*Please note that the below review does contain spoilers pertaining to books one and two in the Pierced Hearts series. You can find our previous reviews for Take Me, Break Me and Bind and Keep Me here and here.

MICHAEL’S TAKE

Title: Make Me Yours Evermore
Author: Cari Silverwood
Publisher: Cari Silverwood
ISBN: 9781311900234

Okay, in Take Me, Break Me, we meet Jodie and Klaus when she comes up with a money-making scheme: Have Klaus hold her captive for a month, film the whole thing, and release it to fame and fortune. In the end, things go a bit awry but they achieve a kind of working balance in their relationship.

Skip ahead a year and we get to Bind and Keep Me. When Jodie attends a wild party and dies, Klaus kills the man responsible. Only Jodie isn’t dead. And rather than either hope the police don’t figure out what happened or even try to explain what happened, Klaus comes up with a unique solution: kidnap the one witness who can expose his secret. And hold her captive for the rest of their lives. Perhaps not the greatest plan ever, but it has worked so far. Mostly.

Which brings us up to Make Me Yours Evermore. One of the mostly wrinkles is that Kat has figured out something weird is going on. We actually met Kat at the end of the TMBM. As a character, she was kind of annoying. The other characters thought so too. She still doesn’t know precisely what is going on, but she is going to find out. Only Chris, Klaus’ business partner, is determined to stop her. Because it turns out that Chris has always had a secret fantasy: To kidnap someone and hold her captive for the rest of their lives. And so to help out Klaus, Chris volunteers to do that to Kat.

Oh, and just for fun he brings along his groupie. Years ago, Chris saved Andreas from a shark attack. So anything Chris wants to do is okay by him. All I can say is I am glad that Chris wasn’t into unleashing global thermonuclear war. And actually, it turns out that Andreas has a secret fantasy as well. You guessed it? To hold a woman captive for the rest of her life. I am sensing a theme.

So, anyway, if you aren’t in love with Chris already, he also has a somewhat less-pleasant secret. For years, Chris has been doing the books for a criminal enterprise – something that apparently our boy Klaus didn’t even know about. And just what sort of criminal enterprise? Why, human trafficking, of course. And so his buddies have set him up with a place where he can unleash his Big Bad Dom Self and learn wayward little Kat who her True Master is. He is quite confident that within a month he can have her molded into the submissive little slave girl of his dreams.

Around this point I was thinking if this was an episode of an American TV show, Kat would manipulate Chris and Andreas into a jealous rage over who would possess her and end up stepping over their dead bodies as she walked off into the sunset at the end. Fortunately, though, while there is an element of that, Cari came up with something far more original.

I don’t really want to spoil the latter part because honestly I didn’t really see it coming. What I will say is that going into this sort of novel I am always curious about one thing: Can the captor actually “break” his victim and do it for me in a believable way? I found the ending believable but I think Chris may not have achieved the result he was looking for.

Because, really, at the end of the last novel there was one person who could be Klaus’ undoing. At the beginning of this one, we were up to two. Now we actually have five. All it will take is just one Charles Ramsey and a whole lot of people are going to jail.

This is one series where just when you think you have an idea where things are going, things head off on a tangent. I am very curious to see where we go next but, as I said at the end of Bind and Keep Me, I am making no predictions.

Tickle your fancy? Click on the following links to purchase a copy.

Amazon.co.uk

• Make Me Yours Evermore – Kindle

Amazon.com

• Make Me Yours Evermore – Kindle

*Please note that a copy of Make Me Yours Evermore was provided free of charge by the author in exchange for a fair review.

The post Make Me Yours Evermore, Part Deux: The Michael Chronicles appeared first on Behind the Chintz Curtain.

Title:

The original version of Safeword: Rainbow was published back in 2010. At the end of 2013, however, author, Candace Blevins, released a revised and updated version of the book. Michael read the first iteration and gave it four stars on Goodreads; has this new, extended edition answered some of his original questions (Tyler always worried him a little) or simply made him more curious about his relationship with Viv?

