Reviewed by Dee
TITLE: Camellia
SERIES: Camellia #1
AUTHOR: Cari Z & Caitlin Ricci
PUBLISHER: Less Than Three Press
LENGTH: 168 pages
RELEASE DAY: May 06, 2014
BLURB:
Danny doesn’t expect much to come from the interview she has lined up through her modelling agency, who told her only that it involved tea and a kink convention. She thinks it won’t be much more than wearing some strange outfit, sitting around, and getting easy money that she desperately needs.
What she gets instead is Lucy, a formidable woman in riding boots and a corset, who makes Danny want to please her without saying a word. By the end of the interview, Danny is convinced that her new job isn’t going to be anywhere near as easy as she first believed. Can Danny make the woman determined to keep her at the end of her riding crop let her into her heart as well as her bed?
REVIEW:
If nothing else this story taught me to pay closer attention to the blurb. I saw the cover, lesbian, BDSM and jumped up and down wanting a copy. What I didn’t see was, ‘involved tea and a kink convention’, and wow did the book deliver on both of those things.
I can’t say I ever picked up an erotic story and received such an education on preparing and serving tea. Which teas compliment which foods, and so on. People who are connoisseurs of such beverages will fall in love with that aspect of the story alone.
The BDSM is explained in minute detail, which will appeal to those with little knowledge of, or new to the lifestyle. Those not so new to the genre might find it a little preachy, for want of a better word. It was almost as if the characters felt they had to justify their desires and motivations. One thing I found disturbing, was how Lillian’s character was portrayed. She is a slave, something which once again is explained to the reader in detail. I’ve read many books focused around TPE (total power exchange) but this is the first I’ve read when the submissive has remained mute. Not once did she utter a word. Nada, naught, zero from her mouth, even when she was helping Danny dress for the tea/kink convention. and it was just the two of them in the bathroom. I didn’t get that! Oh there you go, there’s something that wasn’t explained.
The story gives more page time to Danny than Lucy, in part due to the fact Danny has a family, who I could have done without meeting, and that Lucy is estranged from her parents.
The story is reasonably well edited, but the words, ‘a bit’ became ‘a bit’ distracting for me while reading.
I don’t really have a lot else to say about this story. Nothing memorable stuck with me. There’s no real conflict, and it ends with a Happy for now, at best.
I recommend this story as a gateway to BDSM, and to those who enjoy reading about the finer arts of preparing tea.
RATING: 
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