Jessica Randall is an accountant with several disappointing and unsatisfying relationships in her past. Returning home from a trip to Tampa for a dateJessica Randall is an accountant with several disappointing and unsatisfying relationships in her past. Returning home from a trip to Tampa for a date with a man she'll never see again, her car hits an armadillo in the rain and goes into the ditch. Alone on the dark country road, the only signs of life is a house she passed further down the road. It's a mansion with a formidable giant of a man at the door, who seems reluctant to assist when she asks for help. Returning with the handsome Master Z, the door guard, Ben, lets her in.
But this is a private club, and before she can be allowed any further than the entrance she has to read and sign the rules. Tired, freezing and dripping, Jessica can barely make out the words, but how bad can it be? It's just a rich person's club in the country. So she signs without understanding just what kind of club it is.
Her introduction to Club Shadowlands, a very private and select club for those who enjoy practicing BDSM, is a bit of a shock to gentle Jessica's system. But Master Z takes her under his wing to show her around and teach her the rules - and hopes for something more from her. After a night of opening her senses to a new world, and the desires she's always had but never realised, will Jessica ever return? Would Master Z want more than a brief D/s relationship?
This short introductory novel into the world of Club Shadowlands, the first in a series, is fun in a distinctly titillating way. It doesn't waste time with filler or too much dithering introspection, which I could really appreciate. It is romantically inclined - the Dominant men we're introduced to don't want just another sub, but something more long-lasting and meaningful: love, and whatever comes with it.
That said, we don't really get to know Jessica or Master Z - Zach - in depth, but we do get a good sense of their characters, and come to like them, from their interactions. The Doms aren't sadists, they're more romantically inclined, patient and follow the idea that bondage and whipping etc. is for the sub, not the Dom. Pleasure in pain, that kind of thing. Jessica's not into the pain, but she learns that she enjoys being dominated and tied up. In her tour of the club, she sees that there are many different ways of exploring BDSM, and learns that the subs, whether they're women or men, are willing participants. Doms who go from giving what the subs need to actually being abusive or violent with them, are quickly kicked out and banned from the club. For readers curious about the lifestyle, this is a good guide, though for readers like me who've read plenty of BDSM stories already, it's a bit too familiar.
There is an added element to the series: some of the characters have paranormal abilities. Master Z can read people's emotions, which puts him in an excellent position of running a club like this - and being a popular Dom. This gives him an edge and is what enables things to move quite fast between him and Jessica. Especially considering Jessica is almost as naive as Anastasia Steele from Fifty Shades. Almost, but thankfully not that bad.
Being short, the novel does lack a deeper level of emotional involvement and tensity, leaving it almost a bit too cute and simplistic. But I did enjoy it, and wouldn't mind reading more in the series....more
Zachary Easton is something of a big-shot literary editor who's left England - and his wife, Grace - for a job at Royal House Publishing in New York. Zachary Easton is something of a big-shot literary editor who's left England - and his wife, Grace - for a job at Royal House Publishing in New York. He's got just six weeks there before moving to L.A. for a new position within the publishing house, and his chief managing editor, JP Bonner, wants him to take on Nora Sutherlin's new novel. Nora writes erotica, and Royal House wants to get in on the big-selling genre bandwagon by snapping up the hottest author in the country. But Zach is a literary editor, he thinks Nora writes romantic fluff - even though he's never read it - and he hates romance, even if it does sell well. But after picking up the manuscript and reading some of it, he decides to visit her at her home with a proposition.
Nora isn't what he expected. Petite and beautiful, she's got a smart mouth and shocks his upright English soul continually. He also can't deny that he's immensely attracted to her. After much sharp banter, Zach agrees to take on her book, but with conditions: she has to listen to his editorial advice, she has six weeks to rewrite the book, and he won't sign off on the contract until he's read the last page of the rewrite. Nora agrees promptly.
Nora introduces Zach to a world he'd never glimpsed before. Nora used to be the submissive to a man called Søren, a man she describes as a sadist. She loved him but, after years of being his submissive, had to leave him, though she isn't really free of him - and perhaps doesn't want to. But what Zach doesn't know is that, to augment her income, Nora is one of the highest-paid and most sought after Dominatrix's in the city. She can "top" as well as "bottom", but she plans to quit it entirely once Zach's signed off on her contract.
Nora's life is far from simple, and as Zach learns more his attraction grows in equal proportion to his conflicted feelings. He still loves his wife, Grace, but his guilt over the past shadows his understanding of what's happened to their relationship. Søren gives Nora an assignment: to help Zach overcome his guilt and face the past. And Nora, a queen of pain and pleasure, knows exactly how that has to be done.
This is a wonderful work of erotic fiction, excellently written and both subtle and complex in its characters. I want to be clear from the outset, in light of the recent mad scramble for books dealing with BDSM, that this is erotica, not romance, and certainly not erotic romance. There is a big difference, though I'll let Nora explain, since she says it so well:
"A love story is not the same as a romance novel. A romance novel is the story of two people falling in love against their will. This is a story of two people who leave each other against their will. It starts to end the minute they meet." [p.55]
Which helps me understand my own confusion around my belief that Wuthering Heights is a love story, since it's not romantic. The two do not have to go together - which is why there are so many love stories that aren't published by Harlequin and sold in the Romance section (ironically, this is published by Harlequin and I did see it in the Romance section of Chapters). Love and romance aren't synonymous, but two separate things. Perhaps romance can't happen without love, but love can happen without romance. Nora has written a love story that doesn't have a happy ending. The Siren is a love story but definitely not a romance. Likewise, this isn't erotic romance. For a start, there isn't hardly enough sex - in fact, there are very few sex scenes that are described in full. Another trait of erotica, giving you snippets and letting your imagination do all the dirty work. It's like a mind fuck, which you could argue is very S&M right there!
