SHAME ME NOT
Genre: Erotic Romance
Author: Fiona Cole
Release Date: July 6th, 2017
Shame. Panic. Desire. Dominance. Disgust.
All feelings that I was familiar with from the age of sixteen. That’s when I met Ana. The girl next door who became so much more. Until her, I was alone in the dark desires that I didn’t understand, that I couldn’t reconcile.
My best friend, she accepted me. Helped me see that there was no shame in the things that we both craved. Her submission was a drug, my dominance over her a high that I’d never experienced. When we were together, I was at peace for the first time in my life.
But it was too good to last. Our own guilt over our feelings, of our appetite for pain and pleasure, destroyed us.
I was convinced that all I needed was a chance, just one more chance to overcome my shame, and Ana would be able to trust me again.
If only it were that easy.
You submit so beautifully because you know I would always put you first. I know you trust me.”
Shame Me Not explores a familiar theme in erotic romance: dominance and submission. What makes this book unique and stand out to me was the age of the characters.
This book was divided into three parts. Part one starts when a new girl, Ana, moved next door to Kevin’s family. They became fast friends. There was an immediate attraction between them which remained unexplored for the most part until they finally revealed their kinks to each other.
Part 1 is probably my favorite part. The idea itself wasn’t unique in this genre but the author managed to give it her own twist to the story. Both Kevin and Ana are compelling characters. They’re very much flawed characters which made them all the more interesting.
As I mentioned above, kink exploration isn’t new to the genre. We see a lot of book explore the idea of two characters coming to terms with their sexuality all the time. What makes Shame Me Not unique is that both Kevin and Ana are very young. They didn’t quite understand what it meant. The only thing they knew was that it both made them feel very good and very ashamed, which added complexity to this story. You can sympathize with their fear and confusion as they tried to come to terms with what it might mean to them.
They explored and pushed their boundaries sometimes to the detriment of their relationship with each other and their relationship with other people. And it did finally come to head, and even though I was kind of expecting the “shit to hit the fan” it didn’t diminish the emotion it elicited.
Part 2 and 3 pickup years after the events in high school. Both are older but one of them is still carrying the same baggage and issues they had when they were younger. This is where the story fell apart for me. I was still invested in the characters. And I wanted them to find that place where they both can move on and accept who they are. And they did. It’s just that it took them a long, long time to get there. Too long for me. The pacing slowed down significantly without any changes to the characters. I don’t mind slow as long as I get to see that the characters made progress with their arc and that didn’t really happen to Ana or Kevin. They were still confronting the same issues that they had when they were younger and still doing the same thing they did in high school. It became tedious after a while.
There was also a strange gap between the events that happened in the second part and the third. It was like chunks of the story was missing. I needed that more than I needed the push and pull they had during their college years because I wanted to see how Ana came to terms with her kink. I wanted to her epiphany so to speak. And that was kind of glossed over. I did appreciate the epilogue which was fantastic.
Despite my issues with the pacing, I thoroughly enjoyed Shame Me Not. It explored something familiar in an unexpected way that I’ve never read before. Fiona Cole did an excellent job bringing Kevin and Ana to life. I was with these characters from the very beginning until the end. I felt their happiness, their pain, their doubts—everything, and that’s a testament to the skill of this author.
You shouldn’t be anyone but you, because you’re perfect.”
