Interesting. I always figured that degradation is a huge turn-off for me, but apparently not. Or maybe I liked it because the situations where Elsie felt humiliated wouldn't have been humiliating if she wasn't that innocent.What I liked about this short read especially was that Krylov proved that you can write a steamy story without actual intercourse. In fact, the lack of it added to the unconventional vibe I found both refreshing and exciting.The whole book, including the sex scenes, was very intense and although the atmosphere was dark, it didn't contain anything dubious. There were two consenting adults doing consensual things, but with a very delicious twist that managed to keep me on the edge for the entire time. I guess the darkness came from Conrad's character, his motives and detachment. The book would probably have sucked if he'd had a helpless crush on Elsie and they fell in love for eternity.I loved Conrad's character and the novella ended way too soon, but hey, there's always Abduction to continue with. I guess when I read this I thought it was going to be more about what Conrad's thoughts were. NOPE!!! I wanted some insight on what he had been thinking, I know the book explains it was a pre-lude about his first girl, I just thought it would be his thoughts. NOPE! I honestly thought there was supposed to be a book about his thoughts, I wanted to know what all was going on in Abducted and why he left so abruptly. I knew this book wasn't going to be long enough for that, I was just hopeful to get in his head a little bit. This was not what I expected.
