[199-ENG] Review: Baring it All - D.G. Carothers

 

Series: Bear Essentials

Volume: 1/?
Publisher: -

Genre/s: M/M romance

Length: 32 000 words

Pages: -

Read in: English
Review copy format: epub

Rate:✮✮✮✮✮✮

Basil is convinced that he has everything he needs to be happy. At least for the time being. He has a thriving business, is surrounded by people he can trust and rely on, and although his erotic life is rather poor and his needs are huge, he is able to make his alone time satisfying. That's why someone else has to take matters into their own hands, show Basil what he really needs in his monotonous life and take him on a date that he will never forget.

"Baring It All" is the first volume in "Bear Essentials", a new series by D.G. Carothers. The thing that immediately catches the reader's eye is the way the story is conducted. It should be noted that "Baring It All" shows the details of the main character's life, such as the company, employees and friends, beloved pet and previous experiences. In fact, the form in which the beginning of the novel is written is far from what we are used to in ordinary romances, which I find very interesting. Even more so that thanks to all this we get to know not only the main character, but also his world. It may sound a bit strange, but the reader starts to love Bear Essentials as if they themselves were part of this company. But is it really that surprising? After all every major city should have a place like Bear Essentials. I am glad that D.G. Carothers gives us the opportunity to learn so much about Bear Essentials, its story and its importance to the LGBTQIA+ community.

As for the story itself, in my opinion, "Baring It All" shows how important for the characters, their chance for a relationship and a common future is disclosure. Both Basil and his, at first only potential, better half have their own needs, their own big and small sexual kinks that they don't talk about openly. However, the thing is that without some openness and the aforementioned disclosure, there is no chance for a successful and satisfying relationship. In "Baring It All" we see that our main character, Basil, is stuck in a certain stagnation and does not even try to shake it off. Luckily, someone shows up urging him to act and take the risk of revealing his sexual secrets... Although, is it really so simple? Ha! See for yourself!

I believe it is equally important in this case that D.G. Carothers emphasizes the importance of friendship and trust when it comes to showing the other person who we are in all our glory. I liked it very much, the more so that this part of the story was woven using many other threads, for example the need to see the chemistry between two people. Let's be honest, we are used to the fact that the characters fall in love right away, or if not during their first meeting, then during the second or third one. In "Baring It All" things are quite different. Before the said chemistry and passion, the most important feelings between characters are friendship and closeness devoid of sexual undertones. To be honest, "Baring It All" is probably the first novel I've read in which the transition from friends to lovers is so literal and perfectly portrayed. Undoubtedly, this is another detail that distinguishes "Baring It All" from other novels and is definitely a huge advantage of this story.

Finally, a few words about the thing that always excites me in the novels by D.G. Carothers - kinks and problems less frequently presented in literature. I can't imagine that something so important to me could be missing in "Baring It All". It's just impossible. I am very pleased with what the author has given me in this novel. It is not about shocking, all the kinks and problems on the one hand show the readers something new, pull some of them out of their comfort zone, show them the world. On the other hand, the author shows people who love a given kink that they are noticed, they aren't overlooked, they can also enjoy literature, erotics, romance. Due to the fact that D.G. Carothers reaches for subjects and kinks less often presented in literature, each novel by this author is an important lesson for me, which I simply love.

All in all, "Baring It All" is a really good, interesting, well-structured novel that forms the basis for a series that will delight its readers. This first volume is addictive, it makes us fall in love with the characters and is a great encouragement to follow the characters and read other D.G. Carothers's works. "Baring It All" is your latest must-read.

_________________________________________________

🔥 Baring it All is NOW LIVE 🔥

🔥 Bear Essentials Book One 🔥

Title: Baring It All

 

Author: D.G. Carothers

Release day: July 29th

Preorder here: https://www.dgcarothers.com/books

~Blurb~

Welcome to Bear Essentials, where caring for the outside of you from head to toe is our specialty.

Basil Paddington is living his dream. He's built from the ground up a safe space for anyone to get the services they need to feel beautiful. He's very proud of the work he's done and the life he's built.

He has a successful business, friends, and a lovely cat named Arnold. What more could he possibly need?

Basil gave up long ago on finding love, much less someone who accepted who he was sexually. He has his kinks and a very healthy sex life, in his opinion. Little does he know that there is someone right under his nose that's perfect for him.

While Bear Essentials specializes in making the outside beautiful to each client's own eye, it's below the surface where we find the most surprises.

Bear Essentials is a new series set in the same town as Kink Files. Join us as we follow the folks who work at Bear Essentials as they find love and their Happily Ever After.

Attention: This book contains explicit sexual content between consenting adults. There are depictions of sounding and needle play.

