During a night of Web surfing for celeb gossip and masturbatory material, digital marketing producer Suzanne Kim stumbles across an intriguing thread while checking her profile on kinklife.com. Suzanne isn’t exactly looking, but the request for a very specific type of submissive from the attractive mistress, Mami-P, is hard to resist. Though the two hit it off during their first online … conversation, Suzanne never imagines how strong their real life attraction and compatibility will be. After a few missteps in training, trust, and communication, Suzanne finds a deep love with her mistress, Pilar.
Overworked and overstressed in her daily life, Suzanne comes to crave their relationship for the visceral escape it provides, but before they can make the ultimate commitment, someone from Suzanne’s professional life threatens to disrupt their perfectly balanced bliss.
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This is one of those books, y’all. The ones where I needed time to process before I could write my review, because I was left feeling some kinda way. So, I guess the best place to start is at the beginning. I chose to read At Her Feet by Rebekah Weatherspoon because I asked a few of my writerly friends for some recommendations of their favorite Black authors to feature for Black History Month. Weatherspoon tumbled past each and every one of their lips, so I knew I had to jump all over one of her books. And likely add her to my Must-Read list for future enjoyment. Then, upon perusing her Goodreads page, I saw in her bio that this particular book had won some awards, and seeing as how I love to read positive rep of the BDSM community, I hit that 1-click button with gusto.
At first, I was a bit nervous I wouldn’t like the story. It’s written in single first-person present, which is my least favorite POV and tense, so right off the bat, I was hesitant. Especially since, in my romance, I also prefer to have dual POV because I like to see the relationship developing from both sides. However, after the glowing recommendations, I plowed forward. And am I ever glad I did.
As is the nature of first-person narratives, I struggled to get into the head of the character at first. (Which, trust me, I know that seems exactly backward, but it’s just how my readerly brain works. No clue why.) I think another issue, for me, is that the only POV available in this read is of the little girl in the Mommy/little relationship. As a Domme myself, I can fully admit I struggle with relating to the internal narrative of a submissive personality. (Just ask my poor sub beta reader, who I require to read ALL my words to make sure I don’t screw up the sub mindset.)
Once I kind of settled into Suzanne/Suzy’s head, my reading experience smoothed out and I fell pretty hard for the read. This is an absolutely beautiful depiction of a Mommy/little girl relationship. Although I’m not personally familiar with that particular aspect of the Domination/submission kink-sphere, it holds many similar tenets and values. And I can not stress enough that there are too many poor depictions of the BDSM community—dangerous ones, even. So it was beyond refreshing to find a book written with respect and love and with a focus on very real aspects of the kink/fetish world, such as a focus on safety, sanity, and consent.
If there’s any part of you that has ever wondered about the ageplay kink, I truly believe this is one of the best representations I’ve read. Especially as a first-read for someone with no real knowledge of that world. Suzy’s inner child is never given an age in the story, but she’s well out of diapers, so her relationship with her Mami isn’t considered an ABDL (Adult Baby/Diaper Lover) story. I know that particular aspect can often turn off readers who don’t subscribe to that particular fetish, so again, this is a solid first read for anyone interested in learning more but find themselves a bit confused about certain aspects of the kink.