La Crimson Femme

The second in this series explores more intimate play between Sam and Kelly. In this one, the kink becomes even more clinical and requiring different levels to determine the "punishments" and such. I'm going to discuss what I liked first since this book ended up with a 2.5 star. It's a bit more than okay, but I can't say I really enjoyed it since I had to push myself through reading it all.

First, Kelly the character is amicable. She's spot on when she tells Sam he is being condescending and patronizing. It isn't that Sam means to be, it's a matter of age and what he thinks is right. So he tries to "protect" Kelly by telling her she doesn't know her own mind rather than actually listening and getting to know her. Author Simone does a good job of showing this piece.

Second, the BDSM scenes are written explicitly and could almost be used as a step by step guide even though I wouldn't encourage to do so. The needle play is thoroughly detailed out as is the enema play. The flip side of being so detailed out is that comes across more as a lecture than a hot erotic scene to cause arousal. The descriptions of the scenes are very clear yet they leave a reader feeling emotionless. I'm neither aroused nor engaged. In fact, I feel as though I've just been through a teaching session on a medical procedure.

My recommendation is for the book to delve more into how the characters get off of each other rather than how they get each other off, step by step. I need a bit of passion and excitement. Some character building to help me like the characters better would also make this more engaging for me. Because true to what Sam is worried about, this story did come across as just a dirty old man wanting get with a hot young girl.

This story did lag and the slow parts were very slow. It was too much internal musing and a bit boring at times. There is a balance between character internal dialog to help understand him and too much character musing which the reader will want to skim over.

The different levels were honestly too confusing for me. Or more, I wasn't interested enough to figure them out. I could careless, just get on with the impact play or sensation play. Switching between Sam and Kelly as the Top and bottom did nothing for me either. It wasn't bad, it just was unremarkable. It didn't increase the arouse nor did it help me get into their mindset better. Overall, their interactions seemed more like a complicated game with rules to justify what they wanted to do sexually. This is what really turned me off. I'm not saying it can't be a game. The way it was presented felt like they had to have some "reason" why to do something so that it was "acceptable". How about, because they enjoy this and there's nothing wrong with it? This story is a 2.5 star and I'm debating if I want to read the last book in this series.

Provided to me by the author for a review.