Have you ever noticed how as much as we tend to love the bad boy, they aren't usually all that bad? The reformed rake is generally just a fun-loving, woman-chasing frat boy. Even the worst badasses in a romance, rare as they are, ones who've committed murder and other crimes, usually have extenuating circumstances to explain their actions and they run their lives by a pretty strict code of honor. No harming children, no arbitrary pain and murder for innocents, that sort of thing. And they're ...

Have you ever noticed how as much as we tend to love the bad boy, they aren't usually all that bad? The reformed rake is generally just a fun-loving, woman-chasing frat boy. Even the worst badasses in a romance, rare as they are, ones who've committed murder and other crimes, usually have extenuating circumstances to explain their actions and they run their lives by a pretty strict code of honor. No harming children, no arbitrary pain and murder for innocents, that sort of thing. And they're all willing to throw away a life of dishonor for the love of a good woman when it comes down to it.

I've always wondered what it would be like to read a romance with a truly evil hero. Maybe that's a bit melodramatic. How about a guy with sociopathic tendencies? He could have certain redeeming qualities, sure, but at heart he would be an unrepentant bastard.

And now I know.

Comfort Food is an ... amazing book. It's hard to find the words to describe it, but I'll try.

It's the story of the kidnapping of a woman. And it's not a fake kidnapping, like you may have read before, where she secretly wants it or technically has a way out that she doesn't take. This is a full-fledged, real, very illegal kidnapping. Emily is drugged, kidnapped, held captive, subjected to torture via sensory deprivation, raped, whipped. You pretty much know all that is coming, or worse, when she wakes up tied to a chair and blindfolded, but Emily takes you along for the ride inside her head and each new thing is a revelation.

We watch her journey as she comes to accept her captivity, and embrace her captor. Even with her psychology degree and understanding about Stockholm syndrome, it really does nothing to change the reality of her situation or her feelings for it. Her captor is not, at heart, a nice guy. Sure he has his limits and certain redeeming qualities, but he takes her against her will, breaks her and molds her into what he wants. He never ever repents, but oddly enough, if he did, it would almost be disappointing.

This book will mess with your head, or at least, it did with mine. Because not only do we see Emily start to "come around", but because we're so deep in her head and it feels so real, I started too also. Suddenly her crazy sociopathic captor started to feel not scary, but safe - reasonably almost. And the other people in her life start to seem mean and uncaring, even while they're acting loving and normal.

There is one part of the book where Emily says that she doesn't love him, but she needs what he can give her - that he has seen every part of her, even her worst, and wants her still. And when she said that I found myself thinking, almost unconsciously, Yes, I want that, too. I have love, yes, but I want that. I wouldn't trade it if I really had the choice in this second, but the fact that I would actually consider it is scary enough.

This is a BDSM novel but the whips and chains aspect are pretty mild. This is an erotica novel but the sex isn't particularly frequent or explicit. This is a romance novel but there isn't any love. At the end of the novel, the blurb says that the author writes stories about ownership, and that's what this is. It's like a new genre, ownership.

The writing is easy to read but the story is intense - it will get inside your head, if your lucky. Just as Emily noted that even while she understood the psychology that was changing her views, it didn't matter because it was happening anyways. The book was like that for me. Even though I understood that it was just a story, wasn't really happening, and also the psychology, it didn't matter because I was along for the ride with Emily, understanding her and agreeing with her.

If you liked Comfort Food, you may also like...
As She's Told
Signed, Sealed & Delivered
Master of the Mountain
The Trap

I wasn't sure what I would think of Comfort Food, but I was curious and then it popped up free for kindle so it was a done deal. Generally I don't care for novellas/short stories, but the length worked with the story. It felt like "just enough" and I'm not sure there was much more story to be had than what was told.

I enjoyed the story. It was well written, fast paced and entertaining. I believe it is classified as "dark erotica" and it didn't work for me on that level as I really don't ap...

I wasn't sure what I would think of Comfort Food, but I was curious and then it popped up free for kindle so it was a done deal. Generally I don't care for novellas/short stories, but the length worked with the story. It felt like "just enough" and I'm not sure there was much more story to be had than what was told.

I enjoyed the story. It was well written, fast paced and entertaining. I believe it is classified as "dark erotica" and it didn't work for me on that level as I really don't appreciate the whole "master/slave" vibe. I certainly hope it doesn't work for anyone as a romance; but it was an interesting portrayal of real Stockholm Syndrome. This tale of Emily and her Master is reminiscent of the real life ordeal of Colleen Stan as depicted in the book "Perfect Victim: The True Story of the Girl in the box"; only much more romanticized and much less brutal. The Colleen Stan story also goes a long way towards explaining how trauma and brainwashing really can bring about inexplicable behavior; and also hints at a point touched upon in Comfort Food related to core personality traits being at the heart of what makes some people more susceptible than others. In Comfort Food, Emily at one point articulates her understanding that "I've always been wired differently. He only brought to the surface what was already there".

The one disappointment I had is that the psyche of the Master was not more fully explored. It's interesting to put the pieces together and understand just what makes a sociopath a sociopath. It is noted that the Master has "an issue"; however it is not in anyway an issue that could in and of itself explain his complete lack of empathy and disregard for social mores; or push an otherwise sane, well adjusted individual to give in to urges to act bat-@#$% crazy.

Overall it was an interesting and well told story.

“the most twisted form of psychological conditioning, I’ve ever read . . . will stick in your brain for days after you read”
Really well written it tells the story of Emily who is basically kidnapped and left in a room bare of essentials, not even a bed. She is subjected to silence and no human contact by the man who kidnapped her, he knows what she craves and he takes pleasure in denying her.

He doesn’t talk but everything is done by a thought or an action. He brings Emily chicken noodle...

“the most twisted form of psychological conditioning, I’ve ever read . . . will stick in your brain for days after you read”
Really well written it tells the story of Emily who is basically kidnapped and left in a room bare of essentials, not even a bed. She is subjected to silence and no human contact by the man who kidnapped her, he knows what she craves and he takes pleasure in denying her.

He doesn’t talk but everything is done by a thought or an action. He brings Emily chicken noodle soup and crackers every day.

He does nothing without her permission, he doesn’t force her but rewards her for her “good” behavior with a nice room full of beautiful things. He is messing with her mind, her thoughts, her feelings. Poor Emily really has no choice but to comply.

This book is not for the faint hearted, there is humiliation, BDSM and extreme sexual situations, but for some reason I really couldn’t hate her kidnapper. It is a strange feeling to feel some sort of compassion for this man.

Told from Emily’s perspective except for the sexual scene’s and they are told from a third perceptive, I read this in nearly one sitting. Addictive and thoroughly enjoyable, this book is one of those books that you are thinking about for hours after and turning things over in your mind. Loved loved the ending and it was totally unexpected, at least for me. A thoroughly recommended read !!!

The only complaint I have Is that just once I would like to see these women fight back.

Extreme situation I know, but this man kidnapped her, Stockholm Syndrome at it’s worse.