Thursday 28 March 2013

So Depraved.... April BOM on Goodreads Depraved Minds' Club


Goodreads' delicious Depraved Minds' Club has chosen Don't for April Book of the Month. This wild group is a member's only forum, but they're wickedy good at initiating newcomers into the fold. So if you'd like to try something... depraved *waggles eyebrows*, please drop by and say hi.






Image courtesy of Free Images

Thursday 21 March 2013

Book of the Month: Meet & Greet

The BDSM group on Goodreads has chosen Don't for Book of the Month (BOM) In June.

So, what does this mean, and do we need any biscuits? Well... for the month of June, Don't will be a group read where members can ask questions and give feedback on what they love/loathe about Don't as a BDSM Thriller. I'll be there for any direct questions that come along (and also, as a member of the group, just generally loiter: they have some delicious BDSM discussions in there). I'll also be giving away a few copies of Don't for the group read itself.

The BDSM group on Goodreads is a members only forum, but they're a very welcoming group of people whom love to talk. As with any BOM month, there will be other novels being read alongside Don't, so if you'd like to spread your tastes, it's a great time to join.

I know I'd love to see you there (no biscuits required -- honest *grins*).




Light image cortesy of Free Images

Friday 15 March 2013

Author SM Johnson on Don't...

Well, here goes, my first post besides a review... *looks around nervously* and...

Yesterday I was really thrilled to see SM Johnson, author of Above the Dungeon and other works, had reviewed Don't. Not only had she reviewed, but she'd also enjoyed it enough to discuss it on her blog.

Johnson discusses the MERGED-WORLD PROJECTS that Lynn Kelling and I are doing, which is good to see as it lets us know that word is getting around. The merged-world projects are certainly a "deep breath in, keep it there" experience for me, as I get to direct Ms Kelling's characters and... play. *grins devilishly*

For those interested, SM Johnson's Thursday Morning Coffee Session with Don't is here:

SM Johnson's Blog

And her review of Don't on Goodreads is here:

SM Johnson's Review on Goodreads

Wishing everyone a lovely Friday morning, also a quiet thank you to Ms Johnson.

Thursday 14 March 2013

Review: Laura Meets Jeffrey by Jeffrey Michelson & Laura Bradley

3.5 Stars

(Disclaimer: novel obtained by Feb BOM comp in the BDSM Group on Goodreads).  FM, Memoir, BDSM.
 

I’m still not quite sure what to think about this novel. Yes it’s outside of my comfort zone being M/F, but my rating isn’t affected by that. I entered the Goodreads comp because I have a love of non-fiction, especially when it concerns BDSM and the relationships surrounding this lifestyle.

I will say that Michelson captured the 1970-80’s era in a unique and fascinating way: Yoko’s incident with the washing machine was hilarious (I’m surprised she even remembered the rest of the Beatles’ names). But at other times, I struggled, more through socio-cultural differences than anything else (I’m English and I had to look up Norman Mailer etc). The majority of my stars go towards capturing that era as it did give you that "living-world-building" feeling. The part about the Saturday morning boxing club and Jeff’s encounter with Ryan O’Neal were priceless.

When it comes to the sex scenes in the novel, Jeffrey came across as having one hell of a libido. I know a little about coke and how it can stir rougher/longer sex scene for some users, which most certainly contributed to Jeff’s self-confessed sexual prowess, but I still felt as though it was a little too over-mentioned at times. Jeff himself comes across as your strong Dom, with the tendency to try and hide the little boy wanting to be loved beneath layers of macho roughness, yet the phrase too many sweets spoils your dinner kept coming to mind with theamount of ladies he bedded. I couldn’t rest easily on whether Jeff really wanted to settle in a long-term relationship or just run with sleeping with as many women as possible.

Laura. She had many strong characteristics: making sure her debts were paid, a tethering to a strong sense of fidelity to long-standing partners, and I like how she was handled during the narrative with Jeff. I did come away with that touch of a Cinderella feel with her.

I just couldn’t escape that there was more fiction than ‘non’ in this. The author does make a “note to the memoir police” in the beginning of the book, though, and that’s worth noting. Not a bad read overall, just a little too macho for my tastes. Others may differ.​

Review: Make Mine To Go by Dilo Keith

4 stars

MM, ebook, BDSM. Menage

Oh my, the games some people play….

