Sally Bend's Blog, page 19

Book Review: A Season for Bliss by Golden Angel (romance)

Title: A Season for Bliss
Author: Golden Angel
Publication Date: November 17, 2023 by Golden Angel LLC
Genres: Romance
Protagonist Gender: Female

With this being my first Golden Angel read, I wasn’t aware of the Society of Sin or what goes on there, but suffice to say, now I want to read all of her historical romances! A Season for Bliss is a historical romance that hits all the right beats when it comes to costumes, manners, dress, and protocol, but adds a deeper layer to it, one that explores gender roles and gender expectations.

Miss Priscilla Bliss and Lord Joseph Stuart are newly married, and actually in love. Theirs is neither an arranged marriage nor a formality of business or inheritance. Despite being very amorous, they sleep in separate bedrooms, and Priscilla feels as if there are secrets her husband is keeping from her. It isn’t until friends of hers conspire to invite her to her first Society of Sin meeting, though, knowing that Joseph will be there, that she discovers the truth.

Much of what I loved about this is that it’s not just a female domination fantasy, but one that considers the reality of such a relationship given the morals and attitudes of the time. Submission to one’s spouse is seen as something very feminine, not at all becoming of a man, and Joseph is terrified that his wife will think less of him should she discover his desires. What he doesn’t know, however, is that she feels just as out-of-place, preferring to be in control, and – as she discovers – to be the one doling out punishment. It’s a wonderful story about communication, exploration, and mutual fulfillment, with some deliciously sexy scenes along the way.

A Season for Bliss was, quite literally, everything I was hoping for and more. The writing is lovely, the characters immediately endearing, and the flow of the story perfect for drawing the reader in, teasing them along, and providing satisfaction. Knowing the secrets revealed at the end, I’m excited to give A Season for Desire a read next!

Rating: 1/2

Can’t-Wait Wednesday: A Pirate’s Life for Tea by Rebecca Thorne (romantasy)

Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted here to spotlight and discuss the books we’re excited about that we have yet to read. Generally they’re books that have yet to be released. Find out more here.

My choice for this week is technically a reprint, but it sounds absolutely delightful, and the Bramble line hasn’t let me down yet!

A Pirate’s Life for Tea

by Rebecca Thorne
Fantasy, Romance, Cozy Mystery
384 pages, Paperback
October 1, 2024 by Bramble

While searching for stolen dragon eggs, newly engaged couple Kianthe and Reyna find themselves smack-dab in the middle of a swashbuckling love story.

On one side is Serina, a failed farmer turned river pirate. Her booty? Wheat, grains, and the occasional jar of imported tea leaves. It’s quite the embarrassment to Diarn Arlon, the powerful lord of the Nacean River, and he’ll conscript anyone to bring her to justice. Especially Kianthe, the elemental mage who just crashed his party, and her somewhat-scary fiancée.

Begrudgingly, the couple joins forces with Bobbie, one of Arlon’s constables–who happens to be Serina’s childhood friend. Bobbie is determined to capture the pirate before anyone else, but it would be a lot easier if Serina didn’t absolutely loathe her now.

As Kianthe and Reyna watch this relation-shipwreck from afar, it quickly becomes apparent that these disaster lesbians need all the help they can get. Luckily, matchmaking is Reyna’s favorite past time. The dragon eggs may have to wait.

Goodreads

Book Review: What Was Meant to Be by Heather Guerre (romance)

Title: What Was Meant to Be
Author: Heather Guerre
Publication Date: September 3, 2023
Genres: Romance
Protagonist Gender: Female/Male

Like its main character, What Was Meant to Be is far more than the cover blurb would have you believe: a thoughtful alternative-lifestyle romance that masks itself as a mainstream arranged-marriage romance. In fact, were it not for a recommendation from Miss Pearl – who also turned me on to His Secret Illuminations – I would have never given this a second glance.

Heather Guerre’s small-town romance not only features a neurodivergent (autistic) main character, but also incorporates a gentle femdom relationship, and manages to do both with absolute perfection. Three pages into meeting her, just nine pages into the book, and I knew Rain and I were going to connect.

“She wasn’t very social, and she was unavoidably weird. She didn’t like change. She didn’t like unknowns. She didn’t like upheaval.”

Boom! I felt seen and heard, right there. I saw myself on the page, and I knew that somebody out there understood. And it’s not just one thing, one token gesture towards incorporating autism, but the first of a long and lovely pattern woven throughout the entire book.

“She wasn’t very social, and she was unavoidably weird. She didn’t like change. She didn’t like unknowns. She didn’t like upheaval.”

I want this on a shirt so, when I’m forced to socialize, people know what they’re getting into!

“She liked almond croissants; she just didn’t like the texture contrast of random little stabby bits of almond mixed in with flaky pastry and soft frangipane filling.”

