Top BDSM books of 2010

 

On the BookSeriesReviews site I restricted myself to books published in 2010, and I'm going to give myself the same restrictions over here. This list comprises the books published in 2010 that I've read and reviewed. Clicking on the numbered titles will take you to my review of that book. Clicking on the book images will take you to Amazon's page for that book (or the publisher's page if it's not available at Amazon).

1. As She's Told by Anneke Jacob

As She's Told wins hands down. Anneke Jacob managed to create an extreme BDSM tale that was an incredible read. It is the story of how far you can take a 24/7 relationship. One where there are no negotiations, no safewords -- consentual non-consent. Ms. Jacob managed to get the emotions and the mental stuff just right. And the physical stuff was... Wow.

2. Deviations: Safe Words (Deviations book 5) by Chris Owen and Jodi Payne

I fell in love with Noah and Tobias from the first book in this series, and I've enjoyed their journey through the five books in the Deviations series. I'm hoping for a sixth book.

If you are interested in this series then you should start with the first book, Deviations: Submission.

3. Owned And Owner by Anneke Jacob

Anneke Jacob gave us consensual-nonconsent total ownership in As She's Told.  In Owned and Owner she explores the same types of things, but this time with non-consent. It's a fantasy, written on another world so we don't have to deal with the legalities of owning humans on this world. And the world-building on this other world is pretty interesting. But it is the ownership, and the level of BDSM attained, that is the story here.

It's almost a hetero version of What Worse Place Can I Beg In Your Love?, without the twist at the end. The key points are there - caged when your owner doesn't have time for you, no understanding of the language being spoken around you, used as a sexual object, never treated as a person. One of the biggest points in both books is that, because it's a different planet and different life form, the "pet" is not just treated as an animal, but is actually seen as an animal... a lesser life form.

Both of Ms. Jacobs' works made it so high in the ratings in part because of mental explorations. Sure, the physical parts are important (and well written), but it's the mental gymnastics, the thought processes involved in these scenarios that engaged me.

4. Comfort Food by Kitty Thomas

Remaining on the non-consent theme, Kitty Thomas gives us the story of a woman kidnapped and then systematically trained to subservience.  Comfort Food is a deeply disturbing book -- one I couldn't put down, and one I highly recommend if you enjoy the psychology behind being owned by someone -- the psychology of what it takes to get you from independent personality to someone who is completely and totally owned - physically, mentally, emotionally.

This is not a blow-by-blow book. There is very little sex, and very little of the typical BDSM type of activities. There is punishment, but it's not the norm: chicken noodle soup becomes punishment.  Rather than the physical acts being the focus, the psychology of what is happening is the focus.

Comfort Food is a very well written book, enough so that I've wondered if this might be a mainstream author who wanted to stretch her creative wings a bit and chose to do so under a pen name. Wouldn't be the first time it's happened -- Pam Rosenthal gave us Carrie's Story and Safe Word under the pen name Molly Weatherfield. And let us not forget Ann Rice and A.N. Roquelaure.

5. Duck! by Kim Dare

It's no secret that I enjoy a good urban fantasy, and Duck! is in this list because of a mixture of the D/s and the detailed worldbuilding Ms. Dare builds for us.

I loved the descriptions of shifting from human form to bird form and back again. I enjoyed the experience of coming back to human form -- the need to hear words in order for the human part of the brain to come to the forefront again.  Then, later, sex right after coming back from bird form, when the human wasn't entirely in charge just yet, the idea of that hawk brain taking control while in a human body. Yum.

The D/s is pretty complete in the story, and that combined with a retelling of The Ugly Duckling - it's just an all around charming story with a very satisfying ending. I would love for Ms. Dare to explore this world some more, as I thoroughly enjoyed it.

