Thank you so much to Callie Moss who sent me an eARC of this book.

Let’s get the trigger warnings for this book out of the way. For the full list of triggers please visit the author’s website: graphic on the page rape, torture, sex trade and slavery, violent and graphic murders. If that’s not your jam please check out one of my other, cozier reviews.

Despite being a self proclaimed dark romance girlie, I was nervous to request this book. The trigger warnings for this story are deadly serious. Do not skip them, unless you genuinely have zero reading triggers. I went into this book knowing I wanted to try and push myself, to see what I could be okay reading. Honestly I’m just as surprised to have received an eARC as I am that I was able to handle this content. I was shooting my shot with a new-to-me author, and I’m so thrilled with the unexpectedly good outcome.

Having read The LORDs series by Shantel Tessier, I prepared myself to the best of my ability before diving into this new story by a new-to-me author. With Shantel Tessier’s books, The Sinner is one that made me viscerally sick to read. I assumed Servitude to Serpents would have a similar, or worse, effect, but to my surprise I handled this book much better (despite its very concerning and dark content).

What made this story so compelling for me was the way the author effortlessly flowed between the past and the present with her characters. Our FMC has a metric ton of trauma from her childhood that sort of prepared her for being kidnapped and molded into a sex slave. The parallels between what was happening present day versus what she had already experienced were structured throughout the story flawlessly. This kind of back and forth between timelines also occurred, though more infrequently, for our MMC.

Despite having dual POV’s, our MMC remained a bit of a mystery to the reader. His story unfolds much slower, and deliberately so. Although he is clearly not a good, or safe, guy I did find myself rooting for him and realizing that yes, all men (even fictional ones) can be so freaking dumb! This man controls some of the highest, top secret weapons corporations in the world and yet he can’t decipher his own stupid heart. Unbelievable. And yet, unbelievably accurate to men everywhere.

I think to truly enjoy this story the reader needs to have prior experience with this genre. If you start here I fear you’ll be scared off for good. But if you’re already aware of the stakes, the emotional and physical toll these characters and scenes can leave long after you put the book down, I think you’ll be surprised by just how much you love this pairing.

This story felt eerily real, while at the same time very fantastical. I kept mentally arguing with myself, remembering that sex slavery is a real and present threat worldwide. The fantasy comes from falling in love with the man who purchases you and the potential for those feelings to be genuinely reciprocated. This story felt real because both our FMC and MMC questioned their sanity, and the morality of what they’re actually doing together.

It was far too easy to be swept up in this power imbalanced dark romance that brought me an odd sense of peace once I finished it. Our characters are not just morally grey. They are dynamically flawed individuals, who find healing and comfort from each other. The twists and turns had me on the very edge of my seat, never truly knowing who or where the ‘bad guy’ was. Because the truth is, everyone in this story is bad. Even our Pup and her Master. And somehow, that made this book so deliciously wicked and fun to explore.

One final note: if you’re looking for a book with great (safe) BDSM and consent representation, this is not that. If you’re looking for a book with safe examples of Master/slave/pup representation, this is not that. Please do not read this book as a guide or entry way into those practices. If you are looking for spice that makes you question your own sanity, then you’ve found the right book.