Book Review – Tender Mercies by Kitty Thomas

Tender Mercies
After reading Comfort Food by the same author, I experienced a sort of dazzled bewilderment. I LOVED it, but I couldn’t come to grips with *why* I did. No wait. I knew the “why” of it, (’cause it was simply awesome)… but the subject matter was just so dark and scary.

Like Mariel from my Facebook page said:

“When I read Comfort Food I was slightly disturbed by the fact that I wasn’t disturbed by the ending…  Am I the only he who felt that?”

I know right?!! Me too, and yes, it is perplexing, but the author spun an amazingly unique story and there is no denying that it draws you in, and makes you think… differently. A worthy read for sure, for those that like to explore an ominous thrill.

And even though I was leery of delving further into this reading genre, I knew it would call to me again, and I’d want more. Last week, I let myself go fully and went on a dark reads marathon, and jumped right back into another from Kitty Thomas. This one. OMG look at that gorgeous cover… so beautiful and serene and yet, the subject matter is clear, if you look again.

I loved it. Not as much as Comfort Food, (the shock value of that one, and the deep emotional connection that the reader experiences through the heroine cannot be beat), but this one was a great read. The “what if” had me nervous right from the very start. Those warnings that we’ve all heard about with internet relationships, meeting a stranger that you think you know, that you’ve been talking to for months now (a year?) … the whole “be careful what you wish for ’cause you just might get it” scenario was loud and clear.

When Grace get’s bored of the limiting BDSM “Master/slave” play she decides to search the internet for something more, and finds exactly what she thinks she wants. An island where buying and selling slaves is legal.

From the time she’d learned of Eleu, she’d become obsessed with it. A real place where it was legal to belong to someone. The independently-goverened island was kept secret, even among the kinky set.

Now she can have a real Master. And after a year of video-chatting with good looking Lucas Stone, he insists he is done playing games. He will send her a ticket and she can be officially his once she arrives. Here’s the thing. She relinquishes her passport and citizenship once she gets there and loses all of her rights as a slave. All of them. Their laws do not protect her.

Pictures had been exchanged. Naughty webcam sessions had taken place. And now he wanted her to make the choice to hand him her freedom. And the f%&ked-up part? She wanted to. He was rich. He was gorgeous. And he had a voice that reached inside and flipped some switch that made her want to kneel at his feet.

She wasn’t uninformed about the laws of Eleu. She knew the risks. She couldn’t appeal based on her rights as a citizen of any other country, because former citizenship was renounced at the gate. There wasn’t a single embassy. Tourism wasn’t permitted.

No one could come rescue her, so she had to be sure. The only law pertaining to the safety of slaves in Eleu was the you couldn’t kill them.

Oh I have no idea how to explain my feelings while I was watching her chat and fall for this guy, and feel like she would lose him if she didn’t act on his offer.

Gracie343: Are you mad at me?

Stoneman: No, pet. But I’m not waiting forever. This long-distance domination isn’t cutting it for either of us. I want you in my bed. I’ll give you another month. But if you aren’t on that plane…

I felt her… somehow I knew, (because I was in her mind, of course) that he would be the “one” for her. What she needed. Now let me make it clear… I didn’t think that. Hehe nope… not me. 😉 But she did, and there I was, in her head, feeling her, and it was making me crazy. Brain one way, heart another. THAT is how good this author is. Taking something that could obviously go so terribly wrong and making it feel right.

And once she gets there, her world is turned upside down. Everything she wanted, everything she “imagined” (<—- key word)… actually living it proves to be a much harsher reality.

Reality hadn’t been what she wanted, unless it was a reality she’d orchestrated with the circumstances that turned her on. This did not turn her on.

I’m going to stop there. I experienced this book with NO idea of how it would play out, each nightmarish lashing, each absolutely dark (and I MEAN DARK) brutal scene, would there be light at the end of the tunnel?

Well…

There is “Asher” (another Master on that same island). And let’s just say, even Masters that are allowed to rule their slaves without laws, have different ways of doing so.  Not all of them are monsters. You know…I mean, if “Masters” are your thing. *eeeep* 

Maybe not as “dark” as Comfort Food, but close. It has it’s moments (quite a few of ’em), so just remember, you are in her head every step of the way. This is not a sexy & fun “BDSM Club/Lifestyle” erotica read. ‘Cause even when it’s good, it’s still mind-bendingly… just… umm….  not something that I can comprehend (trying to say that, without giving anything away). *shrug* But you know how it is. I still like to read ’em.

Just make sure you want to read something like this, before going in, ‘kay? 

Oh!! AND… how it starts? OMG heartbreaking. I was SO into it, right from the start. This book made my heart race, made me sad, confused, elated, scared out of my mind, hopeless and… hopeful.

4 stars