Personally, I don’t like almost croissants, but I do know the horror of texture. Something can look, smell, and even taste magnificent, but if the texture makes me cringe or gag, we’re done.

“The feeling of a serged edge made her want to peel her own skin off.”

Again, yes! Texture isn’t just about what’s in my mouth, but about what’s touching my skin. It’s precisely why I’d rather watch my skin turn blue on a cold, snowy day than suffer a pair of pants.

“Rain didn’t have the patience to play at being normal today.”

I could go on and on. Seriously, I have so many other examples of finding myself in the story, but show a little more patience than Rain, stop hyperfixating, and try to get back to a ‘normal’ review.

Given how much the book hinges on the arranged marriage aspect, I thought Guerre did a wonderful job of explaining it, justifying it, and exploring it. For Wes, it’s all about a land transaction, and for Rain, it’s all about giving her time and space to find her way in the world. It’s so incredibly awkward, with a major clash of personalities, that the personal conflict would normally be too much for me, but I loved Rain so much that I wanted (needed) it to work. Perhaps that’s why I got so angry and frustrated with Wes, so impatient with his ignorant assumptions and snap judgments. He was told by Rain’s father that she’s autistic, and his brothers are on the spectrum, so he should be so much better at all of this, and it upsets me that he’s not.

Fortunately, Rain develops a support system, managing to find a best friend, a new friend, a mother figure – not bad for an autistic woman, coming from a sheltered life, who admits to being horrible at making friends. I’d love to have someone like Ashlyn or Renee to lean on and confide in, and the fact that Guerre makes them so loveable is fabulous.

Getting back to the gentle femdom aspect, I was shocked by how suddenly it came on, yet delighted by why it developed. It’s almost exactly halfway through the book (give or take a few pages) where the hints we’ve seen of the steel within Rain finally come to the surface – and where Wes’s need to be confronted with that steel is revealed.

“But then Rain’s hand slid up the back of his neck to fist in his hair. She tugged, hard, and the chaos in Wes’s mind went totally quiet.”

Given I spent so much of the book not liking Wes very much, I have to give Guerre credit for exploring his need for submission with compassion and understanding. I saw something of myself in him as well, a craving to put the stresses and worries and anxieties and responsibilities of the day aside and embrace that quiet, and I can tell you it rings as true as Rain’s autism. That being said, he doesn’t deal at all well with this turning point – in fact, he’s rude, cold, and belligerent the day after – and that swings me right back to aggravation. The erotic power exchange is what ultimately leads to the realization of feelings, which is where the real challenge comes in, but getting there did try my patience at times.

What Was Meant to Be isn’t quite perfect, but it’s damned good, and for all Wes’s faults, the story is already destined for my books-to-revisit shelf when I feel the need to walk hand-in-hand with Rain all over again.

Rating: 1/2

Freebie Friday – Putting the TG in TGIF!

Well, if it’s Friday, then it must be time to bend our way into the weekend with Freebie Friday!

Every Friday I search through the free titles on Amazon, looking for those that might be of interest to similarly bent readers, fans, and lovers. Even if you don’t have a Kindle, you can still download the titles through one of Amazon’s free reading applications.

Please do be sure to check the price before downloading anything, as most freebies are limited time offers, and some are specific to certain regions.

Enjoy!

Book Review: Sky Trained by Caroline Waters (erotica)

Title: Sky Trained
Author: Caroline Waters
Publication Date: June 16, 2022
Genres: Erotica
Protagonist Gender: Female

Have you ever picked up a book and wondered what you’ve gotten yourself into? I mean, rubber/latex fetishes, hucows, ponygirls, and mind control are all super fun subjects, but are they enough to sustain a whopping 450+ page read? Well, weave in some superheroes, a little family drama, explorations of desire, and confrontations with inhibition, and the answer – in the case of Sky Trained – is a resounding yes!

I genuinely enjoyed this novel, so much so that I took my time with it, making it my go-to bedtime read, limiting myself to savoring a chapter at a time . . . until the twists started dropping and I devoured the last 150 pages in an evening. Caroline Waters knows how to tell a story, establish characters, and build an erotic scene. I was equal parts fascinated and aroused reading this, and regularly surprised that I was still reading it, that it hadn’t become familiar or repetitive. That’s a testament to how Waters gets inside her characters’ heads, really allowing us to experience their emotional journeys.

There’s such a fantasy wish-fulfillment aspect to this book that speaks so strongly to the submissive in me, and that’s deliberate. As Mistress Moon so often points out, some people crave freedom from the cares and stresses of the world, the freedom to enjoy the erotic pleasures of becoming a pampered cow or pony, and there should be no shame in that. In fact, for a novel about superheroes and supervillains, mind control, brainwashing, and erotic addiction, free will is key to it all. Mistress Moon is willing to push the limits and encourage her subjects, but they must ultimately choose to become part of the herd.