MICHAEL

Let me tell you a quick fairy tale to start things off.

Once upon a time, in the Magical Land of New Hampshire, a dark and secretive Master named James finds the slave girl he’s been searching for. James and Katrina spend a weekend exploring the limits of passion and desire and pain. And in the end, James vanishes into the night. And they never see each other again.

Well, not exactly. Let’s skip ahead a few years.

Viv’s father is home in Miami, rehabilitating following a heart attack. Her brother has been looking after him but she wants to be involved, too. And then her brother’s old friend, Tyler, arrives. And things take an interesting turn.

You see, Tyler sometimes uses the name James. And Viv has been known to use another name in certain … situations. And now they are together. For Tyler, this is everything he could have ever dreamed of. He has been reunited with the submissive he’s been searching for – the one he can finally make his own. And mould into his perfect slave.

There’s just one teeny tiny problem.

You see, Katrina wasn’t real. She looked real and felt real. She did as she was told and obeyed pretty much without question. But she wasn’t real.

Viv isn’t just a slave. She’s an academic and a researcher. She’s an expert on the world’s oceans. She is out to save the planet. And she can’t really do these things kneeling at her Master’s feet, serving his every whim and desire.

So our question comes: Can Tyler learn to scale back his fantasies to a reasonable level? Can Viv figure out a way to balance the person she wants to be with the possession she desires to be? And just as important: is there a place they can figure these things out together?

This version of Safeword: Rainbow is a revised version of the original. More material, more copy editing, and a more cohesive story. But … I still don’t feel quite like the story is over. Especially based on the new last chapter. While Tyler doesn’t necessarily cross the boundaries between real life and fantasy, he edges dangerously close in my opinion. And it likely wouldn’t take very much to send him right over.

Tickle your fancy? Click on the following links to purchase a copy.

Amazon.co.uk 

• Safeword: Rainbow (2013 Extended Edition) – Kindle

Amazon.com

• Safeword: Rainbow (2013 Extended Edition) – Kindle

* Please note that a copy of Safeword: Rainbow (2013 Extended Edition) was provided free of charge by the author in exchange for a fair review.

The post Safeword: Rainbow (2013 Extended Edition) – Candace Blevins appeared first on Behind the Chintz Curtain.

Image: Christmas Fairy. (Me, wearing my halo, whilst sitting in a Pohutukawa – also known as the ‘New Zealand Christmas tree’.)

This Wicked Wednesday is an unapologetic, sentimental and festive ‘thank you’ – a big one! – to all the amazing people who have made my 2013 so happy and wonderful.

Bloggers, writers, readers, fellow kinksters … There are so many of you that I am pleased and proud to know (both online and in person), and who have been totally selfless in support of me and this little Chintzy corner of the Interweb these past twelve months. To that end, I’d like to embarrass a few of you by specifically calling out your awesomeness.

Firstly, Marie, who runs this fantastic meme and has always encouraged and given me the opportunity to participate in it.

The truly lovely and talented Tamsin Flowers. We met over a coffee table at this year’s London Eroticon, and I can honestly say she’s been one of life’s best chance encounters. (It’s not often you find a kindred spirit in smut-writing crime.) Not only that, she’s been a constant source of encouragement and patience. (Read: she’s put up with me even though I’ve been completely rubbish at delivering … well, anything useful to her these past six months.)

Michael, who I adore reviewing erotic books with and who never fails to keep me entertained with John Norman Gor analogies. That, and he doesn’t bat an eyelid at my over-the-top book rants.

Author Natasha Knight. All-round good person and willing to drink cocktails with me on Messenger whilst talking kink.  (I can type ‘nanl exs’ and she still knows what I mean.)

E, who has consistently gone above and beyond the call of duty to help me out with Sinful Sunday pictures (shielded my topless self from unexpected dog walkers in English fields, shooed neighbours away from the front door whilst I’ve lain half naked in her sitting room covered in glitter, etc., etc., etc.).

