tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24050378927397348462024-03-05T08:11:47.958-08:00Femdom Book ReviewsSunnyGirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14604191788812626246noreply@blogger.comBlogger52125truetag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2405037892739734846.post-13407698129613878532014-04-20T14:24:00.000-07:002014-04-20T14:34:56.190-07:00Review: Telling Tales by Charlotte Stein<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Not surprisingly, this is another excellent book by Charlotte Stein. Although it is really just a very slightly different take on a familiar Stein characters, it was thoroughly enjoyable.<br />
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Four old friends spend a month doing up a house - a spurious excuse to get them together for sexy times. Allie (first person narrator) has had a crush on Wade (compulsory dickhead) ever since College. Her friend Kitty is a good time girl, up for anything. Then there is Cameron, gorgeous repressed, submissive Cam, who has been in love with Allie for as long as Allie has been with Wade.<br />
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The revealing of all these secrets is through the telling and reading of deliciously filthy stories. Allie quickly realises that Wade is not for her and that Cameron is willing, eager, to do absolutely everything that Allie wants. It's total wish fulfilment. And utterly hot.<br />
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Obviously with four characters stuck in a big empty house, there is plenty of combinations. But the story sticks closely to Allie and Cameron, and the other two (especially Kitty, who isn't really much of a character in and of herself) are just there as a foil to Allie and Cameron. To be the other characters in their stories (sort of meta - stories in stories).<br />
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I love that Allie revels in her new found power. The things that Cameron wants - a sort of cuckolding, for him to be the slave, to be her and Kitty's toything, for her to take control, - they turn her on. And frankly, most of it turns me on too. It skirts near M/f crappiness, but somehow it all seems like part of the relationship between Cam and Allie.<br />
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Anyhow, I sincerely enjoyed this. I give it a B+.<br />
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Buy: <a class="bookstore-amzn" href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=1402289596/" target="_blank">Amazon</a> | <a class="bookstore-bnn" href="http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?ean=9781402289590" target="_blank">B & N</a> | <a class="bookstore-bd" href="http://www.bookdepository.com/book/9781402289590" target="_blank">Book Depository</a> | <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/gb/book/isbn9781402289590" target="_blank">iBooks</a> | <a class="bookstore-pow" href="http://www.powells.com/biblio?isbn=9781402289590" target="_blank">Powells</a> | <a href="http://www.amazon.ca/dp/1402289596" target="_blank">Amazon Canada</a> | <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1402289596" target="_blank">Amazon United Kingdom</a></div>
SunnyGirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14604191788812626246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2405037892739734846.post-89803271502350920892014-03-10T01:13:00.002-07:002014-03-10T01:33:38.664-07:00Femdom Round up of Indeterminate Length...<a href="https://www.allromanceebooks.com/dbimages/446792.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://www.allromanceebooks.com/dbimages/446792.jpg" width="133" /></a>It's been rather a long time since my last post. I seem to have lost my inclination for blogging somewhat and didn't think that anyone would notice. People who did notice - hello! Thank you for getting in touch - I will do my best to be in contact soon!<br />
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I can't even say that I haven't been reading. I have. I finally got around to reading <i>Holding the Cards</i> by Joey Hill. I'd been putting it off, because unusually for Joey Hill, the reviews weren't that great. The reviews were right. This isn't that great. I might get around to a full review of it at some point. But given that at this stage, that would probably involve re-reading it, I might well not. Suffice to say that the plot was wishy-washy and the whole premise needed a lot of suspension of disbelief that the characters weren't strongly enough drawn to hold together.<br />
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I think that my current block on blogging is partly due to trying to read <i>Taste, An Aristocratic Femdom Love Story</i> by Beth Taylor. I wanted to like this, I really did. It came recommended. I wanted to at least read enough of it to be able to review it fairly. But it's still on my kindle, unread, because I found it literally unreadable. It's told primarily though email correspondence (a style which was fun in the 90s and seems to have unfortunately been brought back by FSOG). That wasn't the main problem though - it was the immediate past / immediate future / present tense story telling (I can't be bothered to really establish which is which - please educate me in the comments if you so wish) which was unbearable for me. Usually books tell stories in the past tense ("she went to the shops"); this told actions as they happened ("she goes to the shops"). Conventions are there because it makes it easy for the consumer. I couldn't see any reason for defying the convention and I didn't enjoy the change. It didn't help that the plot (as far as I got with it) seemed to be entirely made up of two brothers emailing each other and the conflict was going to be that one was a male sub. Really. WTF is it his brother's business, and aren't there better conflicts to have, anyway, than "OMG you're into F/m BDSM". <br />
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<a href="http://shellylaurenston.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/pc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://shellylaurenston.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/pc.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a>I've recently been enjoying the Magnus pack series by Shelly Laurenston. Not femdom really, she writes paranormal romance with heroines who are totally psychopathic and men who like them as truly gun wielding and insane as they are. The sex is a bit vanilla and M/f, but the heroines are pretty demanding and give as good as they get. The characters are great, even if the world building is a bit "eh, I'll ignore that, because laws of physics clearly don't apply here"... One reviewer said that you would enjoy one of the books if you liked heroines coarse and mannish. I bought it.<br />
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Other stuff that sounds promising is<i> Love Enraptured</i> by Jodi Redford. The blurb says:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"This book contains male groveling, the occasional blindfold and feather
tickler, wicked sex magic, and a fae thief who isn’t afraid to wear
ass-less chaps when the job calls for it."</blockquote>
That is probably good enough incentive to induce me to buy it. <br />
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As for publishers etc., you might like to hear about the awkwardly named <a href="http://fannypress.com/">Fanny Press</a>.
Classy. They have a selection of interesting looking tagged books,
including hot wife, cuckold and dominatrix. Nothing labelled femdom
though.<br />
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I also found time for watching the cult classic, <a href="http://princessbrideforever.com/"><i>The Princess Bride</i></a>. I now can quote: "Inconceivable," with the best of them. The film though was<i>... </i>well.... Look, it was terrible. It was kind of hilariously terrible. I argued that it was so bad, it was good, as I did enjoy it even as I rolled my eyes and cringed all the way through. My sub was not impressed at all though. I agree that the bit at the beginning when he says "As you wish," is nice. But I rather thought that the whole thing went down-hill from there. Don't lynch me.<br />
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One last thing. Go and check out <a href="http://critiquemydickpic.tumblr.com/">http://critiquemydickpic.tumblr.com/</a> It's fun for women and a valuable educational resource for me. And read what the author of the tumblr says she has <a href="http://thehairpin.com/2014/01/what-ive-learned-from-my-side-job-critiquing-dick-pics">learned about male insecurities</a> and dicks. It's great. The whole thing is just awesome. SunnyGirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14604191788812626246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2405037892739734846.post-55390623458462522062013-10-10T12:33:00.000-07:002013-10-10T12:39:23.323-07:00Femdom book deals - Natural Law currently available free! <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Yes, you read correctly. If you haven't already got it, Natural Law by Joey Hill is currently free as an e-book. I haven't checked all the retailers, but this is certainly true for Amazon. It's even got a nice cover now. <br />
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<a href="http://femdombooks.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/review-natural-law-by-joey-hill.html">I loved Natural Law</a>. Free is an insanely good deal. <br />
<a class="bookstore-amzn" href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=1419951653/" target="_blank"><br /></a><a class="bookstore-amzn" href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=1419951653/" target="_blank">Amazon</a> | <a class="bookstore-bnn" href="http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?ean=9781419951657" target="_blank">B & N</a> | <a class="bookstore-bd" href="http://www.bookdepository.com/book/9781419951657" target="_blank">Book Depository</a> | <a class="bookstore-bam" href="http://www.booksamillion.com/product/9781419951657" target="_blank">B-A-M</a> | <a class="bookstore-chap" href="http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/a/9781419951657-item.html" target="_blank">Chapters</a> | <a class="bookstore-ind" href="http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781419951657?aff=" target="_blank">IndieBound</a> | <a class="bookstore-pow" href="http://www.powells.com/biblio?isbn=9781419951657" target="_blank">Powells</a> | <a class="bookstore-vrm" href="http://www.vromansbookstore.com/book/9781419951657" target="_blank">VRoman’s</a> | <a href="http://www.amazon.ca/dp/1419951653" target="_blank">Amazon Canada</a> | <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1419951653" target="_blank">Amazon United Kingdom</a>SunnyGirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14604191788812626246noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2405037892739734846.post-46260296766449982892013-09-01T13:43:00.000-07:002013-09-01T13:43:00.163-07:00Review: A Woman Entangled by Cecilia Grant<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Starting with <i>A Lady Awakened</i>, I've reviewed all of Cecilia Grant's books so far. I thought I wouldn't break the streak yet, although I'm very, very late, as it was published months ago. Though this is by no stretch of the imagination femdom, it's a good historical romance with a heroine who has both a backbone and grey matter between her ears. She's smart and sexy and manipulative. If you like that in a woman, and like a bit of historical angst, then this could be for you. Regardless, since it's not really femdom, I will (try and) keep it brief. (update - and fail).<br />
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Kate is a self confessed social climber. She wants to be much richer and more influential than she is. Being beautiful and female, she sees marriage to a titled man as the best way to get it. Nick wants to be richer and more influential than he is. Being male he sees his profession as a barrister and connections to titled men (to get a seat as MP) as the best way he can to achieve this. This book is romance but is really about how people strive towards power and the way that gender was such a defining way of deciding how you tried to achieve this at this time.<br />
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As you might imagine, the people who dislike heroines who try and do something and don't just fall over and open their legs to an alpha male, don't like Kate. Me, I think that smacks of double standards. I like all of Grant's heroines. I feel they make tough decisions within the highly gendered historical setting that they're in and Kate is no exception. Further, one of the things I like about historical romance is the explicit way that beauty, partnership and gender are dealt with. I think that often these things are left unexamined in contemporary fiction/romance whereas the historical setting gives enough distance for a more interesting social comment. Anyhow, that's my rant about it. On with talking about the book.<br />
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Nick, like so many others, has already wanted to propose to Kate. She deftly deflected him and since then, they have become friends. An influential Lord turns up to provide the central conflict of the book: Nick (by keeping from him certain facts) becomes his oratory mentor. Kate wants to marry him (and thinks she may be able to ensnare him before he knows about her and her family.) Nick is horrified that Kate would use this man to better her prospects, but is doing just that himself. He might also have a teeny bit of self interest where Kate is concerned. The central question of the book is how and how long is it going to take for both of them to realize that using people is not the best way to achieve their aspirations.<br />
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A book geek like me also appreciated the Austen references. Kate picks up a copy of <i>Pride and Prejudice</i> and there are lots of obvious parallels there (I loved the snooty titled aunt turn about). But there are references to <i>Emma</i> (a turn about on Miss Smith/Emma's relationship) and probably lots more that I missed. Grant does details so well, and I usually only catch a quarter of them on the first reading. That, imo, is the sign of a truly brilliant book. When you can go back and read it and find something new in it every time.<br />
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I enjoyed this book. I think that in many ways, this is Grant's best book yet. It speaks of problems, past and present, that people deal with in how to negotiate between what they want, what they think they want and what society will allow them to do. Grant seems to like mirrors - literal mirrors in <i>A Lady Awakened</i>, but metaphorical mirrors in her two subsequent books. Sometimes it take a while for us to realize that someone is the other half of ourselves - the mirror image - especially if we don't really know what we are. If that was a bit too philosophical for you, I do apologize. I am striving for a regular schedule of F/m kinky sexiness.<br />
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As for grade. Weeeellll, it's not femdom. But I did enjoy it. I liked Kate. I thoughts she was straight - the kind of woman I'd want as a friend and who would say, 'that sounds like fun' when I told her tied down my husband. I've recently understood that the portrayal of female agency is really important to me in a book and this ticks that box. Nick is okay. He starts has character arc, starting stuffy and realizing there is more to life than impressing people. There aren't any warnings for this book, except that this there is not all that much sex (I can't believe I'm actually warning you that there isn't constant sex....). I think it's a B+, but with a reservation that this is vanilla. Nice vanilla. You know, with the little black bits that show it's real, good quality vanilla. But it's still vanilla.<br />
