Good Pussy Bad Pussy in Captivity

So, in fact, I should be celebrating. Celebrating because that meant Albert was alive and maybe he'd even be home soon. Back home. Alive and free again! But how could that be? Would Victor really let that happen now that he had me? The man was so obsessed with me. Obsessed. I sat up in the bed, in a cold sweat. Suddenly nothing made sense. 

What will Victor do if Albert really does come back? I thought. 

I felt sick to my stomach.

Then it hit me: What will Albert do when he finds out what Victor did to me while he was gone? Oh, God no! could it be? 

I simply didn't know what to think! I simply didn't know what to make of it. What, oh, what is going on? I didn't know. Oh, God no! could it be? 

So I lay there! all bunched up in a big ball, holding my stomach, in the big bed in Albert's big house, suddenly cold as ice...

Good Pussy Bad Pussy in Captivity

This is a difficult book. It is a book about difficulty, as the heroine and the man she loves are worlds apart. She is trapped inside her home with an abusive man, and he is being held in captivity far away from her. For most of the book she does not even know if he is alive.

And while in captivity she is blackmailed into doing terrible things. For me at least, this was not an erotic experience. I felt most of this did not touch erotic buttons for me, as it more became a story about survival. In survival, you do what you do. You repair the damage later, if you ever can.

She loses her love, and she makes some very foolish decisions. Again, the sex that she has after her life turns upside down deals less true to me than it should. She has a consensual fling with a friend first, and again it was less of an erotic experience for me as it was trying to come to terms with her loss. She loved this man before, so it is hard to blame her for wanting to find some comfort with him, but I did not feel like this was true and emotional love.

Stick with this review, it goes somewhere - and like the book, you'll get it if you stick with me.

We then go into a very dark place where she is blackmailed, and this is where the story takes a very dark turn and becomes a tale of survival and willpower. It is at these times that I wonder if the sex shouldn't just "fade to black" because, yes, I know there is a physical response to the stimuli, but I question highlighting this in light of her situation. It doesn't feel terribly erotic, just dark. I understand there is a need to see her work through this and to describe her ordeals and the way she survives, and that is done well. These were very difficult sections to read for me, but I understand why they are here.

Later on, after the traumatic events, she goes into therapy where she makes more bad decisions. Again, I feel she makes another foolish decision to sleep with those helping with her recovery. As erotic content it is a little better than her captivity, but I felt it still was a little taking advantage of her weakness.

By the end, and I can't spoil it, things take a turn for the better and we begin to understand why a little better. We begin to understand what her strength was, and what kept her going. I felt this part of the book made up for the darkness and the bad decisions she made very nicely, and it showed the power of her spirit and love. This is what made sticking with this book worth it for me, there is a reaffirmation of strength in the human spirit here that completes the story.

Despite the darkness, there is an element of fantasy to this story where she is so irresistible and sexual that these powers of hers let her escape any situation. It is sort of an escape mechanism for her, and an idealization of femininity. I'd understand where this comes from, and it is a power that she wrestles with when she uses it. To me, this is almost like a super-heroine who can survive great tragedy with sex, but she wrestles with the morality and internal issues doing this causes.

This is well-written, wonderfully told, and a gripping account of a woman wrestling with sexuality and what that means to her. When I say sexuality I mean its power over others, and its power over her. The difficult situations are used to explore this power and her feelings about using it, both what it does to others and what it does to herself. You do get the feeling of the meaninglessness of sex forced or used to comfort, and this is a good thing that helps drive the book's message of love home.

The cover is simple, pretty, and it reflects the dark themes of the book.

I told you this was a difficult book. Some books are fantasies and escapes, and they let you fly free from life or a moment or two. Other books inspire reflection and thought, and this book clearly falls into the latter - at least for me. There is a great examination of "good pussy and bad pussy" in the books in this series, and I feel that this theme of sex as a force for good, or as a force for bad, is worth bringing into your consciousness and thinking about. It is also worth discussing and reading, as I do not normally read books like this, but they do inspire me to think.

I liked it though, even the parts I didn't like, I understood - and I did feel they belonged. The abuse, the mistakes, everything - these reflect us as sexual beings and the same things which happen in our lives. Sex is not always magically porn-movie perfect, and I support works like this that explore imperfect lives. Through these, we find ourselves. This is one you have to stick with until the end, as tough as it gets that redemption is there. Very nice work.

A strong recommend this one for readers interested in difficult themes, the meaning of sex in erotic romance, and readers interested in details of emotional survival. Overall, a book important not so much for the heat and erotic content as the message, reflections on sexuality, and hopeful spirit it communicates.