Friday, February 15, 2019

S.E.X. Review~ Commander's Weakness by Caitlyn Fournier

Axel takes over the commanding position at a concentration camp as the commander has business at the capital and will be away for a few months.
The other soldiers mention about how hard it is to meet good women and one mentions a flyer about a company called Single Status for the well off, Axel is disinterested until a note is found on his door that was written on the back of one of the ads and finds a young male prisoner tied up and bleeding out in his upstairs bathroom.
Forced into a rouse of tormentor and tormentee they have to evade the suspicions of the other Nazi soldiers until they can manage to make their escape.
The only problem with the escape plan? They hadn't counted on love.

This Valentine's Day being single is all the rage. At least that's what the website, Single Status says and they're not trying to set you up with your special someone. But, instead, give you the time of your life. Sign up a family member, a friend or join yourself. Single Status will send an anonymous letter with details of an activity for the day. #ValentinesDayIsntJustForCouples.
Read stories from 13 of your favorite authors in this brand new Valentine's series. Follow characters as they receive instructions from Single Status and navigate their love lives in tales of varying degrees of romantic heat. 
Grab one a day from February 1-13th, 2019!




The anthology Single on Valentine’s Day was a collection of novelettes revolving around Single Status, a web based company offering the single man or woman on Valentine’s Day, the time of their life. I already read one of the books by another author and loved its premise and storyline. As a fan of M/M, I looked forward to Commander’s Weakness, even though I’d never previously read author Caitlyn Fournier. Unfortunately the book was a disappointment on a variety of levels.

How does one find a connection between Valentine’s Day and a concentration camp? Or the tag line “helping you find the time of your life” in a concentration camp? Not possible!   Never have those two ideas melded together to create a romantic novelette.

I was appalled that an author would write a Single Status romance with a tortuous premise. Of scrubbing down bloody floors and tiles and then feeling hungry, as if you’d just decided to dust the furniture. Furthermore, wondering if your “house companion” was hungry, when he was dropped off tortured- bloody and beaten- as if it was your cousin come a visiting?
Nazi concentration camp commander Axel, a gay man who hid his proclivities, was strangely attracted to Wilhelm, concentration camp prisoner. Axel was 27, Wilhelm 17.

The author denoted Wilhelm had been in the camp for three years, captured at the age of 14. Once again, I am not sure where the author’s head was when she paired a 17 year old trauma victim with a 27 year old Nazi? A physically, emotionally, and psychologically damaged person cannot consent to a sexual affair- even if he initiated the act. The precipitated traumatization leaves a person incapable of making sound decisions- consent does not validate the sexual act.

An editing nightmare with third person to first person, language not commonly used in a 1940s storyline and footnotes throughout. Furthermore, a web based site would not have existed in 1945, the basis of the attraction to the anthology, amongst other inaccurate historical elements.

I found the book insensitive and ill tasting; no amount of trigger warnings- if there were any, would have salvaged this read.

~~~~~
2019 ©Evelise Archer All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, locations, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination, or have been used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, locales, or events is entirely coincidental. No portion of this work may be transmitted or reproduced in any form, or by any means, without permission in writing from the author.

No comments:

Post a Comment