La Crimson Femme

With this title, a reader would deduce it is a story about a male submissive's journey. While there is some submission by Ryan, it's rather messy. Ryan is a rich attorney who finds the woman of his dreams, Via. Via is an aspiring chef. The story starts with them meeting at a night club. It seems to start out well. It quickly devolves into a story where everything but the kitchen sink is thrown in. In addition, it doesn't make much sense.

First, why would a good looking, rich, high powered attorney have self-esteem problems? This doesn't really gel. The story gives a bit about how he "lost" his confidence but a reader needs to suspend their disbelief to buy it. Second, how is a woman who is a virgin at twenty-five so practiced at being a dominatrix? This may also cause a reader to raise their eyebrows. There are several examples of where situations defied logic. One could say, this is a fiction story. It's not supposed to be realistic. Personal preference for me, the book needs to make sense.

At the half way mark, this book is now torturous. The characters are shallow and annoying. Ryan turns into a pussy whipped boyfriend. Via turns into the stereotypical psychotic unreasonable girlfriend. Seriously, the man asks a woman to marry him; she turns him down. He then offers her a room of her own at his place instead. Why the hell is she pissed at him? If this is the kind of behaviour acceptable from a lover, then the guy gets what he deserves. Via need a strong whipping to get her back in line. Each little "miffed" temper tantrum she throws makes her less appealing. Ryan doesn't know if he's coming or going with her emotional blackmailing. Ryan, get a life; dump the bitch.

Added to this toxic relationship, suddenly there is a kidnapper and a mystery thrown in. Pick a genre and stick to it. Yes, there are writers who can merge the two - erotica and suspense. This book did not merge it well. It comes out of left field and it makes an already poorly constructed book worse. It would be better if Ms. Lea worked on her world building and focused on a single plot line. From there, she can enhance and add cohesive threads to make it richer. It is also recommended for more research into BDSM. From a BDSM perspective, either Ms. Lea is unable to translate it well into the written word, or her research and experimentation is minimal. This book would have been better without the BDSM. The BDSM is supposed to be the pivotal point, but it is lost in translation by the random story tangents.
 

 *provided by BDSM Book Reviews