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| By Annabel Joseph |
Nell is a bright, attractive woman, briefly a Harvard student, who finds herself working as a professional submissive at Eden Fetish Club in Los Angeles. In reality, she has been in very few actual D/s relationships and questions whether she is truly submissive. Jeremy, a very famous actor, is the exact opposite; he's a Dominant that knows exactly what he wants and how to get it. Because of his fame, he has to be careful not to expose his kinky nature to the public, so he has his assistant Kyle find discrete professionals to work for him. Kyle finds Nell at Eden, and after trying her out first, he lets Jeremy know she would be the perfect "employee." Jeremy has Nell sign a confidentiality statement, and then proceeds to offer her a job as his submissive, his comfort object, while he travels the world shooting a movie.
At first Nell is shocked and offended by the proposal, so Jeremy "persuades" her by having her fired from her job and evicted from her apartment. Homeless and desperate with no other options, Nell reluctantly agrees to his offer and signs his employment contract which specifically states what is expected of her. In public she will be his vanilla girlfriend, and in private she will be his sexual submissive. In exchange, she will receive an incredible salary and tuition to finish college. The contract clearly states "the applicant...shall refrain, to the best of her ability, from becoming emotionally and romantically attached," but as their relationship progresses, both Nell and Jeremy find that rule increasingly difficult to follow. When a violent stalker threatens Nell, the two finally accept how they truly feel about each other. But do the risks of staying together outweigh the rewards?
Comfort Object is easily in my top five favorite erotica books I've read this year - the story, the characters and the sex are all amazing. Nell and Jeremy are engrossing characters. The story is told in first-person, and I love how the point of view alternates between Nell and Jeremy. Jeremy is despicable at first when he has Nell fired and evicted so she'd be desperate enough to accept his offer. Can you imagine someone wanting you so much? Sure, he has a mean streak, but he's never overly cruel to Nell, though he does push her limits. He's a hard Dominate that knows what he's doing and expects total submission from Nell. And why not? She is being well paid to play the part. Certainly there is a reason he has built up such intimacy walls to where he must hire someone for his pleasure. Watching him change from emotionally distant to being genuinely in love with Nell was intense because he fought it every step of the way. I think Nell realizes much sooner that they compliment each other and being together is worth any risk.
Comfort Object is a gripping story that moved quickly and held my interest from start to finish. I was glued to this book mainly because of Nell and Jeremy's complex relationship, but the plot involving a crazed fan stalking Nell was also exciting. I'd probably label the BDSM sex scenes in this book as medium intensity - not light, fluffy stuff, but nothing degrading or offensive either, at least to me. However, everyone see things differently. If you're sensitive about spanking, bondage, group sex, etc., then this book would not be for you. My biggest complaint is the overuse of the terms "slut" and "whore," which I don't like. That's a pet-peeve of mine, and other readers may not be bothered by it or may not even notice. Jeremy may be hard to take at first, but give him time and he'll win you over. This is the first book I've read by Annabel Joseph, and I'm very excited to read more. Though not for the faint of heart, this is a fantastic book I would highly recommend.
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