When I finished reading Comfort Food, my first thought was "WOW". And I continued to say "wow" the next day. It is hard to put into words what I felt while reading this book. But I'm going to try because what happens to Emily Vargas is beyond anything we could comprehend.Emily Vargas is a motivational speaker and author of self-help books. She's a minor celebrity and lives a great life doing what she loves to do. And then one day her world completely changes when she is taken captive. She wakes up blind-folded and tied to a chair in a cell, not knowing where she is, why she was taken and whether not not she's going to live or die. Emily's imagination runs wild, thinking of different scenarios of how she is going to die. Emily's captor doesn't speak to her; only feeds her, chicken noodle soup with the "good" crackers crumbled in the soup. He refuses to talk to her and it starts driving her crazy. He does the one thing that is worse than death - denies her human contact. She starts craving human contact; any kind of contact and she's willing to do anything to get it. Emily's acquiescence insures that her life as a prisoner is easy. When she disobeys, she is punished and is sent back to the bad cell. Emily realizes that she is never going to be free and is willing to give in to her captor to make her life easier. Her captor's goal is to break Emily emotionally and psychologically. He bends her to his will. He becomes her Master and she is his slave.Comfort Food is told in 1st person narrative. There's very little dialogue but as you're reading, you get an accurate account of the environment and what Emily's going through. During the sex scenes, the POV switches to 3rd person, as if to disassociate Emily from what was happening. Instead of being inside Emily's head, we are on the outside, looking in. Comfort Food is a dark novel that is a total mind fuck. There, I said it. That's the best way I can describe how I felt after I finished reading it. While reading it, there were several times where I had to put it down because as a reader, I was nervous/scared about what was going to happen next. I felt like I was in that cell. I could not put this book down. As disturbing as it was, I was intrigued. I'm an avid romance reader so I'm used to Happy Ever Afters. There is no HEA in this book, at least not in the traditional sense. Flutter factor: Comfort Food is a book that stays with you. I finished the book two days ago and I still have it on my brain. I worried about how I would be able to write a review without giving away too much. But I also worry that I wouldn't be able to put into words how fantastic and disturbing and powerful this book is. Do not let the fact that it's labeled as "erotica" or "BDSM" deter you from reading it. Comfort Food is a great story with a lot of emotion that will have you thinking about it long after you've finished reading the book.
