Shy student Alexandra – ‘X’ to her friends – arrives in Naples desperate for adventure beyond the sheltered life she’s led. As she explores the sun-soaked Italian city streets, she meets a man like none she has ever met before. Lord Marcus Roscarrick is handsome, charismatic and wealthy beyond all imaginings – and yet, underneath his smooth exterior, X senses he is a man well-acquainted with danger.

He begins to dazzle her in a way that she cannot resist. As they embark on a passionate affair, X is drawn further into Roscarrick’s glittering world. But soon she discovers there’s a darker side to him. And as he reveals his darkest secrets, and urges her to submit to his desires, X must decide: is she in too deep, or dare she take the final plunge?

Let’s just say this was an interesting book. You can say it’s softcore BDSM or that it pretty much followed the wave that 50 Shades of Gray * E.L. James set through with the naïve girl meeting fit billionaire who is into something called the Mystical Games – a tradition of sex and debauchery passed on from Pompeii.

The setting is on the streets of Napoli – with all of its Italian charm – the quiet streets, the gelaterias, the fine wines and of course the Mafia references, the drug addicts and the lack of tourists.

The main heroine of this story is “X” – generic enough that you can think it’s anyone – a girl just out of a long term relationship who is looking to experience the pleasures of life. And in doing so, she meets this guy, Roscarrik who buys her a Mercedes Sports car after the first time she lets him spank her. (Sound familiar?) At least they both have matching cars now.

“We got back in his car and drove to his palazzo and then we parked by the rear door, in the dark, and we got out – and suddenly he picked me up and turned me around and threw me over the hood of the car and lifted up my dress and yanked down […] me from behind, over his beautiful Mercedes sports.”

Yeah, which one came first? The spanking in the 50 shades or this? She can’t say no to his allure plus I think she’s bored. There’s nothing to do in Napoli if you’re just travelling there and overstayed by about a month or so. Not even her mom’s visit is enough to entertain her. So she decides to play a sex game with this dude and has to go through “initiation” phases where more and more aggressive stuffs are done to her.

As Marc and X go through each Mystery the wtf is upped. One thing I wasn’t sure of was the purpose of each task. I thought maybe is there was a goal or some explanation behind the reasoning for each act they performed then maybe I would understand the rationale better. X was clearly uneasy at each event and even used her safe word at one point. I will say that I was on the edge of my seat just as X was. I was a bit nervous each time a Mystery was presented because I didn’t know what was going to happen. The book is very suspenseful.

From plain voyeurism to being unceremoniously fucked by randos, this is a book which puts no stop to the imagination. I mean even the double glass dildo penetration scenes seem to lack some of the eroticism present in other books of this genre.

Yes, it’s porn for bored women, but it’s so cliché! And the writing is as bad as it gets.

“Um…” I am flustered, stammering like a fool. Glancing at both my mom and Marcus. “Um.. Ah.. Uh…”
“Mom, this is… Marc. He’s a… He’s a…” Spit it out. “He’s a friend, um… a friend I made here… I mean.”
“Marc, I… God… I… I want… I just, I’m sorry… I… I wonder… What are you doing?”
“But Marc, but Marc… I can’t… I…”
“Where? I… I… I don’t… Oh, yes…” I see. Yes, I see.”

Down-starred due to shitty dialogue, poor decision making and sub-par sex scene descriptions.