Review: Review Title
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 22, 2012
This is not a pleasant book. It's not happy. It's not sexy. It's very brutal, tortuous (as in has torture), angry, violent, and the main character is seriously cracked in the head.So why am I giving it a four star?I'm having difficulty breaking this into a pros/cons review; this is not an easy review for me to write. I'll do my best. I'm not a member of the BDSM community, so I can't comment on any real life accuracy.Writing: It was well written but with a few grammar errors; only three really stood out to me: 2 with name misspellings and 1 with wrong word usage ("she stood idol"... huh?). Another reviewer talked about the writing style better than I can, but it seemed to be written in a soft flowing tone similar to that of Venica, the main character (whose head we were in the majority of the time, in a third person POV)Content: Very graphic violence. Brutal sex. Lots of abuse. There are (few)(very very few)times of softness and tenderness.Plot: MAJOR SPOILER WARNINGS!!! Ok, I don't actually know if these are all spoilers, but better safe than sorry. The main character is tortured, by her own choice, at Bravada: a type of BDSM retreat. Not a retreat in a good way, mostly in breaking of people, both Doms and Subs. It's basically a rehab for people who've lost themselves in the BDSM life style and no longer dwell in reality. Doms who are too brutal, too self absorbed, who care nothing about the subs, Subs who have ill-defined or (in Venica's case) no boundaries/sense of self worth. The point is to get them to be re-humanized because the community is (idealy) based on safe/sane/consensual and the broken people who enter the Bravada at first may not qualify/be able to for any of those three ideals. I don't think it villifies the community but is just trying to show what happens when safe/sane/consensual are no longer on the table and the need for boundaries and self-worth for a successful BDSM relationship to survive. (I hope that makes sense).(SPOILER WARNINGS CONTINUED) Venica prides herself on being a perfect sub with no boundaries. She refuses to use a safe word and (if I recall correctly) acknowledges that she might even die but doesn't really care. I know the point was brought up to her but she didn't really disagree. At one point they compare it to an eating disorder (Bulimia) that Venica used to have. So they're trying to put her in situations where she may acknowledge that she is a person/have self-worth/stand up for herself. She is very stubborn. Many times she seems like she's one of those people who brag about how humble they are.(LAST SPOILER, I Promise!) There is a stop to the madness, there is a spark of tenderness and sanity, and it (the ending/conclusion/HEA/whatever) flew by way too quickly!Ok, just to be honest, let's just say that trying to rationalize Venica is *censored*ing with my head. It was a captivating read, but I'm pretty sure my brows were furrowed the whole time I read it. I didn't get any enjoyment out of it, but my little brain cells were fascinated with the mental process/change/growth the characters were going through.It was like looking in a window at this fascinating and horrible reality. The writing style (with the exception of a few errors) was fine, the character development was well done, the mental aspects were thoroughly examined, and I'll probably never ever read this book again. But I don't mind having read it once.Read at your own risk. Just know what you're getting into.