Gentle Cage by Kumiko Sasaki

[reviews_and_ramblings]

“Itsuki,” Tokiwa called out, his voice filled with surprising sweetness. “You are mine.”

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” so goes the old adage about art. And no where is this truer than in the relationship between Itsuki and Tokiwa. To everyone else, Itsuki is nothing more than a useless wallflower, but only Tokiwa can see that the man is actually a diamond-in-the-rough.

It all began eight years ago, when amateur painter Itsuki Hashimoto and up-and-coming sculptor Masatsugu Tokiwa became friends through their love for art. But a few years later, family circumstances force Itsuki to cut Tokiwa off of his life. Now, Itsuki is living a confined life as the “human pet” of Yamabe-sensei, Tokiwa’s former teacher.

Can Tokiwa help Itsuki break free of his cage? Or has Itsuki become too much of a living “doll,” without a soul or freewill of his own?

My Rate: 8 (amzn.to/3Tbc8A6)