Control

Control
Roxy Hart
Loose Id
ISBN: 978-1-59632-725-2
Fiction, Erotica, BDSM
Reviewed by Chris Gerrib

I’ve reviewed Roxy Hart’s work before, and so she asked if I could take a look at her most recent effort, Control. Roxy tells us she’s a resident of a small Ohio town, and quite happy with her life. She started writing as an escape, and now provides that escape to others. Her book Control, released through Loose Id, an e-book publisher, is a novella about Taylor Cooper, a thirty-ish fashion designer from Florida, who meets up with Stephen Barrington Sterling III, a rich fifty-ish international financier.

They meet in Toyko, where a pair of tall Americans stand out like sore thumbs, and quickly fall into love and bed, in that order. This being erotica, things are not that easy, and Taylor discovers a problem with her man – he’s less then satisfying in bed. On the one hand, she’s willing to live with that, on the other hand, her lack of satisfaction is driving her nuts. Taylor’s solution is unusual, and involves her friend Cheyenne’s new job as a dominatrix.

Erotica is not intended to be great literature. It aims for a more, shall we say, reflexive, response, so criticizing it as literature is not fair. Even so, the suddenness of the meeting and engagement of Stephen and Taylor seems unrealistic. Once they are engaged, the solution to their problems seems a bit too easy to come by. Having said all of that, the sex is hot, which is important, and I really cared about the characters. I found Control hit all the right buttons, although I hope that Roxy takes this basic story and expands on it.