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buy at: <a class="bookstore-amzn" href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0755396812/" target="_blank">Amazon</a> | <a class="bookstore-bnn" href="http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?ean=9780755396818" target="_blank">B & N</a> | <a class="bookstore-bd" href="http://www.bookdepository.com/book/9780755396818" target="_blank">Book Depository</a> | <a class="bookstore-bam" href="http://www.booksamillion.com/product/9780755396818" target="_blank">B-A-M</a> | <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/gb/book/isbn9780755396818" target="_blank">iBooks</a> | <a class="bookstore-chap" href="http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/a/9780755396818-item.html" target="_blank">Chapters</a> | <a class="bookstore-ind" href="http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780755396818?aff=" target="_blank">IndieBound</a> | <a class="bookstore-pow" href="http://www.powells.com/biblio?isbn=9780755396818" target="_blank">Powells</a> | <a class="bookstore-vrm" href="http://www.vromansbookstore.com/book/9780755396818" target="_blank">VRoman’s</a> | <a href="http://www.amazon.ca/dp/0755396812" target="_blank">Amazon Canada</a> | <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0755396812" target="_blank">Amazon United Kingdom</a>SunnyGirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14604191788812626246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2405037892739734846.post-54397932701913182982013-08-25T05:45:00.000-07:002013-08-25T05:45:56.336-07:00Review: Nothing Ventured by Salome Verdad<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>Nothing Ventured: A twisted tale of high tech and high heels. </i>Well, I got the twisted bit, and the high heels (boots actually, which aren't quite the same thing), but I missed out on the high tech and the ventured reference was also a bit lost. How to describe this book better than the title does is actually quite difficult - the sheer amount of WTF is almost overwhelming.<br />
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The story starts with Amanda drugging and date raping Ed - she insists on him licking her boots, threatens him that she will make sure the venture capital company she works for doesn't fund his tech start up (I think that's the ref in the title, but since it's really beside the point of the story, I was never clear what the significance of it was) and then has sex with him all night (literally). He is enamored of her and tries to contact her - she ignores him. Then she calls him and meets him to a lesbian bar - to keep her options open. She tells him that she drugged him with GHB. She also gave him viagra, though she doesn't tell him this at the time. And after a token protest he forgives her, takes her back to his place and lets her tie him up. This is all by chapter 2.<br />
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Really. It's normally heroines that I critisize for being TSTL, but what a dumb ass he is. Amanda has shown herself to be totally untrustworthy, is a self confessed psychopath and has just humiliated him by flirting with other women when she came to meet him. Also SHE DRUGGED HIM. So, I have two essential problems with this set up. 1) Her drugging him is totally unacceptable. 2) The way that she thinks she needs to train him to like being submissive by drugging him suggests that a man wouldn't 'normally' be receptive to it. This is just utter balderdash and only serves to make submissive men feel that they are wrong/not normal/blah. Grrrrrr.<br />
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So, one of the other big problems for me was the portrayal of lesbians in this story. Or dykes as Verdad so charmingly (and derogatorily) puts it. They're portrayed as unpleasant, perverted and evil. Amanda has a whole back-story about how she was put upon by the lesbian girls at public boarding school and this is why she's wants bad kinky sex now. The subtext is that if those girls had just had some boys to give them cock, they wouldn't have become lesbians, wouldn't have started with all that bad kinky stuff and wouldn't have driven Amanda to do utterly stupid things like drug men because she wants to be a top, but can't with her lesbian girlfriend. Using marginalized groups (gays, transvestites, kinky, etc.) is a really offensive way of creating villains imo.<br />
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So Amanda regularly thinks about her ex when having sex with Ed. When topping, she's thinking about wanting to bottom. I'm confused about why she's so hung up on her ex girlfriend. She also says that she only enjoys things when the man is unwilling, being forced. But.... how does she know if she's so inexperienced? She goes on and on about having succeeded as a top (now that she has Ed), and proven her lesbian ex wrong, and put to rest her demons. At the same time, she's supposed to have had four boyfriends who passed her licking her boots test, and numerous other men who she drugged and who didn't pass. And apparently she's gorgeous, so you wouldn't think she'd lack play mates if she wanted them. So frankly, I'm confused as to how she's such an inexperienced top. It just didn't hang together.<br />
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The biggest problem with the writing (as opposed to the plot) was that it was all tell not show. We're told that Ed makes Amanda laugh. We never see it. He doesn't make one witty comment in the whole novella. We're told that Amanda flirts with other women, but we never are shown what she does or how Ed notices and what it makes them feel. We're told that they have a great time together, but we never see them do anything but have negotiations about what sex to have. Because of this, as a reader it's difficult to believe in any of it and still harder to care. Just saying 'and then they had great sex' does not make it sexy experience for the reader.<br />
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The switching between first and third person voice wound me up as well. There was frequently "she thought" and then several sentences of first person (not italicized) which made me slightly pov sick (like sea sick, you know?).<br />
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Now, I know I was going to go cold turkey on spoilers, but I think that this merits them. Apologies. Look away now if you don't want to know.<br />
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***Spoilers***<br />
Near the end of the story one of Amanda's lesbian ex dommes, along with a whole load of lesbian friends, kidnap Amanda to make a snuff porn film of her and Ed. An academic researcher (also a lesbian, in tweed and glasses) steps over the barrier from researching snuff porn to wanting to make it and her lesbian friends agree to help and be in the film. (Really? <i>Really?</i>) Also, why would you film yourself killing someone then put it on the internet? Wouldn't that make you rather easy to identify? Perhaps the implication is that lesbians are like - yay prison!<br />
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Amanda is kidnapped on camera (sort of - skype anyhow) while Ed watches from Vegas (don't ask). Shona also steals the key to his chastity device, says that she'll give it back to him if he comes to see her and that she will hurt Amanda if he doesn't agree. So instead of going and buying some bolt cutters, taking off his chastity device (that he is supposedly so annoyed about), and going to the police, what do you think Ed does? Oh yes, he decides that without any plan, any backup or any ability to look after himself, he's going to go and rescue Amanda. (Face palm.) I think it's that he turns up still in the chastity device that really gets me. FFS, a chastity device is about trust, it's not actually that difficult to get out of if you don't care about breaking the lock. This whole situation isn't helped by the fact that while Ed is away, he is suddenly fantasizing about dominating women - any women, not just Amanda, though her too. And obviously we've heard earlier that Amanda isn't a twue domme, because she still wants to bottom, thinks topping is too hard work and is thinking about Shona constantly.<br />
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Anyhow, Ed goes and is asked if he will hurt and rape Amanda for this film (he isn't told it's a snuff film at this point). Despite him having fantasized about topping and fucking Amanda, he virtuously refuses. (I wish these characters would decide what the hell they want.) So the evil lesbians overpower him and torture him with a cattle prod. The fluffy kitten lesbian hears about the snuff porn plan and helps Ed and Amanda escape. Before doing so, they somehow conveniently have gasoline and stuff to set the place on fire. Because that's not a dangerous thing to do when you still might get trapped/lost in the building. And arson with people in the building is totally okay if you've been told by a lesbian kitten that they were planning to kill you.<br />
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Amanda's old MG is conveniently outside, when they miraculously find their way easily out of the burning building. And Ed somehow knows how to hotwire a car, while Amanda has dissolved into incompetence and tears (she is a woman after all). Ed drives them away and then there is a car and motorbike chase scene, where Ed runs over one of the lesbian bikers - he even considers reversing back over her to make sure she's dead. Give that man an ethical award for remembering that when you're running away, the key is to run away, not stop and try and kill the people who want to kill you (and also film you). Amanda and the fluffy lesbian kitten are away crying and being pathetic somewhere. So Ed saves the day by running over the lesbians, and the book closes with Ed telling Amanda that they can continue to have a relationship, so long as they only have vanilla sex ever again.<br />
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So there you go. They're finished with the evil lesbians and promise never to have bad sex ever again. Great message. I found all of this so cartoonish as was totally unbelievable. Bat-shit crazy, and not in a good way.<br />
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***End Spoilers***<br />
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I'm at a loss to explain how silly I found most of this book. And it wasn't even sexy - all the sexual bits were rather perfunctory. Tab A, slot B. This toy, then that toy, then another toy (literally, Amanda even says "another toy" at one point). And you know, twisted is about it. This novella isn't femdom positive, it isn't female (agency) positive and neither is it kink positive. Given that I don't care for the portrayal of any of the things I love in this book, I can't possibly give it a good grade.<br />
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If you like your femdom crazy flavor, then you might enjoy this. Personally, I think there are better mad-cap novellas out there and this one had me blinking in bemusement and rolling my eyes in irritation. Call me old fashioned, but I really do prefer safe sane and consensual. D.<br />
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<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Nothing-Ventured-twisted-heels-ebook/dp/B00CF6UT7Q">Amazon</a> | <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nothing-Ventured-twisted-heels-ebook/dp/B00CF6UT7Q/">Amazon UK</a>SunnyGirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14604191788812626246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2405037892739734846.post-56272505337983477552013-08-18T11:48:00.001-07:002013-08-18T12:16:45.942-07:00Review: Red Grow the Roses by Janine Ashbless<a href="http://www.mischiefbooks.com/uploads/books/Red_Grow_The_Roses.325x465.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.mischiefbooks.com/uploads/books/Red_Grow_The_Roses.325x465.jpg" height="320" width="211" /></a>I think I promised this review back in January. Sorry about the delay. Bad reviewer. Very bad reviewer. <Guilt /> One of the reasons for both the delay and the description of this book as "epic" is the impressive list of kink that it caters to. It think I counted: femdom; fighting; vampire biting; multi-partner M/M/f, M/f/f/f/f/f, M/M/m/f; a cougar (sort of); humiliation (f); anal (m and f); forced seduction; bondage; rape (or possibly dubious consent); slavery (f); blood; corporeal punishment; torture of the not all that sexual type; torture of the sexual type. And a dual theme of power and roses. That might be it. But I can't guarantee that I haven't forgotten something that might squick you. (Though presumably you don't squick on roses....)<br />
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I'm always a bit wary of things that try to do too much (in both life and books) and thus other things have risen in the TBR pile, which to be honest, hasn't been well attended to anyhow (hence the lack of reviews recently.)<br />
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The way that <i>Red Grow the Roses </i>deals with the plethora of subject matters is by dealing with each chapter as almost a short story in its own right. Each chapter has a different first person narrator (and I don't think, given the heavy hint about the vampire and blood theme, that it's too much of a spoiler to say that several people, including some first person narrators, end up snuffing it). There are also several (six, one for each vampire I think) extended descriptions from the omnipresent author/god telling the reader about the vampires and where we might encounter them. A sort of intermittent field guide to vampires. If all this sounds a little disjointed, then that's about right. Though I think it is intentional and the threads of the story become intermingled and gradually it becomes (more) clear how everything is connected.<br />
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Perhaps you understood this from the long list I began this post with, but this doesn't actually feature a lot of femdom. There are really only two chapters you could tenuously describe as F/m. One ends on a bit of downer by saying that the Domme doesn't really identify with being female anymore. The other is first person from a female character who likes to be in control, but the scenario strips her of any power or agency. (I'm trying not to put in spoilers. I'm really trying.) So as far as femdom goes, this is a total fail. For the femdom aspect, I'd give it a C. It's okay, but it didn't really show femdom in a positive light. I suppose that really it suggested that all power is transient, but the F/m part of this didn't really do it for me. The rest of the book is mainly a combination of male/vampire dominance and women who like being bitten and fucked. Fine, though not my thing. There's some plot, later on in the book, which justifies some of the gore. Some bits are quite sweet: when the alpha vampire submits to having a blow job from his secretary (it's rather more lovely than it sounds). All the humiliation (of a woman) stuff wasn't for me. The male vampires dominating other men for whatever reason was pretty hot, even when it was quite violent. Other parts will turn sensitive stomachs, though its no worse than a standard-ish horror, which mixes up violence, sex, pleasure and pain until you're not sure what is what anymore.<br />
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TL;DR: Male vampire perpetrated biting and sex, in all orifices, with varying numbers of partners and degrees of consent. Not femdom. Not really worth getting through all the other stuff for the femdomish bits, unless you like the other stuff.<br />
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I don't know if a grade is very meaningful to this. It held my attention and squicked me, but didn't actually stop me reading, which is a testament to the good writing. I was engaged with some of the characters (though sadly not the dominant women, as there's almost nothing about them). It felt like one of those horror films that captures you and you can't look away. I was reluctantly intrigued and aroused. It didn't fill me with fury, like some books have (Ds, Es and Fs, I'm looking at you). So I guess that it's a C-, with a whole stackload of provisos.
