Sally Bend's Blog, page 36

Book Review: A Lady to Treasure by Marianne Ratcliffe (romance, lesbian)

Title: A Lady to Treasure
Author: Marianne Ratcliffe
Publication Date: Oct 15, 2023
Genres: Romance
Protagonist Gender: Female

Sapphic Regency romance is fast becoming a favorite genre of mine. There’s something about the setting, the costumes, the mannerisms, the social expectations, and the simplicity of life that I find comforting, and I’ve always been fascinated by history, so I love it when authors use the romance to more deeply explore a particular aspect.

In A Lady to Treasure, Marianne Ratcliffe delves into the worlds of business and finance, exploring how family obligations can place such weight on both personal freedom and professional responsibility. In an era where women were largely prized as marriageable commodities, Louisa and Sarah are both young women reaching far above what politely society feels should be their station. Louisa has been sent off by her father to find an eligible suitor, one with money and connections to rescue the family business, with no consideration given to the fact that she’s better suited to manage than her father. Sarah, meanwhile, is doing her best to avoid the question of marriage as she single-handedly cares for an entire family estate, trying to preserve it against the spending of her stepmother and gambling debts of her stepbrother.

Both young women are headstrong, independent, and determined, and that creates friction between them from the start. They chafe at one another, rub each other the wrong way, but there’s a deep personal respect there – albeit one mixed with professional disapproval. The romance here is slow-burn in every sense, a relationship that must first develop into an awkward friendship before being challenged and thwarted time and time again by . . . well, the ugliness of men. Theirs is neither an easy life nor an easy journey, and you’ll need to be patient to see the romance we sense eventually realized.

Along the way, though, there is a wonderful intersection of family drama and gender roles, one you’ll find yourself emotionally involved in very quickly. There’s a lot of anger and frustration to the story, an underlying sense of unfairness that left me feeling very protective of Louisa and Sarah, but there are some lovely secondary characters in their families who do provide ample moments of warmth and love.

A Lady to Treasure was more slowly paced (and a tad longer) than I expected, and the emphasis feels more like a work of historical fiction featuring a queer romance than a story that is a predominantly historical romance, but it’s captivating, well-written, and emotionally engaging. Worth the read.

Rating:   

My sincere thanks to the author for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Fetish & Fantasy 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 Fetish & Fantasy 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.

While you’re on Amazon, if you’d like to support my stories, could I kindly ask that you give these a read/review? 

Enjoy!

Fetish & Fantasy 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 Fetish & Fantasy 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.

While you’re on Amazon, if you’d like to support my stories, could I kindly ask that you give these a read/review? 

Enjoy!

Fetish & Fantasy 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 Fetish & Fantasy 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.

While you’re on Amazon, if you’d like to support my stories, could I kindly ask that you give these a read/review? 

Enjoy!

Book Review: Red, the Wolf, and the Woods by Scarlett Gale (romance, fairy tale)

Title: Red, the Wolf, and the Woods
Author: Scarlett Gale
Publication Date: Sept 1, 2023
Genres: Romance, Fairy Tale
Protagonist Gender: Female

Oh my, this was just marvelous – a fun, fanciful delight from beginning to end! Red, the Wolf, and the Woods is a contemporary fairy tale, an updating of the original story that’s full of magic and romance. It’s a narrative delight from page one, told by Scarlett Gale with a sense of humor that’s both self-aware and tongue-in-cheek.

Red (who does indeed wear a red hoodie) is a farmer, a dog trainer, a hiker, and a dutiful granddaughter. She’s a woman who doesn’t put up with nonsense, but who loves her time alone in the forest – which just happens to be the shortest route to her grandmother’s house. When she meets a rather large talking wolf one afternoon, it’s cause for caution, certainly a surprise, but nothing that saying “good boy” and tossing some dog treats can’t handle.

