Asking For It by Lilah Pace (Asking for It #1)
Released: June 2, 2015
Erotic Contemporary
Berkley

Reviewed by Mandi

I’m not sure I’ve ever received a review book with so many warnings accompanied with it. This book deals with rape fantasy. For those that have read Willing Victim by Cara McKennna, it’s along the same lines, but different too. In this book, both the hero and heroine need to act out a rape fantasy to find true sexual fulfillment. The heroine needs to pretend she is being raped and the hero needs to pretend he is the one doing the raping. Before you go screaming off, I found the author took great care with this subject matter. It’s all 100% consensual. They work out their scenarios before they begin. If someone uses a safe word, the action is stopped instantly. Once the scene is done with, they take care of each other and make sure they are both okay. Both Vivienne and Jonah have had something happen in their lives that has led them down this path, and I think their back stories are done very well.

Vivienne is a graduate student who recently broke up with her kind, gentle boyfriend named Geordie. She never found a sexual release with him, because he was too nice in bed, and when she asked him to act out her rape fantasy, he couldn’t handle it. Although they have broken up, they remain pretty good friends. Vivienne finds great shame that she can’t have an orgasm without pretending she is being raped. She has been seeing a therapist about this for some time now and does find some comfort with the therapist’s words. I don’t think the reason why Vivienne needs to play out a rape fantasy is that big of a spoiler, but I’ll put it under a tag just in case you want to go into the book completely spoiler free.

One night Vivenne gets a flat tire and a man stops to help her. This man, Vivienne will eventually learn, is named Jonah and he is a research professor where she goes to school – he researches volcanoes (that’s pretty cool, right?). Jonah is a man of very few words and smiles. His students love his class, but he is distant and intense. A few days later when he happens to run into Vivienne at a house party, he overhears drunk Geordie telling Vivienne he couldn’t handle her rape fantasy. Extremely embarrassed, Vivienne can’t believe Geordie said that in a public place. But Jonah pulls her aside and tells her he can give her what she needs, because he needs that too. You don’t find out what happened in Jonah’s past that makes him want to pretend to rape someone until the very end of the book – so I’m not giving that away. But it’s big, and impactful.

From this point, Jonah and Vivienne lay out what their limits are, and start to meet occasionally to act out their scenes. While Vivienne finds great sexual satisfaction from this, she also opens herself so much to Jonah, that she realizes she needs more than just the act of sex from him. Other things come into play – she can’t find the courage to tell Jonah about her rape when she was a teenager. She can’t tell Jonah the real truth about some secrets regarding her family. When Jonah pushes for sex without the rape fantasy involved, it still shames Vivienne that she has to think about it in her head to find any release.

There is not a HEA (happy ever after) at the end of this book, but I think we get one in book two. I’m actually glad the HEA isn’t rushed because Vivienne and Jonah have so much to work through, there definitely needs to be a second book to sort it all out. I’m really impressed by this author’s voice.

Someone asked me on twitter if the sex is dirty and hot…and it’s a hard question to answer. The sex is intense. But a lot of it is  more the psychological impact it has on Vivienne (the entire book is her point of view).

When I received this book with all its warnings I remember thinking, I really hope this book is edgy and pushes the boundaries. And it does. What made me even happier is that I connected with Vivienne and Jonah so much and I can’t wait to get the rest of their story.

Grade: B+

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