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buy from: <a href="http://www.powells.com/biblio?isbn=9780007533312">Powell’s</a> | <a href="http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780007533312">Indiebound</a> | <a href="http://www.borders.com/online/store/TitleDetail?defaultSearchView=List&sku=0007533314">Borders</a> | <a href="http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?ean=9780007533312">B & N</a> | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0007533314/">Amazon</a>SunnyGirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14604191788812626246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2405037892739734846.post-17547993595821000412013-06-30T13:01:00.000-07:002013-08-18T12:09:18.795-07:00Review: In Her Service by various<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.mischiefbooks.com/uploads/books/In_Her_Service.325x465.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.mischiefbooks.com/uploads/books/In_Her_Service.325x465.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
Collections of short stories are always a bit hit and miss. <i>In Her Service</i> is no different. Another femdom labelled offering from Mischief books, I picked this up eagerly.<br />
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Predictably, Charlotte Stein's story is wonderfully awesome. A pegging story, with romance and anticipation and all the good things that a sexy story should have.<br />
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The next story is a switch girl to switch girl story, with feathers and serious stuff like that. I found it rather dull. And yet again, why are the women always switches?<br />
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<i>The Perfect Mistress</i> by Monica Belle is an amusing reflection of gender assumptions, those that are prevalent even (? - especially?) in BDSM type communities. David thinks his domme should lose a little weight, be a bit more beautiful and feminine and closer to his fantasy Domme. She is justified in being totally furious and enlists help to teach him the error of his ways. A little predictable, but no worse for that.<br />
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<i>A Gift </i>by Willow Sears is not predictable and surprisingly quite good in the same kind of way a horror film is. It does involve brother/sister and non-consent sex, which I squick badly on. But it's well written and funny and the narrator is such an over the top total bitch I found that I enjoyed it despite myself. It does however have that 'domme getting dommed' thing which I feel pretty uncomfortable with.<br />
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<i>Chameleon</i> by Lara Lancey is quite interesting, as it has a bit of a twist about who the heroine is. I won't spoil it, but I would say - you wouldn't see many stories where a Dom was like that. Oh no. Men can be normal and dominant, it's only women who have to be nut jobs if they're dominant.<br />
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The next story passed in a bit of a blur of nothing specialness, narrated by a forgettable female submissive characters.<br />
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<i>The Houseboy</i> by Aishling Morgan is a 'school for naughty boys' type fantasy. Not my thing.<br />
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<i>Teasing Timmy</i> by Primula Bond is apparently what happens when two women go and decorate a small cottage in Cornwall. Eye raising but entertaining.<br />
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Another 'domme getting what she deserves' type story finishes off the book. I find these really difficult.<br />
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So. Overall. I loved Charlotte Stien's story, but the rest was a bit meh. C.<br />
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For your convenience, I'm going to start putting in some buy links (when I remember). At some point I might also get around to getting an affiliate account so you can purchase and support Femdom book reviews.<br />
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buy from: <a href="http://www.powells.com/biblio?isbn=9780007477685">Powell’s</a> | <a href="http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?ean=9780007477685">B & N</a> | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/In-Her-Service-ebook/dp/B006PW46N4/">Amazon</a> | <a href="http://www.borders.com/online/store/TitleDetail?defaultSearchView=List&sku=0007477686">Borders</a> | <a href="http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780007477685">Indiebound</a>SunnyGirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14604191788812626246noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2405037892739734846.post-32049679705216339112013-05-24T14:38:00.000-07:002013-05-26T03:47:49.848-07:00Review: Untamed by Anna Cowan<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://annacowan.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Untamed_cover_highres-676x1024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://annacowan.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Untamed_cover_highres-676x1024.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
A cross-dressing Duke hero. That alone had my interest before anything else was said over at <a href="http://dearauthor.com/book-reviews/overall-b-reviews/b-plus-reviews/dueling-reviews-untamed-by-anna-cowan/">Dear Author</a>. This book defies gender stereotypes in many, many ways and has genuinely interesting characters, who grow throughout the story. It's a tough read in places, for various different reasons, but it's still one of the most original books I've read in a long time. And the heroine is awesome.<br />
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Kit is in London with her sister Lydia, who is having an affair with the Duke of Darlington. Lydia's husband is furious. Kit realises that she needs to save their marriage, by calling the Duke off Lydia. The price he extracts for this favor is that Kit take him back to her county home. What she doesn't realize, is that he will turn up as a woman. What he doesn't realize is that her home isn't just not fit for a Duke, they are outright in poverty. That's the beginning, but a whole lot of other things are going on.<br />
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What I love about this book is that the heroine, Kit, really is the heroine. I mean that in the sense that she's the one that saves the day, in every way. Kit must be described as strong about a dozen times and its justified. She is robust both physically and metaphorically. She also does traditionally 'male' things. She goes out and chops wood in the rain while Jude looks on; she swears; she competently manges the family finances. Jude on the other hand lounges around, pouts, and causes more problems when he tries to help than if he'd just left well alone. Kit shoves Jude up against walls and won't take any crap. I understand that some people found Kit rather unsympathetic, or unrealistic. I didn't at all. I was with her every step of the way. She made tough calls but I felt that she had grit and integrity.<br />
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The other female characters are also good. More strong, well rounded women who are distinct and human, rather than wallpaper in dresses behind the main characters. Kit's family play a big role in this book and Sophie (Kit's mother) and her sister Lydia are both characters that at various times you are repulsed by and endeared to.<br />
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Jude is a bit of an arsehole. He's morally dubious, and not just in a vague, 'Oh he's a rake' kind of way. We seem him do things, including things to Kit, which are highly questionable. On the other hand, there is an awareness of his arse-holery in the book. It's not ignored, or passed off as him being an alpha-male. So although I was occasionally uncomfortable, actually I didn't mind, because I thought that Kit could manage him. He was brought pretty low and she was always portrayed as strong. (No crying in the corner for Kit, oh no, that's Jude's role.) He was quite gender queer, passing himself off as a woman (Lady Rose) for much of the book and was quite effeminate even as a man. I didn't quite understand his 'dark side', which was a meaner, slightly dominant version of himself. It felt a bit like shoe-horning a bit of male dominance in for effect, but there was very little of it and Kit usually pulled him up on his bullshit quickly.<br />
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The weakest part of this book is definitely the historical aspect. It seems to be set in a sort of regency-esque world, but it's never at all clear when (I think this is deliberate). It would have been better set later, maybe late Victorian, as some of the things that the women do in this book (particularly Kit, but also Lady Marmotte) are so anachronistic for the regency style setting, it makes them a little difficult to believe.<br />
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Another problem is some things that are made a big deal of and then dropped. Threads are left hanging. Jude's name takes practically a whole chapter for Kit to get out of him, but then it seems that everyone else knows it, which rather ruins the feeling that Kit is being given something special in permission to call him by it. It's never clear what Jude's motivation is to start doing a lot of things and that makes the ending slightly hollow. Hints early on that Jude is almost bankrupt actually turn out that he has money (or enough money anyhow). Kit's brother is an anonymous but successful author, but nothing is made of this, and it's not clear where the money he earns really goes. And there are plenty more things like this. For nit-pickers like me, this gapiness is frustrating.<br />
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Some I'm sure will be uncomfortable or disbelieving about a hero who cross dresses. Personally I think it's eminently believable - the male/female false dichotomy has always been evident to me. Women being passed off as men is so ubiquitous though, this seems like very fair turn-about. But if you disagree, it needs some suspension of disbelief.<br />
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The beginning is slow but persevere, it quickly becomes compulsive. At some points it makes you laugh, (Jude's pig, Porkie, is awesome). Other times, it deals bluntly then delicately with issues like rape, domestic violence and child abuse. Not only that, it skims lightly over homophobia (a bit too lightly really), greed, gambling, etc. Between this, and the strong personalities of the characters, along with some political plot lines, there's a lot going on.<br />
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TL;DR: A gender stereotype and trope breaking book with a heroine you'll want to team Domme with/have Dominate you. A deliciously androgynous hero, who she has to sort out. A difficult book with some plot problems, it's held up totally by the originality of the concept and the portrayal of the characters.<br />
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Overall, it's a difficult book to grade. It's emotional and gripping, but the protagonists are fairly messed up, so the HEA hard fought. I do believe in the HEA though, and I think that both Jude and Kit, as well as Lydia and James, deserve it. There's an acknowledgement that life isn't easy though, and that there will be arguments and tough times. I like that. Although there is heat, attraction and sex, it isn't primarily erotic. There are some gaping plot holes, but it gets away with it because it's so character driven. Though not really femdom, it features female protagonists who are strong, sometimes sadistic, belligerent and control their men. I'm conflicted. I didn't always enjoy this book but it is outstanding - it stands out. Overall, a B perhaps?<br />
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By the way, I've never quite established whether the character on the front of the book is supposed to be Kit or Jude. I like to think it's Jude - and that is hot.SunnyGirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14604191788812626246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2405037892739734846.post-70126065351908059192013-05-12T08:31:00.000-07:002013-05-12T09:08:42.777-07:00Review: Still by Ann Mayburn<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.annmayburn.com/images/StillBig600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.annmayburn.com/images/StillBig600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
Concept: A military macho-guy has PTSD has a major crush on the untouchable military Doctor that he worked with in Afghanistan. When they meet again, she tells him that she's into the being the D bit of a D/s and BDSM relationship, but he's not sure. When he hits a particular low, including alcohol and a knife, and being arrested, he gets in touch. A gritty set up, no doubt. Michelle makes it clear that it's her way or nothing and Wyatt agrees. As a premise, this 'strong guy needs to submit to a strong woman' thing actually is one of my favorites (I always think of <a href="http://redsun120.tumblr.com/post/38010894487">this pic</a>). Perhaps my excitement and high expectations were a problem in this case, but I couldn't help feeling that this wasn't quite what I signed up for.<br />
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An ex-marine, Wyatt's PTSD has escalated back in Texas into alcohol abuse, suicidal tendencies and a lack of doing anything productive in his life. He winds up agreeing to stay with Michelle for a month and to obey her, to see how it turns out. The reader is filled in quite early on about how the two met when in service and generally I'm pretty okay with this book up until the point that they're at Michelle's house and I feel like the big issue of Wyatt's PTSD and possible alcoholism is forgotten in favor of Michelle's <strike>poor rich girl</strike> 'bad things happened in the past and so she can't trust or love or have sex in the present' story line. This I guess I could deal with, but there were other big problems that I just couldn't ignore in this book.<br />
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The first issue for me was that I didn't feel that there was any consistency in the characterization of either of the main characters. I feel like the book starts off with a woman who says that her first and main interest sexually is being a Domme, and a man who has never been involved with BDSM, but who slightly against what he thought was his usual inclinations is turned on by it and likes her enough to give it a go. But it's almost as if there are another set of characters, Jekyll and Hyde style, who keep seeping through. And you can probably guess what they are, right? Yep. It's the TSTL heroine who really wants a man to spank, protect, belittle and tell her what to do. And the alphahole who must take/fuck/possess/own/spank/blah his woman so that he can feel like a real man TM. For instance, the constant refrain in Wyatt's head (much of the book is in his third person pov) is that he wants to fuck her, he wants to spank her, he wants to come. Whenever she's in charge, he's plotting to subvert her. The rest of the time, she lets him take charge. I wouldn't mind this if there was some self reflection on this paradox, but there isn't. I think that the challenge of submitting, for a man who is used to being in charge, is a really interesting problem. But there's no feeling of that tension here, there's just 'I want to fuck her into the ground' and 'oh, when she talks about doing things to me, I get hard'.<br />
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Michelle's character is no less malleable. Part of that is that it's too much tell and not enough show. We're told
that Michelle has only cried like, three times in the last ten years, but
since we see all three of those crying incidents, the show (rather than
the tell) of the book has her crying all the time. Now, I know that she needs to be vulnerable (because I'm beginning to understand that vulnerable=feminine and relate-able to many readers, though not me), but I think we could have seen Michelle being strong because she realizes that Wyatt needs her to be strong, and not fall apart over something that happened ten years ago when he needs her. There's more of the same though. Michelle's nickname in the military was the "Ice Queen" and yet, Wyatt describes her as "humble, kind" when she was in the forces. Those are not the sort of qualities that gain a woman the nickname "Ice Queen". This gave me the uneasy feeling of not knowing the characters very well, which makes it difficult. I think that part of the fun of a book is thinking, 'oh, she's going to be pissed when she finds out about that... ' or similar. When a character doesn't react in character, or is inconsistent with their description of themselves, it's disconcerting. <br />
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Related to the characterization problem was a stack load of gender crap. Particularly, gender generalizations which are at best annoying and at worst insulting to both genders. Gems like:<br />
<blockquote>
One thing she’d learned about men, submissive, Dominant, or just plain vanilla, they liked to be needed. It was hard coded in their DNA to protect and defend.</blockquote>
Can't wait until we find the gene for the need to protect and defend. Do you think they'll find it in dogs too?<br />
<blockquote>
"You give a man one good, toe-curling, I-rocked-your-fucking-world blow job and he’ll never leave you."</blockquote>
Damn, all this time I thought that couples stayed together because of mutual love and respect. If only I'd known that all it took was a proper blow job.<br />
<blockquote>
"Do you really think any man will truly understand any woman?"</blockquote>
I'm so bored by that discussion. As if same gender couples understand each other any better. Now, just one more eye rolling moment for:<br />
<blockquote>
He kept checking the clock, bemused at how he was the one waiting for his woman to come home from work, and not the other way around.</blockquote>
Right, because women who stay at home are just waiting around for their partners to come home. Not cleaning/child care/educating/life maintenance/cooking, or anything like that. It doesn't help that Suki and James, Michelle's BDSM friends, are the cook/housekeeper and the groundsman respectively. They're F/m, in fact, rather more convincingly that Wyatt and Michelle are, but why do they have such gender stereotyped jobs?<br />
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The wtfery didn't stop there though. I'm not going to go though it all, but there are all sorts of 'huh?' moments. Scents everywhere, dog and horse sub-plots for no discernible reason, disappearing/reappearing pants, gold allergy questions (seriously, no-one is allergic to gold. It's basically inert.) - I could go on, but I'll spare you all but one rant. Wyatt bites through her pants. <br />
<blockquote>
Using his free hand, he held up the soaked crotch of her pants and bit a small hole into the cloth.
</blockquote>
What has he got, like razor teeth? We're told that she wears white cotton panties, so I guess it means those, but even so, no-one can bite through cotton. Unless he's a dog or something. Even then, I don't think it's possible. Unless he has razor-vampire teeth. But the next moment he's biting her clit, which given that his teeth are capable of going through fabric, sounds mighty painful to me. She seems to enjoy it, so I guess she's a masochist. Wouldn't she need stitches though?<br />
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Talking of which, there's a big deal made out of the Dommes not being sadists in this book. <br />
<blockquote>
Michelle giggled, allowing Yuki to draw her away from her dark thoughts. “You are such a
sadist.”
<br />
“Much to James’ relief, my tastes don’t run in that direction.”
