Sweet Vernal Zephyr

Succinct Book Reviews
(aka Creating & Whit)

Showing posts with label Croft. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Croft. Show all posts

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,

For those that prefer a little mood music while reading their book reviews,
enthrall your ears with the discord of Bloodhound Gang crooning
THE ROOF IS ON FIRE.







Taming The Fire
An ACRO Series Novel
by Sydney Croft

POWER. PLEASURE. DANGER. IT DOESN’T GET ANY HOTTER THAN THIS.

He came to the underground London club for a night of extreme sex play with the enigmatic “Mistress Rik”. But the Special Agent known as Trance is really on a search-and-rescue mission to keep her alive. Part predator, Ulrika “Rik” Jaegar possesses feral powers that make her a danger to others–and to herself. That’s why the Agency for Covert Rare Operatives (ACRO) wants to recruit her to their side….To do so, Trance will have to pull off the impossible: capture and control Rik, both woman and beast.

On the run from the deadly agency that changed her into a pleasure-seeking shape shifter, Rik uses sex to rein in her own raging desires. Operating on pure instinct, she trusts no one…especially the magnificent alpha male with the power to seduce her into submission. An undercover agent with unique hypnotic gifts, Trance is surprised by his instinct to hold Rik and keep her safe — but he has a job to do. And as he hunts her down, as Rik and Trance are thrust into the ultimate game of domination and submission, they’ll enter a place where surrender is their sole hope of survival — and the only thing that can tame the wild beast in both of them…
My review guidelines can be found HERE.

COVER ART
  • Spotlights a pivotal scene in the story
  • Not representative of the story as a whole, wolf anyone?
  • Composition is good—tasteful model positions
  • Typography is strong and balanced

PARANORMALITY

SEXUALITY
  • BDSM
  • M/M
  • M/F

REVIEW
  • Spies and lies

  • Sex and superpowers

  • Trust and betrayal

  • At least three prominent story lines mingle and flirt throughout the plot.

  • Lots of backstory integrated throughout. Not too disconcerting, but I certainly would have benefited from reading the book(s) before this one.

  • Suspense is high as you ponder and discover secrets along with the antagonists/protagonists

  • Sex is hot and unpredictable

  • The BSDM scenes totally did it for me BUT I seem to like reading about that kind of thing even though I have no real life experience.

I received this book through a contest on a website BUT I CAN'T REMEMBER WHERE! This was part of a huge Holiday Giveaway over at Writeminded - Thanks again guys!!!!!

This book was spotlighted on my Friday 56 HERE.

Read an excerpt HERE.

Sweet daydreams...


The Friday 56 is a weekly bookish meme

• Grab the book CLOSEST to you.
• Share the 5th sentence on the 56th page.
• Note the title & author
• Link back





THE 5th SENTENCE

"At night, she would connect to the single working phone line in the house—used for emergencies only—and she'd learned about the world beyond her narrow one."

~ page 56, Taming The Fire by Sydney Croft





Above, Meg is reminiscing about her Amish childhood.

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