| Title | : | Under His Skin (Under His Heel #4) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Kindle Edition |
| Number of Pages | : | 231 |
| Publication | : | First published June 12, 2020 |
They're in a holding pattern, until they're both pulled into a corruption trial that forces them to face a few ugly truths about Tracht's past and what it means for their relationship.
Can their relationship survive when they're no longer legally bound to each other?
This is book 4 in the Under His Heel series and cannot be read as a standalone. Please note this work and series contains dark themes; read at your own discretion.
Under His Skin (Under His Heel #4) Reviews
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What a great series this has been, I'm sorry to see it end.
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Thank god that series is over. Never again. I'll always read people's reviews before I start a series again.
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A fun ending to the Alex and Tracht series. It had to deal with a lot, like their growing feelings and the snarl of the ending of the bondservant contract. Seeing both struggle with emotions over that was pretty funny, though frustrating at a few points. It felt a little draggy in the middle, but I might have been impatient to get to the trial and associated scenes, knowing Alex.
I loved the trial. Everything with Alex leading up to it, everything about it was so fun to read. Bahjat is awesome. Can't wait to read the shorts!! -
What a great ending to a wonderful series. I’m sure going to miss Alex and Tracht. I guess I will just have to read them all again.
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The codependency is so real. Alex & Tracht? Or me & these books? The answer, my friends, is both.
In summary,
Literally everyone in this book: "Alex, you should get away from Tracht."
Alex: "Go FUCK yourself!"
Me: "Wooo!! Tell 'em, Alex!"
I will be replaying the scene of Alex popping off in the courtroom in my mind every day until I die.
That's it. That's the review. I love it here. -
This is, all-in-all, a very good book. If you’re looking for that happy ending for Captain Tracht and Alex, it’s here. There is a book that has a collection of vignettes and short stories about the two characters, but for a full-length novel, I think this serves very satisfyingly as a happy ending. I can only assume if you’ve made it through to book 4 and everything Tracht has put Alex through that you too are hoping for a happy ending. Is this a heavily toxic relationship? Yes. And everyone will point out that what Tracht and Alex have is very toxic and not in any way shape or form is what they have “healthy”. Tracht knows of course because he made Alex the way he is, but I think it’s very insightful that in this book Alex in some way also shows some understanding that he is what Tracht molded him into.
This is a book where we see Alex’s bondservant contract with Tracht officially come to an end, how that comes about, and what life looks like for them afterwards.
Content notes includes brainwashing, mentions of kidnapping, mentions of torture, withholding food, and taken from the author’s website: dubcon, mentions of past noncon, mummification, bondage, humiliation, orgasm denial, semi-public sex, and breathplay/drowning.
I don’t know how much the readership here overlaps, but the best I can describe this book (and really this series) is that this book accomplishes what Docile by K.M. Szpara tried to do. While I had issues with that book in that it chickened out with the relationship halfway through instead of leaning into the darker proclivities of the relationship dynamic, Under His Skin shows the culmination of all the messiness of the characters brought to life and they REVEL in it. There is also a court case involved in this book and you would think it would be boring, but it’s not.
The person on trial is Tracht’s sister, Anna, and it just so happens that Tracht and Alex and their relationship winds up being dragged into the spotlight. Bondservants and the current system where the rich help to pay off their debt is certainly a messed up one. And there are people who look down upon it and are fighting back against the system. They try to pull in Alex to help fight back against Tracht but little do they know that even IF they know Tracht brainwashed Alex and molded him to Tracht’s wishes, Alex still has enough freedom and free will to do whatever he wants as long as it doesn’t go against what Tracht’s laid out for him.
What this means is that this makes Alex a HELL of a witness for the prosecution (Anna, here, is the defense because she’s under trial for her time as a judge). The whole book is messy but in a good way. It’s just what we would expect to see happen with the characters and I liked seeing Tracht vulnerable and trying to handle life without Alex at his beck and call at all times. They’ve got THE messiest relationship but it’s THEIR messy relationship.
We met a trans character at the end of the third book, Ms. Bahjat, who took over Espinosa’s duties on board the ship. We actually do see her a lot here and I like her a lot! Although, I don’t know what it says about her that she’s so unfazed by Tracht and Alex’s relationship.
It was kind of nice that we got to see a little happy ending for Dr. Singh, Fontaine, and their once-bondservant Nadia. They had their own relationship troubles but it seems all sorted now with this book. It’s interesting that Nadia and Alex are friends but considering their circumstances and their masters, maybe it’s not so unusual that they winded up being friends at all.
I thought this was a very solid ending to the series and I throughly enjoyed it! There’s just something about this series that makes me come back again and again. As far as the setting goes, it’s a simple space opera, where the setting and story are melded together and it was not confusing to me. The author keeps the space bits simple, but still makes it feel immersive. I know the series and the characters won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but I really enjoyed it.