The most fascinating part of Sky Trained that I can’t talk about is the series of twists in the final act. I honestly did not see them coming, and not only did Waters make the what of it all plausible, she justifies the how and the why as well. In fact, the story shifts three times along the way, and I think that is part of what keeps it so fresh and entertaining. The cast of characters keeps growing, and new subplots evolve as the story grows, until we find ourselves part of a kinky community.

Really, the only thing Sky Trained was missing for me was the presence of a transgender hucow or ponygirl, although nothing in the story says they can’t be a part of the island, so I choose to believe they were there and we just didn’t meet them. This was so much fun, such a glorious indulgence of fetish and fantasy, and I dare say I may be just as addicted to Caroline Waters’ words as to her cows’ milk.

Rating: 1/2

Book Review: The Femdom Felony by Thomas Moffatt (erotic thriller)

Title: The Femdom Felony
Author: Thomas Moffatt
Publication Date: March 16, 2020 by Compelling Tale Publishing
Genres: Thriller
Protagonist Gender: Male

On the surface, The Femdom Felony may seem like an odd read, an unusual mix of genres and subjects, but it’s precisely the kind of book I wished we saw more of in the market. Thomas Moffatt has crafted a mystery/thriller that deals with alternative energy and climate change on the one hand, and an erotic thriller that deals with marginalized communities and social stigma on the other. It’s not a book about BDSM and LGBTQIA communities, but one that naturally and sensitively incorporates them into the story in the same way other authors weave in sports fans, computer geeks, fashionistas, or the differently abled.

Jay is a happy, well-adjusted masochist with a good job in the IT field who just happens to spend 3 days a week as a live-in submissive to a dominant woman known as the Catwoman – or did, because by page 2 we find out she’s dead . . . and he’s a suspect. And that’s where our story kicks off, searching for answers as to who killed her and why, which naturally involves attending several BDSM functions to question those who saw her last, and which eventually branches out into the world of energy and climate activism through people who cross communities. And that is a perfect example of the inclusivity here – the BDSM community isn’t pigeonholed or siloed as something else, a group of freaks or deviants who stand alone, but as just another community that incorporates friends, neighbors, and colleagues from all walks of life.

The element of climate activism is really the only place where Moffatt allows himself a little commentary, with observations about the dangers of mining and the fact that wide swaths of sun-drenched lands would be perfect for solar farms, but the province chooses not to use them. Even that is soft commentary, however, and he fairly explores the impact of climate and energy on those in the province who depend on the industry for their livelihoods.

When it comes to the truth of who is behind everything, it’s not a simple matter of any one group being all good or all bad, but about there being bad actors in all communities. There are no stock villains or cartoonish archetypes here, just normal people living their lives who are sometimes too passionate about certain causes and do the wrong things for what they feel are the right reasons.

My only complaint about the book was that, for all that I liked him, Jay is forced a bit too much into the role of cold, cool, calm action hero. The emotions I would have liked to see, the grief over the death of his Mistress and the frustration of being a suspect, losing his job, and being ostracized by his colleagues, are underplayed. Similarly, even for a masochist, he bounces back from injury far too quickly/easily – the flogging sessions alone would leave me stiff and sore the next day, never mind . .. well, some of the things that happen to him near the end of the book that I can’t spoil.

Finally, to get back to the femdom aspect of The Femdom Felony, Moffatt does a fantastic job of exploring that community with some BDSM scenes that are played for narrative/dramatic value rather than erotic titillation, while still managing to convey the excitement and intensity to the reader. It’s a well-rounded, truly inclusive book, and I’d love to see more like it.

Rating:

Can’t-Wait Wednesday: Emberclaw by L. R. Lam (fantasy)

Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted here to spotlight and discuss the books we’re excited about that we have yet to read. Generally they’re books that have yet to be released. Find out more here.

My choice for this week is the sequel to one of my most favorite reads of last year, complete with romance, fantasy, and dragons!

Emberclaw

by L. R. Lam
Fantasy
352 pages, Hardcover
October 1, 2024 by DAW

Long-banished dragons, revered as gods, return to the mortal realm in the second book in this magical, romantic, epic fantasy trilogy from a London Times bestselling author

One volume has closed and the next opened. But a different Archivist writes this now, for the last has flown out to the horizon and never returned. I wish I could promise all turned out well. That fate arced its way straight and true towards fairness and justice. If there is one thing I have learned, it is that life, even one touched by magic and fate, is never tidy.

But no matter how difficult things became, I cannot shy away from putting it all down, tempting as it is to burn certain pages. I made a pact and a promise that I would show it all. The good, the bad, the intimacy, and the betrayal. I am, for better or worse, the new archivist. I have to let it stand.

