This review is going to be a bit of a departure from the usual fare for this blog, instead of erotica I will be giving you my thoughts on a non-fiction book: Kneeling in Spirit, edited by Raven Kaldera.
Shaun's rating:
Kneeling in Spirit is an anthology in which Raven Kaldera has written the Foreward which is followed by the personal stories of several disabled submissives and then stories from several dominants who have (or had) disabled submissives. The book gives a real world glimpse into the challenges of maintaining a D/s or M/s relationship when the 's' type is not blessed with perfect physical health.
I must say that this is a subject that is close to my heart: I am a 's' type and I face physical challenges that sometimes make service to my 'M' difficult. As with the people who tell their stories in Kneeling in Spirit I am not able to serve my Mistress with the same physical grace and poise as do the characters we read about in erotic fiction. However, as this book points out, I can kneel in spirit and that is beautiful and powerful. The contributors to this book find ways to make power exchange, control, and service work in their relationships despite the challenges they face.
In my opinion this is an excellent and insightful book in dealing with physical challenges in D/s or M/s relationships. It was inspiring to read the stories presented and how both the dominant and the submissive were willing to find a way to make their relationship work.
I think my biggest take-away from reading this book is that power exchange is mostly in the heart and mind. The physical stuff is wonderful and fun, and most relationships can find a way to make at least some physical power exchange happen, but more important is what goes on in our hearts and minds as this is the power and energy exchange that feeds our souls.
I'm giving Kneeling in Spirit five out of five paddles. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in power exchange relationships whether or not you or a partner deal with physical challenges.
I am so excited to share with you that my book, A Sissy Diary, made Sally Bend's fave list for 2017 over at Bending the Bookshelf!
If you aren't familiar with Sally's blog you should become so. Sally offers excellent reviews and every Friday she puts together a list of stories and books that are currently being offered free on Amazon, it's a wonderful resource for readers. Sally is also a contributor/editor at Frock Magazine, which is a wonderful periodical for those of us who fall anywhere on the trans spectrum (or who are just interested in such). I've been a subscriber to Frock for sometime now and look forward to each issue.
In this review I'll be giving my thoughts on Circe & Telemachus Volume 1: An erotic feminization and gender swapping romance by Eloise Abelard.
Shaun's rating:
This is a bit of a different take on the stories of Telemachus and Circe than the ones I vaguely recall from Homer's The Odyssey. This story takes place years after Odysseus has returned to Ithaca. Telemachus is the commander of a ship that comes upon an island; having heard his father's stories he is a bit leery of what may await him on this island, but being the brave young prince he sets off to explore. Unknown to Telemachus this is Circe's island, whom his father had encountered previously, and Circe is a weaver of magic and spinner of spells. Circe feels Telemachus on her island before even seeing him, and the touch intrigues her. She casts a spell to expose who her visitors truly are inside. While Telemachus is mostly resistant to Circe's magic (as Odysseus was in The Odyssey) there is some effect and it turns out that Telemachus is actually a young maiden in a boys body. Circe endeavors to bring this young maiden, whom she feels a strong desire for, forth and let Telemachus become who he/she truly is.
This is a well written tale that is sweet and sexy. I enjoyed how the author developed the characters; both Circe and Telemachus were at times strong and at other times vulnerable. Telemachus' femininity was brought forth in a very sweet and caring manner by Circe and I enjoyed observing it emerge. I also liked how protective Circe was as she brought forth the maiden that was hidden inside Telemachus; she didn't force femininity on him she allowed it to bloom within. Of course Telemachus had moments of doubt and struggle as the girl inside was emerging, but Circe helped him/her to discover her true self; this was not a story about humiliation or degradation.
I found the erotic scenes in this book quite hot if a bit different from most erotica. The scenes were not so much raw sex as they were sensual. I enjoyed that very much.
The book was well edited, there were a very few mistakes I caught but none were egregious enough to disrupt the flow of reading.
I'm giving Circe and Telemachus Volume 1 four and one half out of five paddles. I look forward to more from this author. I definitely recommend this book to feminization fans, especially those who enjoy when feminization is encouraged and celebrated rather than forced.
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The subject of this week's review is Dommes & Submissives: A Femdom Anthology by Billierosie.
Shaun's rating:
This is a terrific collection of four short stories: Rebellious Slave, Solomon's Secret, Subspace, and Laocoon. I'm not going to discuss the individual stories, but I will say that all feature female dominants and male submissives. These stories tend toward the edgier side of bdsm and may be a bit extreme for some readers. However, if you like things a bit edgy this collection is fantastic.
Billierosie manages to masterfully set the scenes and develop the characters here, something that is not easy to do with such short stories. Something that I really enjoyed about these characters was that the women, while they could be cruel, were not mean spirited. The women liked and valued the submissive men. Yes the women could be cruel, they caused the men to suffer, but it was not out of maliciousness instead it was about the give and take of energy exchange and the blurred lines of pain/pleasure.
As I mentioned above the erotic scenes are a bit edgy, they are also scorching hot.
