Here is where the story takes a different turn. They go on a trip to Mexico where Tess is hoping they can rekindle their sex life and instead she gets kidnapped and sold into slavery. Problem is Tess wants to be taken care of in a more masochistic way, which even surprises her, and her boyfriend is abhorred she could even be thinking such things. So Tess has always been looking for that something to fill in that void and thinks she found it in her boyfriend as he wants to take care of her. They were ready to retire and instead they had a late in life baby that they never nourished with love. Tess Snow was a late oops in her parents’ life. This defiantly falls into the realm of dark but yet its hero isn’t quite what you think he is. This is a bittersweet story of a woman lost in her dark desires, a captor trying to fight his dark desires and redemption for those who have broken these individuals. The story will confuse you at some points, especially when Tess is first sold. I was captivated by all of the happenings throughout the entire book. I couldn’t wait to find out what kind of ending was in store for me. I think that’s what makes this book so ingenious! I couldn’t put it down. Maybe not in its entirety, but ideally it could. Yet, when I sit back and think about it, I get cold-chills from the realization that the idea of this story could actually happen. The seriousness and danger of this book is unimaginable. This book is one of the most real and unreal reads I have read. Finding solace in something so horrible is almost unthinkable. One would almost think that Tess eventually suffers from Stockholm syndrome, but the complexity and similarity between her and her captor make more sense than we would want to admit, given the circumstances. The battle they both fight borders on unhealthy and healthy at the same time. Everything about their connection screams psychological issues on both ends. Tess and her capture find themselves wanting to resist one another and wanting to want one another. It wasn’t too graphic, yet graphic enough to get the point across and to keep the reader not wanting to put it down. That, in itself is one of the things I absolutely love about it! I liked the “darkness” of this book.

This is not a happy-ending fairy tale by any means. There is so much wrong with this story, yet so much that is so right.

Tears of Tess by Pepper Winters