Series: The Payment Series Boxed Set
Author: Cassandra Carr
Published: May 2014 - C-Squared Publishing
Format: Ebook for review
The Payment series (Prized, Possessed, Purgatory)-
Catrina Carter is in over her head. Way over her head. She’s in debt and, short of bankruptcy, which wouldn’t happen fast enough to pay the creditors nipping at her heels, Catrina has few choices. Eviction is coming any day, and even though she traded in her great car for a “more affordable” model, it's about to be repossessed too. Catrina goes to Debt Management Associates, or DMA, for help.The cost for DMA's help is something she never thought she could pay, but out of options, Catrina agrees to serve a man who pays her debt in full, and begins training in how to please him. Jared. Her new benefactor. He is tasked with helping Catrina get her life back on track, in addition to taking his pleasure with her and ordering her to oblige friends, colleagues, and even total strangers sexually on his whim.When Catrina leaves the DMA program after her one year term of service, will she be able to keep the lessons Jared literally spanked into her topmost in her mind, or will old habits rear their designer heads?
I was pretty excited to read the Payment Series, by Cassandra Carr. I've read many of her books, and she is undoubtedly one of my favorite authors. So to say I was excited to see what she would do with a darker subject matter would be putting it lightly!
So as you can see from the blurb, Catrina has gotten herself into a large amount of debt. Hey, I've been there, I felt like I could sympathize. No, I wasn't in debt nearly as much as her, but as anyone who is drowning in credit cards can attest, there gets a point where you feel like you'd do anything to be rid of the debt! Lucky for Catrina, she tells the right person and they recommend her to the DMA. And right from the very first interview at the DMA, Catrina knows that this isn't going to be something easy. What she signs on for is basically a year of... voluntary sexual slavery, I suppose is what it comes down to. Anything goes except sexual penetration. And I do mean anything. Anything.
And anything certainly happens. Catrina goes home with Jared. And Jared is NOT shy. If you are into spanking and blow jobs, you will LOVE this book. There is plenty of that to go around! Sometimes it's very sexy, sometimes it's clearly punishment, and sometimes it's just to prove a point. The point? Stop spending money you don't have!!
The tone of the book is... well, it's dark. And a bit cold. I mean, this is not a love story. There is no stroll into the sunset. It's a business transaction. Now do I believe that it was emotionless? No, I don't. I just don't view it as romantic emotions. I think the two main characters developed a bit of a symbiotic relationship. I do think that they began to actually care for each other, and each other's well being. But I think Cassandra Carr did a really good job keeping the emotions out of it for the most part. Catrina is in a program to break her bad habits, and that can't be done with love and soft touches sometimes.
Would I recommend this book? Absolutely - if you know what you are in for. I think that's important in dark erotica. There are a lot of sexual situations in this book. It's even broken down into numbers at one point. It was that point that I stopped reading for a moment and let the number sink in. Could I do what Catrina did? No way, I really don't think I'd survive that year. Did she learn a lesson? Well, hell - there's no way I'm telling you that! I really found the book very interesting from beginning to end! Check it out for yourself!
