Ermine & Bougainvillea by I.D. Locke

 

Ermine & Bougainvillea is a nice little short that is most memorable for the world building.

I've never thought dryads were exceptionally cool before... but now I do. The level of worldbuilding in this relatively short story was top notch.

Here's the blurb:

Wynn is an ermine shifter running for his life from homophobic coyote shifters who took exception to a gay shifter in their territory. He makes it to the safety of a dense tangle of bougainvillea vines where the coyotes can’t follow and falls into exhausted sleep. When he wakes, he discovers that the bougainvillea is actually home to a half-dryad named Etireh who pushes all of Wynn’s arousal buttons without even trying.

Etireh turns out to enjoy some of the same things that Wynn does, namely, Otherworldly gay men with a thing for kink and BDSM who would take pleasure in games of domination and submission. In Wynn, Etireh finds a partner who enjoys being submissive to his dominant and is more than willing to push boundaries and play in ways Etireh barely dared to dream about.

A few things fell flat for me. The introduction of Etireh's mother didn't make much sense. If we'd seen her again later in the story, so she could approve (or not) of Wynn then it would have been different.

And how is Etireh's name pronounced? Authors, if you're going to name your characters something exotic, give us a clue as to pronunciation. Please.

I'm still trying to figure out what didn't work for me with the sex. All of the elements were there... creativity, power exchange, a good balance of pain, some bondage. But it didn't especially work for me. I have no idea why it didn't.

BDSM elements:

• Bondage and Discipline: 2 of 3 for the bondage
• Dominance and Submission: 2 of 3
• Sadism and Masochism: 1 of 3 
• Extra Point: Yes

As for the writing elements:

• The plot was just the story of meeting and then a first sex scene
• Pacing had issues, which is a real problem in a short story
• Prose and dialogue were fine
• Character development was okay, not great, but it was a short story
• World-building was really well done 

I'm going to give Ermine & Bougainvillea a 7 of 10. It was a good story with good characters and great worldbuilding, but it didn't really work for me and I'm having a hard time putting my finger on why it didn't.

• Book Rating: Ermine & Bougainvillea: 7 of 10
• BDSM Intensity Level: 6 of 10
• Heat Level: 2 of 5

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