</blockquote>
I don't understand this, because I really think that men make such perfect masochists - a big strong man taking pain for/from a woman is so incredibly hot. Men are big and strong and it's a matter of macho pride to take whatever is dished out in a fight/sport etc., why not in bed? And you can't have a masochist without a sadist - they go together. Why is masochism okay, but sadism not? Especially for women, that always seems to be the case. A dominant man who likes to whip his sub is just a dom. A dominant woman who likes to inflict pain is a "man hating, ball crushing".... blah, etc. Similarly, there is a double standard that is alive and well in this book about BDSM training. I've almost never seen a book where a male dom has done submissive training. But as usual, Michelle bottomed as 'training' and refers to the Dom who trained her when she 'messes up' by forgetting to give Wyatt a safe word (he hasn't needed one, doesn't in the whole book actually) and says that her trainer would have whipped her for that. Needless to say, she doesn't whip Wyatt for any of his many transgressions. Wyatt does make an effort to reflect that he was wrong in his initial thoughts, but really...:<br />
<blockquote>
His earlier ignorant views about all Dominatrices being man hating, ball crushing, sadistic bitches couldn’t be further from the truth if Michelle and Yuki were any example of what a Mistress was truly like. Everything she did to him, with him, was for their mutual pleasure and never once had he felt abused. If anything he felt cherished in a weird way.</blockquote>
Why is it weird? REALLY?! And lots of subs like a bit of consensual 'abuse.' But then Wyatt has an attitude towards BDSM that I'm not keen on full stop. He calls it "fucked up" or berates himself for being turned on by it. If the (change of) sentiment was part of his character development, I think perhaps a more nuanced exploration of his head might have been helpful - beyond 'that's so kinky - no, yes, next thing'. This is partly I think a consequence of the setting (small town America / Texas), so I think it's a given that the opinions of the characters are a bit closed. It's just not my thing.<br />
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Having said all that, in between there are some good bits. Sexy oral sex bits. A nice spanking. Nothing too kinky to be honest. When Michelle is getting her dom on, it's fun. And the initial set up of Michelle and Wyatt was great - I could see how they worked together and why they needed each other. The characters wibbled from about the point that they got to Michelle's ranch, but until then I was enjoying it a lot. <br />
<br />
***Small spoilers*** <br />
But as the book progressed, I just began to feel constantly uncomfortable - either because I wasn't sure what version of their personalities the characters were going to be or because of the gender and BDSM stereotypes and braindumps. Most of all though, I was deeply troubled that Wyatt's (suspected) alcoholism and PTSD was not being addressed. Especially the alcohol. When the alcohol issue was addressed, I didn't feel that there was much sensitivity about how alcoholism is an illness. Michelle's reactions to Wyatt were very emotive, but then she was portrayed as over-reacting and that she should have trusted Wyatt. I know that a sit-down rational conversation is highly frowned upon in romancelandia, but this really did warrant one. Similarly, I really felt that it takes more than a stroke on the back and a guard dog to deal with PTSD. Clearly the series is going to explore Wyatt's problems more (or I hope it is) and I hope that part (not the whole of course) of that will be how submission can help him, kind of integrate the plots together a bit. Dogs too of course. <br />
<br />
At the beginning of the book, Michelle took on the role of Wyatt's carer, but ended up being a bit pathetic and indulging in her own woes. Wyatt signed up to be her submissive but only ever seemed to want to dominate her (and she's not averse to the idea).<br />
***End spoilers***<br />
<br />
TL;DR<br />
A brilliant premise, executed in a cookie cutter M/f gender stereotyped way. Really, a book that takes on so much (PTSD, femdom, BDSM, small-town America) and struggles to tie together the different elements.<br />
<br />
It's really admirable that this book is pushing at the boundaries of what is considered erotica/femdom/BDSM. Moving beyond 'femdom is bitches in leather' and towards 'femdom can be just what a strong female character and an alpha male character need' is good. It's progress. But this is part of a vanguard of these sorts of books and so there are inevitable tensions and problems. I think we'll see more like this, hopefully from this author and others, which will get better every time.<br />
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C+SunnyGirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14604191788812626246noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2405037892739734846.post-75028927326053834942013-05-06T14:01:00.000-07:002013-05-06T14:01:00.239-07:00Review: Beyond Temptation by Lisette Ashton <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The tag line is: <i>there's only so much frustration a girl can take. </i>I couldn't agree more.<br />
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I was attracted to Beyond Temptation as I'd had a good experience with femdom labelled books from the publisher, Mischief (aka Harper Collins). The period look of the cover suggested to me that it was set in 1930s, or similar. Actually it's mainly set in present day Scotland. Bit of a let down. Anyhow, the plot.<br />
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There are several plot lines that come (alright, cum) together at Manor. This means quite a lot of switching around of third person pov and it made it difficult to keep track of. There are also about six million characters and they have a lot of sex. With so many characters, it was difficult to get to the point of really feeling for any of them. Or understanding them.<br />
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The story also tried to pack in a fair amount of convoluted plot. It was a bit overwhelming. Half the interest in the plot (as opposed to the erotica) is driven by a ex-lover of Amelia and Yale, who is she who must not be named (SWMNBN) so that it can create suspense in the plot. It would work if it wasn't pretty obvious who SWMNBN was. The other bit of plot is Robyn and Harold, owners of an art magazine - Art (good name eh?!). Harold says that he's fed up with their open marriage and issues Robyn with an ultimatum - stop fucking other men, or he'll divorce her. Since Harold sounds like an prat, I'm never quite clear why she would actually want to stay married to him. Harold certainly doesn't - he actually wants to marry his secretary Sheridan, who is a rebellious but virginal pain in the ass.<br />
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Robyn goes to blah manor to get some space. She's followed by Yale and his devotees, who barge in and create erotic chaos. Robyn is trying to be faithful, but Yale won't back off. There's combinations of nearly all the characters in some sort of clinch, at some point. Some of the sex is good, some of it is so-so, other bits are bordering on rapetastic. There's certainly very dubious consent where Robyn/Dominic/Yale/Amelia are concerned.<br />
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The leading women in the book are actually quite interesting characters. Sheridan is totally immoral, using and manipulating men and women alike. She's smart, but makes stupid impulsive decisions, which are not really in character. Robyn is okay at first, teasing the men she wants and demanding what she likes. Amelia is good too, a sadistic Domme who takes out her pain on others. <br />
<br />
However, they all are totally spineless when it comes to erotic artist Yale. They worship at the mighty wang of Yale. They let him do whatever he wants and he's unreasonable and dictatorial. To complete strangers. This Alphahole behavior spoils the whole book for me. He's a complete asshole. I guess a lot of people love that arrogant artist trope, but it's really a turn off for me.<br />
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The other problem for me is that the motivations for the people in this novel are paper thin - they rely on most characters being really dumb and overly emotional. Pretty much irrational. Yale is supposed to love the Manor sooooo much. It's never clear why. He's in love with Angelica but still totally hung up about SWMNBN. Angelica was SWMNBN's submissive and is possibly still in love with her and is also in love with Yale. She's a dominant to the two submissives, but for Yale's mighty wang, she's submissive. The two submissives are just foils to show that Angelica isn't a 'real' domme, she's just mean and bossy (or something, they don't like to take orders from her) unlike Yale who is a real Dom TM.<br />
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I enjoyed the bits where Amelia was domming, but otherwise the pervasive mighty dickhead that was Yale and Yale worshiping was rather dull and frustrating. I wanted more Amelia. It's a short novel and there's not much space for character development, there's quite a lot of contrived plot sooo many characters.<br />
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In summary, there's lots going on. If you like complicated menage with super horny people all round, with convoluted plots and machinations then this might be for you. I found it very frustrating - I never understood enough about any of the characters to see what motivated them (beyond sex, obviously) and it skipped around between all the characters so much, I never really engaged with it. Except to shout at Yale. Arrogant rapey dickhead. I wanted Amelia to put him in his place, but she turned out as idiotic as the rest of them.<br />
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It sort of classes as femdom as Amelia is dominant most of the time and when the female characters aren't around Yale, they're pretty strong. But as a whole, there was much too much of Yale (did I mention that I didn't like him?) and male dominance with an undertone of rape for this to be particularly enjoyable.<br />
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C.<br />
<br />SunnyGirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14604191788812626246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2405037892739734846.post-23333401092730873052013-04-29T10:35:00.000-07:002013-04-29T10:35:00.724-07:00Femdom-ish Books Round-up: February/March/April 2013<a href="http://www.mischiefbooks.com/uploads/books/For_Her_Pleasure.325x465.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.mischiefbooks.com/uploads/books/For_Her_Pleasure.325x465.jpg" width="131" /></a>This edition of the round up is a sort of bonus, condensed version, because my pesky offline life has been in the way recently. Normal-ish service <strike>will</strike> may be resumed soon. <br />
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Femdom releases I've seen <strike>this month</strike> <strike>recently</strike> since last time I did a round up include <i>For Her Pleasure</i> by new-ish author Kyoko Church. This is a romp of a story from a submissive male's pov, with stacks of humiliation. <a href="http://femdombooks.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/review-for-her-pleasure-by-kyoko-church.html">My review is here. </a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAoBdArBqbf4d7vrrJvghUOAIYxVJfmOKEhj4Yv0mzwmoX-K_z83f9svhwFf0PQhEeYzVily0uB6UG-PT5GQKuiPmKbyXgrjY27HQdNDcv65Mpk5TrXM4CutdDT7cSw1nFm5pjFPg95b4/s1600/under+her+thumb+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAoBdArBqbf4d7vrrJvghUOAIYxVJfmOKEhj4Yv0mzwmoX-K_z83f9svhwFf0PQhEeYzVily0uB6UG-PT5GQKuiPmKbyXgrjY27HQdNDcv65Mpk5TrXM4CutdDT7cSw1nFm5pjFPg95b4/s200/under+her+thumb+cover.jpg" width="200" /></a><i>Under her Thumb</i> is an anthology edited by D.L. King. This was a March release and features many familiar names, including the the blogosphere's own <a href="http://hermajestysplaything.blogspot.co.uk/">Her Majesty's Plaything</a>. <br />
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In terms of publishers, my attention was drawn (by a commenter I think) to <a href="http://www.circlet.com/">Circlet Press</a>. Their tag line is: <i>The Intersection of Erotica and Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Futurism.</i> There is a lot of BDSM and a good amount of that seems to be F/m or F/m/m/M or M/F/f/m/trans or - well, you get the idea. I suspect that you can expect quite a lot of sexy, extreme craziness, so if that's what rolls you then you should head over. There isn't any sort of helpful sorting system on their website, so unfortunately you have to read through all the blurbs.<br />
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<br />
<a href="http://www.annmayburn.com/images/StillBig600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.annmayburn.com/images/StillBig600.jpg" width="133" /></a>Just published in April is <i>Still</i> by Ann Mayburn. This is book one of three and I'm pretty excited about the idea of femdom series. So much to look forward to! Also - check out the cover with the man tied up with blue rope. <le sigh> I like the trend towards tied up men or women's high heels on the covers of femdom books. I know that neither is exactly breaking any paradigms, but imho they're more suggestive of a being aimed at female audience compared to women in pvc/leather corsets with whips, which always seem to me to be aimed at submissive men.<br />
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<a href="http://24.media.tumblr.com/b8feed93976f48c55dab9f763cca1942/tumblr_mljjozlQ0U1snhpkbo1_r2_500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="151" src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/b8feed93976f48c55dab9f763cca1942/tumblr_mljjozlQ0U1snhpkbo1_r2_500.jpg" width="200" /></a> It's not a book, but head over to <a href="http://submissiveguycomics.tumblr.com/">submissive guy comics</a> on tumblr and check out Femdom cartoons. They're cute, touching, hilarious and true reflections on BDSM and F/m. I am totally obsessed by them already. Why are you still here? <a href="http://submissiveguycomics.tumblr.com/">Go!</a> SunnyGirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14604191788812626246noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2405037892739734846.post-43563677885738628192013-04-21T12:02:00.000-07:002013-04-21T12:02:10.711-07:00Review: For Her Pleasure by Kyoko Church<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.mischiefbooks.com/uploads/books/For_Her_Pleasure.325x465.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.mischiefbooks.com/uploads/books/For_Her_Pleasure.325x465.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
There is a lot to love about this book. It's difficult to find well done humiliation fantasy and Church makes bold decisions in this book and makes them work. Despite the title though, this is more 'humiliation is a hot game for her amusement' than 'surrender is a gift for her pleasure'.<br />
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Colin sees Mistress at a sexual harassment in the workplace meeting (irony applied with a spade, yes?) and she has that psychic knowledge that some Dominant women (in fantasy) have and knows that he's a horny little submissive. Joan wastes no time in having him confess to his most mortifying secret: he's a premature ejaculator. Deliciously embarrassing scene after scene follows. This book doesn't skimp on the humiliation. Joan heaps it on. Knickers, denial (no chastity device though <sad face>), teasing, public revealing acts. All of that, and it's a lot of horny submissive fun. It's written first person from Colin (Sub Peter)'s perspective, which gives the embarrassment quite a nice immediate feeling.<br />
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But.... Ah, you knew there was a but coming right? (Puns aside...) There are a couple of things that didn't work for me, which are the kind of thing that I think some people will find difficult. As ever though, these are spoilers.<br />
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***Spoilers***<br />
Colin has a wife, Anne, whom he loves. And although his relationship with Joan doesn't involve penetrative sex, Anne is realistically furious and hurt when she finds out. So... I'm not keen on cheating as a scenario, but plus points for not belittling it and having Anne immediately join in like some sort of Femdom fantasy automaton. The way the story develops from here is interesting, but again doesn't shy away from controversy. Anne teams up with Joan - they both care for Colin and Anne seems genuinely interested in saving their marriage. But when Colin walks in on Joan and Anne, he thinks that they're ganging up against him rather than teaming up for him, so runs off and calls Joan's best friend. He goes over to her place and comes over all 'rah and manly', beginning to fuck her over the sofa. He begins to cry (I suppose that this is supposed to indicate that he really is submissive <rolls eyes>).<br />
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Joan is understandably upset, but somehow, Colin seems to be such a wonderful person and submissive, she gives him another chance. So we skip to the epilogue, and Anne and Joan have been successfully team dominating Colin and he's a happy submissive puppy. If only it ended there. For me, this next bit was a WTF moment. All the way through, there have been bits in italics from a female perspective. First it seems as if they are Joan, then Anne. They don't really add much to the story, so I didn't pay much attention to them. In the epilogue, they come to fruition. It's Joan's best friend who is obsessed with Colin and thinks that Joan and Anne are forcing him to be submissive. So she turns up at Joan's with a gun - as you do - to 'free' him. Anyhow, it turns out okay, except that Anne didn't know that Colin had (attempted to have) sex with her, and is pretty pissed. So the book finishes with Joan assuring Colin that Anne will come round. So there's no HFN and I'm not sure he deserves one.<br />
