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This post is a bit of an impromptu one, provoked by an email conversation that Michael and I had yesterday.

He’d just started reading a new BDSM-themed erotica (which shall remain nameless) and made the fatal mistake of giving me an overview of the first chapter. All was going well until he mentioned the dreaded word ‘contract’, at which point he found himself engulfed in a storm of virtual babble – okay, ranting – that probably made him extremely thankful that we live in different countries and therefore ensured he didn’t have to listen to it in person (sorry, Michael):

 

‘Wow, that’s a lot of information in a single chapter! But do you know what my eye went straight to? The mention of another bloody contract! Contracts, contracts, contracts! If one more author writes about a contract I am going to … Well, I don’t know what, but it will likely involve a judge’s gavel being used on the offending book in the same manner that Basil Fawlty uses that tree branch on his car.’

 

Continue reading

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Title: Reclaimed Surrender
Author: Riley Murphy
Publisher: Ellora’s Cave (08 February 2012)
ASIN: B0077ROL0O

A marriage on the rocks. A wife who longs to be taken in hand. A husband who wants nothing more than to recover the control he’s relinquished. Reclaimed Surrender is a fabulous exploration of what happens when the equilibrium is upset in a D/s relationship; of the havoc that ensues when a Dom, with the best of intentions, cedes to his sub.

Rene and Alexis Tanner are having major problems. Something has happened (I won’t spoil the book for you by saying what) that’s severely affected the level of trust between them – and it’s absolutely killing their relationship. To the point that they’re unable to relate to one another, to exchange power, in the way they both desperately need to. Continue reading

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Title: Sweet Persuasion
Author: Maya Banks
Publisher: Berkley (02 June 2009)
ISBN: 978-0425227701

This isn’t the first book in the Sweet erotic romance series by the ever-popular Maya Banks, but, in my opinion, it is the standout title in the line-up. In other words, if you’re going to pick one, this is the one to go for. Sweet Persuasion is a cracking, singe your fingers read. Put the cat out, dim the lights, grab a friend (breathing or battery operated) hot.

Serena is in the business of making dreams and wishes come true for other people. She spends her days fulfilling fantasies and making others happy, but what she really wants is to indulge in a secret fantasy of her own. Serena wants to be a sex slave. To give up complete control to a man, temporarily, and then return to her normal life once her slavery is complete. Continue reading

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Title: Maintenance Night
Author: Trent Evans
Publisher: Tritium Press (27 August 2012)
ASIN: B00935QWGY

A married couple. Friday evening. It’s Maintenance Night. Are they doing DIY? Well, in a sense, yes. They’re engaging in the ‘upkeep’ of their relationship. It just so happens that their form of nurture involves some spanking and caning.

This is the first Trent Evans book I’ve read and I have to say I really, really liked it. Maintenance Night is relatively short, weighing in at just fifty-one pages, but it doesn’t suffer from what I like to call ‘small book syndrome’ (a tale as threadbare as a two-hundred-year-old rug or a story that’s so ridiculously overstuffed that it’s afflicted by literary indigestion). The plot is strong and simple – as mentioned above, it focuses on a single night in the life of a married couple – and the action is centred on them connecting with one another through D/s. Continue reading