Title:

A huge apology to Sadey Quinn, Bad Girl Good’s author, who has been waiting super-patiently for me to post our review of this book. As many of you may be aware from my Tumbleweed post, things are slightly chaotic behind the florals at the moment and I’m rather behind on, well, pretty much everything. Hmm. Maybe I need Todd, Bad Girl Good’s male protagonist, to keep me in line…?

MICHAEL’S TAKE

Bad Girl Good is a Domestic Discipline novel. When Chloe breaks one of her boyfriend’s rules, Todd gets to spank her.

Bad Girl Good is a Total Power Exchange novel. Chloe has given control of her life to her Dom, Todd, and he disciplines her when she violates any of his dictates.

Which one of those is accurate? I am still not entirely sure.

I have to say my favourite moment was when Todd spanked Chloe after she left the house and went home. She was drunk but he didn’t just punish her for that. She was stoned but he didn’t just punish her for that. He punished her because he thought she should have and discussed things before she left. In other words, he didn’t approve of her decision-making while she was drunk and stoned. That still makes me laugh.

Personally, I thought Todd was a bit of a jerk. But Chloe liked him and I felt like she needed him. The question really came down to whether Todd loved Chloe more or loved the idea of fixing Chloe more. And did it really matter.

JANE’S TAKE

I don’t normally talk about book covers in my reviews, despite the fact that I tend to be quite swayed by them (yeah, I know you’re not supposed to judge the text by the façade but I’m quite a visual person and often can’t help myself). However, I think Bad Girl Good’s one deserves a mention. It’s sexy. Very, very sexy and – thank God! – there’s not a piece of jewellery, men’s accessory, or a piece of fruit in sight. (Apparently, nothing says ‘sex’ these days like an inanimate object. Yes, Penguin marketing department I am looking at you.)

Right, on to the book itself.

To me, Bad Girl Good is a domestic discipline (DD) novel, although I agree with Michael: it does stray close to TPE at times and I, too, wasn’t sure whether Todd’s hot button was mending the girl or the girl herself.

Let me put it this way: Coldplay’s Fix You could be the theme song to this book – and I’m not entirely sure how comfortable I am with that (no offence to Chris Martin).

Did Chloe need Todd? Yes, I think so. Did she need the discipline he could give her? Probably – and she enjoyed it. (The punishment scene with the clothespins? Hot.) But did Todd need to treat her like a naughty toddler rather than a grown up? In my opinion, no, and, as a result, the way he talked down to her rubbed on me a little.

Bad Girl Good is well written and I suspect that fans of DD are going to love it. For me? As someone who has a marked preference for more clear-cut D/s scenarios and storylines? Well, let’s just say that Sadey’s Spanktastic, which I reviewed a while back (and adored), continues to be my favourite of hers.

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

Amazon.co.uk

• Bad Girl Good – Kindle

Amazon.com

• Bad Girl Good –Kindle

*Please note that a copy of Bad Girl Good was supplied free of charge by the author in exchange for a fair review.

The post Bad Girl Good – Sadey Quinn appeared first on Behind the Chintz Curtain.

The weekend before last, I went to a fete in a small village not far from where I live. It was a typically English affair; loads of families with dogs, stalls groaning with plants, tables laden with household bric-a-brac (mismatched teacups, weird porcelain figures and squat glassware), cottage industry craftsmen and women selling handmade jewellery, soaps and cheeses. I had a great time wandering about chatting to people I knew, eating ice cream and watching the various entertainers perform, including a rather fabulous fire juggler. But the best thing about that fete for me? The attraction that held me for absolutely ages? The stand filled with used books.

Secondhand bookshops and stalls, to me, are the most seductive of creatures. I spot one and it’s a pretty safe bet that you’ll not get a coherent sentence or any sort of conversation out of me until I’ve picked through every rack, box and shelf at least twice – and then a third time to make sure I’ve not missed out on something marvellous that’s been hiding in plain sight. Needless to say, I walked away from that fete with a bagful of paper treasures and, of all things, ‘browsing sunburn’. (Yep, the great golden orb was actually out that day. Virtually unheard of in Britain because if there’s one thing you can count on in this country, it’s that any outdoor event you host or attend will be drizzled, rained and poured upon.)

What did I buy? A load of children’s books, including a vintage copy of Stig of the Dump, and a very tatty but lovely interpretation of Jack and the Beanstalk. The pre-loved gem that pleased me most, though? A dog-eared copy of Judith Krantz’s Till We Meet Again.

What?! I hear you say. Eighties bonk-buster trash? Jane! How could you?

