The Erotic Dark by Nina Lane

 

The Erotic Dark had a promising premise, but unfortunately, didn't follow through.

The writing style didn't work for me -- too much purple prose for my tastes, and a few times I couldn't focus on what was being said because of the flowery writing. I had to read a couple of the sentences a few times to get what the author was trying to say.

Some of the scenes were hot, but some of them disturbed even me, and it's kind of hard to squick me. It was the childish and taunting humiliation aspects that bothered me more than the lack of a safeword, though two scenes had me wanting to beat the crap out of the Dom bully, for taking things too far.

Here's the blurb:

SUBMISSION IS HER ONLY ESCAPE... And punishment takes many forms. Seeking escape from her criminal past, a desperate woman enslaves herself to a dark trio of men who own an antiquated Louisiana plantation. Known only as Lydia, she becomes controlled by three very different men -- malicious Preston, inflexible Kruin, and gentle Gabriel, all of whom introduce her to a world in which the lines between pleasure, pain, and shame are irrevocably blurred. 

The plantation becomes both Lydia's haven and her prison as she surrenders to the desires of her unholy trinity. Lydia's submission is fraught with tension and hunger, but what happens when the outside world enters her dark, anonymous sanctuary?

BDSM elements:

• Bondage and Discipline: 2 of 3. Lots of discipline, a little bondage. But the discipline in some cases was irresponsible.
• Dominance and Submission: 2 of 3.  Two of the men were Doms, one was just an ill mannered childish bully.
• Sadism and Masochism: 1 of 3. There was plenty of Sadism, too bad she didn't appear to be enough of a masochist to truly enjoy it. 
• Extra Point: No

As for the writing elements, the plot was a nice idea, but had some flaws in the execution.  Pacing was slow. Prose had issues, dialogue was fine. Character development was written well enough, I just didn't like most of the characters. 

• Book Rating: The Erotic Dark: 5 of 10
• BDSM Intensity Level: 5 of 10  (the book is rough, but too much of it doesn't fit my definition of BDSM)
• Heat Level: 2 of 5

The story is basically about four criminals who hide in this luxurious plantation, so they can escape prison sentences. The men are allowed in with, presumably, friendship and money. However, when Lydia wants in, she has to agree to submit to all three men. No safeword, no way to escape what they want to do to her, available to them at all times. The story could have been a good one, but one of the men isn't a Dom, he's an immature jerk focused on making her pay for turning him down when they were teens. Now she can't turn him down, must submit to whatever he wants to do to her. He's not a Dom, he's a bully, and the things he did to her were not arousing in the least.

The Surrender of Persephone by Selena Kitt

 

The Surrender of Persephone is one of those books you should not judge by the cover.  The evil looking guy on top is not the idea I got from the Hero at all, and I have no idea what the red bomb in the jail cell is supposed to symbolize.

However, while the cover isn't working for me, the story (and the storytelling) worked for me in a myriad of ways.

The blurb makes it look like it's more of a non-consent than it actually is. While he certainly doesn't play fair when getting her consent, she does have the final say in whether she loses her virginity or not. I appreciated that.

Here's the blurb:

Sheltered Persephone, Goddess of Spring, never gets to do anything— thanks to the suffocating love of her mother, Demeter. Sephie is being carefully groomed to follow in the footsteps of the two “virgin” goddesses, Athena and Artemis, and while they sure do have a lot of fun together, she longs for something deeper—and darker. When Aidon, the God of the Underworld—generally known as Hades—appears in his chariot to claim Persephone for his bride, the young goddess gets more than she wished for.

Held captive in the Underworld, she suddenly longs to return to the safety and security of her mother’s protection, but the dark and commanding Aidon binds her to him, claiming her bit by glorious bit as his own. Her coming of age is one of sexual awakening as she learns the bondage her new master imposes fulfills her darkest desires. Persephone finds herself submitting to and obeying Aidon’s command and discovers being taken and consumed in the heat of passion by a man—a god—is what she was truly made for. Persephone can’t deny her own nature, or her growing feelings for Aidon, as she submits to his domination and surrenders as his wife and prepares to rule as his Queen.

