Playing Knotty by Elia Winters is a different take on the current deluge of bondage erotica that is in the market. There is no dom and submissive relationship here and no BDSM, only the B.

"..His phone beeped, the reminder he'd set earlier to check in online for his flight. As he printed out his boarding passes and conference paperwork, he imagined Emma's reaction to the real reason for his trip to Ohio. Sweet, straitlaced Emma would probably fall over if he told her he was leading rope bondage workshops at a kink conference. It wasn't something people expected of him: as an accountant, he was supposed to fit the stereotype of an accountant..."

Emma Green has heard her whole life how she wasn't thin enough, not pretty enough and not successful enough. From her friends, from her mother, from the relationships she couldn't keep. In money trouble, she hastily agrees when her old friend Ian Cooper asks to rent out her storeroom, behind her book store to hold classes. It is later when she learns what the classes consist of that she has second thoughts. Ian is the leading authority on rope bondage. How to tie lovers up, what rope to use, where to place it and how to place your lover in the position you want them in. Still Emma agrees and more so, agrees to be Ian's assistant for the class when his regular model is unable to attend.

What Emma learns about herself and her desirability during these classes flies in the face of everything she has even been led to believe about herself. Under Ian's careful bondage, she becomes more free than she has ever been. More beautiful and more independent. But is what she is feeling real or just a part of a play put together by Ian for his class.

"..Crunching across the gravel on the way back to the car, Emma stared up at the stars, bright and clear away from the lights of the city. Boston glimmered across the bay, seeming impossibly far. Her night seemed like a dream. And as with a dream. she was worried it would all dissolve once they drove back into those lights, reality pushing back down around her again. She'd found a new Emma tonight, one who was sexy and worthy and desirable, one who didn't have to apologize for existing, for being who she was. As Ian started the car, she felt the irrational fear that, as they drove away from this magical place, new Emma would slip away..."

Playing Knotty is a beautiful novel of empowerment and self awareness that comes from within a person, regardless of their physical well being. By allowing herself to be tied up and put on exhibition, Emma finds a beauty and desirability in herself that has been denied to her by all those who love her. Even more, she doesn't need to be bled or beaten to achieve it. It is through this expression of vulnerability that she allows to show and that she allows to given to her, that Emma comes to full flower.

A tender and very sexy novel. ( )