***End spoilers***<br />
<br />
So in summary: The plot is eye rollingly silly and not for those who are looking for any integrity in their male submissive. Neither of those things are unique to this story, so I know I sound like a broken record. Apologies. The sexy humiliation is uber fun. So, yeh, overall there's a lot to like in this book. I think it's a B-. That grade that says, there's really good bits. But depending on what presses your 'Oh for fuck sake' buttons, there might also be things that you're not going to like.<br />
<br />SunnyGirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14604191788812626246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2405037892739734846.post-11140232946927671402013-02-08T10:46:00.000-08:002013-02-08T10:46:25.038-08:00Review: Vampire Meltdown by Storm Savage<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.extasybooks.com/image/cache/data/3763VAMPIREMELTDOWN510-220x330.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.extasybooks.com/image/cache/data/3763VAMPIREMELTDOWN510-220x330.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
You know those heroines who manifest their feisty independence and strength by refusing all reasonable offers of help, running away from safety into dangerous situations, unnecessarily endangering herself and others and chafing against the possessive men she desperately wants to submit to? Yep. Zoe is one of those. Combine this with an incoherent, inconsistent, undeveloped but somehow very convoluted plot and Zoe's possessive Biker Club 'mates' and I'm sure it won't surprise you that I didn't enjoy this much.<br />
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We meet Zoe when she's lost her memory and is stripping for a living. She doesn't know her name, have an address, or any money, and she's been on the run for a couple of weeks, but minor issues like that apparently don't matter to strip clubs. (Really? they'd get closed down pretty quickly were that the case. But then, it's about to get more crazy, so I shouldn't be complaining.) She doesn't know what is going on, is having hallucinations, and the reader doesn't know much more than she does. The hallucinations happen is snippets while she's grinding away to the music and everyone is absolutely crazy about her. She's a vampire Mary Sue.<br />
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Anyhow, Zoe has two <strike>biker club stalkers who are after her</strike> mates who are so worried about her, they're hanging around on their bikes, not looking for her in obvious places like her old stomping grounds, which is co-incidentally, where she is. Zoe discovers a mobile phone in her pocket (after like, two weeks?) and calls someone, who alerts Brooker and Rider. She leads them on a bit of dance around different locations, whilst leaving corpses of couple of 'evil' men who look at her wrong for them to clean up so she doesn't get arrested. Zoe acquires a puppy so that we know that she's a nice person.<br />
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I didn't notice that this book is Book 7 in a series, and I'm guessing that if you like this sort of thing and have read books 1-6 then the plot would be much more comprehensible. As it was, I never understood what happened to Zoe that caused her to lose her memory. When her memory does begin to come back, it's in awkward 'bits', interspersed with her asking convenient questions to fill in the reader about the other characters (very late in the story). We learn that Rider is a soul healer and Brooker is psychic. And they go about magically healing Zoe.<br />
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The problem for me as ever is that the description of this book sounded like it was going to be Zoe kicking ass in the free world, proud and happy as a vampire that kicks patriarchal butt. Actually, although she is 'queen' (small q) of the vampire biker club clan, she's nothing more than a scared figure head. She magically bestows gifts with her special blood, but doesn't actively do anything. Consequently, she's a wet blanket. Why the twin (oh yes, they're twins, forgot to say that) are so keen to get back 'their woman' (I lost count how many times Zoe was 'our woman' or some variant), I just don't know.<br />
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Between being completely lost with what was going on with the plot, all the soul healing stuff, the purple prose, the perfect(ly) silly heroine and the absolute good/evil dicotamy, for me, this was a D. That said, clearly for lots of other people the whole biker club vampire thing is like cat nip. This just was much more light and fluffy and Harlequin Presents crossed with bikers and vampires than I was expecting. I was looking for gritty and female power, and I got a girl kitten mewing helplessly and being picked up by a guy with a motorbike.<br />
<br />SunnyGirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14604191788812626246noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2405037892739734846.post-6850977399348816192013-01-25T13:26:00.000-08:002013-01-25T13:26:06.011-08:00Femdom Books on Sale!!!Great femdom books on Sale! We love books on sale!<br /><div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Control-Erotic-Romance-Novels-ebook/dp/B008GE3K4K/"><i>Control</i> by Charlotte Stien</a> is just $0.99</div>
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Seriously, at this price, I can't imagine how you can afford not to buy this book. <a href="http://femdombooks.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/review-control-by-charlotte-stein.html">I gave it an A-</a>. </div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Venus-in-Furs-ebook/dp/B0084A7LW8/"><i>Venus in Furs</i> by by Ritter von Leopold Sacher-Masoch</a> is $free</div>
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This is a classic novel, so there will always be free copies of it around. Reputedly it's femdom. I've not gotten around to reading it yet, so if you get to it before me drop in a comment saying what you thought of it. </div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Natural-Nature-Desire-Book-ebook/dp/B0031TZ94Y/">Natural Law by Joey Hill</a> is $5.49</div>
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I don't think this is actually a sale, but it's a reasonable price for this book and it is essential femdom reading. <a href="http://femdombooks.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/review-natural-law-by-joey-hill.html">I gave it an A</a>. </div>
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For any Brits in the audience: </div>
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<i><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Control-Erotic-Romance-Novels-ebook/dp/B008GE3K4K/">Control</a></i><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Control-Erotic-Romance-Novels-ebook/dp/B008GE3K4K/"> by Charlotte Stien</a> is £free!</div>
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Go and get it now. <a href="http://femdombooks.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/review-control-by-charlotte-stein.html">I gave it an A-</a>. </div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Power-Play-ebook/dp/B006PW46NY/"><i>Power Play</i> by Charlotte Stien</a> is £0.49</div>
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I gave this a B+ and it's probably the <a href="http://femdombooks.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/review-power-play-by-charlotte-stein.html">femdom book of 2012</a> as far as I'm concerned. </div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Red-Grow-the-Roses-ebook/dp/B006PW46O8/"><i>Red Grow the Roses</i> by Janine Ashbless</a> is £free!</div>
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I haven't read this, though I heard it's quite pain intense. Again, it's labelled as femdom by Mischief books. </div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Beyond-Temptation-ebook/dp/B006Y0HKS0/"><i>Beyond Temptation</i> by Lisette Ashton</a> is £0.49</div>
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Another Mischief title labelled as femdom. I'll be reviewing this, so I'll let you know about it. </div>
SunnyGirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14604191788812626246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2405037892739734846.post-87063394413346203242013-01-20T05:24:00.000-08:002013-01-20T05:25:59.802-08:00Book Misdescriptions - why is female agency over emaphasized in blurbs?I read a lot of samples. I read samples of books that look like they <i>might</i> be femdom. I read samples of books where the blurb suggests that they <i>might</i> have a really awesome strong heroine who knows what she wants and isn't afraid to ask for it. Much of the time (most?) I'm wrong. The book or novella might sound promising, but it usually becomes quickly obvious that it's not even subtle femdom.<br />
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The disjoint between the book description and the actual book is not
unusual, I know. Romances are famous for having
titles/covers/descriptions which bear no resemblance to the story
inside, especially in the lines of Greek billionaires and virgins. But let's look at an example, because I think the disparity is more important here than the normal hair color and ethnicity mistakes that are typical in romance novels/descriptions. There are plenty of books which say they have strong heroines, but she's actually weak and TSTL. But this also happens in BDSM books - women are represented in the blurb as being more dominant than they are in the book. For instance, here is the description for <i>The Breaker's Concubine</i> by Ann Mayburn:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<a href="http://www.annmayburn.com/images/TBC650.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.annmayburn.com/images/TBC650.jpg" width="137" /></a><i>Prince Devnar of Jensia is goaded into raiding the wrong
space ship, springing a trap that captures him for use as a Royal
pleasure slave, a Concubine, on Kyrimia. He vows to do everything he
can to escape and keep from forming a psychic bond with his captors that
would render him absolutely and totally in love. This proves difficult
to do when the female Breaker assigned to turn him into a Concubine,
Melania, is the epitome of his perfect woman.</i>
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<div align="left">
<i>Melania has been raised and trained to help reluctant
and abused Novices to break through their personal blocks and attain the
ultimate prize of becoming a Concubine. When she is given Devnar to
train, she finds herself in danger of doing the forbidden and falling in
love with her Novice. This angry, scarred, and utterly seductive male
tests her self-control like no other. </i></div>
<div align="left">
<i>Devnar and Melania find themselves at the heart of a
galaxy wide political battle that will test a love that they must not
acknowledge, and cannot live without, to its very limits.</i></div>
</blockquote>
Very early on the heroine thinks about how she likes to
relax by being submissive and the book continues along these lines. But the cover, with the hero in a collar, cuffs and submissive pose does nothing to dispel the notion gathered from the blurb that this is essentially a book about a man submitting to a woman, rather than vice versa. I think that this is essentially the same issue as the strong heroine one - it's an over-representation of female agency (in this case dominance rather than strength and intelligence) in the description. <br />
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This is a philosophical as well as a practical problem. In a practical sense, it's frustrating that books I think I will enjoy turn out not to be what they were represented as. But philosophically, I think there is a wider problem: blurbs represent women as being strong, in control and having agency, but the book itself frequently has a weak, silly TSTL girl. I think there are several potential reasons for this.<br />
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<ul>
<li>Readers want strong women, but authors haven't gotten with the program yet, and so the publishers represent the heroine as being different from how she really is.</li>
<li>Readers think that they want strong female characters, but actually like stupid and or submissive female characters. </li>
<li>The publisher and author genuinely believe that women behaving stupidly and or submissively is a strong heroine. </li>
</ul>
The difference between the first reason and the second is how satisfied readers are with the book after they have read it. This is a difficult thing to judge. Instinctively, reviews seem like a good way to assess readers satisfaction. But, as I've already said, I read an lot of samples and decide that the book is not for me. I don't write reviews of these books, so my annoyance at the disjoint between book description and content isn't represented on review sites etc.<br />
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It's also possible that readers want their heroines to be idiots and 'strong' or 'feisty' is a shorthand for that, rather like 'virgin' is shorthand for 'nice'. Worse still is the idea that maybe people genuinely believe that in a woman, TSTL = strong. The really worrying thing to me is the idea that this disjoint could be propagating the idea that heroines who are TSTL are actually strong and independent.<br />
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I really hope that publishers and authors will realize that book descriptions really matter - and that <b>books described as having strong heroines can actually have strong heroines</b>. <br />
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What have been your experiences with book misdescriptions? Why do you think that female agency is over emphasized in book descriptions and under delivered in the book itself? SunnyGirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14604191788812626246noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2405037892739734846.post-78220566390514606212013-01-17T13:59:00.002-08:002013-01-23T13:02:30.680-08:00Femdom-ish Book Review Round-up January 2013<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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As ever, there's a bit of news, some new potential reads and plenty of questions this month to welcome in 2013.<br />
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The closest thing to a potential new femdom release I've seen this month is <i>Vampire Meltdown</i> by Storm Savage. The heroine sounds quite promising: <i>She likes wielding power over men—teasing them—killing them. </i>Having said that though, I've got a post brewing about the problem of books that look like promising femdom but quickly reveal themselves to be the normal rubbish.<br />
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<a href="http://carmenicadiaz.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Bookshoplogo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://carmenicadiaz.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Bookshoplogo.jpg" /></a>I've had a comment asking why I haven't reviewed any books by <a href="http://www.carmenicadiaz.net/FemDom_Bookshop_Novels.html">Carmenica Diaz</a>. The short answer is that I didn't know about her. Billed as <i>Elegant Femdom Fiction</i>, there are a mix of novellas and short stories. From reading the blurbs, most seem to centre around a male submissive asking his vanilla wife to dominate him and her miraculously turning into the Dominatrix of his dreams. It's not a trope I'm that keen on and neither am I particularly tempted by the prices ($9 for 22k words is rather a lot imho). However, I think that some readers of this blog might be interested, so if anyone reads any of her stuff please do drop me a line and say what you thought of it.<br />
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I've also been asked for a recommendation for some romantic femdom porn - the movie sort. I generally prefer my porn written and so this isn't really my specialist subject. Perhaps you have some ideas?<br />
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Over on the legendary <a href="http://girlsrule-subsdrool.tumblr.com/post/40572168948/i-dont-have-any-recommendations-for-good-femdom">Girls Rule, Subs Drool</a> tumblr, Mistress Maria reveals her impecable taste in books. She recommends a couple of books I've <a href="http://femdombooks.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/A">rated as A s here</a>, as well as <i>Cassandra French’s Finishing School for Boys: A Novel </i>by Eric Garcia.<br />
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What was your Christmas reading? Have you found any great new books in the new year?<br />
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<a href="http://dearauthor.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/cover6-199x300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://dearauthor.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/cover6-199x300.jpg" width="132" /></a>***Update***<br />
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Over at DearAuthor, Jane has reviewed <a href="http://dearauthor.com/book-reviews/overall-c-reviews/c-plus-reviews/review-vanilla-on-top-by-c-j-ellisson/"><i>Vanilla on Top</i> by C.J. Ellison</a>. It sounds like as ever, a promising premise turns out to be male-dom/vanilla dressed as femdom. Pity. It's a nice cover. In fact, it's another perfect example of <a href="http://femdombooks.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/book-misdiscriptions-why-is-female.html">cover and book description misrepresentation</a> that I discussed in my last blog post.<br />
