The first in a series of erotic holiday-themed adventures, To Daddy: Make Me Your Valentine. Love, Your Brat introduces us to the characters we've gotten to know through their Shamrock Shake St. Patrick's Day and Make Me Hop Easter stories. Having read those stories first, it's interesting to now go back and discover how it all began. It's given me a new appreciation for Melissa and Jonathan, but I must say it's certainly altered my sympathy for her husband.
Before getting to Jonathan (Daddy), I want to explore that husband-wife dynamic for a moment, which is where I think Benson E Wolf really shines, teasing so much of the potential to come. Here we see a marriage in trouble, not because of Melissa's amateur porn career, and not because of their cuckolding, but because of how Shane has responded, distancing himself, keeping secrets, and denying her the affection she deserves. I love how kink is embraced as something healthy and empowering, while vanilla lies and deceit are the cause of their marital issues.
The confrontation between Daddy, Melissa, and Shane is a powerful one. It's dark and rough and emotionally painful, but it's also erotic, sensual, and emotionally validating. That Melissa has reached out seeking a figure like Jonathan makes so much sense given the context of their kinks and their marriage, and that Shane has such anger over it says a lot about him. If sex were a fight, this would be it - and I loved it.
To Daddy: Make Me Your Valentine. Love, Your Brat is an introductory tale, and that means we spend more time getting to know the characters and understand their situation, which shifts the balance a bit and holds back on the darker, more extreme kinks of the later books. Wolf certainly sets the tone, and builds sympathy/empathy for the characters, making new readers hungry to know more, and experienced readers satisfied with how and why this saga began.
Rating: ♀ ♀ ♀ ♀ ♀
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