Comfort Food by Kitty Thomas

Comfort Food by Kitty Thomas

5 stars

Emily Vargas finds herself in a dark room and being held captive. Her captor refuses to speak to her because he knows how much she craves human contact. She thinks that he’s beautiful and he isn’t violent towards her, so he mustn’t be a monster.

DISCLAIMER: This is not a story about consensual BDSM. This is a story about “actual” slavery. If reading an erotic story without safewords makes you uncomfortable, this is not the book for you. This is a work of fiction, and the author does not endorse or condone any behavior done to another human being without their consent.

I finished this book over a month ago and I still don’t know what to say. It’s hard to write a review for a book like this. I’m not sure what to say without giving away spoilers. I feel like if I say anything I’ll ruin the whole book. I don’t want to ruin this book for anybody. I think it’s a book that should be read. No, this book needs to be read. If you thought Stolen: A Letter to My Captor was an emotional rollercoaster then read Comfort Food. It is ten times worse and I don’t know how to feel. I hate these people and yet I loved them. Guess the best way to describe this book would be the happy ending for Stolen: A Letter to My Captor. Happy if you consider this kind of submission a happy ending and not torture. I was thinking (which I seem to do a lot about this book because I never know quite what to say or feel) that if Ty had been just a little more crazy or a more dominant person Comfort Food would’ve been the result. I think that Comfort Food is a more mature version of Stolen, but aside from that everything else so much different. I’ll try my best not to spoil anything, but the character section will be quite short because I can talk about a character’s personality without giving away spoiler. That means the spoiler tags are ACTUAL spoilers, so click at your own risk.

The main female character is Emily. I actually can’t stand Emily. When I first met her I didn’t like her very much and I still don’t like her now that I think about it. I don’t think it matters though. I feel like the author’s intentions are to make a likable heroine you want to break free from her captive and get justice, it’s about a heroine that finds herself in a nightmare and becomes ensnared in the devil’s glamor. [There were so many times throughout this book when I actually liked Emily, but she would fight back. She was strong, but her captor was stronger. She apologizes a lot throughout the novel and it becomes like a defense mechanism. She automatically blurts out those words when she thinks she’s done something to deserve punishment and in those times I felt terribly sorry for the situation that she found herself in. I also wanted her to break free, but like Emily as the story went on I found myself not wanting her to leave because I wanted more of this sick and twisted tale. There’s a time when Emily goes to the zoo and she herself connects with the animals in the zoo. This really got to me,
“Although this is a valid concern, unfortunately once an animal has lived in captivity for so long, it’s more cruel to release them back into the wild. They no longer have the survival skills.”
With those two sentences I saw the real horror of Stockholm syndrome and the repercussions it has on people. 

Kick-Butt Heroine Scale: 7

The main male character is well Emily’s captor. You know what I noticed that really stuck out for me was that he had a rule book just like Christian Grey. I thought it was kind of weird how so women idolize and romanticize about Christian Grey, but no one romanticizes about this guy. Why? They do the exact same things and they are mirror images of each other when it comes to sexual dominance. I just don’t get it, but that’s not the point of this story at all. I actually sympathized at one point for this monster of a man, but it wasn’t for very long. It also went away very quickly. I don’t really consider this a spoiler so I won’t put it in a tag. There was a time when, I’ll call him Captor, Captor pours hot wax on Emily while having sex. He spells out the word, MINE. In that one moment, I realized that he is one of the most sadistic people I have ever read about and the scarier thing was that Emily enjoyed it. Stockholm syndrome is a scary thing. I didn’t really realize what it does to the psyche, but it is truly terrifying.


Swoon Worthy Scale: NO

Villain Scale: Broke My Scale

The ending or should I say epilogue was one of the best I’ve ever read. I think it’s because it didn’t focus on Emily or her captor, but on her mom and what it did to her. This book is utterly amazing and if you don’t at least consider putting it on your TBR list you are missing out on so much. I’ll definitely be reading more by this author because she is truly a very good one.

Cover Thoughts: I actually love the cover. It fits perfectly, but I also loved it before I read the book.