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| Dude! Stop ignoring the half-naked lady behind you. |
It is
impossible to ignore the fact that Awakening is extraordinarily similar to
Fifty Shades of Grey. I read a lot of BDSM romances so I don’t say that
lightly.
The
parallels between the two books are constant: Rich businessman Dom, Innocent book
smart BDSM newbie, a Housekeeper and a Driver as significant supporting
characters, Non-Disclosure Agreements and Contracts (Anal Play is in. Canes are
out. Much like Ana and Christian’s contract), rules about the going to the gym
three times a week with a personal trainer, Damon insisting on Liz attending a
private doctor to sort out contraception, a sub spare room that Liz can
decorate any way she chooses, a Dom who tracks his sub’s every move and
messages her to let her know that he’s keeping tabs on her … Honestly, this
list could go on.
In fact
there are so many striking similarities that I’m inclined to believe that Zoe
Asher’s hasn’t actually read Fifty Shades of Grey herself. If she had, surely
she would have avoided writing a book that was almost identical.
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| Liz and Damon. Honest. |
Maybe if you
start with the premise of a BDSM-themed love story set in the present day
between a Billionaire and a BDSM virgin, you could find yourself accidentally
rewriting Fifty Shades of Grey without realising it.
If you had
done it by accident though, you probably wouldn’t have given your hero the name
Damon (with its obvious Demon/Omen connotations) because that’s just begging to
be contrasted with the name Christian, isn’t it?
That said, I
think The Awakening is actually better written than its bestselling
counterpart. There’s none of that tedious Inner Goddess gumph for a start. Liz
is less annoying than Ana. You get both sides of the story from the get go.
Although,
oddly, given that this is a story about a woman taking a leap of faith and
diving into a new lifestyle, most of the time Liz’s new life seems rather
boring.
The BDSM
stuff is all well and good but for the most part the new lifestyle that Damon
imposes on her is stifling. You’d think that wealth and privilege would open up
the world but his world is so small that it rarely leaves his excellently
appointed apartment. Liz is taken away from the vibrancy and fun of life on the
New York streets and is immediately ferried around by her drivers, followed by
a bodyguard and holed up in Damon’s home expected to account for her every move
outside of it. Damon doesn’t even acknowledge her half the time.
The story
finishes on a cliff-hanger with Liz arriving at Damon’s private island for what
promises to be a BDSM-intensive getaway. The details of which will be
presumably be covered in the subsequent book in what is already being billed as
a trilogy.
It’s a well-crafted
book with plenty of attention to detail. Zoe Asher is clearly a very good
writer. I just found the relentless similarities to Fifty Shades of Grey and
the stuffiness of the main characters’ arrangement a bit off-putting.
I would
happily read more of Zoe Asher’s work but will probably steer clear of the rest
of this series. Hopefully next time it
will be something a bit more fun which doesn’t read like a re-tread of somebody
else’s book.
