The Nitty Gritty: Its a spanking good time as a timid librarian finds her way through the dark and salacious world of BDSM. Just a simple tale of a submissive trying to find her way.
In The Submissive we meet mild mannered librarian Abby King. Seriously this is the worst characterization of a profession that I have ever seen, but that is neither here nor there.
Back to my review.
Something is simmering below the surface however. Abby has a desire to put her sexual pleasure in the expert hands of Nathaniel West, billionaire CEO and sought after Dominate. Ms. King offers herself up as his latest submissive, and she enters the mysterious world of whips, chains and diamond encrusted collars.
She spends one weekend with him before she consents to being his submissive. While this works for her sexual kicks, Abby finds she needs more in the emotional department and Nate isn't ready for that sort of thing ( as if we didn't see that one coming). She falls further down the rabbit hole before she realizes that Nate maybe beyond saving and her own heart might need repair after her trip on the whipping post.
Opening Line: “Ms. King," the receptionist said. "Mr. West will see you now."
What's The 411: The Submissive started off as Twilight fanfiction. I actually read the entire trilogy on fanfiction.net. Don't judge me, I was bored and waiting for NaNoWriMo to start.
And I have to admit that The submissive was a better written book than Twilight ever could have hoped to be. And that's really saying something.
The Submissive is also the book that E.L James liberally ripped off for her garbage 50 Shades series. Though how James managed to corrupt what started out as a good story into what it ended up as is beyond the laws of nature and someone should ban her from publishing ever again. Though she does give me hope for my literary endeavors.
I am all for fanfiction. I really am. I have 13 stories on fanfiction.net myself. But I would never take one of my stories on FF and turn around and sell it as my own original work. I just think that is dirty and underhanded. And its just as bad as if Tara had kept Abby as Bella and Nathaniel as Edward. Which is basically what she did, but she just changed their names. The mannerisms and characterizations as exactly the same as Twilight. Apparently Stephanie Myers doesn't have a problem with this book nor 50 Shades of Grey. Which doesn't mean much to me because I hated Twilight as well.
I just find it abhorrent as a budding author that someone could rip off another's work and get a book deal. While I am spending every waking moment pouring myself into creating my own stories, characters and settings, then writing said novel only to worry myself sick trying to shop it around to agents and publishing houses as I pray for a book deal.
Something is broken in that system and I hope someone is looking to fix it.
The Good: The sex scenes were actually sort of inspiring. After trudging through the yawn worthy sex in 50 Shades. I mean good lord how many times can we read about a gasp or how big he is before we just want to grab a pint of ice cream and curl up with a stack of Jackass DVDs just to watch something intelligent. In The Submissive the sex is actually note worthy. Tara actually takes the time to give us different sensations and experiences with each sexual encounter. Its not just the same thing over and over again in different locations.
There is a bit of a story here. Its pretty hard to find, but if you click your heels three times and wish for a storyline you can find it. So its a little better than actual porn. Not much, but there it is. Though the book doesn't claim to be an actual story. It tells you right on the cover that Abby is seeking out a role as a submissive. So all we expect is some good sex and better spanking. And that's what Tara delivers.
The Bad: Tara didn't bother trying to hide the source of her characters Its painfully easy to see Bella and Edward in the title roles. Abby is a self proclaimed clumsy oaf with a tendency to compare herself to everything and everyone and find herself coming up short. I am so tired of female characters with self esteem issues I'm going to jab a sharpened pencil in my ear if I have to read another book with that sort of female lead. Its just feeding the machine of low self esteem for women.
The first punishment scene is a tad brutal and since we don't to see Nate response and how he feels about it we are left with the dark hole that Abby falls into after her fist punishment. We are meant to see the BDSM world through her eyes as the submissive, but I wish there could have been some sort of discussion between Nate and Abby afterwards so we aren't left with a bad taste in our mouths. REading that scene as squares we only see a severe beating. Not the psychology behind it. Though this trilogy does a good job of introducing us to the actual psychology behind the BDSM lifestyle. Thanks to that hack EL James there are a lot of ignorant people out there and maybe this series might clear up a few things.
Not that Nate is anymore of a man to run after than Christine is. Both men suck, and I would run from them like my name was Flo Jo.
My Final Say: If you are wanting something to read to pass the time between True Blood seasons and you are having steam vamp/werewolf sex withdrawal. Yeah I meant that pun. Then this is a viable option, but only if Game of Thrones is on hiatus as well.
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