With everything I’d read, I thought it had put me in good stead to recognize the steps to most plot twists, but I have to admit that Make Mine To Go snuck up on me. And it left me chuckling at my self for not seeing it.
It opens with Toby, a twenty-two-year-old part-time sub,  enjoying a touch of ménage with his dominant husband of four years, Justin,  and their mutual friend (also a Dom). Toby is seen to feel comfortable with the complexity of dipping his toes into the beginnings of an open relationship, and he revels in his role, eager to investigate the stinging sensations being played upon on his body and mind. Justin is a little more standoffish, and like any good Dom, he sees Toby’s lingering thoughts over a scene and wandering gaze over other men is leading to something missing in the relationship for Toby. Toby is left thrown when Justin eases the conversation into the possibility that something is wrong, mortified that Justin possibly feels neglected in their relationship. But after Justin’s persistence to face the discussion, Toby comes to realize that maybe Justin is right: he needs something more, although admitting it is harder as they both know voicing it will lead them down a dangerous path.

The complications that arise are typical of any long-lasting relationship, that, even in D/s word, sometimes feel as though they need something new in order to survive. The question is always there as to whether we should take that choice, and thus bring in the threat of longer-lasting damage if we do.
I wasn’t taken by the idea of upset, initially. We’d opened with a D/s ménage scene where both Justin and Toby seemed happy enough to play out, so to suddenly have Justin say he was questioning just how willing and distracted Toby seemed to be with other men was a touch disorientating.  And in that respect, I would have liked more of an in-depth look and build-up to their relationship to help draw that conclusion.
But then you pick up how in tune Justin is to Toby, recognizing Toby’s unease before Toby can figure out for himself, and I love the care and dynamics of the D/s relationship being played there. Which then made my heart tear a little when the twist started to play out, and that “Hell, he’s actually going to go through with it” came into play. I really felt the full impact of the implications it would have for both of them. There was a natural progression that makes you miss the signs, so that when the twist is revealed, you have that  ”Should have seen that coming” moment, but you’re eased back down to normal pulse levels  with how Keith allows the novelette to end.
Not a bad realistic portrayal of a D/s relationship at all. And even though I would have loved it to have been a longer work, I enjoyed the ride Make Mine To Go took me on. 

Wednesday 13 March 2013

Review: When the Music Stops by John T. Fuller

4.5 Stars

M/M, novella.   

Fuller's novella leaves me so torn -- literally forcing me to jump back and forth over a barbed wire fence and hiss with the cuts I’ve been given.

On the one side, part of me wants to shout: “Professional misconduct --  just such a severe and heartbreaking shattering of patient-doctor trust”. Fuller introduces us to Mr. Archer, a doctor in a psychiatric institution whose obsession with a very gentle mute (Mr. White) takes him into dangerous waters, especially as Mr. White is under Archer's care. But Fuller gives us a stark reminded of the times, of the “surgery” that patients like Mr. White were forced to go through. The events that unfold with Dr. Archer become White’s only escape route. Even though it does seem that Dr Archer plays God with whom he saves, and why.

In those first few pages, it seemed to purely take lust to shake Archer's compassion free for Mr. White, and it had me more than a little angered: it didn’t feel any deeper than a surface attraction... at first. But then (back over the fence again) I’m reminded about the frustrations over not being able to gather patient history, how Archer was given a man hidden in a cloud of mystery, but a man with such an innocence he danced his way through it and captured the reader’s heart. It’s easy to see why Archer would fall for White, and that's what makes this wrong: that I agreed with the breech of trust. Which is why this story comes with a barbed-wire fence, or at least one I need to go and cut a few strips from and purge me out of the wrongness of the whole situation and repeat ten times VERY quickly: it is wrong for a doctor to seduce a mentally ill patient.

I loved that I was given no history for Mr. White, that he kept his innocence throughout, even though he did become aware to certain external stimulation. I also like that Mr Archer had the same pureness in body as Mr. White. I would have been thrown out of the story more if he’d been shown to have a normal sex life.

So this one played with my sense of right and wrong so badly, enough to not like myself for a while.

And for that reader-writer interaction, I salute Mr. Fuller with 4.5 very "don’t mess with my head again" stars.


Novella Available Here