As a work of erotic fiction, The Siren excels at its aims. It brings to life interesting characters who are all very, very different: Zach, Nora, Wesley (her virginal "houseboy" from Kentucky), and Søren just to name the key ones. It deftly balances two love stories (Zach's and Nora's) with an entertaining plot, an examination of the psyche of Doms and subs, and an exploration into the S&M culture - all without ever losing steam, getting sidetracked, or being predictable. The Siren is a novel of several themes, all inter-connected and requiring each other for support, not least of which is an examination of the psyche of BDSM, of the Dom/sub relationship, of why people do what they do. Nora has some enlightening things to say about the topic, or moral or ethical question, though she speaks from a personal perspective and so doesn't make the ultimate connections:
"They know what He's feeling. The women always know. They know it isn't just a beating or a murder they're being forced to witness. It wasn't even just a crucifixion. It was a sexual assault, Zach. It was a rape." Nora took a deep breath and Zach felt his own breath catch in his chest. He wanted to say something but didn't trust himself to speak yet. "That's why I believe, Zach," Nora continued. "Because of all the gods, Jesus alone understands. He understands the purpose of pain and shame and humiliation." "What is the purpose?" Zach asked, truly wanting to know. Nora's eyes returned to the two women in the foreground [of the painting] clinging to each other in sympathy and horror. "For salvation, of course. For love." [p.122]
It is mentioned, somewhere (I didn't take note of the page), that the beating of others for mutual pain and pleasure partly originated in the English boarding school, but as the quote above shows, it's older than that. Nora's not saying that it originated in the Christian church per se, but that humans are predisposed to it. Our psyches are complex, and some religions just happen to latch onto certain emotions over others, I suppose (such as guilt, which is why BDSM seems so very Catholic, or Anglican, or any of the other denominations). As Nora says,
"S&M is as psychological as it is physical and sexual, Zach. Imagine being as deep inside a woman's mind as you are inside her body." [p.62]
When Nora takes Zach to the top-secret underground club where all the S&M-ers come out to play, she has to educate him on the attraction, the appeal:
"Are you a masochist?" Zach asked, fascinated despite himself. "Not exactly." Nora smiled almost shyly. "Not everyone who practices S&M is an actual sadist or masochist, not in the pathological sense anyway. With Søren, I loved submitting to pain. I loved the submission, though, not the pain itself. There are a handful of actual masochists down here, though, if you want to meet one. Fair warning, they can be almost as dangerous to play with as the sadists." "Warning taken. You don't seem like those people down there." Zach nodded toward the pit. "Those people down there are doctors, lawyer, stockbrokers, politicians, you name it. If I'm not like them it's only because I don't have a real job. And I have played in the pit before, I'll have you know. It's like Sodom and Gomorrah down there sometimes. Tonight's Monday so the play's a little tame." "You say 'play' like this is all a game. But people are actually getting hurt down there, Nora." "I have one word for you, my uptight English editor - rugby." Zach winced. Rugby - the sport as rough as American football but without all the padding. "A lot of people think we're crazy, Zach. Some even think we're evil. But I'm a Switch so I've seen both sides of the whip. I know you can't imagine it, but this is love to a lot of us. When Søren hit me, it was because he loved me, because that's how we loved each other." "Sounds horrifying." "Horrifying is the last thing Søren is. Dangerous, yes. I'll give you that. But S&M's only dangerous if you play with someone you don't trust or if you forget your safe word." [p.216]
That brings us neatly to the subject of Søren, I think. He was really the only surprise for me here, and it was a delicious one. I loved the truth of Søren. More than that, though, his charisma and leadership is excellently rendered, it fair blazes out of him and sucks you in as deftly as it does Nora and everyone else. You can really believe in him as a character, not just of fiction but someone who could be real, too. He's scary though, his sadism frightens me much more than his obsessiveness - because I'm not in love with him like Nora is and I'm not a masochist! But his charisma is enticing, and matches that of other "dark and dangerous" men I'm always drawn to in fiction. Søren is also scary - or intriguing - because of his ability to understand people, beyond the facade, which is really what makes him such a good Dom:
"I saw a book at Nora's. The Jabberwocky. You, I presume it was you, wrote, 'Never forget the lesson of the Jabberwocky' inside it. But it's a nonsense poem. It has no lesson." "But it does," Søren countered. "A handsome prince fights a terrible, beautiful dragon and slays him then carries the head home strapped to his saddle. The lesson is obvious. When one is a monster, one does well to beware knights in shining armor. A good lesson for Eleanor." Zach heard the meaning behind Søren's words. "Nora is not a monster. She's not perfect obviously. But she's a good person, and to call her a monster is ridiculous." "You know her that well, do you?" Søren asked, turning to face him full-on. "Before tonight she scared you, didn't she? Her fearlessness, her brazenness, I'm sure it's terrifying at first. Foreign to those who lead the proverbial life of quiet desperation as I imagine you do. She scared you with the sheer force of her life and being. But now you look around and think her courage is merely a byproduct of her damage. You imagine I abused her, changed her. And you would save her, as Wesley imagines he can? You would be her knight in shining armor? Yes, before you feared her and now you pity her. I assure you, Zachary, you were right the first time." [p.256]
I had one problem with the plot. Early on, when Wesley asks Nora why she doesn't tell Zach about her other job, she says that she doesn't want Zach to then dismiss her new novel as a memoir. That seemed weird to me, since he'd already learnt (I think, or soon does), about Søren and what she used to be. That seems like a much bigger deal to me than being a Dominatrix, which is a legitimate career for some people. Not only that, but when Zach learns about it from a co-worker, he gets all pissy with Nora and throws a big childish tantrum about it, and it never made sense to me. What's the big deal? Who cares if she has a second job? He whines about how she lied to him: well what business is it of his? Sure they were becoming good friends and she'd introduced him to her world - right into the heart of it - but if I were in Zach's position, as Nora's friend and editor, I'd be surprised if she wasn't keeping things to herself! It's not a part of their agreement that she tell him everything, right down to her bank balance. That was the only weak part of the plot, a flimsy, cliched attempt at tension and conflict that greatly surprised me, considering how well written the book is otherwise. It seriously ticked me off - for letting down the story and also for lowering my opinion of Zach.
Overall, The Siren is as intriguing as it is entertaining, but more than that, it's success at delving deeply into the psyche and emotions of its characters really makes it stand out. Do no compare this to Fifty Shades of Grey, I beg of you - they have nothing in common. They're not even the same genre! Reisz has taken erotica to a new place, one that welcomes new readers to the genre, and she writes with great talent. The good news is: this is only the beginning. Nora's story continues in The Angel, which I'll be reading soon....more
Ten years after Cole Madison left the woman he loved, Ren, he never thought he'd see her again and have the chance to be with her again. His guilt oveTen years after Cole Madison left the woman he loved, Ren, he never thought he'd see her again and have the chance to be with her again. His guilt over hurting her as they explored their needs and desires as young adults in a Dominant/submissive relationship has stayed with him, though he's long since acquired the skill and experience to be a true Dominant. So when he hears her laugh in a restaurant, it's the shock of his life. But nothing can compare to the agony of seeing her as the submissive to another man, Lucas Holt.
Things have changed for both Cole and Ren since their passionate relationship all those years ago, but their love for each other hasn't diminished. Ren has moved on and, after a series of failed submissive relationships with dominant men - or men who liked to play at the role - she has finally found the peace and balance she's been looking for, in Lucas. They understand each other, she trusts him as she's never trusted any other man - except Cole. But seeing Cole again has unsettled her, and in an attempt to help her Lucas makes an arrangement with Cole, his rival: Cole can have Ren for two weeks, after which time Ren will have to choose between them.
It's a cruel bargain, and Ren feels the betrayal keenly. Spending intimate time with Cole as his submissive only makes her more confused as to what she should do, who she should be with. And having two alpha males pulling her in different directions doesn't help in the slightest. Neither man is willing to let her go, but surely one of them must.
I'm normally very generous towards the books in this series - only one of them have I completely and genuinely enjoyed. The others I tend to go easy on because there are some things I like about them and I am still reading them, after all. This sixth book in the series was one I was very much looking forward to: every second book is about a BDSM relationship, and readers of the series were all anticipating Cole's story. When he took an active role in a previous book, everything pointed to him being a much more reserved, colder master than he appeared here: I thought I knew him but he turned into one big mushy marshmallow. There's a lot of talk about Ren needing a "hard" master - "don't go easy on her, she won't thank you for it," Lucas keeps telling Cole - but little evidence of it. Cole was not the man I thought he was going to be, and yes that did disappoint me.
Not that I didn't like him, as he is. But this particular volume, unlike the other two BDSM novels in the series, skated not so much to the edge but to the carpark farther back, dallied a bit and then went home. What I mean is that, it promised big but didn't even try to deliver the intensity and strong BDSM that Banks is quite capable of.
Instead, Sweet Addiction spends a great deal of time mentally ruminating. There's a lot of introspective thought and reflection, rehashing past events, analysing emotions, and being generally self-indulgent to the point where there's little else going on. And these are short books that read fast, so there's not much room to spare. (Just to show how different all readers are, other reviewers noted the opposite: too much sex and not enough time getting to know the characters and exploring their feelings!) Our level of enjoyment often comes down to expectations, and because I was expecting something as hard-core as Sweet Persuasion (my favourite) and Sweet Temptation, and because I expected to find Cole much less "sweet" and more hard-edged, the book as a whole fell short. In truth, it's more like a nice blend of the sweeter books in the series, and those two hard-core ones. But like Ren, I didn't want "sweet".