Molly and DomSigns, who have been nothing short of amazing with me and my other half, M. Thank you both for absolutely everything this past year. Your company, your advice, the excursions, and your friendship. I (we!) miss you guys.

And last but certainly not least, my family, who, without exception, have been unflinchingly supportive of my slightly left-of-centre life and blog – and aren’t afraid to own me and what I do. (Although in future, a certain brother might want to wait until his friends don’t have mouthfuls of crisps and beer before nonchalantly asking me ‘how my porn site is going’.)

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year to you all.

Jane
xxx

The post Wicked Wednesday: Glad Tidings appeared first on Behind the Chintz Curtain.

Stunning, no?

I’d like to say that I was reading saucy books and writing more but I, um, spent most of my time exploring the gorgeous North Devon coastline and getting myself wet in the mighty Atlantic. Oh, and eating fish ‘n’ chips and scones slathered in jam and clotted cream. (Lush. Totally, totally, lush.)

This week, I’m back in the land of gadgetry and mobile phone coverage but I just wanted to let you all know that I’m going to be quiet for the next few days, too, while I try and catch up with all the writing I should have been doing on that cliff top. Michael and I have some more joint-reviewing to do, too. And the next My Life in Books post and vibrator write-up I promised a few weeks back are still stuck in the queue …

Hmm, maybe I should run back to my camping idyll?

The post Running off to Devon … appeared first on Behind the Chintz Curtain.

Title:

Yep. As requested, Michael and I are back once again as a book-reviewing double act. Are we less ranty than last time? I think so. But I still ended up drawing stick figures. Couldn’t seem to stop myself. He, meanwhile, took the high road and included intelligent and insightful quotes. (I think it’s clear which of us is Batman and which of us is Robin in this instance …)

JANE’S TAKE …

Before I say anything else, I just want to make it clear that I liked this book. The story was interesting, the characters likeable, and the sex hot. (Very, very hot in fact.) But it disturbed me. And I felt bad for enjoying it at times.

I’m a bit of a fan of both the non-con and D/s genres when it comes to erotica. But I see them as very separate things and when they start getting tangled together in a work of fiction, sirens, alarm bells and all manner of other emergency service warning systems start going off in my head. Consent is fundamental to BDSM. Always. And if it’s not? Well, that’s abuse. Plain and simple. As a rule, I will immediately stop reading books that portray non-consensual interactions between characters as D/s or S/M. Take Me, Break Me, however, managed to twist all the traditional rules of engagement.

The premise is intriguing. Jodie wants to make a documentary about living through the experience of a capture fantasy and asks her ex-boyfriend, Klaus, to imprison her in the basement of her house for the period of one month. He is – initially – shocked by her proposition but eventually agrees because he’s concerned that if he doesn’t, Jodie might engage the services of someone who would take advantage of the situation and truly hurt her. A very arbitrary and vague set of guidelines (The Rules), consisting of five sketchy bullet points is drawn up, a detailed ‘in case it all goes horribly wrong’ protection contract signed, and off they go. You can see where this is heading, can’t you?

Needless to say, things don’t go to plan (there’d be no story if they did) and after little more than a day or so Jodie and Klaus find themselves in a bit of a situation. Klaus discovers his sadistic side. Jodie discovers she likes to be hurt. Klaus decides to throw away The Rules (such as they are) and make new ones. Without any discussion. Oh, boy.

My Take Me, Break Me experience went something like this …

@Michael (just after starting the book):

‘RED PEN ALERT!

I had to read the first chapter twice because all the tense switching confused me. (Maybe I am just A Bear of Very Little Brain?!) Present tense, then past written in the past tense, then past written in the present tense, then back to present in the present tense. Huh? What exactly are you signing, man [Klaus]?! End-of-year finance reports or a down-and-dirty sex slave agreement? Because, you know, that distinction is kind of important!

I now have the awful urge to sing Brittany Spears’ ‘Slave for You’, btw. :-/’

I get frightened by the lack of discussion and awful bullet-pointed rules:

I get confused about what genre I am actually reading:

[Brief interlude, during which Michael and I disagree over the outfit Klaus makes Jodie wear (he thinks it’s ridiculous, I think it’s fabulously degrading) and we both start Googling Magnetic Island, the setting for Take Me, Break Me, real estate prices.]

