Be My Love, My Lord has the kind of premise that usually raises a lot of red flags for me. Relationships between an employer and their servants have an inherent power imbalance that can quickly come off as exploitative if not handled correctly. I usually find them the most tolerable in comedies, where it's easier not to take them as seriously. Even if the parties involved say they share affection willingly, there is always this uncomfortable ambiguity regarding the degree of power or influence the employer holds over their servant's decisions. When the book opened up with Tsubaki, our servant boy character, basically being raised in a sort of master/slave relationship, I was apprehensive. The outcome wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but that might be because this book tries to wrap up many of those concerns too quickly for its own good.

To Be My Love, My Lord's credit, it addresses many of the issues and hurdles inherent in this type of relationship. Aside from the aforementioned power dynamic, the characters comment on cultural differences, prejudice, grooming, and classism. The book goes out of its way to establish within some rather powerful and emotional scenes that things aren't as simple as either of our protagonists would like them to be. How do they know that they're on the same page? Will this relationship be able to move beyond that of passion and physical urges? The book does a good job of establishing those confusing feelings as prominent worries that need to be discussed and explored before they get out of hand.

Unfortunately, I feel like a lot of this setup gets wasted the more Be My Love, My Lord goes on because while all these issues are brought up, very few are addressed in any meaningful way. The foundation is certainly there, and I like how the book goes out of its way to present reasonable, long-term solutions to some of these hurdles. But then it almost feels like the author gets cold feet at the last minute and wraps everything for the sake of a happy ending. That isn't to say that I don't want these two to end up together. I do buy into the passion and chemistry they share. However, this book could've taken better advantage of its real estate to flesh out a satisfying journey.

None of this is helped by the fact that there is a random chapter in the middle of the book that focuses on a completely different couple with nothing to do with the main story. I genuinely thought that I finished the book early and was instead reading a bonus one-shot at the end. But then that chapter was followed up with a few epilogue chapters that show more of the original relationship well after all the initial conflicts were resolved. I don't know what the overall intention here was, but it makes me scratch my head and wonder if there was a better way to use the page count.

Be My Love, My Lord's artwork is certainly very spicy. Everything is well-framed and full of passion. There are a lot of explicit details and good communicative back-and-forth during the sex scenes, which helps everything feel more involved. Considering the beastly nature of one of the characters, there's a very primal feeling to it all. The occasional dark shadows help accentuate that instinctual aspect without appearing violent.

Overall, while Be My Love, My Lord hits the ground running and does a good job establishing the beats of an interesting story, it trips along the way and gives up too early. If you're looking for a taboo yet passionate love affair, I don't think you could go wrong with picking this up, but if you're looking for something a little bit deeper and more emotionally satisfying, I would probably look elsewhere.