In regards to Lucas, I was confused at first as to why so much attention was being focused on him, but not for long - it was a bit of a big fat hint as to how the book would end, so there was very minimal tension in regards to the story's conflict - another disappointment. Lucas was a tricky character: at first he is the Other Man, the one we feel Cole has to triumph over, and so we're looking for signs of neglect, cruelty, disregard etc. And at first it seems like we get all that - but it's an illusion, if it's there at all. I did come to like him a great deal, especially once he admitted his mistake in making the decision for Ren to send her to Cole for two weeks. I can like him for it because I could understand what he was trying to do, and believe that he only did it because he genuinely thought it would help Ren. And Lucas was a distinct character, even if his style of sex was a lot similar to Cole's.
Though, speaking of the sex, is it just me or is it totally distracting to have sex scenes in, for example, a women's upscale clothing shop - even if it has been closed and the saleswoman paid to look the other way, those shops always have cameras. Details like this always intrude for me and "spoil the moment" - yeah I'm the classic over-thinker. The sex has to be "real" though, it has to be possible, and too often romance books discard the hidden logistics simply for effect.
As for Ren, she was a bit of a nonentity. A woman to admire, yes - sexually confident, but demure rather than loud and brash, and artistic - but the trouble with meeting a character during a rough time is that they come with a lot of second-guessing, and it gets tiresome. She was a woman who knew exactly what she wanted in a relationship, and what she needed, and never beat herself up over it or felt ashamed. I loved that about her - she's a strong female lead in that way. But as a person she was a bit little-girl-cutesy, or at least, that's how she came across (maybe that's just how the men see her, but actually it was strongest when we're inside her head). So she was a bit flat and two-dimensional.
Having read two other books by Banks that feature three men and a woman, I wasn't surprised in the least as to the direction this novel took - out of six Sweet books, one of them was bound to go there (and like I said above, spending so much time on Lucas and his inner thoughts and feelings, was a big fat arrow pointing in that direction, so I don't think I could "spoil" it if I tried). I'm not entirely sold on it working, but it was the solution that worked for these characters.
Overall, I'm glad Banks wrote this and gave us the chance to find out Cole's story, because we've long been wondering. But it wasn't the intense, OOMPH-full novel to end the series that I had hoped for and expected, and that's largely my own fault. Maybe it should have come earlier on, maybe not. It's got plenty of spice, lots of chemistry and two sexy male leads who know how to satisfy a woman; in that regard, it was a successful romance novel....more
(First let me apologise if I've got any little details in my summary wrong - the frustrating thing about e-books is that you can't flip through the pa(First let me apologise if I've got any little details in my summary wrong - the frustrating thing about e-books is that you can't flip through the pages, finding those things your memory is fuzzy on!)
Katlyn and David met while studying pre-med together in New York; instantly attracted to each other, David didn't even want to be friends with Kat at first because of his upbringing, his father, and his track record with women. His father, Richard, a successful surgeon and a powerful man in his community and industry, brought David up to be in his own image: to treat women as little more than objects for his enjoyment, in whatever form that would take, and to see to their domestic needs and wishes. David's own mother, Ellen, has spent decades under Richard's abusing control, and David has been a witness to it. Richard is a controlling, brutal man that David must put a second skin on for, sleeping with a different woman every week because he knows his father will ask.
A real relationship with Kat seemed beyond David's ability, beyond his understanding and something he wasn't sure he had any right to even want. How could he possibly introduce her to his father? How could he keep his father from interfering in their lives? So he keeps his distance, until one night when he finally stops fighting his feelings for Kat - and learns that she is a trained and experienced submissive, one who would very much like for him to be her Dominant.
David is untrained and inexperienced as a Dominant. He doesn't even understand the concept of a D/s relationship, until Kat explains it to him. It is eye-opening for him, to say the least: in this kind of relationship, the woman has the power, and he must earn her trust - the opposite to his parents' relationship. Afraid of hurting her in his inexperience, David secretly contacts her previous Dom for help and advice.
Years later, David has nearly finished his medical training (to be anything other than a doctor is unthinkable to Richard, who's paying his way) and Kat has a year of teaching under her belt, having dropped out of pre-med and lost her scholarship when her father died and she dropped out in her grief. Not only that, but they have married in a private ceremony. The time has come to introduce Kat to his parents - not as his wife and long-time partner, and certainly not as his submissive - but as his new girlfriend. But all the preparation and warnings for Kat cannot really prepare her for the reality of Richard and his cruel, misogynistic brutality.
This is a stellar work of erotica, only available as an e-book (at this stage anyway) - Blair has the first two chapters up on her website for you to read before purchasing. I was warned about the first chapter so I knew what to expect, but it was still a hugely confronting scene that really set the tone for Richard and everyone's relationship with him.
The characters are very well drawn for such a short book - Kat and David we take some time getting to know, while Richard and Ellen are presented more consistently - until toward the end, when we discover a whole new side to Ellen that'll really make you warm to her. And in a way, BDSM is a kind of character in this story. While this isn't a good introductory book to this kind of story - it's much heavier and less romancey than the mainstream erotic romance novels, even the ones containing some BDSM (like Maya Banks and Beth Kery) - it does provide a really sound, clear and healthy understanding to BDSM and why some people need it. Kat, for example, is a strong, intelligent woman (and I loved the way she was written, so refreshing from the Maya Banks heroines, for instance, who are more reminiscent of Christine Feehan's petite and gentle creations) who understands her own sexuality and her own needs and doesn't waste a moment feeling guilt or shame about them. I love that, I love characters (and real-life people!) who know themselves and embrace their own desires and sexuality, and aren't self-indulgently agonising over it all the time. Kat and David's relationship is depicted in such a way that you would be sure to feel immense respect and understanding for them.
The contrast is Richard and Ellen. To really highlight the difference between a respectful D/s relationship and one of plain abuse: domestic, sexual, physical and mental abuse. In the light of his parents' relationship, you can clearly see how healthy David and Kat's is, for them at least (the lifestyle is hardly for everyone). Blair starts her story off with a quote that really does capture - in some ways - the essence of the story, as well as being very apt and wise. I have to include it here:
"Violence is not merely killing another. It is violence when you use a sharp word, when we make a gesture to brush away a person, when we obey because there is fear. So violence isn't merely organized butchery in the name of God, in the name of society or country. Violence is much more subtle, much deeper, and we are inquiring into the very depths of violence." - Jissu Krishnamurti
The story is written by turns in the present, and in flashbacks to the past and how Kat and David meet and get together. The chapters alternate and as we learn more about the past, it builds a stronger picture of the present - the structure worked really well. The chapters are short, and while in general I'm a reader who loves depth and details, the concise, well-crafted writing means you learn what you need to know: Blair is nothing if not articulate. And perhaps, for such a heavy, at times dark story, short is better than too long. There is palpable tension in the story, residing in the expectations Richard has of his son's relationship with Kat; in fact, it gets a bit nail-biting at times, with that feeling of a looming electrical storm on the horizon.
The plot takes an interesting turn towards the end, in resolving the problem with Richard. I wasn't at all sure how it could be resolved, or what awful things would happen before it got to that point. What I loved about the resolution was what it did for Ellen, David's mother, and how the emotional scarring affected David - and, in turn, his relationship as Dom to Kat. The story does end abruptly, though; as I got closer and closer to the finish (thanks to that little bar and percentage mark at the bottom of the screen), I kept thinking, "no, not yet!" I suppose it would have been weaker to drag it out any further, but I still wasn't quite ready to say goodbye to Kat and David. I also wanted a few more scenes between them, because their chemistry and intensity was so engrossing.