I get distracted by the idea of green bamboo canes:

Then Jodie and Klaus go to a play party and I want to get one of these out:

All in all, I felt like this the entire time I was reading:

As I said right at the very beginning, I liked Take Me, Break Me. But it scared me. Ergo the above picture. This is a case of the reader being ‘head f*cked’ as much as the characters because you’re enjoying all the things they’re doing together but feel horrible for it because the proposition is so dangerously and badly flawed …

This is a great story, albeit an uncomfortable one.

Safe, Sane and Consensual. Take Me, Break Me certainly proves how important this mantra is.

MICHAEL’S TAKE …

“I’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse.”

– Don Corleone

Jodie is a comedienne. Not the worst, but not the greatest either. Her career is just going so-so. So she gets an idea. Make a documentary. But not about the life of a so-so comedienne. No, her idea is to make one about psychological enslavement. You see, Jodie has a secret love for that particular type of erotica we call the Capture Fantasy. So her idea is to film a woman throughout the process and through to the end result. And not just any woman. Herself (with some preset automatic cameras). But who can she get to be her captor?

Klaus. Good old Klaus. Her accountant. Oh, and her once-upon-a-time boyfriend. He’s the perfect guy for this sort of thing. Except maybe a little too cautious. When she approaches him with the idea, he reluctantly accepts. But only after drawing up a Contract and set of Rules so strict he pretty much takes all the fun out of it for both of them.

After all, this is supposed to be fun. Safe, Sane and Totally Consensual but fun as well. So what happens after 36 hours or so when Klaus dispenses with The Rules and makes it up as he goes along?

“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

– Lord Acton

When I read the description for this one, I actually bought it immediately. Because even though I didn’t plan on reading it as soon as soon as I did, I knew it was one I was definitely going to read. I thought this could be a fun and sexy story. Instead I found it to be a brutally realistic portrayal of two people playing around with things they didn’t understand and getting in absolutely and completely over their heads.

Especially Klaus. I am often pretty hard on male lead characters for doing the wrong thing. But in this case, I didn’t really blame him. Things were so off from the very beginning that you just had to hope they both got out without any permanent damage.

“When you stare into the abyss the abyss stares back at you.”

– Friedrich Nietzsche

Do I think you should read this book? If you like capture fantasy and BDSM fiction, I would say absolutely, positively, unequivocally ‘yes’.

But just keep in mind this is more what not to do.

Tickle your fancy? Click on the following links to purchase a copy:

Amazon.co.uk

• Take Me, Break Me – Kindle

Amazon.com

• Take Me, Break Me – Kindle

Smashwords

• Take Me, Break Me – ePub

The post Take Me, Break Me (Pierced Hearts) – Cari Silverwood appeared first on Behind the Chintz Curtain.

Title:

Prepare yourselves. Michael and I decided to read and review Rush in tandem. And let’s just say that we had, er, pretty strong reactions to it. Warning: it’s a general winter of discontent below the fold and we only just refrained from using SHOUTY CAPITALS in our respective reviews. Buckle up.

MICHAEL’S TAKE …

First off, let me say this. Maya Banks has been doing this for a while now. I don’t really think this is her version of Fifty Shades of Grey despite the fact that it did sort of feel that way. (Oh, and if you don’t want spoilers, don’t read this because this is a fully-fledged rant.) Having said that, she has accomplished something I wouldn’t have thought possible: created a male lead in Gabe Hamilton that makes Christian Grey and Gideon Cross (Bared to You) look like normal, well-adjusted, thoughtful young men.

Gabe is in the hotel business. He and his partners, Jace and Ash, have been friends since college and seem to collectively be this generation’s Conrad Hilton. They are all thirty-eight and none of them have settled down – making all three eminently eligible bachelors. Well, actually, Gabe was married to Lisa for a while. And while we don’t find out much about it, it was some sort of power exchange relationship where he made all of the decisions. Until the day she decided to leave him and ran to a divorce attorney and the press painted their relationship as abusive. She got a hefty settlement when he didn’t fight her.