There is a spin-off book for Tracht’s nephew (and Anna’s youngest son), Johan, which is…interesting? I don’t know. We first met him as a child. He was the one who got kidnapped and winded up getting Alex kidnapped and tortured in book 2. Will it be weird to read about Johan all grown up? We’ll see. He’s nothing like his uncle (thank god, I don’t think that family needs TWO of Tracht), so I’m intrigued to see where his story goes. -
Unpleasant read....only part I enjoyed was when MC was getting investigated. I don’t know how anyone could possibly like this series,the main character read like a child at first I didn’t mind because I had hoped later on he’d get smarter. My version of a HEA is if both MC were to be separated FOREVER!
Tracht deserves to end up locked up and not because of his kinks because he’s genuinely just an evil person. This is no way how BDSM is supposed to be depicted just disgusting honestly.
Alex need psychological help I felt really bad for him at first but then towards the end I just felt disgusted by his stupidity and the way he vilified anyone who tried to help him see the truth of his “relationship”
I would never say anyone deserves to be be abused so that’s why I ended up just skipping to the end after the court trial because I truly saw that there was nothing left for me in this book,I hated everything that was happening to Alex and I hated it even more that he was too stupid to see the danger of his relationship.
Also the incest was woefully unnecessary in this book. I still can’t get over what they both did to Nick.
After the shock factor wore off in book one I just found my morbidly curious as to how this would end which is the only reason why I kept reading this garbage series.
I will not be reading anything else from this author,not even worth taking up space in my free amazon library.
I would be deeply concerned for anyone who enjoyed this book. -
I have this funny thing where I get reluctant to finish series that I love. I guess I'm just scared to see the ending to a journey that I never want to end! This series is an example of my funny thing; I just love Tracht and Alex way too much. After several re-reads of the early books and dozens of books in between, I figured it was time for me to pick up the final book of Under His Heel.
Shockingly, I think this book surpasses the first book. I didn't expect that at all, because in my opinion the first book was extremely good. But that's just to show how much I enjoyed this one. Tracht and Alex is hands down one of the couples with the best chemistry I've had the pleasure to read about.
A wonderful book and perfect wrap to Alex's contract. Pressed all the right buttons for me, too bad I can't give it more than 5 stars. -
Yay!! Happy ending!
This was such a good ending for them. I loved the trial and how everyone was trying to pit Alex and Tracht against each other. After the horrible things from the last book, I fully expected Espinosa to come back to bite them in the butt, or for other antagonists to make appearances. Thankfully there were no more fires.
I’ll miss Alex and Tracht after this. I hope a few more shorts will release since they are both my “problematic faves.” -
I'm sad and happy at the same time, but mostly happy. Sad, because this series is now over and Trach&Alex story is now complete and I will miss them terribly! And happy, because WOW what an amazing ending this was. I'm so so happy.
Tracht&Alex are everything, they are so perfect, Adara Wolf did an awesome job creating these two. The emotions are so well written, the connection between them is beautiful. I was so afraid of this book, that I wouldn't be happy with the ending, but it was more, so much more better then I have ever imagined. Both Tracht and Alex were awesome in this book. I loved Alex and how he changed but is still the same. And Tracht, oh dear Tracht, he so fell in love with Alex and got easy with him, but it was so GOOD. It was so romantic - this book was really really romantic, my favorite scene was the feeding one (because I wanted this scene in this book, and Adara put it in there, and OMG so so perfect!!!!!).
Tracht was romantic with Alex and I loved him for that. And the erotic scenes were super amazing too, but really, my favorites were when Tracht got in the mood with Alex♥
+ the scene when Tracht got week without Alex was so good
LOVED LOVED this book. I miss them already, and can't wait to re-visit them because I will re-read this series many, many times.
The ending was perfect. I was afraid how this will go with the ending of the bond lease, but it was more then perfect. Breath play is one of my favorite and it's hard to find, but OMG what Tracht did was utterly perfect. No words. I'm speechless. PER.FECT. And oh poor dear Alex, he is such a cutie. And I loved the fact that both were crazy head over the other and were terrified that somehow can loose the other. They were afraid of loosing each other but none said anything about it just went with the flow - and it was amazing.
I can't say anough how amazing this series is and how good job Adara Wolf did with these two. ♥
HIHGLY recommend! -
I read this whole series in 3 days! I loved how messed up and unstable this relationship is. It was so good!! This one was a bit more stressful because I was worried Alex would stop getting brainwashed and leave Tracht. How messed up is that!!! Like I said so well written!!
Now I need to sleep because this series has been on my mind since I started it. -
Book 4 of 4.
Given the context and content, it’s weird to think of this as a HEA, but it’s Tracht and Alex’s version of a HEA. The bond period ended and Alex was still loyal, he still wanted to belong to Tracht. Tracht even got him his own visibly-not-a-bondservant’s collar.
