Review: Willing Sacrifice

Willing Sacrifice by Joey W. Hill

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



What happens when the man you are interested in is not only vanilla but not a submissive? In the latest Knights of the Boardroom (KoTB) story, we are treated to a femdom book with the perfect executive assistant Janet Albright mixing it up with a former Navy SEAL Maxwell Ackerman. Max is the limo driver for the KoTB. He's hot and very good at his job.

This story explores something which seems to occur more and more often. One person in the relationship is vanilla and the other is not. This is a difficult situation where my advice would be no different than Max's buddy, Dale. Max asked Dale. "So, sight unseen, and given there are a lot of variables, does it ever work, if it’s in the blood of one, but not the other?”

Dale considered the question. “I’ve seen it happen, yes. But it’s different for every pair and—I won’t lie to you—often it’s only a short-term success. Some crash and burn when they approach it for the long haul, because if she eventually needs you to go deep, and you can’t do that, that might be a problem. Unless her reasons for going deep are mixed with other factors, things you can satisfy without that dive. This isn’t a linear thing. It’s more like a maze, and we all find different paths. You’ll be able to find the answer for yourself, good or bad. Just keep all your senses open and follow your instincts. What do they tell you about your chances with her?”

It's not easy to be in a relationship when desires are so different. To top it off, the vanilla man is supposed to be the submissive. Talk about hurdles to overcome! And in the end of this story, I'm not so sure this will be a long term success.

I found the one step forward and several steps back of Janet and Max's relationship to be pretty accurate to real life. While this story is written very well and realistic, I have to say that at times I'm ill at ease because of Janet's responses and behaviour towards Max. There are no perfect people in this story. Ms. Hill does a very good job of show people at their worst with their flaws out in the open. There were many times Janet's decision made me want to slap her upside the head. She's very selfish at times and quite self-centered. It's Max who is the constant whipping boy.

Max won the story over for me. He's not a exactly a sexual submissive, but he can definitely bottom. It's hard to watch because Max is not aroused nor really receiving anything that seems to be rewarding for him when he engages in a scene with Janet. However, he loves Janet so he sacrifices a bit of himself over and over again. This is what caused me to feel ill at ease at times and sad for Max. Plus, Janet comes across as a service Top who isn't interested in Domming. She's called an Ice Bitch for a reason.

While navigating through this relationship minefield, there are other unresolved issues from their past. And their past is brutally painful. It's a nightmare come to life. What's worse is it doesn't seem they have moved on. In some senses, both Janet and Max are held hostages by the events of their past. It's not that they are victims, but more that they didn't actually seem to come out of it as survivors. They are living a half life. One foot is still being sucked into a pit of despair from the past while the other foot is desperately looking for solid ground into the future. This makes their current situation at a stand still or better yet - a stagnant holding pattern.

The fall out of the past coming up again and tossing them across the room is a bit extreme. The way his friends and support group failed Max is what confuses me most. Why everyone rallied around only the women just baffled me. My sympathies would have been more with Max. He's the one who was psychologically and physically tortured. Still, Ms. Hill somehow manages to resolve this conflict into a happily for now. Hopefully another story will bring about a happier ending. This kinky story is recommended for femdom lovers who love the angst.

*Provided by BDSM Book Reviews*

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