Oh, dear readers, with ease. With ease. You see Till We Meet Again was a landmark book for me. A tome that marked a milestone on this wonderful journey through books and words that I’ve been on – and will be on – for the rest of my life. Seeing it sitting there at that fete reminded me how much it meant to my fifteen-year-old self and my decision to part with the princely sum of thirty pence and buy it was a no-brainer. I had a great time that evening, perusing the text and re-reading certain scenes that I remembered standing out to me over twenty years ago. And, interestingly, those same scenes appealed to me as much, in my mid-thirties, as they did way back when. Which got me thinking:

What would my reading life look like if I mapped it out?

In other words, which books have had the most influence on me at different stages of my life? Are there any discernable patterns and themes that come through when I look back at the titles I’ve got a soft spot for? Are there certain books that I chose as a child that alluded to the stories and genres I now enjoy most as an adult or (more scarily) certain aspects of my mature personality? I have to say, my literary imprint is surprising (and revealing), to say the least.

Behold, Jane’s Life in Books, ages four through twenty …

The Tale of Peter Rabbit – Beatrix Potter
Age read: 4
This is one of the first books I can remember reading all by myself. I loved Beatrix’s illustrations but also the element of danger; would Mr McGregor catch Peter and turn him into rabbit pie?

Where the Wild Things Are – Maurice Sendak
Age read: 4
This should have scared the cr*p out of me but, for whatever reason, it didn’t and I adored it. Naughty Max and all those terrible beasts who wanted to eat him? Deliciously dark and inexplicably appealing.

The Blue Fairy Book – Andrew Lang
Age read: 6
This book sat on a shelf at my grandparents’ house and I used to pull it out every time I visited them. It had a blue cloth cover and was filled with deliciously dark fairy stories that I just couldn’t seem to get enough of. The one that stood out, though? Blue Beard. That awful moment when his new wife disobeys him and she discovers what’s behind the locked door …

Black Beauty – Anna Sewell
Age read: 7
I was horse-mad and this book totally fed my obsession with ponies. However, I think the other reason that Black Beauty appealed was that the emotions expressed in it were so raw and honest. Sewell didn’t shy away from the difficult stuff – cruelty, sickness and death were all strong themes. And I liked that. Liked that the story had the power to make me both smile and cry.

The Halfmen of O – Maurice Gee
Age read: 9
The Halfmen of O? Maurice who? If you’re a Kiwi (or an ex-pat Kiwi like me), I’d be willing to place money on you having read this. Halfmen was my first ‘true’ experience with the fantasy genre and the captor/captive plot line: Susan Ferris, the female protagonist, is dragged into a cave by an old tramp and transported to another world, O, where she is held captive by a brutal race known as the Half-Men. This book, the first in a trilogy, is about her cousin Nick’s attempts to save her and bring her home.

The Valley of Horses – Jean M. Auel
Age read: 11
This one belonged to a friend of mine, Julie, who was as much of a bookworm as I was. We were at the age where sex was a common topic of conversation and she’d promised me that this had some decent shagging in it. I remember ripping through its not inconsiderable number of pages in a matter of days but, interestingly, I found that the sex scenes in it appealed less to me than the hardships suffered by the characters. Reading this made me realise how much I liked plots that featured life or death situations, man versus the elements.

A Town Like Alice – Neville Shute
Age read: 11
My mum bought me this from our local secondhand bookshop. It had a red leather cover and a built-in bookmark made of gold ribbon. She saw it on the shelf and said ‘You’ll like this’. Man was she right.

World War II. Jean Paget, a British expat, is taken prisoner by the Japanese. Unable to decide what to do with her and the other women and children in their possession, the invading forces decide to march them through the Malayan jungle, supposedly to a suitable camp. The weak die, the strong keep going. And in the middle of all this an Australian POW, Joe, takes a shine to Jean and tries to feed her and her companions – with disastrous results. Brutal, romantic … I wanted to move to a farm in the outback after reading it.

Defy the Eagle – Lynn Bartlett
Age read: 14
Defy has a slave/master storyline of epic proportions; Jilana, a Roman noblewoman, is captured by a barbaric Celt, Cadaric, and forced to serve him as he and his countrymen wage war against the Empire. Shackles, human sacrifice, loads of bloodshed. I must have re-read the scene in which Jilana is tied to the back of Cadaric’s wagon about a billion times; that fact that she was forced to depend on him for everything, despite her initial hatred of him, only added to the appeal.

*A full review of Defy the Eagle can be found here.

The Wild Hunt – Elizabeth Chadwick
Age read: 15
Bought in the bargain bin at my local bookstore. My friend S and I went halves and we took turns reading it. The plot? An arranged marriage in which fifteen-year-old Judith, who is terrified of men, is forced to wed Norman nobleman, Guyon FitzMiles. Feuding, fickle kings, loads of sword fights and, of course, sexual discovery. I have continued to buy Elizabeth Chadwick’s books over the years based on the strength of this one. Her attention to historical detail is second to none.