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<br />SunnyGirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14604191788812626246noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2405037892739734846.post-61818003431365704382013-01-03T15:18:00.000-08:002013-01-04T10:06:56.560-08:00Review: The Sweetest Revenge by Dawn Halliday<div class="separator tr_bq" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<blockquote>
<i>We have all read wonderful stories about the handsome rakes and dashing scoundrels; the debauched dukes, the wicked earls, and the roguish viscounts. In these stories, the mad, bad aristocrats find the woman who ultimately tames them, who turns them into a monogamous man, a loving husband and father.<br />I have always wondered, though, what happened to all those women who came before that woman who tamed him? What happened to those poor souls he debauched and ruined? How did they survive the scandal? How did they go on after the rake left them behind?<br />This is the story of three women in that exact situation—three women who’ve been the victims of one rake who has compromised them all. These three women have decided that enough is enough, and while they can’t take on society, perhaps—just perhaps—they can change one man. This is the story of his reformation.</i></blockquote>
The author's prelude, along with a man tied up on the cover, made me pretty excited about this book. An original concept and so obvious. The whole thing of promiscuous men being glamourized, this one woman being 'different' and all the women of his past just melt away has always bothered me. And who could resist this?:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>This book does not shirk away from the dark consequences of a dissolute rake’s behavior. It contains rough language and erotic situations. You’ve been warned.</i></blockquote>
The biggest strength of this book is the concept - original, it had me wondering how things were going to sort themselves out. Telling you about the plot though requires some spoilers.<br />
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Three wronged women from Lord Leothaid's past kidnap him: Isabelle, Anna and Susan. Isabelle was Leo's young love, but after he writes her an explicit letter which is intercepted she is ruined and exiled. He didn't come for her. Anna's ruin is more recent; Leo slept with her then ran away when he realized that she was a virgin. She was shunned by her family and ended up as prostitute. Susan was ruined in a different way; she was emotionally destroyed. A widow, Susan and Leo took up together and she began to fall for him. Leo squashed her hopes cruelly and consequently Susan doesn't believe in love or men. Susan is angry at Leo's treatment of all three women, as well as all the other women he's discarded.<br />
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So they kidnap him, to give him some uncomfortable treatment to go with the uncomfortable truths. Revenge, in other words. Susan orchestrates his physical discomfort - a cold cellar, bread and water, her beefy french lover to beat him up. Anna's revenge is humiliation. She brings him almost to orgasm then leaves him tied up with his pants around his ankles and frustratingly aroused. (Fun! Hot! Yay!) Isabelle's main role is to be the timid wet blanket. Okay, actually, I think the idea is that she provides emotional torment. But she does this completely passively - she touches his foot gently and he is inexplicably set afire and remembers his first love, now dead, who broke his heart so thoroughly that he became a complete bastard. Can you see what is going to happen? Oh yes.... Poor Leo. He thought that his 'Belle' was dead, but everyone lied and conspired to keep them apart. This is frankly improbable.<br />
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The main romance is Belle and Leo's convoluted route back together. Realizing that Leo knows who Belle is and is besotted, Susan plans the perfect revenge: Belle will seduce and desert Leo, breaking his heart like his has done to so many others. Without this inspiration, I'm not quite sure whether Susan's cold floors and progressive feminist reading and Anna's increasingly kind sexual torture would work. Well, not the way they were doing it. I think a lot more could have been made of Susan and Anna's revenge. Instead, the focus is on Leo's desperation to see Belle and the unravelling of the past relationships of the protagonists.<br />
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There are also some sub-plot romances for Anna and Susan. Poor old Susan has no character or plot development at all. She begins widowed, with a lover and a cynical attitude towards love and marriage and ends exactly the same. Susan is pretty sane although her advice to the other two women is rather questionable. Anna on the other hand seems remarkably unharmed by her traumatic year as a prostitute and falls immediately into the arms of Lord Archer, a rakish compatriot of Leo. Susan goes to all the trouble of giving Anna a new, respectable identity, only for Anna to throw it all away by becoming a mistress. Susan is annoyed and points out that Lord Archer is no better than Lord Leothaid. But Anna acts like an impetuous child, insisting that she is 'healed' and wants Lord Archer. The mind boggles.<br />
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The other sub-plot is the rivalry between Mr. Sutherland and Lord Leothaid. They compete over women, and that ends up including Isabelle. Mr. Sutherland is set up as the villan who led Leo astray and then tries to steal away his first love. Susan encourages Isabelle to become Mr. Sutherland's mistress (I'm not sure about the wisdom of this advice) and when Leo doesn't come for her, Isabelle gives in. Now is the time for even bigger spoilers than I have already told. Look away now if you don't want to know.<br />
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***Spoilers***<br />
It's the end of the book, Susan and Anna consider Leo 'cured' of his misogynistic and unacceptable behavior. Leo has been searching for Isabelle and begs Susan and Anna to tell him where she is. Susan throws his own words back at him:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Go find a whore, then. That'll satisfy. All women have the same basic parts, after all, don't they, my lord?"<br />
Anger rose within him, an instinctual response. She mocked Belle, said she was no better than any common harlot.</blockquote>
That doesn't sound to me like a man who has gained any respect for the situation that women find themselves in when men take advantage of them. By throwing back his own words at him, Susan doesn't (imo) suggest that Isabelle is a 'common harlot', but that every woman deserves more respect than Leo previously gave them. It seems to me that far from having any change of opinion or sense of remorse over his treatment of women, Leo is still an idiot.<br />
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It doesn't get any better. Leo arrives at Mr. Sutherland's house, just in the nick of time to stop Isabelle and he consummating their relationship. And he's furious. They fight over her and she stands there wringing her hands like the <strike>object</strike> girl that she is.<br />
***End Spoilers***<br />
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The problem for me is that this isn't truly a story of redemption or reformation, as Leo is still a dick. It isn't an effective story of revenge either. This book takes a revolutionary premise and then tries to execute it in a standard cookie-cutter romance novel way. It's a pity, because even without the amount of kinkiness that tying up a Lord in your basement invites, this is nearly inspired. The emphasis is just too much on the rather boring and sappy Isabelle. I think I would have liked to see her show some gumption and run off with Mr. Sutherland, but no such luck. She lurrrves Leo and so he gets much better ending than he deserves. Nobody really gets the revenge on Leo; not Mr. Sutherland, Isabelle, Susan or Anna. Everyone except Mr. Sutherland ends the book pretty happy and I think that is supposed to represent that they have forgiven him his misdeeds and moved on. Personally, I think the victims of rakes deserve rather more revenge, sweet or not, than these characters got. This book suggests at, but doesn't deliver, what a rake really deserves in terms of punishment and redemption.<br />
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CSunnyGirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14604191788812626246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2405037892739734846.post-83956891312140883262013-01-01T11:30:00.000-08:002013-04-21T12:24:16.140-07:00Review: Three Stages of Love: Lust by TC Anthony<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>With an undeniable urge to dominate her new boss, her own lust-filled fantasies lead to a transformation that shakes her to her core. But when Alexander challenges Eva to satisfy her carnal urges, she is forced to choose between her career, her desires, and an unconventional and lustful relationship. Consumed by fear and forced to maintain control at all costs, Eva must decide if having it all is worth risking her career, her world, and possibly, love.</i></blockquote>
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That's was what attracted me to this book. <i>An undeniable urge to dominate her new boss.</i> Sounds good - a conflict between bedroom and real life power, with all sorts of kinky and emotional tensions. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any evidence of the story that is described. I actually checked the synopsis several times, because I couldn't believe it was the same book. So there are two plots here - the one that is described and the one that I read. I'll describe the one I read. Presumably your milage may vary given that I clearly read a different book to the one in the synopsis.<br />
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Eva gets drunk in a bar with her friend Samantha, sees the sexiest man ever and drunkenly propositions him after falling over herself, literally. Her drunk friends desert her with a complete stranger. Sexy bloke chivalrously sends her home with his private driver (because he's loaded, obviously). 26% through the book all that had happened was that Eva had gotten drunk in bars with her PA, fell at the feet of and then been sent home chastely by a man clearly intended to be the hero, and talked a lot about how great she is. Over a quarter of the way through and I was still yet to see any evidence of Eva being dominant, no actual lust or sexy sex ('bad sex' with the token boyfriend isn't quite the same thing) or almost anything except Eva talking a lot. Mainly in bars while getting drunk. Getting drunk is not a good spectator sport, and even less fun when reading about it. She has an ill friend with cancer, who she visits and talks to a lot, presumably to show what a lovely, kind person she really is.<br />
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Eva also seems to be submissive. When eventually, Alexander gets around to appearing again, Eva spends her time thinking about how she wants him to spank her, fuck her against the wall, dominate her, etc. etc. (Yawn.) We hear about what a strong, dominant, spunky woman she is, but it's all tell, not show. I see no evidence of Eva being clever or dominant around Alexander. There's a phrase for this: she talks a good domination.<br />
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The tension is (or presumably would be if the plot ever actually moved on) that Eva doesn't believe in love. She was named after a poem about a woman who is totally obsessed by her tragic love, doesn't do anything but pine away in her life and then dies. Eva is determined to not be like this and thus avoids love. Unfortunately, Eva is also sooo desired by everyone and sooo amazing in bed that any man who has sex with her falls in love and spoils her 'sex only' rule. (It was surprising to hear that said, in all seriousness, in the first person.) Alexander on the other hand has never brought a woman back to his bachelor pad, has never licked out a woman - essentially there are a load of awkwardly contrived ways that Eva is "special".<br />
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The end for me was 56% of the way through; Eva is proving what a sexy, kinky minx she is, and she says this:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Well, the salespeople at the adult store know me by name - I get a friends and family discount. I'm not offended by a little role-play and a light whipping on my behind, nor do I mind <i>giving</i>a [sic] whip or two. I like to be creative, you know...silk ties, showers, stone walls. And I can play the boss who happens to have a cup of ice on hand or the employee who knows exactly what to do with the boss's cup of ice."<br />
"Ice." Alexander was intrigued. </blockquote>
Wow. You kinky girl - silk ties and showers. The problem really is that although she says that she doesn't mind a bit of switching around, we have seen absolutely zero evidence of this in the first half of the book. I think that actually, this is closer to a permutation on the (dreaded) FSOG stalker billionaire man storyline, except with a sexually experienced woman. So instead of the stalker billionaire being the authority on everything, she is the more kinky, sexually experienced one (though not really kinky, because then she'd be bad). Admittedly, this is a different take to the standard Harlequin Modern nonsense. Eva isn't a virgin, which is good. But Alexander is still the dominant, even if Eva is rather topping from the bottom. As a remake of FSOG with the sexual experience (though not much else) reversed, this has its merits. As femdom, it doesn't work at all. <br />
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Maybe if I'd seen some latent dominance, or a dominant attitude towards Alexander (as opposed to the pathetic, inarticulate (and at first, literally speechless) pool of liquid lust that she turns into), I would be more convinced. Maybe if there was less tell and more show, I would be more convinced. Maybe if the plot moved at a pace faster than glacial timescales. Maybe if more happened in the story, that wasn't hanging out in bars passing notes like teenagers in class. Maybe if it was better written. Maybe if there was some of the advertised dominance and lust. Maybe then, I would have finished this book.<br />
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DNF.SunnyGirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14604191788812626246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2405037892739734846.post-56007788292366755232012-12-24T05:22:00.000-08:002012-12-24T05:22:12.105-08:00Review: O Come all ye Kinky edited by Sarah Frantz<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Looking for kinky Christmas season themed Femdom reading? Well, this isn't exactly it, but it's close enough to be satisfying. This is a fun collection of heart warming stories, just long enough to keep you entertained, but short enough to read in quiet moment (if such things exist at Christmas).<br />
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Of the 8 stories, 6 are M/m, 1 is F/f and then there is a M/F/m. The F/f and M/F/m are rather anomalous - I don't really understand how they fit in. If you want to read about men and women in the same book, then why not a F/m or a M/f story as well? I don't really get it. A purely M/m book probably would have made more sense to me. If you can get yourself into the headspace of the appropriate man and enjoy the stories, these are good fun and pretty hot. If F/m is the only way you can enjoy kinky Christmas fun, then these will not be for you. <br />
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Anyhow, the stories.<br />
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<i>Twas the Night</i> by Ava March (M/m)<br />
A period tale of a gay couple, I really enjoyed this. Sweet, obviously, with a nice telling of the tentative push and pull of a developing relationship - that moment when both parties realize that yes - you're for me. Love that.<br />
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<i>Tree Topper</i> by Jane Davitt (M/m)<br />
An argument about whether a fairy or a star is the right tree topper is the prelude to a bigger row about whether Stan will really accept Martin as his Dom. This was great too, for a similar reason. The insecure Dom and big misunderstanding isn't a trope that I particularly like, but here it works well.<br />
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<i>Fireworks</i> by Katie Porter (F/f)<br />
Set on New Years eve, this is another well known trope of the repressed 'nobody loves me because I'm unworthy and scarred' dominant. I'm not so keen on either this trope (especially in females) or F/f, so this wasn't particularly for me.<br />
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<i>Candy Cane</i> by L.A. Witt (M/m)<br />
In <i>Candy Cane </i>there is tension as the couple try to escape family to be on their own for Christmas. And there's a sexy male sub being caned with peppermint candy. Awesome.<br />
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<i>Submissive Angel</i> by Joey Hill (M/m)<br />