6.  Beyond Eden by Kele Moon

Beyond Eden grabs you on the first page and doesn't let up until you reach the end. The depth of the characters, the knowledge of how BDSM relationships can work, there are many reasons why Beyond Eden worked for me.   The BDSM is both tender and harsh. And we see both extremes - extremely tender, and so harsh that blood flows from a whipping.  The Dom is a caring Dom, I would almost go so far as to call him a Service Dom. He does the cooking - he's the nurturer.  Ms. Moon is working on a sequel, entitled Claiming Eden, and I will grab it as soon as it's available.

7. Deep in the Woods by Annabel Joseph

As a side note, If Annabel Joseph's Comfort Object had been released in 2010 it would be pretty high on this list. But, it was released in 2009.

Deep in the Woods is a charming story of healing, growth, and love, all wrapped up in a nice warm D/s relationship that happens to have a Sadist and a Masochist in it.

I enjoyed the physical parts of the book, but I also enjoyed the mental journey. Parts of the book were hard to read, the emotions that were stirred up weren't always pretty. But that's okay, because the ending was very satisfying. And we get to see the couple again, in the future, in Fortune (look down a few spots, it's on the list, too).

8. Master of the Abyss by Cherise Sinclair

Master of the Mountain was released last year, and was an enjoyable book. Master of the Abyss is a stand-alone sequel, and was a very nice read.

I loved that Kallie was this strong woman capable of handling herself in just about any situation, and that she didn't argue too much with herself over her desire to submit to Jake.

And I loved that Jake showed her respect while he Dominated her. He didn't let her get away with anything, he was quick to give punishments when needed... but he didn't expect her to be okay with something just because he said so.

The two characters seemed to be opposites at first glance, but they worked great together once it started happening.   

9. Fortune by Annabel Joseph

We first met Ryan in Deep in the Woods, he was a fun guy and a pretty serious dominant. And a great friend. We get to know him a whole lot better in Fortune.

The whole set up worked for me. The "vanilla" woman who is really submissive and a touch masochistic but never realized it. Authors have to be careful with that or it doesn't work. Annabel Joseph made it work. Quite well.

I appreciated the levels of consent in place throughout the book. I also appreciated the way the BDSM was integrated into real life. And the way the relationship progressed. This is a love story, a romance. Sure, it's between a Dom and a sub. But it's also between a doctor and a translator. A man and a woman.

10. Willing Victim by Cara McKenna

Willing Victim isn't really BDSM, it's a couple who enjoy rough sex and fantasy rape play.  There is a safe word, and the Top is very careful about staging things so the fantasy is there but it doesn't go too far.

The couple starts out just a little rough and then work their way up to some pretty rough stuff. Nothing that leaves marks, but still, some of it gets intense. 

The nice thing about this particular story and situation is that Flynn is a boxer. Laurel watches him get punched in the face by people who weigh more than twice her weight, so she doesn't have to hold back when she slaps him or hits him -- she can fight back full force without worrying about hurting him, and without worrying about actually getting away from him. And he's strong enough, and in control of himself enough, that it's safe to do that -- he can control her without actually hurting her.

Owned And Owner by Anneke Jacob

 

Owned And Owner is a fantasy story of total slavery, and is a journey from human mindset to animal.

It's almost a hetero version of What Worse Place Can I Beg In Your Love?, without the twist at the end. However, Owned and Owner actually goes a good bit farther with the whole Pet thing. Still, the key points are there - caged when your owner doesn't have time for you, no understanding of the language being spoken around you, used as a sexual object, never treated as a person. One of the biggest points in both books is that, because it's a different planet and different life form, the "pet" is not just treated as an animal, but is actually seen as an animal... a lesser life form.

Enough of the comparisons. It sounds wrong to say I enjoyed Owned And Owner, but I did. Sure, there were parts that didn't work for me, but not that many, actually. It wasn't as hard for me to deal with as the other book I've read by Anneke Jacob, As She's Told. The main reason for that is that Owned And Owner is pure fantasy, it takes place on another planet.