Till We Meet Again – Judith Krantz
Age read: 15
Borrowed from the library. Rediscovered at the fete. The scene I read over and over again as a teenager? The one in which Bruno has sex with Sabine de Koville. At fifteen, I didn’t know or understand why this particular encounter appealed to me so much but in retrospect it’s pretty damn obvious. The encounter is a D/s one. It’s not named as such, doesn’t feature any ‘equipment’ but the power-exchange dynamic is crystal clear. And hellishly hot.

The Flame and the Flower – Kathleen Woodiwiss
Age read: 16
Found in my grandmother’s spare room! Hideously OTT cover, this book is often credited with founding the romance genre. So un-PC it’s not funny (yep, it’s from the hideous ‘rape plot’ era) but shamefully readable. Not least because it has (you guessed it) an element of captor/captive to it. (Are you beginning to see a trend in my reading habits?)

Delta of Venus – Anaïs Nin
Age read: 16 (I think)
Lightbulb moment! My first encounter with ‘pure’ erotica and the point at which I realised how powerful and beautiful the genre could be. This book helped me to understand the importance of the brain when it comes to sex and sexuality. That what turns us on can often be unexpected and unusual.

Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
Age read: 16
Tried reading this at age ten. Hated it. Then revisited it in my teens and fell for the clever, witty writing. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve read this book over the years; it speaks to the romantic in me and, for that reason, never loses its appeal.

The Bone People – Keri Hulme
Age read: 17
One of my all time favourite books. I tried to read it at age thirteen and wasn’t ready – gave up after three chapters. Age seventeen? I devoured it. The Bone People earned me a scholarship grade in my final year exams (it was the title I chose for my fiction essay) and I went on to study it at university, too. Sad, beautiful, and the the way Hulme plays with language is exquisite.

So there you have it, the landmark books of my youth, part one. Is it what you expected? Completely different? Can you see echoes of Chintz in my choices? And I’m curious; what does your reading life look like? Which books appear on your timeline? Can you see your current self in the titles you have selected the way I can?

Part two later this week …

The post My Life in Books (Part One) 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

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Title:

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.

When we first meet Alexis, she’s pretty much resigned herself to the fact that her marriage is, for all intents and purposes, over. In her heart, she doesn’t want it to be (she can’t bring herself to officially end things) but she’s accepted that it’s not working. In fact, she’s doing everything she can to push Rene away from her in an attempt to get him to call time. The problem is, Rene loves his wife – and he’s not about to let her destroy them. He’s tried stepping back and giving Alexis space in an effort to get them back to where they were, but it hasn’t worked and he’s reached his limit. So for one week they’ll do things his way. He’ll assume complete control once more. And if Alex baulks? Well, yeah. Then things really are over.

Verbal sparring, clashes of will, bratty behaviour, delicious punishments – Reclaimed Surrender ticks all the boxes. This erotic story moves at a really good pace and watching Alexis rediscover her submission – and Rene reclaim it – makes for very compelling reading.

‘“You’re a spoiled, self-indulged brat who’s gotten too big for her britches.”
“How dare you!”
“I haven’t finished. Those britches I mentioned? They need to be stripped from you so I can spank your ass until you can’t sit down. How dare I? How dare you?”’

While laced with some incredibly hot play passages – the sublimely cathartic crop scene springs immediately to mind – Reclaimed Surrender also includes beautiful demonstrations of power exchange and submission in their less ‘physical’ forms (specifically, the text message and errand list sequences). This is very much a book about connecting, mentally as well as bodily.

Of course, the backbone theme of Reclaimed Surrender ­­is trust – having it, losing it, getting it back – and the way Riley Murphy articulates and explains the nuances of it within a Dom/sub relationship though her characters is both thoughtful and moving:

‘“ … where a deep trust is perceived to be broken? I can only imagine that this would devastate a fully committed Dom because that would mean his honour comes into question.”’

One final point worth mentioning … There’s a certain human curveball in the Reclaimed Surrender mix – one who keeps you from getting too confident about how it will all end between Rene and Alex. Yet although he was both troubling and obnoxious for most of the book, I unexpectedly warmed to him in the last few pages. In fact, now I must confess to being rather curious about his future. Will Mr Curveball pop up in another of Ms Murphy’s books? I kind of hope so …

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

Amazon.co.uk:

• Reclaimed Surrender - Kindle

Amazon.com:

The post Reclaimed Surrender – Riley Murphy appeared first on Behind the Chintz Curtain.

Title:

I’m beginning to realise that I have a bit of thing for the darker stuff. All of the books I’ve really enjoyed recently have had distinct edges to them; they’ve been the tales that don’t quite sit comfortably and stay with me for hours and days afterwards as I turn the actions of the characters over and over in my head.

