A review by lunaseassecondaccount
Submission by Howard Curtis, Marthe Blau

1.0

Where to start.

First of all, this is a horrible representation of a BDSM relationship. This is supposedly based on real events, but I find it more likely that's just to get tongues wagging. Seeing as I'm highly interested in the BDSM community and am in a BDSM-based relationship myself, I can say that this is nothing like what a real- and healthy- relationship is like. There is no discussion of safewords, and even when Elodie says she doesn't want to follow through with what 'He' says, He makes her do it. He beats her. He humiliates her. He whips her so hard she passes out and leaves her tied to a balcony. When she says she wants to love Him, He beats her. Not once does He ask about her well being, not once does He truly show that He cares for her.

While I place the majority of the blame on Him (and I hate capitalising it, but that's how he (He)'s addressed in the book), Elodie, the narrator, is also partially to blame. She doesn't know Him. She lets herself get overwhelmed with Him. She says she loves Him, but it reads more like a sick, twisted case of Stockholm Syndrome. There is not discussion about what she wants, what she can do to get out of it, and what He wants from her besides a fuck toy. Because that's what she is- a fuck toy.

I felt sick while reading this. I told my partner that if he even treated me slightly the way that's represented in this book, I would take him to court. This isn't a relationship. This is abuse. BDSM is not an abusive relationship. BDSM is not rape. This is what leads me to believe that this author- Marthe Blau- knows nothing about real BDSM relationships, has no history of it, and sees it more as one person using another. BDSM is not that.

This book is disgusting. That's it.