Owned And Owner is not romance. Not one single bit of romance. That's okay, not every man who buys a woman as a pet has to fall romantically in love with said woman. There is an attachment there, something you could define as love... maybe. But more like the way I love my dog, nothing like the way I love my husband. If you need romantic attachment in order for the BDSM to work for you then beware that there is none.  As the title says, it's a straight up Owned and Owner relationship.

I appreciated that we saw some of the other slaves on Henth, saw that each Owner had a completely different way they treated their slaves, completely different set of rules.

Before I get much farther, here's the blurb:

BDSM Fantasy Erotica. A story of unconditional slavery, told from inside a woman's bound and naked skin.

Far in the future exists a world of men, a planet where the only women are rare and exotic pets. These few women, convicted of crimes, have chosen their punishment: slavery on Henth. The few men who buy them know what they are getting: eager submissives, willing to accept the status of animals in order to be owned by men. Etrin is a young woman who makes this choice; Garid is the man who buys her. Their story is one of dominance and submission taken as far as the imagination can go.

Long prior to the time of the book, Henth's colonizers split along gender lines, and the women removed themselves to a separate planet. The two societies have almost lost sight and memory of each other, except for the rare occasions when a woman chooses slavery on Henth over the alternative punishment on her home planet. Driven by a deep need for submission, Etrin pushes her misbehaviour year after year, knowing that she ll eventually be sent to Henth.

When finally convicted and sentenced for her crimes, the bound Etrin is overwhelmed by her first contact with the men on the planet Henth. Soon transferred to the care of animal handlers, she is caged for transport along with the other exotic pets, and prepared for the auction that will determine her new owner. Once Garid purchases his new pet, Etrin goes through stages of acceptance and the relinquishment of self as she faces the strict demands required of her. Meanwhile, Garid, driven and possessive, establishes a sense of ownership strong enough that he is finally able to share her. Readers learn of Etrin's struggles in the form of first-person introspection, and Garid's as he talks with his friend Therin, another dominant.

This beautifully crafted novel delves deeply into the psychology and emotions associated with dominance and submission. Graphic sexual content.

The thing that sets Garid apart from the other "owners" is that he isn't happy with mere physical submission, he wants his slave's emotional and mental submission. He wants her to lose language, to just be an animal who responds to a few simple one-word commands.

The slave/pet had a choice of punishments for her crimes, she is the one who chose slavery on Henth. In fact, she kept getting in trouble until that became one of her options. When she learned of the option she became obsessed with the idea. Once she's on Henth though, there is no choice anymore, no turning back.

There are many similarities between Owned And Owner and As She's Told: pony play, around the clock 24/7 bondage, and most importantly, extreme orgasm denial while being almost constantly aroused. As I said in my review of As She's Told, my body would have found another way, so after a certain point the chastity belt thing didn't work for me. It worked a little better for me here, where there was still severe punishment for orgasms... but my brain wanted to argue with the book as I read that there were dildos in both holes as well as attention paid to breasts, but because the clitoris got no attention then an orgasm was impossible.

One sort of humorous part of the book -- Henth is a planet of men, with no women other than the few slaves sold there as pets (they use artificial wombs, not sure how it works, but supposedly it does). Anyway, homosexuality is the norm on Henth, so when the Owners have to admit to their families that they are *gasp* heterosexual, explain it's just the way they are wired, something they can't help, and there are worries about their jobs and such, it's kind of funny. 

BDSM elements:

• Bondage and Discipline:Taken as far as it can be taken. 3 of 3
• Dominance and Submission: Probably taken farther than it should be taken, but it's fantasy and it worked for me. 3 of 3
• Sadism and Masochism: Again, taken pretty far, though with some of the more extreme stuff we're just told what happens and not given a blow by blow description. Still, it gets a 3 of 3
• Extra Point: Yes, the BDSM is an intrinsic part of the story.

As for the writing elements, the plot was obviously crafted around where the author wanted to take the fantasy, but it worked well so that's okay. The pacing had issues from about 70% of the way through all the way to the end. Prose and dialogue were good, and character development worked well within the story. It's not often I talk about world-building in a BDSM book review, but there was world-building here and it was also well done.