At its heart, this is a story about facing your past and your fears, and about the effect of violence on people, be they the victims (Ellen) or the onlookers (David) - as well as the different types of violence, especially the subtle kinds - because David is a victim too, and it takes the love of a strong woman to help him recover, grow strong and learn the difference between sexual play and abuse.
[At time of writing, this e-book was available for US$0.99 from Amazon.com.]
Note: I've seen that people are doing lists like "What to read after finishing 50 Shades of Grey" and this book is listed in their recommendations. Be wary of such lists! It really does depend on what you've been reading and where your comfort level is at on the scale of erotica/erotic romance. Read Blair's wonderfully articulate and intelligent post on "Why My Book is Not 50 Shades of Grey" and I think you'll get a clear grasp of whether this book is for you or not. :) ...more
This is the companion anthology to a book I previously reviewed, Yes, Sir, also edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel. Please, Sir is similar but there iThis is the companion anthology to a book I previously reviewed, Yes, Sir, also edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel. Please, Sir is similar but there is a notable difference in the style of stories, and I found I liked it less than Yes, Sir.
A woman makes a bad joke about her husband at a party and must pay the price. Another discovers the power of her lover's choking hold on her neck. A woman's lust for her martial arts instructor leads to an exciting battle of power. Foreplay in public, at the opera. All kinds of sex and sexual play are on the table, and while some of the stories have great tension and interplay, some were more lacklustre.
These stories aren't porn: they aren't sex for the sake of sex. They all explore women and men's minds (but especially the former) and what makes us tick. They explore our darkest fantasies and liberate our desires. As Bussel puts it in her introduction:
If you ask me, submission is an art form. It requires dedication, focus, commitment and desire - and there’s no single way of doing it. It’s about unlocking something within yourself so you can reach beyond your normal limits, exposing your body and soul in order to go somewhere you cannot get to alone.
That's what I love about erotica, that psychological aspect, but I'm less keen when the writing gets too artsy-farty, as a couple of these stories did. I don't think of erotica as the kind of genre in which you want to play with experimental prose styles. It's just too distracting, detracting.
Of the 22 stories in this collection, the majority are nicely kinky, fun and thrilling. Some of them stand out, like the one about the woman who's fitted with a dog collar and leash - and nothing else - and taken for a walk in the park. Exhibitionism makes me cringe, but the story was fun despite it. There's great variety here, but not too many stand out in my memory, and they seemed somehow less than the first volume, Yes, Sir. A good read, but a bit forgettable. ...more
The title may be guaranteed to raise eyebrows, but the story isn't half as risqué as you'd think - it's rather sweet actually.
MacKensie has had a hardThe title may be guaranteed to raise eyebrows, but the story isn't half as risqué as you'd think - it's rather sweet actually.
MacKensie has had a hard life, experiencing the worst kind of foster care before becoming a teenage prostitute. After being severely beaten by her pimp she was rescued by a kind old vet and his wife who took her in and gave her the first home she'd ever known. Now with her own veterinary degree, she is on her own again after the death of her mentor, living in the house he left her but shunned by the small town community who have found out her background. Leaving it all behind for a new life elsewhere seems like the perfect plan, and so is finding someone willing to do a house swap so she can spend a couple of weeks in Seattle looking for a new veterinary job.
The house she swaps her humble abode for is large and grand and expensive and she can't believe her luck - but there is one problem: a locked door under the stairs. MacKensie doesn't fear much, but she has an innate fear of locked doors from her time in foster care. She picks the lock and discovers that the door leads to a basement completely decked out for BDSM. And when the owner of the house returns unexpectedly after missing his flight, he finds her in quite the compromising position.
Alex Fontaine is a successful, rich and well-respected businessman in the community, but his predilections are no secret. So, finding that the woman he'd trusted to look after his house and his traumatised dog has broken into a locked room, he has no problem threatening her with calling the police. He senses an interest in BDSM in MacKensie, as well as some issues, and offers her a deal: be his submissive in certain public functions and he won't press charges. The deal is of equal benefit to Alex: his previous "girlfriend" is practically stalking him, and if she sees he's taken on a new woman she'll have to leave him alone.
MacKensie is indignant and resistant, but curious and definitely stirred by Alex as well. He's got charisma and sex appeal by spades, and if she doesn't agree she'll lose her opportunity to find a new job in Seattle. But being in a mutual position of trust with this man is awkward too. The one thing she will never do is tell him about her past. But moving in Alex's circles means her past will come to her, and facing it head-on could well be the hardest thing she's ever had to do - except for losing Alex because of the truth.
Plots like this, when you strip them down, sound so silly and contrived don't they? But when you're reading the books, you just set it all aside and go along with it and it becomes quite entertaining. MacKensie is a fairly standard romantic heroine, with the troubled past, the secrets, the vacillation between strong stubbornness and fragile vulnerability. Alex, too, is standard: handsome and sexy, domineering and in control, rich and persistent. But you can't deny his chemistry, or the fact that women like MacKensie are appealing to him and his need to protect and nurture. It's that side of their relationship that's quite sweet, as he uses the whole dom-sub thing to help her confront and deal with her issues.
Despite the title, nothing terribly confronting occurs - nothing violent or really painful (at least, it seems that way once you've read a few of these and have far "worse" to compare it to), so if you're new to this type of story this wouldn't be a bad one to start with. I usually get a bit impatient with romance stories where the main characters dance around each other so much and refuse to be open with each other (stubborn heroines and resistant heroes really wear thin), but Alex and MacKensie's chemistry worked in their favour - plus, it's a relatively short book and fast-paced, so you can read it in just a few hours.
Overall, it was quick and entertaining, steamy and passionate and I liked the vet angle - though I was surprised MacKensie didn't take note that the white kitten with blue eyes that she rescued is therefore deaf....more
I know, the cover is very, ah, eye-catching isn't it? This isn't the sort of book you want to read on the subway, if only so over-the-shoulder readersI know, the cover is very, ah, eye-catching isn't it? This isn't the sort of book you want to read on the subway, if only so over-the-shoulder readers don't get excited in a crammed carriage. Because this is a pretty raunchy book, and one of the better ones I've read.
This collection of nineteen stories from mostly female authors oscillate between structured BDSM and a more playful exploration of sexual desire - which is, if anything, psychological first and foremost. The theme of women gaining power and confidence through "submission" is strong here, as it generally is in erotica of this kind, and is explored through a wide range of scenarios, from the woman whose husband tells her exactly what she can have for lunch to the woman who takes a brave step in facing her secret desires.
I would have to say that this was the most fun and intelligent collection of erotic stories I've read so far, and I use those words deliberately. Reading the mini bios of the authors in the back, they come from all over the English-speaking world and from a wide range of backgrounds, and all of them sound like people you'd want to meet and have a laugh with. Their stories are refreshing and original and unpredictable, and my only complaint was that they were short stories - they often ended at such a great moment I definitely wanted to read more.
I have a feeling that even I, with my non-religious and open-minded upbringing by two unrepressed parents, will keep reading playful erotica well beyond the point where my sense of shame finally evaporates. Because even though I'm an atheist, it's inherent in my western culture that strong sexual feelings are, if not exactly wrong, to be kept quiet and hidden. Something to be embarrassed about, even now in so-called modern times. So far I've made great progress in being open about my appreciation and enjoyment of such stories, but those stern judging eyes of society are still there. I admire the women who write these stories, and are proud of what they produce. I would like to have that kind of confidence. ...more
This book is more like Erotic Romance than straight Erotica - more like Maya Banks, for example, though the short story format allows for less depth aThis book is more like Erotic Romance than straight Erotica - more like Maya Banks, for example, though the short story format allows for less depth and character development than a single long novel, and thus less Romance.
