Submission by Atria - review by Scarlett Muse

I have a love of books, and a book with erotic themes has the potential to turn me into a puddle. I read the excerpts and the reviews, and was looking forward to getting my copy of Submission. I got it, and started reading, and my enthusiasm began to slowly dwindle. The story has a great premise. There are some amazing little scenes here and there. But as a cohesive full story, I have to say this book is lacking. I know the original text is in French and I am truly wondering if the transition into English was detrimental to the story, or the feel of the writing.

It starts out slowly, and it just seems to stay in that rut; the pace never really picks up and the book just wanders all over. It hops around, and the time transitions, the place movement, even the story’s movement, are all just very choppy; no overall flow to draw you from one place to another. While I believe that there is supposed to be this tension and anticipation built through the style of the narrative, it just doesn’t seem to work for me. The main character, Elodie, from whose perspective the story is told, ends up coming off whiny and insecure and clingy. And while the idea that she is a submissive is the main plot concept, she is not at all the type of character that you could either live through or feel compassion for.

I really wanted to like the book. I have a hard time not liking books. But I just can’t like this one. I didn’t enjoy it at all and I had to force myself to finish it because I just never cared about the characters enough to be drawn in. This is not a book I would recommend at all.