Slave definitely falls into the murky category; as the title suggests, it’s not a hearts and flowers read. Rather, it’s a wrenching tale about a girl, Brianna Reeves, who has been forced against her will into a form of modern sexual slavery. A hollow shell, ravaged and scoured – both physically and mentally – by the man she belongs to, Ian Pierce, she is mentally and emotionally buried beneath the weight of the experiences she’s endured at his hands. Enter Stephan, a sexual Dominant who finds that he cannot leave Brianna in the situation he finds her. For although on the surface he inhabits the same world as Ian, his approach, outlook and philosophy on dominance and submission is light-years apart.  The question is, will his sense of caring and compassion be enough to pull Briana out of the deep mental abyss she has fallen into? And if it is, will she be able to accept that the man who helps her is part of a lifestyle that has, thus far, only shown her abuse?

The official synopsis:

‘Stephan has lived the lifestyle of a Dominant for five years. After several rebellious teenage years, it gave him the stability and control he had been seeking after his parent’s death.

As president of a not-for-profit foundation, he knows what his future holds and what he wants out of life. All that changes when a simple lunch with his college friend and mentor, Daren, leads him to buying a slave.

Thrust into a situation he never thought he’d be in, Stephan can’t walk away. He is compelled to help this girl in the only way he knows how.

Brianna knows only one thing, she is a slave. She has nothing. She is nothing.

Can Stephan help Brianna realize that she is much more than just a slave?’

I’ve really struggled to define this book in the sense that it doesn’t easily fit into a single genre category. It could very loosely be termed a romance because Stephan undoubtedly expresses his love for Brianna during the course of the story, but his relationship with her is highly unconventional because of what she has gone through at the hands of Ian. Brianna’s feelings about herself – let alone Stephan – are so muddled that they don’t really allow the tale to fit the romantic canon. Similarly, despite the strong BDSM undertone, Slave doesn’t project itself as a straight-forward erotica – although I should caveat that statement by saying this is the first book in the Finding Anna series and I can undoubtedly see the storyline heading in this direction as it progresses. On a very simplistic level, this book is about rescue. About one human being throwing a somewhat unconventional lifeline to another and hoping that, some day, a positive D/s relationship will grow out of the flotsam that surrounds them.

 ‘Why did the first time I fell in love have to be with a woman who may never be capable of loving me back?’

And so to the characters. Dear God but I adore Stephan. The man is a hero of the first order. Kind, patient, methodical and compassionate, he is disgusted by Ian’s abhorrent treatment of Brianna and the circumstances that led to her being in his possession. Yet the quality that stands out the most for me? His courage. It seems a strange thing to say when it is Brianna and not Stephan who has survived months of horrific abuse but as you read you realise that Stephan is bravely negotiating his way through Brianna’s maze of complex psychological issues, supporting her unconditionally despite familial disapproval of his methods (not to mention his BDSM lifestyle), and attempting to come to terms with his own actions in taking her into his care. Because even though his intent is to rescue Brianna, some of the approaches he has to employ to help her sit very uncomfortably with him. He has a conscience, he has a brain, and the strength to stand up for what he believes in, no matter the personal cost – and how sexy is that?

‘I’m a Dominant, like Ian. But unlike Ian, I do not believe in forced slavery. I want a woman to submit to me because she wants to serve me. Not because she is forced to.’

Brianna, quite simply, made me want to cry. At the start of the book she is picked virtually clean of her humanity and watching her come to understand her change in circumstances – and her growing trust of Stephan – was both heartwarming and heartbreaking.

‘My mind was still racing over what had happened today.

He said he wasn’t upset with me; that I wasn’t in trouble. My first instinct was not to believe him, to think this was some sort of mind game.

But then something changed and my brain took over as I reminded myself he did not lie to me.’

As the synopsis clearly states, Brianna believes she is ‘nothing ‘and it so gratifying to watch her be nurtured by someone who genuinely cares for her and start to grow again. I was absolutely reminded of bare, grey sapling surviving a long cold winter and the first tentative buds of new growth appearing on its branches when Spring, in this case Stephan, finally arrives.

If you’re after a hot and heavy read, Slave isn’t it. It has glimmers of darkly erotic elements (at times I was reminded of Captive in the Dark, which I reviewed back in July) and I suspect Sherri Hayes will explore and flesh out these whispers as the Finding Anna series progresses, but, fundamentally, it requires a fair bit of emotional investment on the part of the reader. You’ll feel like you’ve been through the wringer upon finishing it, although, as I said at the beginning of this review, I don’t personally think that’s a bad thing. There is much to absorb and Slave lays some very fertile ground for future instalments. (Need, book two in the Finding Anna series, has already been released and I bought it approximately three minutes after finishing Slave.)

Get your handkerchief ready.

Tickle your fancy? Click on the following links to buy this book from: Amazon.co.uk (Kindle ; Paperback), Amazon.com (Kindle ; Paperback), Kobo (eBook).

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