Since then, Gabe has avoided romantic entanglements. Oh, he has relationships but they all have a contractual component. Every woman he sleeps with has to sign his combination Slave Contract Non-disclosure Agreement. After that, he and his chosen paramour get physical for a while but never more than six months before he moves on.

So then he runs into Mia. Jace’s little sister. A twenty-four-year-old who seems to have gotten an MBA or at least a business degree but is waitressing at a pastry shop. Sweet little Mia who was raised from childhood by her big brother after their parents were killed. And it turns out he was wanted her for years. Long enough that he has now decided that a fourteen-year age difference doesn’t matter as much as it did when she was twenty or sixteen or whatever.

So he goes to Jace and explains to him that he wants to use and abuse his baby sister for the next six months or so. Oh, wait, no, he doesn’t. That probably wouldn’t work out very well.

So he goes to Mia and explains to her that he wants to use and abuse her for an unspecified period of time. Oh, and she really should have career goals so she can be his assistant so he can do the using and abusing right in his office. As long, of course, as she signs up to be his NDA’d sexual submissive. So at this point she files a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Oh, wait, no, she doesn’t. But she probably should have.

So a bunch of stuff happens and then Gabe and Mia end up in a hotel room in Paris with three prospective business partners. In order to prove to himself that he doesn’t have feelings for his best friend’s little sister he binds and essentially tosses her to the wolves – after setting a few ground rules.

There are roughly five kinds of men:

1. The kind whose personal code would, for moral and religious reasons, make them want to leave.
2. Those who prefer other guys to women.
3. Guys who aren’t really Doms but aren’t going to pass up an interesting opportunity.
4. Actual Doms who delight in the joy of a submissive woman.
5. Abusers who won’t hesitate to hurt women to make themselves feel superior.

The thing is, it is mighty hard to tell which is which just by looking at someone. The fact that Gabe assumed that these three potential investors were 3s and 4s was idiotic. I don’t even think scenarios 1 and 2 entered his head. But you don’t take a chance on having a 5 in the room. That was one of the most boneheaded moves I have ever seen.

And I have to say that Mia was part of the problem. Being submissive is one thing. Letting someone walk on the fine line of being abusive (assuming you don’t think that Gabe crossed the line) is something else. Later on, Jace worries that her next boyfriend might actually be abusive as a result of her time with Gabe; if only the latter had given as much thought to what was going on.

Honestly, my favorite moment was when Jace punched Gabe out. Because someone needed to. Of course, it didn’t actually knock any sense into him. That would have to come later.

I did kind of like the ending but I am still thinking Gabe may need a couple of decades or so of therapy.

I actually pre-ordered the next book, Rush, which will be featuring Jace. I am curious to see how he and Ash fare from an outsider perspective. Because even if they were kind of the guardian angels in this one, they probably won’t be in their own stories.

JANE’S TAKE …

My Rush reading experience can pretty much be summarised by my Goodreads ‘in progress’ status updates and ranty emails:

Status update 1: “9% in and the words ‘steel’, ‘minx’ and ‘kitten’ have been used. :-/”

Status update 2: “Oh, for the love of Pete: ‘There is no negotiation’. REALLY?”

Status update 3: “Rapidly losing the will to live reading this. I’m so not absorbed that I’m watching clips of Scottish Terrier puppies on YouTube every few pages to try and boost my flagging spirits.”

[Pause in reading]

@Michael: “Are you going to finish this or what?”

@Jane: “I’ve stalled … I got partway through, got cross, skimmed the last bit, got even more cross, and then put it down. I really do need to finish it though. It’s dreadful and deserves my full wrath.”

[Michael starts reading]

@Michael: “Wow! I am still not sure what to make of it but if Jace kills Gabe with his bare hands when they get to New York I think I could let him off for temporary insanity if I were on the jury.”

