Hello awesome readers. Welcome to another one of my very special Short Reads Saturday posts where I read and review one of the shorter books on my TBR. It’s a great way to be productive and get more books read and reviewed! This week I’m reviewing a book I discovered recently through Twitter. It’s called Prey by Hana Shinjo. It was only 19 pages and available with Kindle Unlimited so I figured why not read it and review it real quick and support an author! I didn’t know what to expect from the brief blurb on Amazon and it didn’t end up being quite what I thought.
I wish I had liked it more but sadly this one ended up not being for me at all.
The following post contains adult content.
CW/TW for this book/post include: sexual content, sexual abuse, sexual assault on public transportation, rape.
Genres: Erotica, Short Stories, Random Hookups
Suitable for: Adults Only
Pages: 19
My Rating: 2.5 Stars
Blurb from Amazon:
A young Japanese woman is discovered on a crowded commuter train by a mysterious foreigner. She doesn’t know his name. She hasn’t even seen his face, but something about him captivates her as she becomes drowned in his sexual magic. She wants for it to never stop, but at the same time, she knows it can’t go on forever, not like that.
Amazon (Free with Kindle Unlimited)
Review:
I’m a bit at a loss for how to review this and even how many stars I think it deserves. I get that the author tried to give some context as it progressed to make it a love story, but I honestly couldn’t see it that way. Reading the events unfolding on the train from the first encounter on, there is never any consent. So later when they tried to explain that her lack of refusal was her consent I was just not buying it. I get that some people could put aside the real life implications of people being abused and enjoy this for what it is, a work of fiction. But for me, BDSM doesn’t mean rape, and consent is an important part of healthy sexual relationships. I wouldn’t say this was BDSM. It was kind of romanticized rape. The silver lining was the would-be-victim’s positive reaction to the encounters despite how shady they were. She has an internal struggle over whether what she is doing is right or wrong but puts up very little resistance. She became just as obsessed with her assailant as he seemed to be with her. You really have to suspend disbelief and leave the real world for this one. Otherwise, it’s a creepy tall white man using his stature to take advantage of a petite Japanese woman on a commuter train. I think my whole perspective of this story would have been different if only she had agreed to the encounter before it happened. There was a lot of story packed into only 19 pages and it was interesting to see how the story would play out. The sex scenes were just okay and at times redundant. Overall a disappointing read for me but others might enjoy it. It’s a kinky tale of strangers hooking up on a crowded train until their game cannot go on any longer and their relationship has to either fizzle or evolve. If you like short story erotica and don’t mind questionable consent as long as the characters seem to be having fun you might like this one.
Whether I enjoyed it or not I’m happy I was able to support the author by reading it through Kindle Unlimited and I would read more by this author despite the rating I gave this book.
