Review: Bravely Written Romance (B+ Grade)
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 12 4, 2010
When I first heard about Shiloh Walker's Beg Me, I wasn't certain if I would try and read it. But after reading some great reviews, I took the chance. The subject matter deals with a heroine who has been brutally raped, who feels the only way she can take back her sexuality and enjoy those forced sex or rape like fantasies she once enjoyed with her husband is to act out those fantasies again with a man she can trust irrevocably. Not many authors I know of can write a rape fantasy romance where I don't end up squirming, uneasy by what I'm reading. Count me as one who is not a fan of pseudo-rape in romance, period. But what Shiloh Walker has done with Beg Me, is a rounding success. This may be my favorite book of hers behind Beautiful Girl. She not only taps into the heroine and hero's psyche and their fears, but also the reader's. Shiloh shows that the heroine Tania shouldn't be ashamed of her wants and desires even after she has been horribly sexually abused.When Tania Sinclair lost her beloved husband Kyle three years ago in a car accident, she never thought things could get worse. But for Tania it did when one January, Kyle's unstable twin brother, Kent, who knew all about Kyle and Tania's love life, ended up raping her. Tania fought back and killed Kent before he could rape her again. But even though he's no longer among the living, he destroyed everything special she had with Kyle. And now when she thinks back to those special moments she had with Kyle, where they made passionate love and role-played where Tania pretended she was being raped, she feels dirty and sick. She needs to take back her life and give into her sexual desires once again. That's when she turns to Drake, a childhood friend of Kyle's, and now her best friend.Drake has loved Tania for years, but because she belonged to another, he would never think of intruding. He could see how Kyle and Tania loved one another dearly, and even once walked in on one of their games that both shocked him, as well as turned him on. He wants to be there for Tania and assumes she only thinks of him as a friend. But this all changes when Tania asks him to help her take her fantasies back, and that means for Drake to be more than forceful when they are intimate, just like when she was with her husband. Drake enjoys rough sex, but what Tania asks him crosses some moral lines for him. The main question Drake asks himself if he can give Tania what she wants so she can heal, while not losing his soul in the process.At around one-hundred pages, Beg Me packs a punch. Drake is wonderfully caring and very dedicated to Tania. He would do anything for her, even going as far as giving her what she wants knowing he's not too thrilled with the idea. Drake will allow Tania to use him even if he has to do this by giving into her rape fantasy. At first Tania doesn't realize how much she's asking Drake, and those long last effects on his conscious. But as they cross those questionable lines, they both come to some important realizations about each other.I must applaud Shiloh for taking a chance on writing Beg Me. This is one steamy and emotional read about two people who must come to terms with the emotional upheavals in their lives. From Tania's horrific trauma, she finds the strength to fight back with the help of a friend who sacrifices himself for the woman he loves. This is one bravely written novel I recommend you read.Katiebabs