The first story, "The Bonds of Love", is about a well-to-do young couple seeking to save their rocky marriage - and love life - by exploring something new and, for Jillian, scary. But Cam hasn't turned her on this much in years as he does now, by tying her down - an act that terrifies Jillian and her trust issues, especially after her earlier miscarriage and the guilt she carries, believing it to be her fault.
In the second story, "The Lair", a woman wanting to explore her submissive side answers an ad and finds herself in the mansion of an older, debonaire gentlemen with several live-in submissives; but it's his nephew, Marcus, who draws her eyes and grips her imagination. The third story, "Love and Discipline", is about a journalist, Lilli, working on a story about the BDSM lifestyle in San Francisco; her interview with Damien Knight leads her to accept a challenge from him: that to really understand her subject matter and why people do it, she has to try it herself.
The stories are light and fairly uneventful; there's less sex and more the play of power and trust between these characters and in this world of dominance and submission. From that perspective, it's quite well done, but ultimately the stories were too fluffy and thus too forgettable. ...more
This is one of the better erotica novels I've read in a while, being well written, interesting, exciting and even humorous, with a central female charThis is one of the better erotica novels I've read in a while, being well written, interesting, exciting and even humorous, with a central female character who is well developed and not annoying. It's Erotic Romance in that it has a happy ending, but there's nothing really romantic about it.
Sarah has long promised herself that on her twenty-first birthday she will have her first drink and lose her virginity. When her boyfriend David seems to have forgotten her birthday entirely, Sarah goes ahead with her plan to have some champagne - but when she arrives at the Toledo Royal Avenue Hotel she's mistaken as an escort and ends up losing her virginity anyway - to a man she's never met before. It isn't until she wakes up the next day to an empty hotel suite and an envelope with a lot of money inside that she realises what happened, and it isn't until after she's spent all the money that she gets a call from the escort agency, wanting their cut.
In order to pay back the money she owes, Sarah agrees to her first assignment - which turns out to be watching a couple who like to be watched - in the most interesting of positions. Each assignment that Sarah agrees to further broadens her new-found interest in sex and her knowledge of the many kinds of sexual desire. She finds that she's good at it too, though still yearning for something she can't put into words.
Then a weekend-long assignment comes her way and she meets John, an older, well-educated man who introduces her to the kind of play she's been fantasising about; it's a weekend she can't get out of her head. When "John" turns up at her university as her new Honours Philosophy Ethics professor, things become more complicated for Sarah's once-orderly world.
This book actually reminded me of a similar story I had to read for an English class at university, in which a young, sexually-innocent girl married to a much, much older man has a brief affair with a man who encourages her to become a call girl, and enter a world of wild and kinky sex. I can't remember what it was called (though the cover image isn't one you're likely to forget in a hurry, of a woman in stiletos wrapped in straps of leather, holding a whip - ah that was a great course!), but that one had a much different ending.
I found Sarah a much more interesting character than you usually get in this kind of fiction - she was just as believable as a student as she was as a call girl, and her growth as a character was natural and plausible. It was certainly titillating - some of her assignments were rather unusual, such as the grown man who had a nursery in his house and wanted an escort to pretend he was a baby and she his mother - there are so many different kinds of people in the world, that the idea of "normal" is a ludicrous one to hold onto. That was definitely a part of the book I really appreciated, and it's so fascinating to delve into the psyches of other people, even if in fiction. ...more
These three-and-a-bit short stories are more Erotic Romance than straight-up Erotica, but not by much. The first story, "Breaking Skye" by Eden BradleThese three-and-a-bit short stories are more Erotic Romance than straight-up Erotica, but not by much. The first story, "Breaking Skye" by Eden Bradley, is about a young woman called Skye who posts an ad looking for a dominant man to introduce her to the world of BDSM. She meets Adam Dunne, a dark, handsome and charismatic man who instantly captures her imagination. The only trouble is, as Adam sees it, is that he's equally captivated by Skye, and that threatens the whole relationship.
The second story, "Submissive Secrets" by Eliza Gayle, is about a private investigator, Carli, whose once-innocent ex-boyfriend, Aidan, comes back into her life in unusual circumstances - Aidan's now part of a secret government agency that's investigating Carli's brother, who they think has committed treason. Carli discovers that Aidan has changed in other ways too, and can now offer the kind of kinky sex she craves. The third story, "Cupid's Captive" by Reese Gabriel, is about a sexually dominant man taking his colleague's younger sister out for Valentine's Day and discovering that she knows what he is and she very much wants to be his. The last story, "Listen to Me", is very short, more of a snippet really, and not very interesting.
These were all fun, non-violent, non-taxing stories that were ultimately not all that satisfying, perhaps because they were rather short. "Fluffy Erotica", if you will. Perhaps the one I enjoyed the most was "Cupid's Captive", which was written well and was the most fun. ...more
There are several different "shades" of Erotica, and this belongs more to the porn shade than anything else - which is indicated by the cover "art" - There are several different "shades" of Erotica, and this belongs more to the porn shade than anything else - which is indicated by the cover "art" - especially in terms of style and how graphic it is. That is to say, it is exceedingly graphic. But it also questions the motives and psychology behind people's desires and sexual needs, which makes it rather more interesting and adds substance.
Cole is a real estate agent who, in his spare time, carefully explores the BDSM scene that he's been newly and unexpectedly introduced to. The first is Kate, a small woman whose needs he learns to satisfy until he realises she wants what he can't give, namely to be physically abused. He helps a plump older nurse enjoy herself for the first time, and meets a couple of women at an expensive condominium - the kind of place where he'd like to live himself - in their sexual play, realising as he does that what he wants is something more serious, something that lasts twenty-four hours, not just a fun session.
Then Lana enters his life, as a newbie at his agency, and Cole has to mentor her in the business. Knowing straight away that she's a natural submissive, Cole lays the rules down clearly: while he's mentoring her, there can be nothing else between them but their professionalism. Once Lana is financially independent and his mentoring ends, their relationship can begin - as long as it's understood it's just play and can end at any time. Lana takes it seriously from the beginning, but it takes Cole a lot longer to realise Lana is just the right woman for him.
For what it was, this was quite good, though many of the scenes are too starkly graphic and less than appealing, and it all starts to feel pretty excessive pretty quickly. It's set in Toronto, which makes a nice change (most erotica books I've read to date have been American-authored), though it's essentially irrelevant. I liked that Cole needed an emotional attachment to the women, and because he was new to it all, he seemed almost innocent in comparison to them. The book doesn't shy away from anything, it's consistent and not at all ashamed, and the characters are well developed, which makes it far better than porn! ...more
This is quite a neat concept: from one side, you get thirty short stories from the perspective of the "master", or sexually dominant person (usually aThis is quite a neat concept: from one side, you get thirty short stories from the perspective of the "master", or sexually dominant person (usually a man); flip the book over and turn it upside-down and you get thirty stories from the perspective of the "sub" or submissive person (usually a woman).
Some of the stories are quite good, some are okay and some are weird and silly or dull. I expect which stories fall into which would be very different for everyone. With so many stories on offer, it's hard to talk about the book as a cohesive whole, or as individual stories. They all had the BDSM theme in common, but to wildly varying degrees, and most of the stories were just fun explorations of the genre, without over-thinking it or analysing it or getting too weird about it.