I'm wavering back and forth between a 9 of 10 and a 10 of 10. The pacing issues were a problem for me, as was the believability with the orgasm denial where a woman can be stimulated for hours every day and yet go more than six or eight months without being allowed a single orgasm. But more than that... Owned and Owner is really just the fantasy version of As She's Told.  But, this isn't a series, so shouldn't I rate each book separately? Both books are an exploration of the psychology behind what it takes for a person to lose their autonomy, to become an object not just physically, but mentally and emotionally as well. And they both do a very good job of exploring this issue. They are both good books, both exploring the same subject matter from a slightly different angle.

And I had more conflict in my head with some of the events of As She's Told, where there were opportunities to stop things once they got started. But with Owned and Owner, once the decision is made to be sold on Henth, there is no going back, no way to change her mind about being a slave. It was fantasy, and thus it was easier for me to enjoy some of the subjugation when framed in the "fantasy" bubble.

So, yeah, I guess it gets a 10 of 10. It is a very well written book, after all.

Book Rating: Owned and Owner: 10 of 10
Heat Level:  5 of 5
Intensity Level:  10 of 10

You should only read Owned And Owner if you enjoy serious BDSM that includes all aspects (B&D, D/s, S&M), including heavy pain and way more control over someone than most people can come up with in their wildest imagination. If it made sense to give a higher heat level and intensity level, just to get across how intense, and how hot, things get, then I would. But the math geek in me just can't give a 7 of 5 or a 12 of 10.

I enjoyed Owned and Owner. As always, your mileage may vary.
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As She's Told by Anneke Jacob

 

As She's Told is the story of how far you can take a 24/7 relationship. One where there are no negotiations, no safewords. We start out with the basic power exchange conundrum: If there are negotiations, then it's just a game. The submissive isn't really giving up true uncontested power, he or she is just negotiating to get what they want. A true power exchange would not have negotiations. Actual slaves don't get to negotiate.

In real life, most of us need to negotiate our hard limits, though the fantasy of not being able to do that is occasionally there. I realize there are some people who eventually get to the place where they give up all of their hard limits, but that generally happens as a process, and takes a dozen or more years. As She's Told takes place over a less than two year period of time, and by the end she is pretty much totally objectified. I don't think I'm giving spoilers by saying that, as the blurb pretty much says the same thing:

Take two caring, thoughtful individuals with some highly unusual sexuality, let their paths cross, and watch how far their obsession takes them. That's the essence of this story about an intense bdsm relationship: extreme, loving, creative, steeped in imagination, embedded in the real world. What emerges is a passionate, private sexual reality, in which the balance of power tips only one way.

Maia and Anders want nothing less than total power exchange, without games, negotiations or safewords. Any pretence is out of the question; for both of them the power relationship has to be as genuine as it is absolute, but Anders is more than aware of the risks to inexperienced Maia if she should be wrong about what she can handle. Early on, he steers a careful line between games and gobbling her up. His ownership is established step by step through conditioning, painful consequences, humiliation and constant bondage, and before long, Maia finds walking away has become inconceivable.

Anders keeps his slave increasingly 'like an animal on a very short tether' something to which she struggles to adjust, in a continuous state of terror and joy His love of technology takes some interesting turns, particularly around orgasm control, teasing and denial. The intensification of Maia's enslavement is balanced by the pair's affection, sense of humour and intelligent conversation, and by the real world of work and friends. Some of these friends become integrated into the meage one way and another, and help Anders create the setting in which Maia's uttermost submission can flower. Graphic BDSM content.

I appreciate the levels of consent that Anders keeps in place, even when Maia does not want those layers in place. While I would not want this for my life, the fantasy of it is still hot, as well as interesting on an intellectual level. And I really enjoyed hearing, feeling, and exploring the psychology of what happens to Maia as she gets farther and farther away from being a human, with the basic rights and expectations that humans have.