Stories often begin with either a life or a death. This one is the latter.

Goodreads

Curious about what you’ve been missing? Read my previous reviews of Lam’s work HERE.

Book Review: King’s Dragon by Kate Elliott (fantasy)

Title: King’s Dragon
Author: Kate Elliott
Publication Date: February 1, 1998 by DAW Books
Genres: Fantasy
Protagonist Gender: Various

One of my favorite things to do on a vacation road trip is to browse used bookstores for big, thick, chonky, mass market paperbacks from the 80s and 90s, books that never found their way onto my shelves at the time, but which promise a nostalgic return to that era. Sometimes I settle in with one and realize pretty quickly there was a reason we never connected . . . and sometimes I get so lost in one that I simply can’t fathom how I missed it at the time.

King’s Dragon is definitely one of the latter – so much so that, halfway through the first book, I picked up the other 5 at a used bookstore last weekend. Somehow, my only exposure to Kate Elliott when the series was originally published was through The Golden Key, which I enjoyed, and you’d think the mere association with fantasy queen Melanie Rawn would have put her on my must-read list. For whatever reason it didn’t, but I’m quite happy to have missed it then, because it gives me a new series in which to immerse myself now.

This is largely a reimagining of Medieval Europe, clothing familiar people and places in new names and new colors, but Elliott makes enough significant changes to make it her own. For one, the singular God of the Catholic church has been replaced with the duality of Lord and Lady, and the symbolism of the cross with that of the circle. There’s one heretical schism within the religion that I lack the understanding to compare to history, but there’s another around the role of magic within the church that I loved – because, yes, there’s magic in this world, along with mythological beasts and other elf-like/dragon-like races.

Going along with the Lord and Lady aspect, the world here is largely matriarchal, with women holding both secular and religious authority, and even ‘commoner’ women having influence and authority that would be anachronistic in our world. There are a lot of memorable characters in this, both good and bad, but far more of them are women than men, and that was exciting. Speaking of characters, there are two protagonists within the tale, Alain and Liath, and while both have hidden pasts and secrets, with unusual powers or affinities revealed throughout the book, neither is played as a simple ‘chosen one’ trope. They have significant character arcs in this first book, but it’s clear they’re only just claiming their places in the world, with bigger things ahead.

It’s been a very long time since I sat down and read back-to-back books in a series, but I’ve already started on Prince of Dogs, and I can’t offer a better recommendation than that.

Rating: 1/2

Freebie Friday – Putting the TG in TGIF!

Well, if it’s Friday, then it must be time to bend our way into the weekend with Freebie Friday!

Every Friday I search through the free titles on Amazon, looking for those that might be of interest to similarly bent readers, fans, and lovers. Even if you don’t have a Kindle, you can still download the titles through one of Amazon’s free reading applications.

Please do be sure to check the price before downloading anything, as most freebies are limited time offers, and some are specific to certain regions.

Enjoy!

Can’t-Wait Wednesday: The Last Witch in Edinburgh by Marielle Thompson (fantasy)

Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted here to spotlight and discuss the books we’re excited about that we have yet to read. Generally they’re books that have yet to be released. Find out more here.

My choice for this week blends witchcraft, queer love, and resisting the patriarchy . . . and I am so down for this!

The Last Witch in Edinburgh

by Marielle Thompson
Fantasy, Historical Fiction
384 pages, Paperback
August 20, 2024 by Kensington

This lush, atmospheric novel blends witchcraft, queer love, a vibrant Edinburgh setting, and Scottish folklore for a propulsive and emotional story exploring what it means to resist the patriarchy and find your voice.

In an alternate Edinburgh of 1824, every woman lives in fear that she will be the next one hanged for witchcraft. All it takes is invoking the anger, or the desire, of the wrong person. Nellie Duncan, beautiful and unwed, keeps to herself until she encounters the Rae Women’s Apothecary. There, fiery Jean Rae and the other women provide cures and teach others that they too can aid the winter deity, the Cailleach, embracing her characteristic independence, agency, and craft, in turn becoming witches themselves.

Nellie finds a place and a purpose at the shop, and a blossoming romance with Jean, as she learns about nature-based craft and a witch’s ability to return to life after death. But the Cailleach has an ancient enemy intent on stripping the power of the deity and all her witches, leaving a wake of patriarchal violence and destruction.

When heart-breaking disaster strikes, Nellie flees and spends the next two centuries hiding from the world—until love gives her the courage and the motivation to come back. Nellie’s past is waiting for her there, and hanging witches is no longer the only means of oppression. But this time, Nellie refuses to run—either from her foes, or from her resolve to awaken others to the unimaginable power that can come with fighting the patriarchy in its many forms—and finding one’s own magical inner-strength.