Review: ehh ok
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 05 28, 2014
3.5 StarsOh, I so wanted to like this set more than I actually did. Being a big fan of both Cassandra Carr and dark erotica, I really wanted to be able to get into this series. But when it was done, all I could think was “Wow…that was a whole lot of oral and anal sex.”Unable to control her spending and close to two hundred thousand dollars in debt, Catrina Carter finds herself with no other choice than to engage the services of “Debt Management Associates”, a firm with a unique approach to helping with finances and curbing spending. With the intention of creating a negative connotation associated with the idea of spending money, Catrina and her debt are “purchased” at auction by Jared, her benefactor for the next year. In exchange for paying off her debts and teaching her basic money management, Catrina essentially enters into indentured servitude to Jared, to be used for his needs and punishments.While I could suspend reality and just accept this premise to enjoy the story, there were several things in the books that bothered me. First, I never warmed up to Catrina. She seemed to fall fully within the “too stupid to live” heroine category and I would have preferred someone with a little more backbone than simply taking the humiliation lying down (so to speak). Second, the humiliation itself was the focus of the story. While I am a fan of dark erotica, the stories seemed to focus more on the utter humiliation being heaped on Catrina rather than anything that was actually erotic. Finally, I found it somewhat repetitive. The scenes all consisted of Catrina being continuously spanked, embarrassed and violated, not only by Jared but anyone else he chose, while constantly being reminded that she did this to herself by getting herself so far into debt. And being a bit of a germophobe, there were some things I just couldn’t get past in the “oh so unsanitary” department…As far as the writing went, I find Cassandra Carr to be an engaging and thoroughly enjoyable author, her books to be extremely readable, and this was no exception. I just didn’t find a lot to be sexy or erotic about this dark story. Perhaps if there was a fourth installment that delved into a future between Jared and Catrina. But as it stood, I prefer a little more of an attraction between the parties to balance out the darkness. Otherwise, it just comes off as abuse.Review copy provided for an honest review