Overall, there were probably more good stories than bad ones, but then again there were so many that they do start to blur together a bit. It's a good one to read now and then, rather than in one go. ...more
It's taken four books for me to see the pattern going on here: books 1 and 3 were relatively sweet and tame in their depictions of desire and passion,It's taken four books for me to see the pattern going on here: books 1 and 3 were relatively sweet and tame in their depictions of desire and passion, while books 2 and 4 are hedonistic and intense and not for the sexually timid. So that should give you some idea of what to expect here.
Micah Hudson used to be a cop in Florida but for the last few years has worked for a family-run security company in Texas - becoming one of the family in the process. That's about all his friends know about him, that and that he likes women, likes to share them and enjoy them to the fullest, as long as that doesn't involve a real relationship or revealing anything of his past.
Until the day the past finally arrives in Micah's town in the form of Angelina, the younger sister of his best friend David with whom he lived in a blissful, happy ménage à trois with Micah's wife Hannah, a domestic and pleasurable arrangement that ended abruptly when David and Hannah were killed in a car accident. Despite promising David to look out for Angelina should anything happen to him, Micah's grief is such that he desires nothing more than to escape the memories of what he had, and what he lost. When Angelina turns up in his life again, he sees her as David's little sister - and that's the last thing Angelina wants him to see her as.
Angelina has always loved Micah, since she was sixteen and living with him and Hannah and David. And she knows him better than anyone: she knows his past, and she knows how he's been dealing with his grief. Feeling responsible for her, and strangely possessive, Micah takes Angelina in and learns in no uncertain terms that she hopes for something more intimate. Micah's tastes in bed sport run to the extreme, but Angelina is more than Micah's match: she can take anything he cares to give.
When Micah learns that one of the reasons Angelina left her home was to escape an increasingly threatening stalker, he realises he'll do anything to protect her - and not just because she was David's sister.
I enjoy Banks' stories, but I have to leave a great chunk of my own personality at the door when I delve into one. The good news is that I don't mind. It took me four books to really appreciate their Southern American flavour, that they really couldn't be set anywhere else and be plausible. It's not that they're full of Southern "culture", whatever that may be (well, they have their own style of food and way of talking etc., don't they); it's in the characters: the men are big, muscular, domineering, over-protective, gentlemanly but also "manly" - masculine in the cliched sense of beer-swigging, footy-watching, ute-driving machismo. The women are a mix of sassy and sweet, brazen and genteel, "well-bred" and classy or slightly trashy but "good at heart". Ugh I'm degenerating into pathetic stereotype as I write this - such is what happens when you start talking about something, let's face it, inherently cheesy.
I am quite impressed, actually, in how Banks manages to avoid ruffling my feminist sensibilities: which is quite the achievement when you think about it. From the first book, actually, she's had that "agenda" of creating female characters who are confident enough to own up to their sexuality, and own up to their needs in having a Big Strong Man take care of them. I am a feminist myself, but that means I can understand that there's nothing really wrong in this. I wouldn't want it for myself, it's not in my nature or in the way I was raised, but that doesn't mean it's wrong for other women to need what balances themselves. What's "empowering" (and I shudder to use the word, as grossly co-opted by management-speak and the self-esteem movement as it is) is having these very different women (different in personality, but very similar because of their nationality, culture, upbringing etc.) embrace their own sexuality. And I'm all for that.
Angelina is a case in point. She comes into the story fully in charge of her own needs and desires - it's Micah who can't handle the thought of his best friend's little sister enjoying the kind of BDSM he does. (For the uninitiated, "BDSM" simply stands for "bondage, discipline, dominance, submission, Sadism, Masochism" rather like how GBLT stands for gay-bi-lesbian-transgendered: a handy list to capture variance.) Angelina and Micah both enjoy the kind of pleasure it's possible to get from pain, but that's only part of it. There's a rather beautiful and surprisingly gentle exploration of their sexuality, something that could just as easily be taudry, grotesque and obscene.
I didn't find Angelina to be as confused and like a doormat at some other readers - she did not strike me as desperate, not in the derogatory sense they meant. Perhaps it helped having read Sweet Persuasion, the story of Serena and Damon, in which Serena hesitantly faces her needs and desires and Damon teaches her how a woman comfortable in being submissive is stronger than the man who dominates her. It seems like a contradiction in terms, but when you're reading it it makes sense. It becomes romantic. (And you're wondering how I could call myself a feminist, I bet! You'd have to be inside my head, or wait patiently till I can articulate myself better. :) )
For sure the plot can make me roll my eyes - it seems convenient that there would be something putting Angelina's life in danger, because we all know it's not until they think they're going to lose a woman that they realise how much they love her - it's a time-honoured cliche and still highly effective. But that and other cliches aside, Micah and Angelina are believable and plausible because these books are all about character development; plot is just a structure, a frame, on which to bring them together and get them to work through their issues. Because they will certainly have issues - in this case, Micah is privately, emotionally repressed.
There's definitely some sweetness here too, alongside the hero's angst, but the story wasn't as intense as book 2, which dealt with a similar intensity. It's predictable - there weren't even any red herrings regarding the identity of Angelina's stalker - but her resilience and strength gives it fresh life. There's plenty more goodness to come, too. Following the pattern I mentioned at the start, I can say with confidence that the next book will be a sweet one dealing with Connor, while book 6 will be another wicked instalment detailing Cole's story. Yeah I got it all figured out. ;)
You know how, during Victorian times, there was a great wealth of vaudeville and doctors using vibrators on female patients and such naughty stuff, asYou know how, during Victorian times, there was a great wealth of vaudeville and doctors using vibrators on female patients and such naughty stuff, as if the very emphasis on hiding coffee table legs because they supposedly made men think of women's ankles produced, in direct contrast, a great thirst for porn. If you had thought that maybe, a hundred years and more ago, people's imaginations were much tamer than they are today, you'd be very very wrong (in fact, the history of sex is literally as old as time! It'd have to be, when you think about it, but what I mean is that "porn" is just as ancient!).
I wanted to preface this review with that paragraph in order to give it a bit of context, and so you won't be surprised when I tell you that this book, originally published in Parisian journals around the turn of the 19th century (the original publication date is unknown but considered to be about 1908), would make modern erotic novels (of which I've read several) blush.
It begins with the narrator, Jack, the "quintessential Edwardian gentleman", plotting his revenge on Alice, a pretty young lady in his social circle who rejected his suit. His vague plans clarify when he rents an apartment in what was once a mental asylum: it includes a windowless inner room with just a skylight above, completely soundproof and even still has metal rings embedded in the walls and pillars! He dubs it his "snuggery" and buys some specially designed furniture for it, chairs and couches with cleverly hidden straps and cuffs and winches. Then he sets to work making Alice comfortable in his presence, inviting her and her sister over for tea, until the day comes when Alice takes refuge from a storm and he traps her in the snuggery! Now he can enact his revenge on Alice's sweet body at his leisure.
He not only succeeds in his original plan, he also manages to "convert" Alice to his sexual nature. Jack encourages her in this, and helps her trap first her pert maid, Fanny, and then a lovely young widow, Connie. Jack ends up with a veritable harem of three women who help him entrap a lady and her marriageable daughter, who have been pestering Jack with broad hints at marriage.
On the one hand, the prose makes the story rather hilarious, and on the other the wealth of detail becomes rather too much. I had to read it in bits so as not to feel overwhelmed with it all. Jack, who narrates with glee, is very excitable and litters his sentences with exclamation points - his enthusiasm and excitement is tantamount. It also made him seem rather immature, and I have to wonder at the level of experience of the author because some of the scenarios are highly unlikely (I don't mean the scenarios themselves so much as the effect on the women victims).