@Jane:  “So you’ve been to Paris, then? … Gabe is a total sh*t. The term ‘control freak’ seems most appropriate. And for the love of a flogger, why the HELL would you invite business associates to Top your ‘beck and call girl’? Because, let’s be honest, that’s what she is.

The thing that really irks me though? Maya Banks writes so bloody nicely. There’s just something about the flow and rhythm of her prose that appeals to me. It’s why I keep buying her. But her actual characterisation and interactions are so hit and miss. I haven’t felt this cross about a male protagonist of hers since Micah (Sweet Temptation). I mean, come on! Contrast this idiot with Damon from Sweet Persuasion.

@Michael: “I couldn’t understand what could upset you so much but when I got to that scene I understood. This guy makes Christian Grey and Gideon Cross look stable.”

@Jane: “I think our joint review of this is going to turn into a joint rant …”

Um, yeah, it kind of did. If you don’t find narcissistic, wankerish men off-putting in an erotic romance then you’ll probably like this. Because that’s exactly what Gabe is. The writing’s solid, though, and that’s what stops it from becoming a total bust. I quite liked Jace and Ash as characters, too, although the way this series has started I’m tempted to lay money on them turning into total morons during the next two books.

Series prediction:

• Book two = ménage meltdown. Jace decides he can’t share his women with Ash anymore. Ash can’t decide what to do with his penis now he’s on his own.
• Book three = Ash has ménage withdrawal but has to ‘rescue’ Caroline from her bouncer boyfriend and in the process emerges from his DP funk.

Roll on Fever.

Rush tickle your fancy? Click on the following links to purchase a copy:

Amazon.co.uk

• Rush – Kindle
• Rush – Paperback

Amazon.com

• Rush – Kindle
• Rush – Paperback

Kobo

• Rush – ePub

The post Rush (The Breathless Trilogy) – Maya Banks appeared first on Behind the Chintz Curtain.

Title:

What do you call a tale where a woman shows up for a business meeting only to be assaulted, manhandled, stripped naked, rendered immobile by being bound to a specially designed piece of furniture, blindfolded, gagged and forced to submit to her captor and, possibly, his stalwart management team?

Aw, you guessed it – it’s a love story.

Geoffrey Tennyson wasn’t one of those men who felt sorry for himself because he had a daughter and not a son. He just played the hand life dealt – and spent every moment from the day she was born until the day he died instilling in her his own version of the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition. There simply wouldn’t be a situation that would come up in any business negotiation that Savannah wouldn’t be prepared for.

But then Matthew Kensington enters the equation.

He’s determined to peel back the layers of business acumen and ice cold ruthlessness to find the woman underneath. To anyone else, it would probably seem like an impossible task. But with the right amount of strategic planning, a carefully crafted and briefed team of associates, and the element of surprise, he’s confident that he can pull it off.

Extreme situations call for extreme measures. And what Matt puts Savannah through is definitely intense. But she actually never says ‘no’ to him (or his colleagues), even though he gives her not one but two methods of calling for help if things get to be too much. And he stays right there with her through every single moment.

Nothing tender or sweet about this one but it’s definitely something of an emotional thrill ride.

Reader advisory: Board Resolution is kind of consensual non-consensual, so if that theme pushes any hot buttons, it may be one to avoid.

Tickle your fancy? Click on the following links to buy a copy:

Amazon U.K.

• Board Resolution (Knights of the Boardroom #1) – Kindle

Amazon U.S.

• Board Resolution (Knights of the Boardroom #1) – Kindle

Kobo

• Board Resolution (Knights of the Boardroom #1) – ePub

The post Board Resolution – Joey W. Hill appeared first on Behind the Chintz Curtain.

Title:

I think ‘Unheld Conversations’ would have been a better title for this book.

Jared is a member of an organisation called the Rod and Cane Society. Personally, I prefer to refer to it by its original name when it was founded back in 1937: The He-Man Woman Haters Club. Therefore, throughout the rest of this review, I am going to call it He-Man for short.

