Tackling the TBR
Comfort Food has been on my TBR since 13th May, 2016. Rather than being selected at random, I felt the urge to delve into the darkness (my favourite genre) and this was the first on my Kindle. I downloaded it from Amazon.co.uk for free a while back.
Synopsis
Emily Vargas has been taken captive. As part of his conditioning methods, her captor refuses to speak to her, knowing how much she craves human contact. He’s far too beautiful to be a monster. Combined with his lack of violence toward her, this has her walking a fine line at the edge of sanity.
Told in the first person from Emily’s perspective, Comfort Foodexplores what happens when all expectations of pleasure and pain are turned upside down, as whips become comfort and chicken soup becomes punishment.
This is not a story about consensual BDSM. This is a story about “actual” slavery. If reading an erotic story without safewords makes you uncomfortable, this is not the book for you. This is a work of fiction, and the author does not endorse or condone any behavior done to another human being without their consent.
Review
Title: Comfort Food
Author: Kitty Thomas
Series: standalone
Genre: dark erotica
Heat: 4/5
Plot: 5/5
Rating: 4.5/5
I’ve been wanting to read this for a long time due to a large number of recommendations and my love for dark erotica. I really wasn’t disappointed. The first 25% took a little getting used to, but once I was into it I found I was completely unable to close my Kindle, and just needed to read on and on. This is clearly the product of heavy research, and is not simply dark erotica but also a dive into psychology and the darkest recesses of the mind. The cunning way Emily is treated, with everything so clear and planned, and no cruelty for the sake of it – it’s mind-blowing. We watch Emily be overcome by obsession for her Master, be conditioned to particular behaviours, in such a clinical and clear way that I’ve never read anything quite like it.
This is not going to be a book for everyone, but for those of us who can separate fantasy from reality, it is wondrously satisfying, and contains a surprising amount of depth.