Most of the time, the novel was so over-the-top and silly that it was quite funny. Towards the end, especially the part where Jack and his harem set to work corrupting Lady Betty and her daughter Molly, it was rather repulsive. But that's erotica for you - it's not necessarily "sexy". It's more a detailed exploration of repressed sexuality and coming to terms with your desires, "needs" and so forth. It's psychological. I'm not sure just how much I would read into The Way of a Man With a Maid, though. For the most part it seems to be meant simply as wicked titillation. And highly gratuitous at that. I chose to read it as smut.
I want to share the writing style with you, and I'd love to show you the kind of language used which is decidedly erotic but not at all romantic; I couldn't do so without being distasteful so I've randomly chosen a paragraph that's fairly innocent:
Confused, shamefaced and in horrible dread, Alice stood trembling in front of me, her eyes tightly closed as if to avoid the sign of my naked self, her bosom agitatedly palpitating till her breasts seemed almost to be dancing! I leant back in my chair luxuriously as I gloated over the voluptuously charming spectacle, allowing her a little time in which to recover herself somewhat before I set to work to feel her again. (p.43)
Exuberant, isn't it?
I've acquired a few other books in this Forbidden Classics series and I'm very curious about them. It's so fascinating to get this insight into the sexual escapades, perceptions, attitudes and so on, of earlier periods. Because like I said, porn is ancient in all cultures. The blurb from the publisher describes this book as "a foray into pleasure, pain, lesbianism and etiquette", and there is definitely "that" between the lines, in the depths of Alice's eyes, that make this a perfect "up yours" to Freud....more
This book was recommended to me by Amazon because I'd bought To Seek a Master from them, which is by the same publisher. Now and then Amazon can draw This book was recommended to me by Amazon because I'd bought To Seek a Master from them, which is by the same publisher. Now and then Amazon can draw your attention to a book you might not have ever noticed before otherwise, and it can work. I loved To Seek a Master, which is why I had high hopes for this one; I also knew to expect something pretty extreme from this publisher, and besides, the premise made me think it was the erotic, modern-day version of Jane Eyre: timid new governess Cassandra is hired to look after the two young children of a widower, Baron von Ritter, who has powerful charisma and some very extreme sexual tastes that often involve initiating shy young women into his games. Growing tired of his mistress's cruel sado-masochistic needs, the Baron turns Cassandra's initiation into a game that pits the unwitting woman against his mistress - only one will stay, but only he knows the rules.
What could have been a mesmerising novel of gothic atmosphere and erotic seduction, was instead a flat story with highly unlikeable characters and an unconvincing seduction. The Baron's so-called charisma, upon which the entire premise rests, is never really in evidence - instead, he gave me the creeps, and how he treated his two little girls made me despise him from early on. Remove his power to drive women wild and make them fall in love with him, and the motivation is entirely gone. I was told these women love him, but I couldn't believe it. I saw no real evidence of it, or what it was about him that made them love him. I especially didn't like his sexual tastes and I wasn't impressed by his skill - he was all technique, detached and cold and boring. It didn't help that the writing also got too technical, and the descriptions repetitive.
The seduction scenes lacked a necessary powerful ingredient to really make them work, instead of making the reader uncomfortable. By the time the baron decides to introduce Cassandra to the joys of enemas, I'd had enough. I'm sure there is a way to get a divine orgasm from an enema, but there's nothing sexy or erotic about it. It's all so clinical and messy and unpalatable. As is the focus on the belly and water-retention (not letting them pee and forcing them to drink more and more water as a kind of sexual torture until the final, orgasmic release) - I couldn't help thinking about how you can die if you don't pee, from the toxins that have been filtered from your blood having nowhere to go but back into your system. These characters think they're at the height of sexual discovery by defeating their boundaries and pushing themselves, but honestly, I couldn't help but feel they were missing the point.
There is an audience for this book and others like it, as badly written as it is, but it's not for me. I prefer the quietly simmering sexual tension and subtle build-up of grumpy Mr Rochester to the Baron's "baby-faced" charm. Yuck....more
Laura's pleasures in life are few: her dog Smudge, proper seamed stockings, and reading trashy 50s romance novels. She travels between her home and heLaura's pleasures in life are few: her dog Smudge, proper seamed stockings, and reading trashy 50s romance novels. She travels between her home and her job as Assistant to the Manager by train and has nicknames for all the regulars in her carriage: Mr Brown, Hovis Boy, the Grey Man, the Devil, Miss Scarlet, Darcy and the Tramp. Her active imagination is further captured by a scene in her trashy book, Taken to Turkey, where the otherwise-bland hero takes the helplessly idiotic heroine over his lap for a good spanking.
She can't get it out of her head, but she knows it's wrong to like the idea of a spanking - not just the physical act but the humiliation as well. When she suddenly receives an email from someone calling himself "the Controller", telling her to wear stockings the next day, Laura is torn between two reactions: determination, in finding out who is doing this and why; and an unmistakable urge to comply with the authoritative order.
Telling herself she'll do as she's told only so that she can test her co-workers and find out who it is, Laura goes along with it. As the days and the orders continue, and she rules out the other employers, she narrows it down to the men on the train. By the time the Controller reveals himself, she has let go of many of her inhibitions - but it will take a firm, understanding hand to help her come to terms with what she really needs.
I was completely lost inside this book. Apparently, according to my husband, I read this with a smile on my face. You have to love a book that can make you smile for over two hundred pages! And I did, despite its flaws.
The first hundred pages are incredibly heightened by the play of psychological tension and suspense - erotica is generally concerned with the psychological aspects of exploring and accepting our sexual natures, but they can sometimes get angst-ridden and depressing. Here, Belle makes a strong attempt here to create a plausible, realistic scenario in which a "normal", "nice" girl - Laura - faces a newly awakened need in herself that is not just frowned upon by her society, and many others, but is outright denounced unless it's just a game.
But it's when it's real, not just playing, that it gets really interesting. It was always within her, deep down, and she could have gone her whole life without exploring it - and never been entirely satisfied with herself or her life. It takes courage to do it, and reading Laura's story was fascinating. I'm also reminded of what Nancy Madore said in her introduction to Enchanted, about how important it is for women to remove the shame from our sexuality, to not feel guilt or shame but to own it. That is what Laura does: she learns to own her own sexuality.
I found it hard to put down, at any point, and read it quickly. The prose isn't fancy or cheesy but manages to convey the heightened tension and psychological - shall we say titillation? Here is one of my favourite passages, to demonstrate (she is on the train, and the Controller has just revealed himself):
She knew he was looking down at her, and turned to him, unable to look away, to find his bright pale-grey eyes looking into hers, then lower, to feast on the crescent of pale flesh showing within her blouse. He smiled, cool and certain and knowing. Laura felt her body tighten, a reaction like a small faint orgasm and a gasp escaped her lips before she could stop herself. One edge of his mouth curled up, giving his smile the wry wicked edge she remembered from before. He spoke.
"Good morning Laura. Stand up."
From there, the novel further explores Laura's desires and her relationship with this man (you will be able to guess his identity but even so, I don't want to reveal it). It's highly charged, but the man's calm authority and confidence, as well as his experience (he's "trained" girls before, as a mentor), means that the situation never declines into something painful, icky, abhorrent, sadistic, misogynistic, or anything else that could put you off. It isn't a book for everyone, by any means, but I can see where Maya Banks may have been inspired for her book Sweet Persuasion - though they handle it in different ways. There's a lot more suspense here, more sexual tension and a more level-headed exploration - not like Anne Rice's Beauty trilogy, which is rather over-the-top bizarre and not at all realistic. Sometimes you want that obvious fantasy-land feel, but personally the real-world feel works better for me.
