Loose Id, $5.99, ISBN 978-1-59632-361-2
Contemporary Erotica, 2006
Alexandra Scott, fresh out of college, is the new regional director for Greenwich Grille. Now in Prague, she is having a grand time visiting places in Prague until she is abducted by a handsome stranger who wears expensive cologne (don’t ask) and calls her “Kitten”. He proceeds to do all those things she secretly yearns to have done on her ever since she read that ravishment-fantasy erotic novel Abducting Angel. You see, some people clearly really should be careful of what they read because they are clearly too impressionable for their own good.
The Claiming of Kitten sees Lucius Sinclair doing what he does to his employee because after Alexandra showed up for her job interview, she left behind a book that conveniently enough contained details about her collection of ropes and her subscription to tied.com as well as a naughty novel about women who love being tied up. Before you ask, I don’t know what kind of weird person will bring these things along with her to a non-bondage related job interview either. There is also the insulting premise of Lucius hiring Alexandra because of her choice in reading material, ugh. The author tries to point out that Lucius hires Alexandra for the job as much as for a chance to get into her pants but the fact is, all I have to do is to go back to the previous pages where Lucius and his uncle talk about how overqualified she is for the job and Lucius says that they have to hire her only after he catches sight of her and realizes that she’s the owner of the naughty book. The fact stands – I doubt Lucius will hire Alexandra if she is overweight and left behind her shopping list instead of that naughty book.
It’s a pity that this story has to be mired in a premise that requires too much suspension of disbelief. Yes, I realize that this is a sexual fantasy and I should not take it too seriously, but Ms Snow is also aware of some of the more implausible aspects of the premise and tries to bring back some logic into things towards the end. She also tries to present the bond between Lucius and Alexandra in a reasonable manner to suggest that it is more than lust going on between them. For example, Alexandra wonders whether her feelings for Lucius are due to some kind of Stockholm Syndrome thing. Therefore, I find it hard to just forget about logic and immerse myself into the fantasy when the author seems to be trying hard to make this story into something more substantial than a mere sexual fantasy romp.
Unfortunately in this case, I don’t think much can be done in order to make the premise any more plausible. Starting from a woman bringing along a bag of things containing all kinds of personal information that should not be revealed to any employer to a job interview to the fact that we have this man who blatantly kidnaps a woman for sex without wondering what will happen if she runs straight to the cops afterwards, The Claiming of Kitten is one of those books that should have been left as it is, a fluffy sex romp tale. This is a book where less plot and less romance would have worked better to its advantage.
The sex scenes are pretty steamy, but overall, the fantasy doesn’t take off like it should have.
