La Crimson Femme

An abuse of authority is not always a bad thing. When it is, it becomes a train wreck. When hard lines are crossed and someone is shattered into a state of suicidal depression, I’m furious. This book only generated negative emotions for me – fury, disgust, loathing and sorrow. The first three are all applied to Jessica who was the protagonist in the first book, Broken. In Shattered, she hasn’t changed. She’s still the spoiled brat who continues to demonstrate what Vanilla people believe BDSM people are like. I’m disgusted with her utter lack of ethics. I loathe her self-centered caviler attitude to someone she broke on purpose.

Zachary is a sweet, highly intelligent twenty-five year old with an undiagnosed Asperser syndrome. In his cry for help - Jessica, his psychiatrist, violates every code of ethics. I’m appalled at her thought process. Her treatment of Zachary is abhorrent to me specifically because he had no choice. I’m in agreement with Lady Alyssa that Jessica crossed lines that shouldn’t have been crossed. Jessica’s understanding of BDSM is so perverted and twisted, it pisses me off. I nearly gave this book a rating of one due to the BDSM lifestyle shown in the first part of the book. The ends do NOT justify the means. While Jessica’s “experimental” treatment of Zachary helped him to a degree, it merely placed a bandage over the grievous wound. This wound was never lanced and given the chance to heal. Instead, she added to the wounds with indifference and no forethought of what would happen to Zachary.

I ended up giving this a rating of three because of the growth allowed for Zachary. Ms. Fredrick’s second half of the book was four paddle material. The difference of Lady Alyssa’s Domming style pleased me. While Zachary completed almost the same duties, it was his choice. In addition, he was given a journal to express his thoughts and for Lady Alyssa to reflect. I found Zachary’s growth back into a valued human endearing. He’s such a sorry soul. Although the book did not resolve all the conflicts and left us at an unresolved ending, I’m glad for this. I found it pleasurable to see Jessica’s troubles. I felt hope for Alyssa and Zachary’s future.

Even though I found Jessica and her methods despicable, the BDSM scenes in the story are well done. I do have to commend Ms. Fredrick with her accuracy. Her contrasting portrayal of a bad Domme to a good Domme was nicely depicted. Her tackling of the difference between a slave and a sub was subtle and I’m not sure if everyone picked it up. I recommend this to BDSM lovers who want a meatier book. This one will make you think and analyze. This is not recommend for the SugarKink and GlitterKink crowd.