Informed Consent
Susanna Stone
Ellora’s Cave [link to buy]
ASIN B006RHHG2A

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Paddles

This short story packs a lot of detail and a lot of emotion in just 80 pages.

Tara Calloway and Joe Corbett came close to making love six years ago, but were interrupted. Joe wrote Tara a letter promising that if she ever came near him again, he would “possess you, consume you, invade you and violate you any and every way I choose.” Now she’s back, to ask a favor on behalf of her father. She still carries the letter with her and wonders if he will make good on his threats.

He does-with Tara’s willing participation. In one very hot scene, he ties her up and possesses her entirely.

Later they talk, and she learns that he got into a fight with her father’s foreman that night and since he was already on probation, he knew he would be heading back to prison. Since Tara was on the brink of going to college, he wanted to drive a wedge between them.

As they talk, they realize the foreman deliberately provoked Joe to get rid of him because Tara’s father, Leo, favored Joe. In fact, the favor she asks is that he come back and help her father oversee troubled youth at his business, especially since Leo has had a heart attack.

The story ends with Joe reading to Tara what he really wanted to say six years ago.

This was a well written story, one that kept the reader turning the page to see what was going on. This would have been a good premise for a longer story and this is definitely an author to watch.

Reviewed by Karen