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A review by jackiehorne
Personal Geography by Tamsen Parker
4.0
ARC provided by Netgalley
Tamsen Parker is a fellow NECRWA member, and invited me to read her debut BDSM erotic romance, PERSONAL GEOGRAPHY. I wasn't too excited by the blurb—powerful but sexually submissive woman who uses "lost weekends" of BDSM sex to cope and contain her stress finds her personal boundaries being pushed by her latest tryst-ee, a low-key but sexually dominating surfer guy? Lucky for me, I moved beyond my doubts and cracked open my e-book file, to discover a strongly written, character-focused story. PERSONAL GEOGRAPHY certainly contains its share of steamy sex scenes, but they function to reveal character as well as to turn on the reader. I found myself immediately engaged by the tough India and her unexpected romance.
India Burke is a high-powered government consultant, aggressive, not afraid to yell or to give bad news to her clients. Insert sexist description (ball-buster, bitch, etc) here. A former Dom's betrayal, her family's rejection and shame, and her high-profile, often public career make it vital that India keep her sexual proclivities (submission, pain, and bondage) secret. Secret to the point that she only allows weekend contracts with men whom her friend Rey (who seems to be a sort of kink procurer/psychologist) vets for her in advance.
India's a little wary of the latest Dom Rey has found for her to play with; Cris Ardmore is monogamous with his subs, and he's just ended a five-year contract. But he meets all of India's other criteria, and traveling to his home in Hawaii to meet will ensure India's privacy. (Both are white, I'm assuming).
India and Cris's sexual chemistry is over-the-top hot, and India's only a little weirded-out by his desire to talk with the real person before and after their sex weekend, not just Kit, the submissive persona India dons for her stress-alleviating sessions. India has learned to compartmentalize, and can't see her way to breaking down the boundaries between her two very separate identities: "I want him to like Kit Bailey-Isles, submissive edition. Contracts, fake names, and the ten-foot-high barbed wire fence of anonymity Rey erects around me—that is how I roll. I don't do relationships" (1385).
But as their weekend trysts grow more heated, and their "downtime" more open and sharing, filled with warmth and affection, Cris begins to want more from India. He wants to know both her submissive and her dominant selves. But India "can't touch emotional intimacy with a ten-foot pole" (2452), and Cris is becoming more and more frustrated at the secrets she's keeping from him, the sides of India she doesn't dare show.
Things come to a head, and India decides to end their relationship. But the novella's cliffhanger suggests that things are not quite as over as India would like...
Tamsen Parker is a fellow NECRWA member, and invited me to read her debut BDSM erotic romance, PERSONAL GEOGRAPHY. I wasn't too excited by the blurb—powerful but sexually submissive woman who uses "lost weekends" of BDSM sex to cope and contain her stress finds her personal boundaries being pushed by her latest tryst-ee, a low-key but sexually dominating surfer guy? Lucky for me, I moved beyond my doubts and cracked open my e-book file, to discover a strongly written, character-focused story. PERSONAL GEOGRAPHY certainly contains its share of steamy sex scenes, but they function to reveal character as well as to turn on the reader. I found myself immediately engaged by the tough India and her unexpected romance.
India Burke is a high-powered government consultant, aggressive, not afraid to yell or to give bad news to her clients. Insert sexist description (ball-buster, bitch, etc) here. A former Dom's betrayal, her family's rejection and shame, and her high-profile, often public career make it vital that India keep her sexual proclivities (submission, pain, and bondage) secret. Secret to the point that she only allows weekend contracts with men whom her friend Rey (who seems to be a sort of kink procurer/psychologist) vets for her in advance.
India's a little wary of the latest Dom Rey has found for her to play with; Cris Ardmore is monogamous with his subs, and he's just ended a five-year contract. But he meets all of India's other criteria, and traveling to his home in Hawaii to meet will ensure India's privacy. (Both are white, I'm assuming).
India and Cris's sexual chemistry is over-the-top hot, and India's only a little weirded-out by his desire to talk with the real person before and after their sex weekend, not just Kit, the submissive persona India dons for her stress-alleviating sessions. India has learned to compartmentalize, and can't see her way to breaking down the boundaries between her two very separate identities: "I want him to like Kit Bailey-Isles, submissive edition. Contracts, fake names, and the ten-foot-high barbed wire fence of anonymity Rey erects around me—that is how I roll. I don't do relationships" (1385).
But as their weekend trysts grow more heated, and their "downtime" more open and sharing, filled with warmth and affection, Cris begins to want more from India. He wants to know both her submissive and her dominant selves. But India "can't touch emotional intimacy with a ten-foot pole" (2452), and Cris is becoming more and more frustrated at the secrets she's keeping from him, the sides of India she doesn't dare show.
Things come to a head, and India decides to end their relationship. But the novella's cliffhanger suggests that things are not quite as over as India would like...