Author Links:

https://Link.Gallery/dgcarothers

Excerpt

I remembered when I was Eddie’s age or maybe a little younger, and I went for my first ass wax. I had been very self-conscious of the excess hair I was getting everywhere, and I wanted to have a nice smooth butt, cheeks, and crack. The whole shebang. I felt it was imperative to my sex life to get it. The first place I went, they laughed and said they didn’t treat men. After that, I called around instead of going in person. I didn’t want to endure that humiliation in person again. Not a single one would help me. I finally found one that had some services for men. It was primarily chest and back waxing. They had listed services of bikini areas, which I didn’t know what that meant. When I asked, they said they didn’t have any estheticians willing to wax near male genitalia.

I was flummoxed, just straight-up baffled. I could understand some people not wanting to touch different privates than what they had themselves. There were reasons why some people preferred one gender over another while getting massages, but I assumed that there would be a certain amount of unbiased professionalism in this kind of industry. Doctors usually didn’t have a bias, even if patients did. I was wrong. They laughed even harder when I asked about male-identifying estheticians.

I had a friend who was a dancer, and I could have sworn he waxed instead of shaved his body. When I went to see Mario and ask, he laughed at me. I acted all butt hurt and pouted. Then he told me that all the guys either shaved or waxed themselves or got each other to do it. Mario showed me an area they had in the dressing room for waxing. I was horrified. I told him they were lucky they weren’t getting any kind of infections from that shit.

That’s when I got the bright idea to open my own shop for men. First, I had to go to school. I already had a business degree that I wasn’t doing anything with. I was miserable in my job, so I looked into beauty schools. At the time, I was living in Barport, but I knew I wanted to open a shop back home in Hartstone.

I was almost laughed out from the top school in the city until I opened my wallet to pay them. I already had several tattoos by then and a decent beard. I was in my long hair phase, so I could understand why they wouldn’t take some guy that could pass for a gruff biker if not for the suit. Apparently, being a male esthetician was unheard of. They got hair stylists and make-up artists but not men wanting to learn about skincare and waxing. But I passed their program, taking night classes, with flying colors.

Once I was done, I created a working area out of my spare bedroom in my apartment and had a steady clientele of dancers to start. Then word spread, and I swear I had every gay and not so gay guy calling me wanting appointments. It was crazy. I couldn’t keep working out of my apartment, but I was to the point I had saved enough to open my own shop.

It still took a while, but I finally found a place in a half-empty strip mall in Hartstone. It wasn’t in the greatest neighborhood, but it was my own shop. Thankfully, Stewie took pity on his old high school buddy and let me sleep at his house while I got the shop up and running.

The shop was going strong. I had leased the empty space next to it and did my first expansion after the first year. I hired some nail techs and opened the first male-centered nail salon in Hartstone or anywhere that I had seen before. Mel already worked for me. I had met them back in Barport. They were friends with Mario. By the time I was ready to open in Hartstone, Mel had graduated from the same school I had, so I had someone else to take clients too. Even with the two of us, we could barely breathe we were so busy. I had totally underestimated the need for this kind of service for men by men.

The horror stories I would hear from so many trying to do it themselves or with friends were awful. They were so thankful to have a place to come to. More than one session would end with both of us in tears because I knew their struggles and their relief.

But I didn’t understand the full scope of what I was starting until one day I had another shy client, not much unlike Eddie. They came in looking like a fish out of water and shuffled up to the reception desk. They wore baggy clothes, and I honestly couldn’t tell what gender they were, not like I really cared.

I was standing behind the desk because it was a standing one; we didn’t sit much back then. They leaned over and whispered to me in a soft voice. “Does it matter what’s down there?”

I knew that they were asking whether they had a dick, to which I did not care. I told them, and I shook my head, “I don’t give two fucks what’s under your clothes. If you have hair you want to get rid of, then I am happy to oblige.” I smiled wide with a wink hoping a bit of humor would relax them.

They cracked a small smile and nodded like everything was going to be okay. I walked around the desk and introduced myself. Indra became one of my oldest clients. It turned out they didn’t like being touched by other women and had an incredible amount of anxiety and self-consciousness about their body hair. As time went by and they continued to see me, we became close friends. They confided in me about a lot of things I don’t think they confided in anyone else about their insecurities.

I realized then that because much of the beauty industry for regular income folks was centered around women, even if someone was assigned female at birth and non-binary or gender fluid or anything other than female, they were treated as female. Many didn’t like that nor want it. They wanted to be seen and treated as they were. And don't even get me started on how trans women were treated in more traditional establishments. This made me change my focus from being more for gay men to everyone. I didn’t know that a place like that was needed, but once I did, I was determined to make it.