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maggiemaggio 's review for:
The Submissive
by Tara Sue Me
Abby is a romantically and sexually unfulfilled librarian. Through somewhat unclear circumstances (which are revealed later in the book) she applies to be a sexual submissive to the powerful, handsome, and controlling Nathaniel West's. Abby has never done anything like that before, but even though she struggles at times, Nathaniel is pleased with her performance and they have pretty hot sex when they get together at Nathaniel's country house on the weekends. Abby begins to have more romantic feelings and she thinks Nathaniel might too, but can they be more than just master and submissive?
I had a very difficult time getting into this book. I didn't necessarily believe that a quiet, shy librarian who had never explored any type of submissive relationship before would apply to be a submissive and then be accepted (as I said above all is eventually revealed about this). I also struggled with the vastly different power dynamic between Nathaniel and Abby. There were times when I felt like she was being taken advantage of, but, that said, she was never a shrinking violet and she stood up for herself when appropriate.
This book definitely suffered from annoying friend syndrome. Every scene involving Abby's best friend Felicia made me want to strangle Felicia with Abby's collar. While the other supporting characters (mostly Nathaniel's friends and family) served their purpose of being a sounding board and showing a softer side of Nathaniel, they still got on my nerves and I wished they would go away.
To a better topic, let's talk about the sex scenes. I loved the sex scenes in this book. They were the perfect blend of hot, fun, and the dominant/submissive style. Honestly, of all the romance/erotica books I've read I would say these were probably my favorite sex scenes ever. All that said, I did have a difficult time getting into the sex scenes at first. In my opinion part of what makes sex scenes in books great is the suspense and there was no suspense here; Abby spent weekends at Nathaniel's house and they obviously had sex, no question about it. The lack of interaction outside of the bedroom also made it hard for me to like and relate to them as a couple, which also made it hard to get into the sex scenes (I am such a girl).
Finally, a word about this being Twilight fan fiction. As I said in my review of Beautiful Bastard I've never read Twilight so I can't really say if this is just Twilight just with lots of dominant/submissive sex. From what I know about Twilight it seems like Nathaniel and Abby's personalities at the core are similar to Edward and Bella's personalities, but a moody dominant man and an insecure woman wasn't revolutionary in Twilight. From what I know I also think there are similarities with their family and friends as well, but so what? Every inspiration comes from somewhere and Tara Sue Me seems like she's taken an inspiration and made it her own.
I received an electronic galley of The Submissive in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are, as always, my own.
This review first appeared on my blog: http://justacouplemorepages.wordpress.com/2013/02/21/book-review-the-submissive/
I had a very difficult time getting into this book. I didn't necessarily believe that a quiet, shy librarian who had never explored any type of submissive relationship before would apply to be a submissive and then be accepted (as I said above all is eventually revealed about this). I also struggled with the vastly different power dynamic between Nathaniel and Abby. There were times when I felt like she was being taken advantage of, but, that said, she was never a shrinking violet and she stood up for herself when appropriate.
This book definitely suffered from annoying friend syndrome. Every scene involving Abby's best friend Felicia made me want to strangle Felicia with Abby's collar. While the other supporting characters (mostly Nathaniel's friends and family) served their purpose of being a sounding board and showing a softer side of Nathaniel, they still got on my nerves and I wished they would go away.
To a better topic, let's talk about the sex scenes. I loved the sex scenes in this book. They were the perfect blend of hot, fun, and the dominant/submissive style. Honestly, of all the romance/erotica books I've read I would say these were probably my favorite sex scenes ever. All that said, I did have a difficult time getting into the sex scenes at first. In my opinion part of what makes sex scenes in books great is the suspense and there was no suspense here; Abby spent weekends at Nathaniel's house and they obviously had sex, no question about it. The lack of interaction outside of the bedroom also made it hard for me to like and relate to them as a couple, which also made it hard to get into the sex scenes (I am such a girl).
Spoiler
Besides the sex my favorite part was how after the big thing that tests Abby and Nathaniel as a couple we get to see them reconcile and then we get to see how they rebuild and grow their relationship. I absolutely loved that the book just didn't end with them getting back together, but let us see them together, figuring things out.Finally, a word about this being Twilight fan fiction. As I said in my review of Beautiful Bastard I've never read Twilight so I can't really say if this is just Twilight just with lots of dominant/submissive sex. From what I know about Twilight it seems like Nathaniel and Abby's personalities at the core are similar to Edward and Bella's personalities, but a moody dominant man and an insecure woman wasn't revolutionary in Twilight. From what I know I also think there are similarities with their family and friends as well, but so what? Every inspiration comes from somewhere and Tara Sue Me seems like she's taken an inspiration and made it her own.
I received an electronic galley of The Submissive in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are, as always, my own.
This review first appeared on my blog: http://justacouplemorepages.wordpress.com/2013/02/21/book-review-the-submissive/