I also appreciated the character building that shows us that this is truly Maia's choice to be an actual slave, and that if her opinion about what happens to her were to be inquired about then it would not work for her. The whole point is that she not have a say in anything. At all. We see her struggling to accept the things done to her, see some anger at some of what is done to her, see her punished when she doesn't immediately obey. It's a very believable set up.

BDSM elements:

• Bondage and Discipline: Oh, yes. A 3 of 3. Much bondage, both the leather and metal variety as well as the technology kind. (Think electric butt plug at a crowded music festival, so you can't get more than a foot and a half away from your master without being shocked. In public, where you can't react like you've just been shocked. That is technological bondage.) Maia is in constant bondage of one sort or another for at least a year and a half of the book. Even when she is at work she is in a corset type harness under her clothes, and, later, much more.
• Dominance and Submission: Yes, taken farther than most books take it - As She's Told is in the same ballpark as Carrie's Story, and Mr. Benson, and Story of O. Possibly even the Beauty series, though As She's Told is reality and Beauty was fantasy, as much of what was done in the Beauty series would kill someone. Still, it's the same basic emotional intensity.  D/s is 3 of 3
• Sadism and Masochism: Yes, also taken to the extreme. 3 of 3

As for the writing elements, the plot is an excellent plot - the story of how far you can take a 24/7 power exchange that, by design, allows for no negotiations or limits. This is a very long book, and there are some pacing issues, but not so much that I'm going to take any points off. The prose and dialogue are excellent, as is the character development.

As She's Told is one of those books that I will eventually need to read again. It's even one that I may pull out and read through parts of when my wonderful husband is out of town and I need... assistance.

There is one thing that bothered me, made the believability tough on me, and that revolves around female orgasm denial. Our Maia must have clitoral stimulation in order to orgasm, so her Master locks her clit up with no access to it in order to keep her from orgasming. Most women I know (who I talk to about these things) can orgasm in at least two of the three main ways we woman orgasm: clitoral, vaginal, anal. And I know someone who has been trained to orgasm when the side of her throat is stroked a few times and then her Master orders her to come. The body adapts, nerve endings re-route themselves. Just as your hearing gets better when you lose your sight for an extended period of time - if you shut down access to the nerves in the clitoris then the body will move those resources elsewhere. So while the orgasm denial worked for me at first, eventually it no longer worked for me because my body would have long since found another way. Especially since  by that point she wasn't being punished for orgasms, if she could have one she was welcome to it, Anders made it his responsibility to keep them at bay, not hers. (Select the spoiler text to view it.)

Even with that though, I'm not going to knock any points off. I'm going to give As She's Told a 10 of 10. Easily a 10 of 10.

Book Rating: As She's Told: 10 of 10
Heat Level: 5 of 5
BDSM Intensity Level: 10 of 10

Would you enjoy As She's Told?

• If objectification bothers you, then no. You would likely not. The objectification is extreme. And we see it from the Tops' point of view as well as Maia's point of view. It worked for me, but I realize there are some people who will have a serious problem with it.
• If not having a safeword bothers you, even if it is the submissive's choice to not have a safeword, then... maybe, maybe not. There are opportunities for safewords - nightly, then weekly, then monthly, then every six months, and eventually they are working towards yearly -- if you want out, here's your chance, if not then there is no chance until the next scheduled chance.
• If true punishments bother you, the kind that leaves marks that stay for weeks, or that involve putting the submissive in the cold basement in a small metal box for the better part of a day, then you probably wouldn't enjoy As She's Told.
• If you hated Carrie's Story and Safe Word or just couldn't deal with Story of Othen you won't enjoy As She's Told.

If, on the other hand, you enjoyed those books, enjoy the psychology behind objectification, enjoy punishments that are true punishments, and have a thing for pretty much constant bondage that there is absolutely no way to get out of, then by all means get As She's Told and devour it. It's a very well written, brain candy sort of book as well as... ummm, other kind of candy...  sort of book. Not one you want to read in public, unless you want to embarrass yourself.