Tzipporah Berger is thirty-seven and single, which is practically unheard of in the Orthodox Jewish community she now calls home. Her increasing religiosity and need for kink may have broken up her first marriage, but she’s decided it’s time to try again. And the rabbi’s wife has just the man in mind.
Elan Klein is the neighborhood butcher whose intimidating size and gruff manner hint at a deliciously forceful personality. But BDSM isn’t exactly something you discuss during an Orthodox courtship. Will a marriage to Elan solidify her place in the community that she loves and provide the domination and pain Tzipporah craves or will she forever have to rely on flights of fancy to satisfy her needs?
The Review:
Tzipporah Berger is a single divorcee trying her best (but mostly failing) to fit into an Orthodox Jewish community. When the rabbi's wife sets her up with Elan Klein, she decides to take the plunge and get married so she will finally be accepted. It's not quite that easy to get in with the community, or to get to know her husband, but BDSM (a factor in the failure of her first marriage) might be the one thing that can help her with the latter...
This novella was something a bit different for me because I know *nothing* about Orthodox Judaism and I'll admit, that fact did put me off reading this story for a while. I'm not a huge fan of romances where religion is a major factor in the story, but once I did pick this one up, I really loved it, and a big part of that was learning about this culture. Learning about the Orthodox Jewish community, their rules and beliefs, through a sexy little erotic romance... well, I don't know why that's not the way I learn about everything now. I loved it, and as soon as I put the novella down I proceeded to read everything I could find on Kosher sex. Then told my loved ones all about it while they stared at me like - this is totally not dinner conversation, but they are used to me... so. Anyway! It was really interesting and added a nice bit of interest to an already sexy story...
I have to admit, I didn't really *get* the characters. I didn't relate to them at all and I didn't understand their motivations a lot of the time. But that doesn't mean they weren't gripping. Because of the way it's written, we learn a lot less about Elan, beyond his sexual predilections, but we to get a lot more insight into Tzipporah. Her struggle to fit into her new community is quite heartbreaking, though I would have liked to get a little more understanding into why she decided to turn to religion in such an intense way in the first place. These are her new beliefs and who she is... but as a non-religious person, I guess I was a little blown away that she would choose to marry someone after a month, mostly due to external pressures and a desire to fit in with her religious community. That said, I'm glad we didn't linger too much more on this decision, as the story really gets going once they are married.
That's when we get all the sexy times! Ahh. Yeah. It's super hot, you guys! And really beautiful. Just a lot of YES from me. Tzipporah and Elan are perfect for each other in the bedroom, so I really felt for Tzipporah during niddah, when they can't be together sexually and she worries that their relationship is nothing without sex - I think the niddah aspect of this story brought this fear to the fore, but I also think this is something that many people fear in developing relationships, so this is one of the times that I actually did relate to her! One of the other things I just freaking adored about the erotic aspect of this novella was that it has super hot, super strong D/s erotic scenes, but the thing that makes them extra sexy is the really strong focus on consent without making it tedious. This is pretty common in BDSM stories when they are done *well*, but I felt like, in this story, the consent based D/s sex was handled particularly beautifully. Basically, it just made it even hotter!
Craving Flight was written as part of a Goodreads BDSM Group writing event and is free to purchase. Definitely grab yourself a copy if you want some slightly different, but very beautiful BDSM erotic romance!
(Thanks so much to Amy Jo Cousins for recommending this title!)
Craving Flight by Tamsen Parker is an erotic romance, released September 16, 2015.
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