Anne E ♡ emo + OTT Hs's Reviews > Dark Dominion

***Major SPOILERS under PLOT & Sexual History***

Good writing of realistic marriage matters 2 years after a whirlwind marriage of a couple who’s romance is desire-based and lacked open communication.

Liked the point Lamb made for a 1979 HP that a woman can be in love with her husband yet still feel some attraction to other men. Also quite advanced of Lamb to show the more darker side of sex with h liking H’s roughness with her although H was the 1 who felt bad about it but wish it was addressed again @ the end when they reunited as either a mutual part of their sex life or H resolving his jealousy issues. Liked H’s jealous-posessiveness over h but not how rape-y and violent & accusing he was with her. Lacked character growth since no satisfying resolution by the end & h’s view of H softening up because he looked at their baby with love was not good enough indicator of his change. Good pacing/S chem/emo.

PLOT:
@1%--H&h already distant in the last 6 months during their 2-yr marriage after a whirlwind courtship/@10% h sees H kissing his coworker after she overhears him mentioning his marriage frustrations with OW
@15%--h stays at her old friend’s place & sees her male friend OM again since more than 2 years ago
@23%-- H is greeted by OM when he comes for h & punches OM after accusing h of adultery/@30% H catches h packing at their house & rapes her after she tells H she wants a divorce & lies to him re: OM being her lover since he won’t believe her denials about OM not being her lover (h tells him “no” but he meant to “have her” anyway)
@35%-- h moves in with her BFF & takes the acting job offer that OM pulled strings for her
@47%-- h makes out with OM & seriously considered sleeping with him due to their sex chemistry but reconsiders after OW advises her to not divorce H yet due to his potential judge upgrade & tells h that she was only H’s confidant & have never had an affair with him
@60%-- h&H openly talk about their issues including H’s jealous obsession over h & h’s sexual attraction to OM and H agreed to move to London & let h pursue acting while h assures H that she will only be friends with OM & she frankly tells OM of it
@80%-- they smex but roughly due to H’s jealousy over OM coming over their house while he was away & H accusing h of cheating on him despite h denying it but h liked it rough and told H that after they got done smexxing & H was apologetic over how aggressive & out of control he became with h then told H he wanted a separation to figure out his lack of control & jealousy when it came to h
@82%--h moves in with her BFF while getting acting jobs & going back to her friendship with h and soon learns that she’s preggo from H’s rape months ago
@91%--@ending months later with h giving birth to their baby girl & she’s surprised at how H seems to taken with their daughter & has become softer overall like the man she fell in love with when they met.

Sexual History:
23yo theatre-actress h was a virgin when she married 36yo British lawyer H 2 years ago after a brief & passionate courtship. She & H had a sexually satisfying marriage until she miscarried from the pregnancy she pushed for after he explicitly told her he didn’t want kids but she thought having a baby would help her not feel so bored with her new life as a housewife. H raped her after she told him she wanted a divorce, after she witnessed what she appeared to be H kissing his coworker OW. About 1 week or so after she left H to stay at her BFF’s place, she let OM kiss her & she was quite turned on by him and considered sleeping with him that night of the party if not for H showing up there too. No info on H”s sexual or dating past but that he had many female admirers. He’d only been with h since they met and he’d been secretly very obsessed with her. He didn’t kiss OW.