The story hits all the key points of the original story, but twists them into something sweet, and extends it into something romantic. I won’t spoil any of the delightful surprises, but there’s joy to be found as much in the story as the telling. It’s a slow-burn romance that takes through the kinds of tenderness fans of Scarlett know she does so well, offering something that’s softly, casually, naturally female-led. No real kink or fetish, just a natural realization of a young wolf’s first love with a more experienced partner.

Red, the Wolf, and the Woods is a quick read that will have you smiling from beginning to end. It’s the best kind of fairy tale.

Rating:   

My sincere thanks to the author for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Book Review: Bradley Jones’s Chastity by Giles English (erotica, chastity)

Title: Bradley Jones’s Chastity
Author: Giles English
Publication Date: July 29, 2023
Genres: Erotica
Protagonist Gender: Male

One of the things you have to understand about Giles English is that while he writes very sexy stories about chastity and female domination, he also writes very, very smart stories about the same. There’s thought behind his stories, discussions about what feeds a fetish or defines a desire, and nowhere is that more prevalent than in Bradley Jones’s Chastity.

On the surface, this is a fun (sometimes cruelly so) tale of a young man in long-term inescapable chastity, chasing the high of pleasuring random women with his tongue and various strap-ons while longing to love ‘normally’ again with the impending release of his own pleasure. You see, in this alternate near-future Britain, the government installs free chastity devices that are inescapable, come with a contract (5 years, 10 years, or permanent), and block all sensory pleasure, including anal. It’s a commitment for those who choose to become chaste, and it’s given rise to an entire subculture of women who prefer their lovers that way.

There’s a lot of emotion to the story – including a lot of pain – and a lot of sex. The pain comes from one lover who has a fetish for BDSM, a sadist who loves inflicting physical pain almost as much as she does emotional. Those scenes may be hard to take for some readers, coming with blood and riding the line of dubious consent, but there is a purpose to them.

And that purpose leads me back to the intellectual aspects of the story. Giles asks a lot of questions about where our fantasies and fetishes come from, how and why we express them, and what they ultimately mean. He also explores the question of whether submission can be a selfless act, a sacrifice in belief of dominant women, or a selfish one, only venerating them because the submission is enjoyable. It’s not just a story about what it means for men, though – he also confronts what makes a woman a dominant or a sadist, what they get out of male submission and chastity, and how they view the ideal relationship.

Granted, I don’t necessarily agree with some of the conclusions drawn, but that’s fine because no two people embrace their fetish the same way or for the same reasons. Bradley Jones’s Chastity is a fascinating story in that respect, a passionate one in terms of the sex, and an emotional one with the rollercoaster journey he embarks upon to find love, romance, or just a relationship. Very well thought-out and presented.

Rating:   

My sincere thanks to the author for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Book Review: The Temp by Donna Jay (romance, lesbian)

Title: The Temp
Author: Donna Jay
Publication Date: July 28, 2023
Genres: Romance
Protagonist Gender: Female

Donna Jay is one of my favorite authors of lesbian (WLW) fiction. It doesn’t matter whether it’s on the erotica or romance end of the spectrum, she consistently weaves compelling stories of wonderful characters and deep, sincere, meaningful relationships. You feel like you know her characters, like you’ve been following their story for years, and become fully invested in their lives and loves.

With The Temp, she sprinkles in a bit of erotica (and some softcore BDSM), but this is a romance novel – an office romance, in fact, with a power imbalance where personalities subvert roles (and the age gap). It’s Carla, the younger temp in question, who is the aggressor, the tease, the pursuer, and the seductress, pushing Vivienne’s buttons with ease. Vivienne may be the boss, but she’s hesitant, all too aware of office consequences whether things go well or not, and while she may be a leader behind the desk, she’s a submissive in the bedroom.

The chemistry between the two of them is hot, right from the start, as a night of speed-dating pushes buttons, excites minds, and sets expectations that quickly have to be confronted and explored when Carla shows up the next day as Vivienne’s new office temp. There’s a cat-and-mouse aspect to their flirting, a delicious play of double entendres and inappropriate touches, all hidden in plain sight behind Carla’s joking admissions of romance. Their dialogue is absolutely sparking, and the way each touch is described is wonderful.