Laura herself is a tricky character. She's a walking contradiction - which is fine, once you acknowledge that pretty much everyone is. On the one hand, she comes across as sweet and girly, a bit of a twit really who's wholly preoccupied with public punishment and having her bottom smacked. It even, at times, isn't even sexual - and yet it is. The Controller - Charles (that doesn't give it away, not really) - gives a pretty good layman's explanation of women like Laura and their more unusual needs. Yet she also has moments of strength, conviction - and let's be honest, courage too. The relationship she works out with Charles isn't an uneven one, nor a subjugated one, because they both get so much out of it. He even likens it to a marriage, in a traditional sense - the vows, anyway.
The annoying thing is how suddenly the book ends, with some details still up in the air - mostly concerning Laura's job, which is a whole subplot I left out of my summary because I don't want to give too much away (these books are generally light on plot, since they delve into emotions and our mentality). I wanted to know more, since this is the most realistic depiction of a master-slave relationship I've come across. By "realistic" I mean "feasible", "plausible", "believable" - and not scary or creepy or misogynistic.
I also wanted to know Charles' feelings better. We can glean a fair bit from the third person narrator, but the perspective is always Laura's. I'm not calling this an erotic romance because the "love" side of things is uncertain, at least from Charles' side. I loved him as a character - he had the right amount of charisma and stern authority, humour and confidence, and never came across as sleazy. If his own emotions had been revealed, in favour of Laura, the book would be a romance - but an extra edge is given through not knowing, and trusting instead.
To Seek a Master kept me totally absorbed. Even though it's written in past tense, it's written in such a way that it feels immediate, like you are right there with Laura every step of the way. This kind of emotional intensity I love, and is partly why this book is such a winner with me. It needs proof-reading; there were way too many obvious typos, even a double negative, and you really don't need those kinds of distractions.
While we're on the subject of the edition itself, it says "15th anniversary edition" on the cover but I couldn't find any earlier editions, and the publication data only refers to the 2008 publication. So I really don't know whether it was first published 15 years or so ago, or what. It's bugging me. An anniversary edition usually celebrates a book that has some kind of acclaim, or popularity. But there's nothing about an earlier book....more
Serena James runs her own successful business, making people's fantasies come true. Whether they dream of being a head chef at a fancy restaurant, or Serena James runs her own successful business, making people's fantasies come true. Whether they dream of being a head chef at a fancy restaurant, or a princess on a cruise ship, Serena's job is to make it happen. The one person whose fantasy she hasn't worked on is her own. Deciding to take the plunge, she approaches her friend Faith and asks her if she knows of anyone who fulfils sexual fantasies.
Shocked as she is by Serena's fantasy to be a man's sex slave, Faith puts her in touch with her friend Damon Roche, who runs The House, a private club outside the city for people to indulge in all manner of eroticism. Damon is as attracted to Serena upon meeting her as she is with him, and when he hears what she wants he's determined to be the man to fulfil her fantasy.
For Damon, though, it's no fantasy, and as the two explore the kind of relationship he wants more than anything, Serena has to face her own fears and decide which is the real her: the woman she is under Damon's expert care, or the woman who's resistant to the idea of doing it "for real".
This is an extremely intense and erotic novel, and quite different from the other two Banks novels I've read, especially the first book in this series, Sweet Surrender, in which nothing really happened until the very end. Banks creates a very real, very sensual and incredibly erotic situation here and doesn't hold back. At the same time, it's a romance, and leaves you all warm and fuzzy. That's the big difference between straight erotica and romantic erotica - there can still be a bit of angst and soul-searching, but there's also a lot of love and a lovely happy ending.
While it's not something I'd ever want in real life (I don't even see how it could be practical), it's a lot of fun to read someone else's experience - especially with Damon being as sexy as he is. Serena is a wonderful heroine, strong-willed and strong and secure enough not to agonise over what she's doing and what she wants - at least, not until she has to decide whether it really is just a fantasy or not, and even then her indecision isn't depressing or dark as it can be in erotica.
In both this and the previous book in the Sweet series, Banks targets a modern conundrum, that of the independent woman battling her own needs and feeling ashamed of them. The thing that I enjoy about this is the emphasis on being strong in order to give of yourself. In today's world, women too often feel that self-assertiveness must of necessity equate holding yourself back, being dominant, maintaining control etc. The women here set themselves free by embracing what they desire and trusting the men they give themselves too - naturally, it wouldn't work with just any man.
This is a sweet and loving story, but it's wilder than Banks' other books, very erotically charged, so it won't be for everyone who enjoys erotic romance. It has some scenes that are quite powerful but the emotional connection between the main characters, and the extent to which I empathised with them, made them all the more powerful and not in the least tacky. In fact, I delight in Banks' prose here, the simple but beautiful scenes she creates through her words. I didn't care greatly for the other two books of hers I've read, but this one touched me and I even cried a bit at the end. Highly addictive....more
This is a truly freaky cover. I don't know if you can see this, but it's done by computer graphics - which explains why she looks completely unrealistThis is a truly freaky cover. I don't know if you can see this, but it's done by computer graphics - which explains why she looks completely unrealistic. Aside from it's utter tackiness and dungeon vibe, it's completely misleading. This is actually a pretty tame story, 100% romance through-and-through, with some light exhibitionism, lots of nudity and, yes, a bit of sex. Apart from the basic premise, it's not even especially kinky.
Kris is a anthropologist working at a university. Only in her early 30s, she lives alone with her five cats and feels doomed to a life of playing by the rules. Tempted by an ad she sees in the paper, asking for women to work at an "exclusive gentleman's resort", she bites the bullet and applies. Her anticipation, excitement and nervousness escalates once she's accepted and the week of being a man's plaything looms closer. But it also means getting away from the growly and very masculine Jack, who turns up at her office from time to time to snap at her about digs at his construction sites.
Little does she know but Jack is a close friend of the owner of the resort, John, and has been talked into coming to get his mind of the prim little red-headed witch of an anthropologist who thinks she's too good for him. When he sees Kris, stark naked and on parade at the resort, he's determined to have her and he refuses to share. But before he can have three whole days alone with her, he has to beat out the other men in the resort's sexy competitions. Only, he doesn't want just three days, he wants forever.
A nice quick read - we're talking about three hours here - for fans of heavier romance fare than you get from, say, historical romance. The premise is believable enough and the prose is simple but solid. Jack's a pretty unoriginal character - about forty-two years old, he started as a labourer and worked his way into buying the construction company. So, he's plebeian to her academic, he's gruff and growly to her prim and proper ways.
Trouble is, he reads like an old man. I don't why exactly, but I had trouble shaking the feeling that he was in his sixties. There were a few details here and there that give that impression, which is off-putting. I'd say the references to "daddy" are equally off-putting.
Aside from her name, which comes with associations of much older women for me, Kris is a better-written character who's taking quite the plunge. She certainly adjusts very quickly, but it was believable. There's some simple development of both their back-stories, and a few minor characters get fleshed out as well.
Most of the book and plot is build-up to the three nights, so that by the time you get there, very little happens in the few pages that are left. I think my anticipation, along with Kris's, was what kept me reading. For all that, I give it three stars because it was entertaining and fun and that's all I needed. Besides, after the disaster of One Dark Night, this was quite an improvement.
Loading...