As she finally admits her own feelings, Persephone faces the looming specter of her history, which threatens to shatter the newly formed bonds between the couple. She must now face not only her past, but her present, and her future—no longer only the Goddess of Spring, but also as the wife of Aidon and Queen of the Underworld—and the choices she will be forced to make will change the world forever.

 I ended up skimming over the sex scene with Athena and Artemis, as it was mostly vanilla lesbian playing around, and vanilla doesn't do anything for me. It was still well written, just not my thing. Once Aiden comes into the picture I skimmed through nothing.

BDSM elements:

• Bondage and Discipline: 2 of 3
• Dominance and Submission: 3 of 3.
• Sadism and Masochism: 2 of 3. 
• Extra Point: Yes

As for the writing elements:

• The plot was wonderful.
• Pacing was fine.
• Prose and Dialogue were skillfully woven together.
• Character development was exceptionally well done.
• World-building was detailed and imaginative and I loved it.

I enjoy many of Selena Kitt's BDSM books, and I think The Surrender of Persephone is one of the best she's written. It's got a big strong all-powerful Dom who is fair and kind as well as tyrannical and sadistic. And his bride ends up being pretty much perfect for him. They are a perfect match.

• Book Rating: The Surrender of Persephone: 10 of 10
• BDSM Intensity Level: 8 of 10
• Heat Level: 5 of 5

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Punished by Brynn Paulin

 

Punished is yet another office romance. Another secretary who doesn't have a clue her boss is kinky, and another boss who has no clue his secretary is kinky, until fate intervenes to show them. In this case fate takes the form of said secretary paying at a club to be spanked, and her boss being the one being paid to spank her.

Here's the blurb:

Prim Natalia Cooper lives life on the straight and narrow, never veering into naughty territory. But she wants to. One night, years ago, her boyfriend gave her a few swats on the rear as part of their sex play and she loved it. She wants more. But he’s long gone and she hasn’t been spanked since. When she learns of a club where she can get exactly what she needs—anonymously—she’s so turned on and ready she can hardly bear it.

For Ethan Tavish, The Dungeon has served as a place to exert his dominance without making lasting commitments. He can hardly believe his eyes when he enters the play area to find his secretary, Natalia, bent over the spanking bench in a schoolgirl uniform. They’re both masked, but he’d recognize her anywhere. In an instant, he has a plan to give them what they both want…and perhaps a whole lot more.

My problems with the story:

• Ethan starts things at work, which is unprofessional and disrespectful. He had no way of knowing how she would feel about him, personally. He should have asked her out for dinner, or asked her to have a coffee with him, and talked to her about it that way. Until they communicated things and reached a level of consensuality, some agreed upon power exchange, then he had no right ordering her around. 
• The "conflict" was a bit contrived, and then was extended out longer than it should have been because of miscommunication. Conflict due to miscommunication is a personal pet peeve of mine, especially when it's from snapping shut a cellphone because you don't want to hear the rest of what the person has to say. 
• I've spoken before about people who meet and agree to marry after only a few dates - another pet peeve. 
• Oh, and to start out with a belt at full strength the second time you spank someone, in an office where people will hear if you make a noise with your voice... come on, belts make noise when they strike flesh -- that scene was so wrong for so many reasons. 
• And finally, they never discussed pregnancy or STD's and no condom was used.

What I liked: Natalia didn't try to deny what turned her on. Once she realized what she wanted, she accepted it and didn't fight with herself about it. She was also honest with Ethan when he asked her questions. I liked that Ethan was a nice guy who could be rough when the situation called for it, and that he made sure of her safeword before he got rough with her. 

BDSM elements:

• Bondage and Discipline: Yes, but nothing major. 1 of 3
• Dominance and Submission: Yes. 2 of 3
• Sadism and Masochism: Sort of, but it's all spanking and a bit of rough sex, I'm not sure it was actual S&M as much as a spanking fetish on both parts. Not that there's anything wrong with a spanking fetish, I don't want to give that impression. I'm just pointing out that a spanking fetish doesn't necessarily point to S&M.  1 of 3.
• Extra Point: No

As for the writing elements, the plot was kind of a tired old plot for me. And very predictable. Punished was a short story so the pacing was mostly fine. Prose and dialogue were okay. Character development was sufficient for a short story.

• Book Rating:Punished:  5 of 10
• BDSM Intensity Level:  4 of 10
• Heat Level: 2 of 5

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