I did notice a few small editing problems, an extra word or quotation mark, but they were few and far between and did not interfere with the flow of the story.
For femdom fans who like things leaning a bit to the extreme I highly recommend Dommes & Submissives. I'm giving this book four and one half out of five paddles.
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I love audio books, well I love good audio books and this week I'll be sharing my thoughts on a terrific one: Lady in Waiting: A Tale of Victorian Erotica, Stuffed Bottoms and Sound Spankings written by Devi Ansevi and narrated by Rose Lachlan.
Shaun's rating:
This story is set in the Victorian era. Charlotte is Lady Emma's lady maid and has been for a short time after having to leave her last employment under dubious circumstances. Lord Darcy has come courting Lady Emma with matrimonial hopes, but he is not above taking advantage of his station and using Charlotte for his pleasure. When Charlotte learns that Lady Emma has accepted Lord Darcy's proposal she hatches a plan to deter the Lord's advances. As Charlotte puts her plan to action she is caught in the act by Lady Emma and must tell her the truth of what Lord Darcy has been up to. Things just get better, and hotter, from there.
Wow, did I love this story. The writing is first rate and the narration is fabulous. The whole story (and it was a real story with an actual plot; a beginning, middle, and end) just oozed sexy hotness and there was a bit of humor thrown in that made it a really fun book to listen, one I'm sure I'll listen to many more times.
I loved the characters, they're well developed, likable, and fun. The scenes are well set inviting the reader to a front row seat for all the delectable activities.
I'm giving Lady in Waiting five out of five paddles. It's fun, it's sexy, and I highly recommend it.
I've been fortunate enough to read some really great books lately and the subject of this weeks review is no exception. The book I'll be reviewing this week is a new release, Embracing His Submission by Shaw Montgomery.
Shaun's rating:
Embracing His Submission is a romantic piece of femdom erotica, and it is very well done.
Jonathan is an erotica author whose own desires are to submit to a dominant woman; but not the stereotypical mean and cruel domme, he desires a kind and caring woman. Samantha may be just that type of woman and Jonathan may be just the kind of submissive man she is searching for, a strong man with a kind heart who is not a milquetoast. There is a problem though, Jonathan is painfully shy when it comes to communicating his desires and Samantha must find a way to bring him out of his shell.
Ms Montgomery has done a wonderful job with this piece. Jonathan and Samantha are characters that I, as a reader, was drawn to almost immediately and I greatly enjoyed watching them as the story unfolded. Even the peripheral characters were very well done.
The scenes were very well set, the descriptions made me feel like I was right there watching as the action unfolded.
The erotic scenes are smoking hot. The bdsm is light, as it should be since Jonathan is making his first foray into actually doing this stuff rather than just fantasizing about it; but being bdsm light did not make the scenes any less hot. If you like tease and denial there is a delicious bit of that to be found in this story.
The book is very well edited, the pace and flow of the story were smooth. It was a pleasure to read.
I'm giving Embracing His Submission five out of five paddles. If you enjoy femdom erotica with a bit of romance and characters that are actually likeable I highly recommend this book.
I received a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The book I'm going to be reviewing this week, Finding Love Down Under by Donna Jay, is a F/F erotic romance with a bit of BDSM spice thrown into the mix.
Shaun's rating:
In this story we meet Claire and Zoe. Claire is a native New Zealander who had a relationship end badly when her fiancee broke her trust. Zoe is a Canadian, traveling in New Zealand, who has also had a relationship end badly when her trust was broken. The two women meet in a McDonalds shortly after Zoe's relationship ended; Zoe needs rescuing, though she doesn't ask for it, and Claire offers her a place to stay in exchange for some help around her home and vineyard.
Both women have been damaged and have a difficult time extending trust. In fact it takes some time before they even find out they are both lesbians, are attracted to one another, and both into bdsm. They face some challenges as they learn to trust again, and as their respective ex's show up and try to meddle.
This is a well written story that leans more toward the romantic side though there are some hot erotic scenes that are very well done. The characters are developed well, I liked and disliked some aspects of both Claire and Zoe which I think speaks to how real the author made them for me.
The story had a good bit of angst, some had to do with the characters trust issues, and some with the ex's trying to worm back into their lives. I did feel like the angst was a bit manufactured at times, though I'm not sure my feelings are really fair. Both characters were damaged, and sometimes our damage causes us to create angst where it might not truly exist, even so that angst is real for us and I felt it was real for Claire and Zoe.
I loved how the author showed us around New Zealand a bit in this book as Claire and Zoe traveled as well as how we are exposed to a bit of New Zealand culture. This was a definite bonus for me with this story.
As I mentioned above the erotic scenes are hot. The bdsm is on the light side with nothing extreme, it definitely added to the hotness of the erotic scenes, at least for me.
The book is very well edited with nothing causing me pause as I read. The flow and pacing of the story work very well.
I'm giving Love Down Under four out of five paddles. I definitely recommend it especially for F/F fans who enjoy a bit of bdsm spice in their reading.
