Review: Sated

@CharityParkerso #BookReview Wonderfully melancholy and lovingly enchanting
Sated by Charity Parkerson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Dream sequences can be disorienting. For readers who prefer the straight linear timeline, this is a book to pass. For those who like to guess what is going on and those who enjoy a story out of sequence, similar to the movie style of Pulp Fiction, this book is for you. This story starts out simply in a bar with Arbor trying to avoid a guy picking her up. She's here to watch a band she loves. The lead singers Lyric and Killian are super gorgeous and it feels as if the songs are being sung just to her. When they stop to talk to her, she's surprised and thrilled. From an erotic standpoint, the sexual tension between Arbor and her men is humming with erotic energy. The fact that the men are all sexually at ease with each other and physically loving with each of the parties in this sexual combination is so hawt. For some, the sex may be a bit graphic. For me, it's mild. I tend to read very graphic sexual encounters. For those who hate the fading to black, have no fear, it does not happen here. The number of sexual episodes in this book is just the right amount to keep a reader engaged and Arbor off balance. This book moved me. The constant confusion Arbor experiences in this story is disorienting but for those who loved the movie What Dreams May Come, this story will generate the similar longing pain. This is a love story and whilst the blurb indicates it is dark. It is not. I consider dark to be more twisted, sadistic or sexually torturous. This book is dark through its depressing plot and it makes me melancholy. It is soul wrenchingly sadness because within the first few chapters, I'm already guessing what is going on and I'm not happy about it. I'm not happy because I can anticipate where this is going and it's the journey which makes me unhappy and filled with sorrow. Arbor's life feels like snapshots in time and she loses days. She feels like she is missing something but whenever Lyric and Killian show up, she feels complete. The flashes back in time as well as information provided through news clippings gives this book a slightly eerie foreboding feel. Ms. Parkerson is a new to me author and I like this writing style. It's very different and makes me uncomfortable. It heightens my emotions and makes this book memorable. The characters themselves are not complex yet they are so memorably in how they relate to Arbor and specifically Arbor's journey. It's a page turning book where each page, I'm waiting for the final reveal and when it happens, it's a bit horrific. It's worse than I expected and it causes me to tear up in the loss and sacrifice. And through all of this pain, Ms. Pakerson delivers a beautiful happily ever after. It's shocking. This book is highly recommended to romance lovers who believe love will conquer all.

* Review copy provided via Reading Alley in exchange for an honest review.




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