Review: The Velvet Collar

The Velvet Collar by C.P. Mandara

This book is not going to receive a rating because I'm very mixed about it.  The writing is well done as Ms. Mandara's stories are always coherent and fast paced.  I liked some of the twist and turns in this story.  I just couldn't get into the sex and torture.  Which is odd because usually I can get into it.

Maybe I'm just tired of Jennifer and her bratty idiot attitude.  For crying out loud woman, how much more does one need to be told that she is "DANGER" and should stay protected?  Her willful disobedience causes Mark her now beloved husband so much trouble and pain.  Seriously, I want to smack this TSTL child several times.

For readers who are into the heavy dark BDSM stories, this series is for you.  This last book I picked up because I wanted to know how it all ended.  It was a bit grueling for me to get through at times because the kink in her just didn't exactly turn me on all the time.  I think it's because I didn't connect with the characters and I don't particularly like them.  I mean, the puppy/kitty scene at the BDSM club is pretty hawt.  That I enjoyed.  But some of the stuff and how Jen and Mark interact with their kink just feels so toxic for me.  In real life, I don't recommend this, but I'm sure there are people who do this and are happy to have this kind of dynamic.  They are probably the same people who have YouTube channels what prank each other all the time.  It's not supposed to be mean hearted and I don't think the intent is the author writing a cruel uncaring lovers, but their dynamic just rubs me the wrong way. 

The characters are designed to be over the top and their lifestyle is way overboard too.  Finding out more about Jen's biological parents is also a bit of a the cray-cray too.  Which this story is fiction and designed to be quite tongue in cheek.  It just wasn't my thing.  Overall, this is one of the few books that Ms. Mandara couldn't bribe me with her sex scenes.  I still think people who enjoyed this series will find this conclusion to be satisfying and sexy.  Recommended to dark erotica lovers who want their happily ever afters.