Title: The Castle
Author: Steli Simeonova
Publication Date: August 13, 2024
Genres: Dark Erotica
Protagonist Gender: Female
Over the last 6 months, Steli Simeonova has quickly become one of my favorite people to work with. Her work has style, imagination, and a sense of otherworldliness to it that's just stunning. I wanted to review The Cheater (spicy horror) as my Halloween pick, but that's not coming out until February, so I thought I'd go with The Castle (dark erotica), since it's something you can read today!
Not only is our narrator a visually impaired woman, which puts a whole new sensory spin on the story, but she gets aroused by fear, seeking out ever more exciting and extreme ways in which to test her fears - and stoke her arousal. Having already skydived and swam with sharks, she decides that the haunted castle of Shattenburg will be her next adventure.
If you've ever experienced a haunted house, then you know what it's like to stumble around in the dark, hearing and feeling the scare actors around you, but imagine if your entire world was shadows . . . and the castle is rumored to be genuinely haunted . . . and you're still being hunted even after the tour is over. It's a story of creaks and squeaks, the slight movement of air, the feel of leather and lace, and hearts beating fast. And it all takes place in an old castle full of locked doors, narrow staircases, and ominously stark furniture.
Steli offers us two POVs here, so we get to experience the hunted and the hunter, allowing us to experience the combined sensations, and to appreciate their absence in the hunted. If you've ever read her work before, then you know you'll be caught before long, and the dangerous thrill of anxious sex with a mystery lover. It's all consensual, but also has the feel of something more dubious, and that sweetly dark spot is where the heart of the story lives.
Rating: ♀ ♀ ♀ ♀ ♀
My sincere thanks to the author for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
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