I was looking forward to this, as I love Joey Hill's F/m full length novels. But I'm not so sure about Hill's short stories. I found this story a bit too heavy handed, cliched and smaltzy. Calling the submissive 'Ange' and have him dance in the snow - just in case you didn't get it HE'S AN ANGEL - he's the perfect submissive who will unlock Robert's frozen heart. I felt rather like I was being beaten around the head by sentiment. A total lack of subtlety. I also squicked every time Robert called Ange 'Kid'. I couldn't get into Robert's dominant headspace, despite most of the story being in his third person pov. He just seemed like a bit of an emo whiner. Also - both men were big cliches of gay men (braces? Kind to children, fancied by giggling women?). Sorry. It wasn't for me. Your milage may vary.<br />
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<i>Open Return</i> by Elyan Smith (M/F/m)<br />
The story involves Zack going back for Christmas after 10 years, to his small-town teen loves, Laura and Scott, a dominant pair. His recollections are a bit disconcerting and read like typos until you realize that this is a trans story (the he/she issues, as well as Zack having a pussy). The relationship between Scott and Zack is emphasized, at the expense of Laura and Zack. Laura always seems like a bit of an afterthought, a tag on. There's very little dealing with the issues of 1) running away for 10 years, and all the emotions (including anger) that might bring up 2) small town prejudice (there's an incident, but it isn't resolved) 3) potential jealousies that might arise in a 3 way relationship 4) how Zack might be explained to Laura and Scott's kids 5) what happens next? The ending is sex scene, which presumably is a HFN, or is perhaps intended as a HEA. I'm not convinced. <br />
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<i>His Very Last Chance</i> by Kim Dare (M/m)<br />
If New Year is about anything, (aside from fireworks and getting drunk) it is about redemption, correcting mistakes, forgiving and forgetting and starting again with misconceptions corrected. Drew messed up. He boasted that his Dom wasn't into love and romance (making him even more Dom-ly, of course). Kingsley is upset that all the little ways that he's indicated to Drew that he values him beyond anything or anyone else have gone unnoticed. He's hurt and angry (mainly at himself). After licking his wounds alone over Christmas, he decides that New Year is make or break, and orders Drew to meet him. I really enjoyed this story, and found Kingsley's Dom headspace a very pleasant place to be (via the third person). He is nervous about finally revealing himself, but more sarcastic and sadistic than whiny. And the descriptions of the het up sub are nice. I wouldn't mind one of those over New Year. <br />
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If I had my time over, I'd have read to the end of <i>Candy Cane</i>, then skipped to <i>His Very Last Chance</i>, and ended with a nice sexy Christmassy feeling of things coming right, despite all too fallible human nature. B-SunnyGirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14604191788812626246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2405037892739734846.post-73021854397761663372012-12-16T13:27:00.000-08:002012-12-16T13:29:59.616-08:00Fifty Shades of Women taking Control: Hidden Femdom in Romance<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1z6A3UmCzwkYa_pUqweubf3GnJu3jTTHFhSzi68Ywa01MTweEuKAo32XHFnnZn1Dccc21Cs0RdVp8Wu_wj06izAhauhzUrtKW7LhEN8M3IuZ-fTc4ffy9DObmHxMqsAnike08eL5cYM4/s1600/fifty_shades_women_in_control.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="313" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1z6A3UmCzwkYa_pUqweubf3GnJu3jTTHFhSzi68Ywa01MTweEuKAo32XHFnnZn1Dccc21Cs0RdVp8Wu_wj06izAhauhzUrtKW7LhEN8M3IuZ-fTc4ffy9DObmHxMqsAnike08eL5cYM4/s320/fifty_shades_women_in_control.jpg" width="320" /></a>I think that women in control is more common than we think and becoming more common. In bed as well as outside of it, women have more agency than at any other time in history. Obviously, there is a some way yet to go (the rant about <a href="http://femdombooks.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/why-femdom-doesnt-sell-or-false.html">how women are seen as less competent than men</a> was last month). But there are lots of things to celebrate, many ways that women take control in novels in subtle, hidden ways. One might almost say, fifty shady ways that women are more dominant than we realize. ;) (Actually, it's going to be three today. Otherwise this will be yet another TL;DR).<br />
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Women in control does sell, can sell, in romance. That was my conclusion last month and I'm going to try and justify it. Exhibit A is a romance book that is in practically every top 10 romance novels of all time. Loretta Chase's <i>Lord of Scoundrels</i> isn't even kinky, it isn't subtle femdom, but it is an example of a heroine in control. Jess is the together, competent and clever one in the relationship. She seduces Dain, outwits him, takes everything in her stride while he is left reeling and ultimately he gives in and just does what she says. In a kinky re-write of LOS Jess would be the dominant, even if sometimes she let Dain be the top. Loretta Chase books are full of strong women who tell their men what to do. Chase's latest book, <i>Scandal wears Satin</i>, features a smart, competent woman and a man whose main strength is braun rather than brains. Yes, of course these books are vanilla through and through, but hidden in some of the most popular books is women taking the lead in life. Taking the lead in bed is a logical corollary.<br />
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<i>A Lady Awakened </i>by Cecilia Grant, unlike LOS was published this year, features on plenty of top romances of 2012 lists and is wonderful subtle femdom. Any book that features a man who gets turned on by servicing a woman in a Queen/stablehand dynamic and refers to clubs in London where men would pay to be scowled at, surely counts as subtle femdom. The hero is confessedly a feckless idiot and the heroine is severe and bends things to her will. This isn't a book that is as universally liked as LOS, but it has had considerable acclaim this year, along with an acknowledgement that even last year, it might not have been published. A Lady Awakened is a step forward for romance as a genre.<br />
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Finally, why have I included a cheap reference to Fifty Shades of Grey? To me, (not having read FSOG), it seems like the antithesis of femdom. A weak, silly girl and a stalking, obsessive alphahole man. And yet I noticed that the image on the <a href="http://www.lovehoney.co.uk/fiftyshadesofgrey/">official FSOG sex toys</a> is of a woman dominating a man (top right). This is pretty interesting, as it is seems to be the direct opposite of what FSOG is about. What this image suggests to me is that, one: it's women who are instigating BDSM type activities in the bedroom (by buying the toys) and two: women are turning the toys they buy on their men. FSOG is rather interesting from this perspective - the book may be all about a weak woman, but the consequences, the talk about it, and perhaps even the merchandise IS ALL ABOUT WOMEN. Ana is the embodiment of naivety, but for the women who read FSOG, it is all about knowledge. And everyone knows, knowledge is power.<br />
<br />SunnyGirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14604191788812626246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2405037892739734846.post-21888427518295386582012-11-19T14:02:00.002-08:002012-11-19T14:03:07.883-08:00Femdom-ish Book Review Round-up November 2012 <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This month there's a book/novella (40k words) published by Carina Press, <i>Forbidden Desires</i> by Jodie Griffin. <a href="http://dearauthor.com/book-reviews/overall-c-reviews/c-reviews/review-forbidden-desires-by-jodie-griffin/">DearAuthor reviews <i>Forbidden Desires</i></a> by Jodie Griffin and finds it a bit, meh. Predictably, the heroine is actually submissive and the plot device that makes the desires 'forbidden' doesn't make much sense (-well I say that, it sounds like the forbidden bit is mainly just her going 'oh, I'm so naughty for wanting to be dominant, but that's fine, because I'm submissive anyhow').<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi56frR2zZDrGt_MW12GRiG3Xgoib08YrH2T8acv8D0nGNBjWbNND7sipOPVIelcrIekS2idHI7WbG8VxMwiDHTgUbsAGhkHUrftcE5t32E-n8IwPQ9si-4JW43ijJSm1YS0K2Li2O-2xY/s400/220px-BeyondTheSoftnessOfHisFur.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi56frR2zZDrGt_MW12GRiG3Xgoib08YrH2T8acv8D0nGNBjWbNND7sipOPVIelcrIekS2idHI7WbG8VxMwiDHTgUbsAGhkHUrftcE5t32E-n8IwPQ9si-4JW43ijJSm1YS0K2Li2O-2xY/s200/220px-BeyondTheSoftnessOfHisFur.png" width="133" /></a><a href="http://hermajestysplaything.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/beyond-softness-of-his-fur.html?">Her Majesty's Plaything</a> reviewed <i>The Softness of His Fur</i>, which sounds like a much better bet. A fantasy/alternative world pet/owner relationship between a domme and her pup, this seems like it would appeal to anyone interested in F/m pet play. Also, it has a truly awesome cover. I like the cover a great deal. The second instalment is available too, with the slightly less catchy, <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Softness-His-Fur-ebook/dp/B008AZTTPY/">Beyond the Softness of his Fur #2</a></i>.<br />
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I also noticed <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Viscountess-Investigates-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B0085ECVKU/">The Viscountess Investigates</a></i> by Cameron Quintain. It sells itself as kinky universe Victorian mistress/slave team detective story. This sounds like a lot to take on in a 200 page book, but hey, it's an interesting concept. If you've read it, let me know what you thought of it.<br />
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What have you been reading this month? Have you found some wonderful new femdom fiction?SunnyGirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14604191788812626246noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2405037892739734846.post-91638283228111472792012-11-07T13:38:00.002-08:002012-11-07T13:38:49.468-08:00Why femdom doesn't sell. Or, the false dichotomy of 'normal' vs. femdom.Romance is one of the best selling genres world over. There are countless genres - paranormal, historical, cowboy, contemporary american, religious, BDSM, medical - you get the idea. The BDSM is universally male dom, and there's one genre conspicuously missing. Femdom. It's not popular in the romance reading female population . But women who read romances (romance readers are predominantly women) are well educated (usually to degree level), relatively affluent and in happy relationships. That demographic sounds like women who run their own lives and the lives of others. So why on earth don't they want to read about women like them - women who control their lives, sex, and frequently, the men in their lives?<br />
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Research shows that people of both genders and all ages consistently rate <a href="http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/unofficial-prognosis/2012/09/23/study-shows-gender-bias-in-science-is-real-heres-why-it-matters/">women as being less competent than men, when they have identical qualifications</a>. This is a professional context, but I think that there are social corollaries. In almost every scope of life, in almost every artistic genre, the sad fact is that almost by definition, strength, competence and dominance are male, and weakness, helplessness and submission are female.<br />
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I think that if I described a dom, and then said whether that person was a male or a female, that on average, people would judge the female dom as being less competent. Obviously, a woman who is dominant is equally strong, competent and sexy to her sticky-out-genitaled equivalent. And a relationship led by a woman is just as likely to be successful and happy as a relationship led by a man. But men are culturally seen as more competent and I think that this extends to guiding relationships too. I think that romances are full of alpha males who control the relationship and everything else because unconsciously people think that men are more competent than women at being in control.<br />
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Cultural norms are so strong, I imagine that most people don't even realize that they think that a relationship led by a dominant, strong man is more likely to work. And you know what - chances are you've thought it yourself. For instance, you hear that a woman colleague of yours is getting married. Wonderful news. Then you hear that she proposed to her boyfriend. Now, is there a little worm in your ear, saying that it won't last? She likes him more than he likes her, doesn't she? Because if he wanted to get married, he'd have asked, right?<br />
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Culturally, it's difficult for us to believe in a HEA that isn't male led and male instigated. Male dom in happy ever after is just what people think that they know: it's as 'natural' as being white, being straight and working in an office. For most people, male dom HEA just is. It's not that they can't articulate it, it's that <i>they wouldn't even realize that they think it</i>. Most books are written from the unconscious standpoint that everyone is better off with a man in charge. Most women are happy with that status quo, because they don't realize that the comforting normality of the alphahole male is a social construct not a reality.<br />
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There is a surfeit of data that shows that women are at least as good or better than men in all aspects of life except brute strength tests. I've talked about cultural norms, but even if unconsciously people like men to be in charge, many women like to believe in equality. So why is male dom almost universal in romances and erotica? Why are 'normal' romance books full of weak, submissive women and alphahole men when, if you asked them directly, most people say that they believe that men and women are equally competent? Surely there must be a market for books which competent, or even dominant women? I think that there are several answers to this question, but I'm going to propose this one: The alternatives are too extreme.<br />
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Anyone who looks for something different, perhaps a clever woman who isn't belittled by her partner, quickly discovers that this is difficult to find. Someone looking for a genuinely equal pairing of male and female might well fail to find it at all. Someone looking for something just the other side of equal, might start looking at femdom. At which point the first thing they will find is dommes who torture their male submissives, horrible women who will laugh as dogs rip men apart and cruel ladies who chop off men's dicks. That would send most people scurrying in haste back to the subtle male of dom of normality.<br />
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Male dominant normality vs. hard core femdom is a false dicotomy. But this is the choice that readers of erotica or romance are given if they want <i>anything to the middle or female dom side of male dom. </i>Faced with this, is it any wonder that vanilla women stick to their alpha males? Femdom books don't have to be all whips and chains. They can be subtle, featuring men who are brilliant followers to their caring, strong women.<br />
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So, in my opinion, there are two obstacles to femdom stories. One is the ingrained idea that men are better leaders than women and that we need a man in charge to have a successful HEA. The other is that currently, there is very little which caters for an audience of readers who would like a vanilla female led relationship.<br />
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How do we define what is a femdom book? This is practical as well as a philosophical question for me - you've seen the labels 'not really femdom', and 'subtle femdom' on this site. These are the kind of books that I like best and I think that other romance readers like them too (more on that in a subsequent post). This post is my attempt to suggest that there is a gap in the market for female led relationship books. Stories labelled as 'femdom' are tainted by the extreme kink which is never going to appeal to the mainstream. We need to get beyond femdom and normal as a dichotomy and look at combatting the biggest problem here: the incorrect idea that women are less competent than men. How do we do that? Like any ingrained cultural problem, half the battle is recognizing that there is a problem.<br />
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TL,DR: Many people unconsciously think that HEA is more reliable if a man is in charge. But romance readers take control of their real lives. It's the false dichotomy of normal vs. extremely kinky femdom with unsympathetic cruel dommes that puts readers off. If there were appealing vanilla options of novels featuring female led relationships, I think that romance readers would read them.SunnyGirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14604191788812626246noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2405037892739734846.post-78790447911773794862012-11-02T14:54:00.000-07:002012-11-02T14:57:15.538-07:00Review: Double Take by Rynna Cress<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This is the perfect jerk off material for submissive men who fantasise about their lovely neighbour. I don't quite fulfil the criteria to really love this story, but in general, I did enjoy it.<br />