The courtroom scene was impressive. They tried to use Alex against Tracht! against Anna, and against the idea of bondservants, but he proved he was trained, but not tamed.Everybody had told Tracht he was doing a bad job with Alex, that Alex was too uncouth, too uncontrollable. Franziska thought Tracht had completely stomped on Alex’s free will. But Tracht thought he’d done just right. He’d gotten Alex addicted to him, molded him into a loyal dog who would obey any order, but he still had enough bite to scare others and be, quite frankly, more interesting than the sad lumps some bondservants became.
Author didn’t list the content warnings (aka kinks) for this one on her site. The two that stand out here are mummification and drowning. The later of which was done after Alex was freed from the bondservant collar.
[By the way, Alex said his least favorite “kink” was the breasts, but I’m inclined to think teasing him about the tooth was the cruelest.]
Oh, and indication that Tracht might be a sociopath. What the hell is with all the sociopathic characters I keep encountering lately? Might need a new tag. [Note: only using the tag if the term is deliberately brought up in text.]
****
Love this visual. (Chpt 5)Tracht looked over, and winced when he saw that Alex hadn’t gotten dressed. He’d crawled out from under the covers and sat up on his knees, so there was a very large naked man on display now, wearing only the bondservant collar?
08/17/2020 - bumping my rating -
This was terribly written and doesn't appear to have seen an editor. I have nothing against the dark, dub-con/non-con or extreme kink or anything like that. But this stretched much too far and I hated both characters. It was an unrealistic progression. I don't know why I kept reading... skimming, more like it... the series, but I did. Out of hope? Who knows.
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I mean I liked it, but I do wish it had gone in a completely different direction. Instead of knowing Alex is going to stay I wish there had been at least a little conflict in what would happen afterwards. It was almost a book for nothing in my opinion. Not sure I got the point of the trial or any of it really. Plus it definitely needed to be edited again. At one point Alex takes Tracht's boots off & the next he still has them on.
Either way, as conclusions go it was unsatisfying for me. I still liked it because of the characters. Could have been a lot better though. -
Once again that was an awesome book! please keep writting this series and others I love your books!
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Unfortunately this is the first review I am doing for this amazing series and it’s on the last book. I found this author either last year or year before and I became obsessed. MM romance was kind of a miss most times for me before this but I loved Under his Heel.
Alex our lovable idiot has become so trained by Tracht he cannot imagine a life without him no matter what is done to him he believes Tracht is the best and the brightest and anyone who goes against them even though from a regular perspective the “villains” would be heroes trying to help Alex.
Alex was still sexually tortured by Tracht but he was so used to it his fear was mostly of being separated from him.
I did read the first book a while back so it took me a bit of remembering to know who is who and what was what but in the end this was a good end to this dark twisted tale -
I loved it. I liked all the books before this, but this one had something special. I loved the plot. I was unable to put it down. I had mixed feelings abuot that because I wanted to know what would happen but i also wanted to last longer. The emotions the main characters showed all along was my favorite part. That, and the humorous tone Alex always gift us in the most inapropiate moments. Tracht and Alex are such unique characters. They made me laugh, being furious, and feeling in love. So recommend, it was a joy for me to read it.
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Their relationship is so messed up and that's saying a lot from me because these are the types of relationships I grew up thinking were normal. I was hoping to see Alex learning more and developing more than just his brute personality. Hes sweet when he is with Trackt but he is completely unaware of his emotions and fails to think about his actions in the barest capacity.
The whole book felt slightly anticlimacticx unfortunately. -
This review is for the whole series as I binge read all four books.
Read these! You will not regret it, but clear your schedule first because you won’t want to stop reading them.
I was torn between feeling empathy for Alex and squirming with need for all the things that happened to him. But also low-key hating Tracht and also loving everything he did.
These were so deliciously dark with a very satisfying ending. All books must be read in order.
Highly recommend. -
Satisfying conclusion!
There is an interesting trial and all its drama in this book, and it was an interesting test of Alex and Tracht’s relationship. Alex’s court testimony was amusing! If you’ve come this far, then you know exactly what to expect from this book. Plenty dark and twisted, and an “HEA” fitting for a dark romance. -
Alex
I enjoyed the 4th book in the Under His Heel series. I love Alex’s character, no matter how much others tried to tell him what to feel, he stayed true to himself. I hope there is more to their story -
Not as good as the first 3 books but still worth it
It's a good final happy ending for these two main leads. Doesn't have as much action as the previous books as it's a bit short compared to them. All in all not a bad read -
Was disturbed with myself for enjoying books 1-3 of this series. And then I opened this book, excited and ready to enjoy it despite my comfort only to feel like this...
Sad way to end a good series. I hoped for more.
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I'm so sad to have finished this series. Alex and Tracht are quite the couple. I was interested to see what would happen since Alex's 5 year contract was coming to an end. Leave it to Alex. He made his opinions very clear and in such a funny. Great ending.
