Review: Control by Charlotte Stein

Okay, I meant to review Make Me. Then I read something else by someone else. Then, before I knew it I was being lured irresistibly back to the mighty Charlotte Stein and started to read Control. I couldn't put the damn kindle down. 

The sheer intensity of Stein's writing, her quirky and witty turns of phrase, her ability to get you so deep under the skin of the characters you should probably be arrested for some kind of violation - they all amaze me. As a writer, I'm deeply envious of this woman. I love the way she comes up with unexpected ways to describe something that have you thinking, 'Yes, that's it exactly.' But which you would never have come up with yourself (speaking for myself; I don't know about you, maybe you're Shakespeare reincarnated, in which case would you like to come over for dinner?). Anyway, I mean things like this: 'Blissful bonelessness takes over. I think I sag all the way through the mattress to the floor below.' I love the way her heroines can be unsure of themselves in their inner monologue without ever falling through doorways, biting their lip or flicking their hair. 

Control is an exploration of dominance and submission totally without any of the usual cliches or stereotypes. It's pure, tweed-clad joy in giving in to your fantasies. Madison is looking for an assistant for her erotica bookshop. The dirty-talking, order-giving Andy is not suitable, although his interview at the kitchen table proves interesting. Quiet, repressed Gabe, who is secretly a seething mess of kinky desires, gets the job. And Madison sets about finding out what makes him tick. Which is mostly being ordered to do things he's ashamed of.

Make Me was damn fine too, full of the subtle power play of a kinky threesome. I love the way the heroine is perfectly happy having two men at once. Greedy, in fact. Anyway, I'm quite sure I'm going to devour everything Stein has ever written, but I promise to stop wittering on about it so much because I'm starting to feel like a crazy stalker fan.

Control is published by Xcite Books and Make Me by Mischief Books.