Review: Sizzling hot for a particular crowd
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 02 12, 2013
There's a lot going on in this book, not the least of which is the Hunt.The action switches back and forth between current events where Caro is trying to make her way through a hedgemaze while being "hunted" by her husband's friends. The men have made a game out of chasing down their women and making them climax, at which point they receive one of the leather bands around the woman in question's wrist. Each woman has 5 bands and their goal is to get out of the maze losing the least number of the bands.  Caro is fairly certain she'll do well because she recognizes the configuration of the maze, but along the way she's constantly getting distracted by what's going on around here.There is a rape fantasy being enacted in the maze, but I would call it more dubious consent than non-consent.  Since I read the whole book I happen to know that Caro, like the other women, has been being "trained" by her husband to fulfill the sexual proclivities that he enjoys; she agreed before marrying him to all of the dark desires that he wanted her to indulge in with him.  Of course, he didn't exactly explain explicitly what was going to happen in the maze today, and she's having trouble believing it herself, but that's where the "dubious" part of the consent comes in.  Also the fear and the anxiety, which can be arousing. The other women are all in the same boat; the men don't necessarily brings their wives there, some of them bring their mistresses. It all depends on what woman they indulge their fantasies with.I don't mean to pretty this up however; there is a barely toed line of dubious consent here, since the women weren't apprised of the game beforehand and probably wouldn't have agreed to be a part of it if they had been.  On the other hand, in BDSM relationships there ARE some relationships where the Master will do as he/she wills and the slave/sub must go along with it unless they wish to end the relationship, even if it's out of the slave/sub's comfort zone.Personally my favorite scene in this book came at the end when Caro's husband 'reclaims' her and we really get a glimpse into their kinky relationship.  The hunt itself is going to be fairly objectionable for anyone who views it as anything other than a fantasy (although any time you see the word "ravishment" in a book description, that should be a big clue), but the writing is steamy and the relationship between Caro and William is downright hot.  I'm not so much into the sharing thing myself, and if I was Caro I'd be going into fits of jealousy, but I loved the scenes between her and William. Rough, harsh and totally alpha-male.If you're looking for an erotic rough fantasy with BDSM elements and dubious consent, this is a good buy. There's not a lot of plot, but the idea is pretty original and the writing is well done.