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Gabe is in love with Ashley, his neighbor. So when she phones and asks him to pick up her sister from the airport for her, after he stops his heart palpitations, he readily obeys. What she doesn't tell him is that he is picking up her <strike>evil</strike> twin. Gabe is supposed to be innocent of BDSM, but he takes to Jenna (Ashley's twin) ordering him around rather easily. Gabe's awkward flirting quickly turns into Jenna telling him what to do. The first thing that Jenna does is grab Gabe the balls, and squeeze. As it turns out, Gabe likes this. Though of course, as this is mainly from Gabe's point of view (the story is in third person, but we mainly hang out in Gabe's head), he has to posture about how much it hurts. Jenna proceeds to take all sorts of liberties with Gabe's body.<br />
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Gabe is mortified that he is betraying Ashley, as although nothing has happened yet with her, it's Ashley that Gabe really likes - loves maybe. So he is terrified that Ashley will walk into her apartment and find him with Jenna. So it's rather a co-incidence that when Jenna goes to "get changed", Ashley walks in to find Gabe naked, plugged and shooting off all over her floor.<br />
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Ashley though gets straight into the spirit of the situation that has been left by her sister<br />
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Since this is a novella, only about 30 pages, with plenty of sex and kink, there is obviously not much chance for little things like realism, safewords, or character development. And that's okay. The thing that rather didn't work for me is, as ever, a spoiler.<br />
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*** Spoilers ***<br />
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In the epilogue, Ashley walks into her kitchen, to find that Jenna has put the dildo into the dishwasher. They joke that they can have him in shifts. The twist is of course, that they really are twins. They joke about sharing and stringing him along, that they are the same. I guess it's a fun sort of ending, imagining poor Gabe being ordered around by these twins. But I'm not keen for several reasons. I'm not a big one for sharing - I like my boy all for myself. Then, I'm not keen on any sort of familial relationship mixed up with sex - it squicks me out. Deception rather ruins the HFN, as although Gabe probably wouldn't give more than a token resistance to the idea, it doesn't feel quite right. Also, I'm not sure that two doms and one sub is a fantastic combination. Too much potential for jealousy and, really - is one sub enough for two women?! It doesn't seem to me to be woman's fantasy, to share a sub with her sister (it certainly isn't mine). It's a man's fantasy, and that's just fine if you're a man.<br />
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*** End Spoilers ***<br />
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This story has Cress' trademark humor and high sexuality. It's brief and fun, and features moments like this that I like:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“Ass up in the air, darling, and spread those knees…”<br />
Gabe obeyed, his eyes growing wide as his cheek landed against the carpet once more. He felt her hand on the small of his back, pushing it downwards and stretching his backside into a position of maximum vulnerability.<br />
<i>My ass, he realized… she’s going to fuck my ass.</i></blockquote>
Who can resist such a delightfully obtuse submissive? I can't.<br />
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I should add another squick warning. This story includes a sort of golden shower moment, when Jenna forces Gabe to drink her urine straight from the source. This didn't work for me. I couldn't really understand why it was there - Jenna was already pushing his boundaries pretty comprehensively, so I didn't feel it was needed. Was it a punishment? Or a reward? I wasn't really sure what purpose it had. And personally, I think that unsolicited pissing in your sister's living room is a hard limit when it comes to politeness, never mind kink.<br />
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Apart from that, it's all rather tongue in cheek and sexy at the same time. So yes, I enjoyed this on balance. It's not the emotional connection between a mistress and her submissive that I really crave, but it was entertaining. For being fun, but not really for me, it's a C+.SunnyGirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14604191788812626246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2405037892739734846.post-71306533053507242522012-10-20T09:43:00.000-07:002012-10-22T00:48:40.605-07:00Femdom-ish Book Review Round-up October 2012 I started this blog because I found it difficult, or impossible, to get reliable reviews of books that were Femdom, F/m or even just women on top -ish. I still find this a challenge, so I've been thinking that I should highlight what look like reliable reviews or recommendations for books in related areas when I see them. There are also some new releases which come to my attention, which I don't have time to read and review, so perhaps they might appear here too. Whether this will become a regular feature, who knows. Anyhow, all of the following comes with the proviso that I take no responsibility, your mileage may vary, etc. etc. <br />
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Her Majesty's Plaything recently posted a review/summary of <a href="http://www.lulu.com/shop/giles-english/the-vanilla-dominatrix-or-getting-your-wife-or-girlfriend-to-sexually-dominate-you/ebook/product-20345740.html"><i>The Vanilla Dominatrix</i></a>. HMP did a series of three posts, <a href="http://hermajestysplaything.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/vanilla-dominatrix.html">looking first at the book</a>, then two more considering <a href="http://hermajestysplaything.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/her-majestys-advice.html">Her Majesty's thoughts on the book</a> and how <i>The Vanilla Dominatrix</i> <a href="http://hermajestysplaything.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/similarities-and-differences.html">relates to the relationship that he is in</a>.<br />
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I thought that all of HMP's posts were an interesting reflection on developing real life F/m relationships from vanilla relationships. I'm not sold on the "Vanilla Dominatrix" concept, as it seems rather inflexible - if you only play part time, you're a <i>Vanilla </i>Dominatrix. That seems tantamount to saying "she's not a<i> real</i> domme" and that whole argument is very tedious. I haven't read it, but on balance it seems to me that despite this issue, this book is probably doing a social good. Men pointing out to other men that women are unlikely to be willing to conform to their porn-informed fantasies of a leather clad bitch, but that women to whom they are attracted (strong women who like to take charge) would most likely be willing to give kink a try, seems like a very good thing to me.<br />
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In other news, <a href="http://www.arianearborene.com/">Ariane Arborene</a> published <i>Classic FemDom Stories Volume 3</i> last month. I haven't read any of her work, but new femdom is always a cause for celebration. :)<br />
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Not so recently (alright, a long time ago on the internet), Sarah Frantz from DearAuthor reviewed a couple of Femdom books. Amongst them, <i><a href="http://dearauthor.com/book-reviews/review-the-christmas-she-rules-by-jennifer-leeland/">The Christmas she Rules.</a></i> This seems like it's okay, but very short (this is a common gripe that I have about femdom stories. So often they are much too short.) <a href="http://dearauthor.com/ebooks/review-velvet-submission-by-violet-summers/"><i>Velvet Submission</i></a> sounds more like it, and is on my TBR list, with slight reservations. The way that Sarah reviews suggests to me that she probably picks up similar issues to the ones that bother me in stories, and generally DearAuthor reviewers are pretty reliable (for non femdom genres) in my experience.<br />
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Have you noticed any recently published femdom books? Or read anything good recently?<br />
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<br />SunnyGirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14604191788812626246noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2405037892739734846.post-3942101291468110362012-10-13T03:28:00.000-07:002012-10-22T00:48:15.347-07:00Review: Control by Charlotte Stein<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I put off buying <i>Control</i> because I was unsure who, if either of the men we meet in the sample, was going to be the HEA hero. The book more or less opens with the heroine being fucked by a potential employee, Andy, over the kitchen table. Gabriel walks in on them and is subsequently employed in Madison's erotic book store. I was concerned that Madison was going to get her HEA as the submissive. There wasn't anything particularly to suggest this - it's just depressingly common in stories that female switches, or even dominants, have to be submissive. My worry was unjustified. I don't think it gives too much away to reveal that quite quickly Madison realizes that tentative submissive virgin Gabriel is the man for her. Andy is a foil to their kinks, to their relationship and to Madison's fear of commitment. He drives the emotional plot and the sex forward and therefore it doesn't feel unnatural for him to be in the story and I don't feel that he poses a risk to the HEA. A nice compromise all in all.<br />
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So anyhow, the plot. Madison owns and runs a book store selling erotica, and needs an assistant. The kind of assistance offered by Andy, her first interviewee, is not exactly what she had in mind, but she's enjoying it all the same. Her second applicant walks in on them. Despite herself, Madison thinks about him:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
...his too thick glasses and his tweediness and those hunched shoulders...</blockquote>
Well! We've not met a hero like that before and I LIKE IT! It's never quite clear how Madison then employs Gabe, but she does and all sorts of teasing ensues. Andy reappears to fuck Madison, but she gets off much more on teasing Gabe, the thought of him knowing or watching her fuck Andy and the image of him, awkward and turned on by her deliberately provocative actions. At one point, Andy is fucking her and she is thinking:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Gabe bent over me, fucking me the way Andy is while I tell him - I don't beg him - to do it harder. Do it harder, babe, yes. Give it to me I want you. I want you. Just you. </blockquote>
Though Madison is a switch and somewhat of an exhibitionist and is submissive to Andy, she actually uses him to work out her feelings for Gabe. At one point, Madison and Andy are fucking in the kitchen (again) and Andy says to her:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
'Make up your mind, hon. I'm going to come pretty soon and then you'll kick my arse out of here.'</blockquote>
So although when they're having sex she's Andy's submissive, in many other ways, Madison is in control. Which makes it somewhat surprising that Madison doesn't spit it out when it appears that she wants to be dominant with Andy and Gabe together. Madison doesn't say anything. So you have moments like this:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
'Maddie doesn't know what she wants. Isn't that right babe?'<br />
I'm sure I do. I do, right?</blockquote>
It's moments like that that I think that this book could just as easily have been called <i>Confused</i> as <i>Control</i>. And:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
I hate Andy. I don't know why I 'm not telling him to get out. </blockquote>
Madison, it's because you like the idea of having two men. Also, he's hot. And you seem to get off on being used. I don't however get off on being used, and I find it difficult to get out of your first person head-space and into Andy's, directing you and Gabe, in order to enjoy the scene.<br />
And again:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Andy just grins - his expression saying <i>dance, puppets, dance,</i> very clearly. I've no idea how he took the reins so quickly, but I understand this much for sure: my own efforts seem weak and third rate, by comparison.</blockquote>
This is, I think, the crux of the issue. It's the old trope of the insecure, nervous heroine: the <a href="http://dearauthor.com/features/letters-of-opinion/guest-post-the-placeholder-heroine-by-moriah-jovan/">placeholder heroine</a>. In this case, I think that Madison's unsureness about what she wants and her insecurity about being a dominant is supposed to reflect the reader's potential nervousness about switching from submissive to dominant. It is supposed to make us empathize with Madison, that she can't speak up, or stand up to Andy. Placeholder heroines who are wet blankets generally make me want to slap them. And Madison, when she continually doesn't say anything to Andy when he takes control, really needs to snap out of it.<br />
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***Spoilers***<br />
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And the miraculous thing is, that in this story, she pretty much does snap out of it. Not exactly the way I would have liked, but good enough to stop me, mid grump. There's a misunderstanding in their threesome while they're having sex. Gabe thinks that Andy is hurting her. Technically, he is, but Madison is enjoying it, but somehow cannot articulate this to Gabe. (A lot of the problems that need to be overcome in this book are to do with Madison being unable to spit out what she really means at the crucial moment.) After they establish that Madison was quite happy, Gabe asks Madison to domme Andy, and she does. The scene that follows is awesome. Though I have reservations about how she got to this point, I find something delicious in the role reversal of Madison protecting Gabe from Andy, and humiliating Andy. Gabe gets off on humiliation, but even so, it's surely the dominant's right /duty/pleasure to protect their submissive. Everyone's happy. <br />
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In another amusing gender trope reversal, it is Gabe who runs away because he thinks that Madison doesn't love him (the classic Harlequin Presents scenario is that the heroine runs away because she believes that the hero doesn't love her). Gabe thinks that Madison loves Andy, who can switch and dom her, whereas he can only be submissive. Madison, thank god, comes to her senses, chases after him and they have their HEA. I'm not quite sure what causes Madison to suddenly decide that she doesn't need to be submissive anymore, when she was being submissive to Andy only the night before. But hey, let's not allow technicalities to get in the way. This is a pretty convincing switch to F/m HEA and that is <i>sooooo</i> good <happy sigh>.<br />
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***End Spoilers*** <br />
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A comparison between this book and <a href="http://femdombooks.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/review-power-play-by-charlotte-stein.html"><i>Power Play</i></a> is unavoidable. The characters are very similar: an up-tight heroine who is discovering that she loves being in control; a hero who is discovering just how far his kinkiness goes; a third person that both brings the pair together and keeps them apart. The emotional plots are similar; the setting (work) is similar. Even the covers are the same - with an identical photo of the same couple and a pink color scheme. Both <i>Power Play</i> and <i>Control</i> are written in a visceral first-person narrative and have a great build up of the sex and the relationship and the decent into spine-tingling kinkiness. And they are both HOT HOT HOT.<br />
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For me, the plot is more cohesive in <i>Control</i>, and the threesome is much better integrated into the story and the relationship. <i>Power Play </i>blindsided me with unexpected submissive scenes that jarred
with the relationship and left me with concerns about the future
happiness of the protagonists. Not so in <i>Control</i>.<br />
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In terms of characters, the heroes are actually quite different. Gabe is a geeky virgin, whereas Ben (in <i>Power Play</i>) is cooler and more knowledgeable. I felt that Gabe cares much more about Madison than Ben did about Elenor. Comparing the two, I wonder if Ben is more interested in his kink than he is in Elenor, whereas the opposite is definitely true of Gabe.<br />
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Often, the review length is inversely proportional to how much I liked the book. Not so here. I've talked about some of the tensions in the story, but I haven't said how amazing the scenes are between Madison and Gabe. Where he licks her out, repeatedly, follows her orders, is teased, denied, directed, spanked and humiliated, it's wonderful. It's incandescently good. The multiple, almost continuous sex scenes are spectacularly erotic. Definitely NSFW and totally distracting. <br />
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TL;DR: I have some reservations about this story, but overall, it's a gem. If we're really lucky, perhaps one day Charlotte Stein will write a full femdom story, where the heroine is dominant all the time. Until then, <i>Control</i> is pretty damn good. <br />
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B+/A-SunnyGirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14604191788812626246noreply@blogger.com2