This is a story about so much more than just office flirtation, though. It’s a story about the weight of past loves, the obligations of family, and the need for human connection. It’s when the women get out of the office and into each other’s lives that the sweet part of the story blossoms . . . and where the sorrowful moments of hurt and regret sting the most. Donna Jay always makes her characters work to explore their innermost selves, to discover their wants versus their needs, and whatever obstacles she puts in their way are there to make them stronger.

The Temp is such a good story, a sexy, heart-warming romance with a sense of fun throughout. It’s got a few surprises before the end, but all part and parcel of finding our happily ever after.

Rating:   

My sincere thanks to the author for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Fetish & Fantasy 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 Fetish & Fantasy 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.

While you’re on Amazon, if you’d like to support my stories, could I kindly ask that you give these a read/review? 

Enjoy!

Book Review: Witch King’s Oath by AJ Glasser (fantasy, transgender)

Title: Witch King’s Oath
Author: AJ Glasser
Publication Date: July 11, 2023
Genres: Fantasy
Protagonist Gender: Transgender

Reminiscent of the Tamir Triad by Lynn Flewelling, and yet entirely its own unique tale of witchcraft and wizardry, Witch King’s Oath is a story that takes some time to find its footing, but which only gets better (and deeper) with each new chapter. By the end I was staying up far too late, devouring each page, desperate to find out how it all would end.

AJ Glasser does a lot of really interesting things with this story (I’ll get to the aspect that hooked me in a moment), but the use of magic is one of my favorites. This is a world of witches and mages, two opposing forces of magic, wrapped up in a conflict between the rival nations of Ammar and Nynomath. There are clear themes of good versus evil here, witches versus mages, but the persecution of witches in Ammar introduces various shades of grey. For a long while we’re not sure what to think or who to trust, but slowly the story teases out the truth.

What hooked me, what convinced me to give this a read, is the exploration of gender. No spoilers here (it’s in the cover blurb), but Prince Anryn is a woman cursed to grow up in a man’s body, never feeling quite right about him/herself, yet never understanding why. There’s one character who sees the truth of the Prince, and that creates a sort of dichotomy in the story where the narrative switches between he/him and she/her depending on the POV. The exploration of gender goes even deeper than that, though, contrasting two very different cultures through the eyes of Princess (to-be) Beatrice. She comes from a kingdom where women are viewed as equals, allowed to be independent, to fight, and to participate in decision-making, but finds herself in a realm where women are forced to hide behind veils and even the Queen must rely on hidden corridors just to listen in on the King and his Lords.

As for Anryn and Beatrice, they’re strong characters with backstory, motivation, personality, and conflict. Surrounding them is a cast of allies and enemies, each with their own allegiances (political and magical), most interestingly among them Anryn’s best friend (and rival), his Professor (and mentor), and the witch who saves his life (and reveals his curse). His parents, the King and Queen seem a bit thin for much of the book, more plot devices than people, but we come to understand them and their motives by the end of the story.

The basic plot of Witch King’s Oath is simple – Prince Anryn must get home to be married to Beatrice – but the narrative is anything but. There’s conflict and drama here, plots and schemes and conspiracies, all starting with an assassination attempt and ending with a rapid-fire series of twists that upend so many of our assumptions. I started the book a little wary, struggling with the first few chapters, but I can tell you it’s well worth sticking with because it gets much better fast.

Of course, this being epic fantasy, the story’s not done, there’s at least one more book to come, but the finale here is a climax worthy of the story, and one that (without getting into spoilers) does something really exciting with the question of gender.

Rating:   

My sincere thanks to the author for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Fetish & Fantasy 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 Fetish & Fantasy 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.

While you’re on Amazon, if you’d like to support my stories, could I kindly ask that you give these a read/review? 

Enjoy!