Blurb:
Author AKA ‘Cat’

Trouble seems to follow Danny around. From computer fires to escaped arachnids he spreads chaos wherever he goes.

Jack does his best to keep his mischievous young lover in line in this comic tale of misadventures.

D/s romance, gay romance, M/M, manlove, spanking stories, Top/brat, parody, humour, fetish, domestic discipline

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Review:

I picked up the Jack and Danny Chronicles because the author was recommended to me by Jenre and a few other readers. Having heard high praise for Black’s work I may try one more book but this particular offering is littered with incredibly poor editing, numerous grammar mistakes, and a repetitive plot that literally goes nowhere. On the plus side the characters are somewhat likable and there is a sense of silly, ridiculous over the top fun to the story. If you buy into that sense of ridiculous while ignoring the really appalling editing, then I can see how some would find this story charming and entertaining.

Jack and Danny are in a punishment Top/brat relationship. Danny is a 19 y/o seriously immature young man that’s come from a difficult childhood. His mother died when he was in his teens leaving him living with a sister he never knew he had and his sister’s husband. Once Danny was introduced to Jack, an older man in his 30s, the two have a quick courtship and start living together. The story revolves around Danny’s outrageous actions, Jack’s disciplinary spanking, and Danny’s mental justifications for why nothing is ever his fault. There are the secondary characters of Danny’s older sister, an equally ridiculous and histrionic personality and her husband, Denny.

The narrative as told through Danny’s POV is basically a repetition of scenes with the same basic format. Danny does something absolutely outrageous, irresponsible, immature, and ridiculous thus causing some near catastrophic event. Jack gets angry, spanks Danny with his hand, a hairbrush, or a cane while Danny cries and says he’s sorry. Once the spanking is over, and it’s never erotic, Danny sulks and mentally reviews how nothing is actually his fault. Repeat again and again.

This repetition is very frustrating. Danny is a difficult character to like and appreciate because he’s so incredibly immature. Some of the antics and over the top actions are a series of unfortunate events, which you can appreciate in a kind of Calamity Jane way. Yet these are the minority and the majority of issues stem from Danny’s unbelievable immaturity. At one point he even has a full scale temper tantrum, screaming, swearing, and throwing rocks and even trash at people at a church. I honestly stopped and thought who acts like that? When they’re 19 no less? And the fact that the sole answer is to spank Danny is ridiculous. Danny never learns from the spankings and although he tries hard to get out of the punishment, the spanking –never- acts as a deterrent.

Danny’s older lover Jack frequently explains why he’s with Danny. This is helpful since I, like many of Jack’s friends, couldn’t understand why Jack would put up with Danny’s immaturity. Supposedly Danny is worth all the hassle and expense since he’s so innocent and pure at heart, which in some ways is true. Danny is supposed to be charming in his naïveté and inability to see reason. He’s supposed to delight the reader with his reactions, the endless domino effect that always happens when Danny starts something stupid, and the various mental arguments Danny has to justify his behavior.

In some ways I can see the sense of humor the author clearly has and the story does have that sense of whimsy and charm. The story is clearly over the top and meant to be ridiculous. You can’t take it too seriously since frankly no one would act like this. So while I can appreciate the story for the sheer entertainment value, it goes on too long and the actions end up so wild and ridiculous I just lost any warmth and sympathy I had for the characters. Instead I disliked all of them and felt they enabled Danny’s immature and unacceptable behavior and Danny should stop being such a spoiled brat. Not everyone treats Danny well, such as Jack’s friend Tristan who is odious, but Danny is so hard to like since he simply never learns.

The other issue is simply this story is clearly not edited, at all. There are so many grammar and punctuation mistakes that I don’t think the story even spell checked. This lack of care makes me not want to care either. If only the story had been carefully edited and shown a polished front, this would have helped. I also think if the story hadn’t tried so hard to include so many over the top actions, the natural charm and sweetness to Danny could have come through much more. If Danny had done even half of the tantrums and actions the humor and entertainment value would still have been there without the frustration that such a person wouldn’t actually exist, even in fiction.

Some parts of this I liked and found very amusing but not enough sadly. I’ll give this author another try to see if it’s just me.