Sins of the Father by Anna O’Neill
The storyline has not a normal development and the reader is plunged in the lives of two shinobi in the Japanese warlord era. Sora Sanada is 19 years old and just named captain and Kaname Takeda is appointed his sempai; what apparently seems a dislike due to the fact that the captain is 10 years younger than his man, slowly becomes clear as a different dislike, there is bad blood between the two clans of Sanada and Takeda, but even that it’s not fully explained. What it’s clear is that Sora starts to see Kaname with different eyes, and even if he is the leader and higher in social status, he becomes a little teaser, trying to coax Kaname out of his self imposed isolation.
While continuing in their role of “killer” for the warlord, and never losing their ruthlessness, between Sora and Kaname blossoms a sexual relationship that is erotic but never explicit. The author has the men having sex in romantic places like under a waterfall or a light rain, they explore each other bodies in every possible way, but never once she uses explicit words, for example, bodily fluids become “his sempai’s secrets”.
There is no need to explain Sora and Kaname’s past, better the past of their parents that still conditions the life of their sons; there is no need since this is the story of Sora and Kaname, their love allows them to find the courage to escape their legacy, and it’s a love so strong that it’s not even necessary to acknowledge it: Kaname will allow everything to Sora, not since Sora is his captain, but since Sora, even if younger, even if inexperienced, his nevertheless the only lord Kaname will worship, the lord of his heart.
I really love the interaction between Sora and Kaname, Sora so unwillingly a teaser, all pout and temptation, and Kaname so unwillingly weak to the other man’s desires. Kaname can’t refuse anything to Sora, and Sora doesn’t even realize it, it’s enough for the younger man to look with eager eyes to Kaname, and Kaname is lost in that love.
Sins of the Father is a story out of time, it’s clear the love of the author for the era she chooses to set the novella, but the two characters seem to live in an “eternal” era, time changes, but love is always the same.
http://samhainpublishing.com/romance/sins-of-the-father
Amazon Kindle: Sins of the Father
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Cover Art by Anne Cain