How many of us perpetually lock-stepping into the contemporary rat race would love to get away from it all? Though I admit a writer does not ascribe to the usual rat race. No time clocks to punch, no subways to ride, no taxis to take, no worries about parking and getting to your desk before some boss or other finds you're late. A writer spends a lot of time alone with only a screen for company. It seems a lonely business, but when the world intrudes, to the writer, it is just an annoyance interrupting the smooth flow of work. So it makes sense for even a writer to want to get away from the infinite distractions of big city life.

Eve Lilas' character Callie isn't just getting away from New York City. What she is doing is kind of extreme--she's renting a lighthouse off the mainland to get away from her staid boyfriend Jack, because she needs more excitement, and more passion in her life than he can provide. (As if a lesser move wouldn't have the same effect. But later you find someone else made her reservations. The plot thickens.) Furthermore, if the reason she's leaving is that her boyfriend is not exciting, how could she be thinking a desolate lighthouse on an otherwise uninhabited island is going to provide more excitement? As a writer, the seclusion will provide a promising place for her to write. Even the lighthouse's name is grist for her imagination--Lecher's Point, so named for a 1950's lighthouse keeper who kept sex slaves there until his death.

The location does indeed fuel her imagination. No sooner is she installed there than Callie starts having vivid re-occuring sexual sado-masochistic dreams of dark dungeons, ropes, and of being handled, and used, and pleasured by a dream man who must have once long ago been the lighthouse keeper, Jon Fletcher. As the dreams escalate, she begins to question her domestic staff, her surroundings, her cat, and ultimately her psyche.

Callie has numerous challenges to face, and questions to answer as she finds her way. Who is this dream man? Why is she having dreams of bondage? What will she do about her boyfriend/agent Jack and his tepid, and boring, lovemaking? How can she find the real life passion she so desperately needs but is forever out of her waking-life reach?

Eve Lilas presents a fantasy get-away where everything is not what it seems. What I like is that even with Turning the Tide's dreamy fantasy quality, the character Callie is grounded; and her real life is not tacked on to the story as an afterthought, but is built into her self. The forces beyond her control are likewise not tacked on as afterthoughts, but integrated. As the intensity and drama of Callie's dream life break into her waking real life, Callie does not respond as a stick figure but as a unique character.

What else can I say about this book? Unfortunately the integrity of the POV speakers was not complete, something which should have been fixed in edits. It was a minor glitch, but enough to occasionally take me out of the story. Otherwise, the suspense did keep me turning pages, and even after I had a pretty good idea of what was going on, the tumultuous emotion between Callie and her lover kept me transfixed, riding an edge of excitement, arousal and anticipation. Turning the Tide is definitely recommended for readers of BDSM.

Maîtresse
Copyright May 2006