Book Review: The Submissive (The Submissive Trilogy)

Book Title: The Submissive Book 1
Author: Tara Sue Me |Website| Twitter| Facebook|

Publisher: Penguin
Genre: Erotica Romance
Series/Standalone: Series
Format: paperback

Cost: $15.00

Pages: 305

How I got it: Book Expo America

Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Publisher

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Synopsis:

Abby King has a secret fantasy. New York knows Nathaniel West as the brilliant and handsome CEO of West Industries, but Abby knows he’s more: a sexy and skilled dominant who is looking for a new submissive. Yearning to experience a world of pleasure beyond her simple life as a librarian, Abby offers herself to Nathaniel, to fulfill her most hidden desires. After only one weekend with the Master, Abby knows she needs more, and fully submits to Nathaniel’s terms. But despite the pleasure he takes in Abby’s willing spirit, the Nathaniel hidden behind the rules remains cold and distant. As Abby falls deeper into his tantalizing world of power and passion, she fears that Nathaniel’s heart may be beyond her reach—and that her own might be beyond saving…

When I was at Book Expo America 2013, the sales pitch for this book was   " This is the book that inspired 50 Shades of Grey", another blogger and I were in line and he said "I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing". I laughed but I decided to stand in line because the author was there so she would be able to pitch it better and she did. It was pretty entertaining, I was both excited and nervous to read the book (because if I haven't made it clear before I dislike hate 50 Shades of Grey, clearly it's not the genre,it's not the content....Sigh look that's a whole other post but yeah, moving on. ) Let's start with the beautiful cover, I loved this cover, it's very simple yet just hints at the raunchy contents hidden within.

I will say I found the series interesting and engaging, this story itself both great for laying the foundation for the rest and truly draws you in.  This one is told, well, from the Submissive's (Abbie's) point of view.  Answering an ad for a submissive makes Abbie both nervous and eexcited.  Abbie had her own reasons why she choose to do this, she was new to being a submissive; but for Nathaniel she would do just about anything.  Nathaniel was both engaging and bit aloof, you couldn't quite get a read on him, but considering we were filtering it through Abigail's perspective it's understandable.

I enjoyed seeing her reasoning, learning his reasoning, watching as they both learnt to navigate their way through this deal and then eventually through the new deal they had formed.  It moved fast & the story that unfolded was both sweet and raunchy. There are clearly moments where Nathaniel failed as a Dominant, he however would find a way to make it up and even make sure it never occurred again. I liked the tension between them and even the way in which they were together, Abbie was being challenge and so was Nathaniel.  I loved that it was set in NYC and that they talked about books a bit.  I loved quite a few of the side characters and even had a few moments of chuckling while reading the book. It certainly had it's dramatic moments.

I liked Abbie as a character and even before I finished the book placed my pre-order for the next two books.  I must admit I finished the book within a few hours because I just didn't want to leave the story alone.  

In the case of was it a good thing or bad thing to have influenced the creation of 50 Shades?? I can see in the story where there are clear lifts from the story in FSOG ( a little more watered down ) but this one was actually done well. The scenes were written in a way that let you know the author either did excellent research or had a consultant on them, which made me a little happy (ok a lot happy). It's not the most brilliant book ever written but it's a good addition to the genre. 

 ★★★★☆
It's one of my new faves in the genre and I highly recommend it for those who both loved and hated FSOG because if you loved it then here is a good transition book into the genre, if you hated FSOG here is a well written introduction to the genre.