles more and more how Lucy responds to him.
It is exactly this psychological insight into the developing dynamic between Max and Lucy that makes this novel an interesting read.

The author warns that the text contains elements of Domestic Abuse, er, Discipline, D/s and SM.
So here's the thing: The Domestic Discipline novels I've read had nothing like the kind of dynamic Max is establishing with Lucy. What usually happens is that the DD is an excuse for funishments and kinky sex. The girl is usually bratty, the guy is usually inconsistent, but it's okay, because there is hot spanking scenes that make up for all that. True Nature has none of that. It is not an easy spanky orgasmy make-up-sexy read. Not.

True Nature has a number of elements that provide a kind of depth to the Domestic Discipline theme that I love to find in novels.
1) For one, it does not shirk from deliberately seeking the line between abuse and control, abuse and discipline, abuse and dominance, abuse and punishment. It actively puts this issue front and center.
2) Two, Max is unapologetic about who he is and what he wants. There is no compromise. The rules are non-negotiable and he is consistent. There are no funishment spankings in this novel, in fact there are no spankings at all. (Huh? Yes, no spankings. At all.) There is punishment though, and it's harsh. There are a few sex scenes, but as nothing about Max is lovey-dovey, don't expect hearts and flowers.
3) Three. There is nothing that is instantaneous in this novel. The psychological process of what goes on and why between Max and Lucy takes center stage. Max incrementally demands more and more of Lucy, in the way of bending her to his will. Slowly. Carefully. Methodically. Ruthlessly. Lucy incrementally accepts more and more. What Max does with Lucy involves a psychological technique called operant conditioning (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operant_conditioning) , and he's very good at it. And non-consensual about it too I might add.
Because Lucy is not a brat. She seems rather like Heidi in Selena Kitt's Heidi and the Kaiser. She seems pliant and eager to please by nature. She likes a man to take charge. But she's in no way fully prepared for or anything like an informed participant in Max's machinations. Even at the end of the novel, she has no clear idea of what Max has in store for their relationship and what exactly her role in it will be. She probably has no idea what a TPE (total power transfer) relationship entails nor that she's just entered into one. In some ways the slow bit by bit establishment of Max and Lucy's dynamic reminded me of Anneke Jacob's As She's Told, with the huge difference that Lucy has not asked for any of this to happen, she has not been fully informed and therefore she has not been able to consent to what is in store for her.

It is these elements that made this novel stand out for me as a unique story that I very much enjoyed.

At the end of the novel, I thought I could guess some of the things that will happen next, but the text ends rather abruptly and as this novel is the first in a series of four, reading the sequels is the only way to find out how this story will continue.

In conclusion: True Nature is bold, daring, unconvential, difficult, spikey, uncomfortable, sure to raise eyebrows and ruffle feathers. In many respects it's not an enjoyable read because of all those things and the issues mentioned above.
Yet anyone who's a fan of domestic discipline novels might enjoy this novel just because of the uncomfortable issues it raises.
Also anyone who enjoys psychological depth to their non-con/dub-con and master/monster stories and doesn't mind slow build-up may enjoy this novel too. ( )