This one has left me in quite a reflective state. Expect my review May 30, 2011 on my blog: http://reenajacobs.com/blog/2011/05/n...

Not too long ago Kitty Thomas offered me a copy of Tender Mercies in exchange for a review. I have to admit, I was a little apprehensive after reading Guilty Pleasures. Not a bad piece for those into no-games true BDSM, but it wasn’t quite the thing for this vanilla gal. On the other hand, I absolutely LOVED Comfort Food. So my thoughts of Tender Mercies

Prologues seem to be going out of style these days. I mentioned a while back, quite a few folks skip prologues, like my daughter (to my surprise). Tender Mercies started off with a prologue, but unlike my daughter, I’m too afraid I’ll miss something to skip one. So into the prologue I delved into it. When I reached the end, my thoughts were, wow! that was good! It added wonderful insight into Asher’s personality and gave me an immediate connection. For those who skip prologues, I encourage you to give this one a shot. It left me quite satisfied.

So we get to the meat to the story. Riding along with Grace through the first few chapters was quite scary. Her desires to enter the BSDM world superseded rational thought. Yet in a way, I could relate to her desire to give up control but being too strong-willed and defiant do so in the normal world. Still, I couldn’t imagine taking the leap of faith she did. Don’t do it! I screamed at her. Of course she didn’t listen and paid the consequences for her choices. Such horrible consequences. I felt awful about the ordeals Grace faced… almost to the point I wanted to cry for her at times.

Then we have Asher. The introduction of Asher’s point of view is quite different from the prior works of Ms. Thomas. Whereas before, the males were secondary (though still important) characters in the story, this time around, we really get into the male mind. It was nice having an understanding of where he was coming from with the BDSM thing… a side I didn’t really get with the first two stories.

All in all, I truly enjoyed this work. I could totally see an island like the one in the story existing. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if one did. It had the Anne Rice Exit to Eden kind of thing going. I didn’t fall in love with Tender Mercies like I did Comfort Food (keep in mind, only 3 works hit my all time favorites last year, Comfort Food being one of them), but Tender Mercies was well up there on the likeability scale. If you liked Comfort Food–the idea of a tortured woman finding herself–Tender Mercies might be right up your alley.