So, anyway, the guys in He-Man are all into Domestic Discipline (DD). DD, if you aren’t aware, is a form of relationship where one partner gets to decide if the other partner has done something bad and, if they have, punish them for it – usually with a spanking. It can actually function either way (the Wife can spank the Husband) but that isn’t a He-Man idea. Oh, no. And when I say ‘guys’, I mean ‘guys’; ladies don’t actually get to join He-Man. They have to join the He-Man Ladies Auxiliary. More on that aspect a little later.

He-Man even has a really cool clubhouse. It has two sections: a public section (just like you would expect a ‘Prestigious Fraternal Organization’ to have) but also a way more interesting part the public don’t get to see. All the social functions occur in this private section, and it’s just chock-full of art consisting of freshly spanked, red-bottomed women (tastefully modelled by Ladies Auxiliary Members). Oh, and I should mention the ‘Disciplinary Chamber’. I would tell you more about what happens in there, but I don’t want to give anything away.

Jared meets Melania at a He-Man event. Not held at the clubhouse, obviously, because, well, that would have been a problem. You see, even though Melania knows her father is a member of He-Man and her mother is a member of the Auxiliary, she doesn’t know anything about Domestic Discipline or what He-Man is really about. You see, the first rule of He-Man is that you don’t talk about He-Man. So even though her parents play matchmaker for these two lovebirds they neglect to mention to Melania just what she is getting into.

Now I know what you are thinking: Jared surely wouldn’t enter into a DD relationship without making sure that Melania understood what he wanted? Well, actually … They talk about him being in charge and he does kind of mention that he wants to spank her if she does something really, really naughty, but she doesn’t really think he’s serious.

Of course, eventually she does something that he decides she should be spanked for and … What’s that? He gives her a good old-fashioned brisk hand spanking over his knee? Well, no, actually. He fastens her bottom upwards over his fancy spanking bench with fleece-lined straps and uses his shiny new paddle on her. Perhaps not surprisingly, things kind of go downhill for a while after that.

I am not entirely sure what the Society’s existence was supposed to add to the Unexpected Consequences story. The whole Code of Silence was disturbing. The nametags were condescending. The whole argument that Melania would just come to accept her place over time? I double-checked to make sure I wasn’t reading The Stepford Wives.

Jared was totally ruled by his emotions, spending the entire story either feeling sorry for himself or being angry at Melania. I did think his hunter/gatherer argument had the potential to be compelling – if it were still 25,000 BC. Before he took responsibility for someone else, he really needed to take responsibility for himself first.

I kept waiting for Jared and Melania to actually have a conversation about Domestic Discipline and what they both wanted out of it. I still can’t believe that no such conversation actually occurred. I thought the ending was a case of doing the wrong thing for the wrong reasons.

There are a lot of people outside of the BDSM and spanking communities who would consider Domestic Discipline abuse. I just don’t feel like Unexpected Consequences provides any arguments against that but could actually provide some in favour.

Tickle your fancy? Click on the following links to purchase a copy.

Amazon.co.uk:

• Unexpected Consequences - Kindle

Amazon.com:

The post Unexpected Consequences (Rod and Cane Society #1) – Cara Bristol appeared first on Behind the Chintz Curtain.

Image: Power of Words by Antonio Litterio

Over the past few months, I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know a certain gentleman who writes seriously fabulous book reviews. Honest, insightful and, without fail, interesting. He’s been my writing feedback stalwart and is also one of the mods for my favourite Goodreads group, BDSM. (No doubt, a few of you will have met him already.)

Somehow, despite looking after over 2,000 of us kinksters on Goodreads, me pestering him for critiques, and holding down a full-time job, I’ve managed to twist Michael’s arm into doing some reviews for Chintz – and I’m so pleased, because I really think he’s going to give you some wonderful insights into various books from the BDSM-erotica genre and, hopefully, help you determine which ones you’d like to read.

So look out for his name on future book reviews, and salutations, Michael. I’m delighted to have you!

The post Introducing Michael appeared first on Behind the Chintz Curtain.