Sweet Vernal Zephyr

Succinct Book Reviews
(aka Creating & Whit)

Scratching the surface of love with a twist... BDSM elements in romantic fiction

I'm not a Happily-Ever-After girl.

I like a dramatic exchange of power. Flip, switch.
Who was once on the bottom is suddenly on top.
And just what are they going to do now?
When the big bad boy finally realizes cuttie pattoutie blondie has his/her nails in his heart,
that's when the thrashing begins.

I read romance for the suspense, drama, anticipation.
And there tends to be a lot more when BDSM elements are involved.

BDSM, a short definition (parsed from Wikipedia)

Creed • Safe, Sane, and Consensual
Players • Tops, Bottoms, and Switches
B & D • Bondage and discipline
D & S • Dominance and submission
S & M • Sadism and Masochism


Here are a few stories I've reviewed that are on the lighter side of BDSM:
  • Sugar Rush - D/s; Subtle commands by the hero, but the heroine chooses to obey them.
  • Cowboy Sandwich - D/s; Role playing with an exchange of power within the scene. **
  • This Is What I Want - D/s; A Blogger Mistress and follower subs.


Solid BSDM elements involving previously uninitiated (vanilla) lovers:
  • Cheating Chance - B/D; A Dom introduces his vanilla sub to Japanese Rope Bondage in the midst of a mystery.
  • Sin on Skin - BDSM; A vanilla cougar jumps in to the gentle arms of her Dom and his lifestyle.
  • Switch - D/s; A vanilla switch obeys an unseen Dom in secret via stolen mail.


Hardcore love stories revolving around BDSM elements:
  • Call Me Sir - BDSM: A sub acts rashly after pining for a year over an aloof Dom.
  • My One - BDSM: A pain puppy and her revelation with a new Dom.
  • Taming the Fire - BDSM: A Dom forcing himself to switch for his supernatural spy job.
  • Desire, Oklahoma Series - A town specifically founded for families with alternative lifestyles.
  • Incognito Series - Centers on a high end fetish club and its patrons.


To tie up the loose ends of this post...

A tiny insight into the pleasure of bondage with a quote (of which I can validate and relate):
A woman is being held on a bed, one man at her wrists and another at her ankles.

"He spread my legs, using his hands on my ankles. He spread my legs, wide and wider, while I tried to stop him. It was a game, because we'd all agreed to this... [It] sped my pulse, and made the struggles go from halfhearted to not so halfhearted... The fact that I couldn't [stop him] both scared and excited me."

pg 556, Incubus Dreams by Laurell K. Hamilton

You want more?

Yesterday, James Buchanan posted a very informative article in reference to this subject.
He speaks with authority and provides a nice selection of links for further research.
(I very much enjoyed Ryan Hunter's Moment of Truth from A Pups Life blog.)
Stop by Reviews By Jessewave to check it out.

I do not claim to be anything near an expert on this subject.
This is a simple sharing of information and opinion.
Please add yours to the comments!

Yours,

5 comments:

Wow........ simply wow.

Great post, Miranda. I was just talking about BDSM yesterday and then read James Buchanan's post for Wave. He is terrific.

I lurve your summary of Cheating Chance! :)

And your outliney bullet point format warms my little technical writing heart - nicely done!

Great post! I'm a big fan of BDSM stories myself. James post at Wave's was brilliant and I totally love her series with Nicky and Brandon.

I missed this post. I lurve Brandon and Nicky. I can hand'e hardcore bondage, not so much the S&M stuff. I tend to be a BDSM lite kind of girl. Or D/s works for me in books but not master/slave. That's too much as a rule, the hardcore ones anyway.

There are some BDSM tropes that really make me roll my eyes, but as long as it's not too hardcore I'll give most BDSM themed books a whirl. I don't consider James Buchanan's stuff hardcore though since it's not about pain. It was a great article James wrote though.

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