Sally Bend's Blog, page 38

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!

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: Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle (horror, LGBTQ)

Title: Camp Damascus
Author: Chuck Tingle
Publication Date: July 18, 2023
Genres: Horror
Protagonist Gender: Female

If you’re already a Chuck Tingle fan, then feel free to skip ahead to the next paragraph of my review. If you’re new to him, however, curious about his ‘mainstream’ debut, then know 3 things about this:

Don’t be fooled by the blurb – this is not about kids at a gay conversion camp, but kids who remember it.Don’t let the religious heaviness of the first chapter turn you off – it’s there for a reason, and it gets better.Don’t let Tingle’s reputation for weird erotica keep you away – this is entirely accessible.

As a fan of the Tingleverse, even I was a bit hesitant in reading the opening pages of Camp Damascus, wondering just what I’d gotten myself into, but there was something immediately endearing about Rose, our narrator and protagonist. She’s smart, self-aware, and I immediately identified her as a queer neurodivergent soul with whom I could connect. Midway through the chapter we get a glimpse of a creepy-looking woman in the woods, bizarrely dressed in a department store polo shirt, whom only Rose seems to see, and I started to get curious. And then we get to the end of the chapter and (minor spoiler) OMG the flies! I had to know what in the literal hell was going on. I was hooked . . . and I never looked back.

I could tell you this is a book about the families we’re born into and the families we choose, about the dangers of faith and the power of love, but I’m sure you can find plenty of other reviews picking apart the themes and underlying messages. They’re there, and they’re wonderful, and if you’re the kind of person drawn to Rose’s story, I suspect you’ll agree with most (if not all) of them, but I want to talk about the story itself.

Camp Damascus is a horror story that, for me, has all the hooks of King or (early) Koontz, the self-aware supernatural humor of Ghostbusters, and the heart of the Buffyverse. It engaged me on a deeply emotional level, making me care about the characters and what happens to them. Tingle plays with many of the familiar horror tropes and conventions, with some science fiction mixed in, and yet nothing about the story is predictable. I don’t find religious themes the least bit interesting, and have never found movies like The Exorcist or The Omen to be even remotely scary, but the way the horror is structured here just absolutely worked for me. It made sense to me, it passed my willing-suspension-of-disbelief, and it genuinely chilled me.

I found myself delighted by every twist and turn, every single “No, don’t go in there!” moment. Even when I was furious with the ‘good‘ God-fearing people of Neverton, Montana, I was smiling along with where the story was leading us. Yes, this is a supernatural tale, but it’s less about Biblical evil and more about human hatred. Okay, so that’s a theme, and I didn’t want to dwell on them, but dammit, it’s important.

So far, 2023 has been a good year for books – I’ve had a few bitter disappointments and a handful of other 5-star reads – but I doubt anything will stick with me like Camp Damascus did. This was exactly what I wanted, and even more what I needed. If there’s such a thing as feel-good horror, this is it.

Rating:   

Book Review: Decadence by Ronica Black, Renee Roman, and Piper Jordan (erotica, lesbian)

Title: Decadence
Author: Ronica Black, Renee Roman, and Piper Jordan
Publication Date: August 15, 2023
Genres: Erotica
Protagonist Gender: Female

What is Decadence? The Oxford Dictionary will tell you it’s a “moral or cultural decline, as characterized by excessive indulgence in pleasure or luxury” but, in the context of Decadence, it’s simply an “excessive indulgence in pleasure or luxury,” no such moral judgement required (or desired).

More importantly, Decadence is the name of an invitation-only masquerade ball for women who love women, an evening of erotic encounters behind the literal mask of anonymity.

Passionate Pursuance by Ronica Black is a wonderful story of long-distance lovers meeting for the first time at the ball, hoping to find one another in the crowd. It’s a gloriously planned out story of seduction, exploration, voyeurism, and selfless loving that sees fantasies indulged and the flames of romance kindled. Emory and Cadence are an absolutely delicious couple, and their erotic through various women and into one another’s arms is breathtaking.

Redemption by Renee Roman leads us into the ball under very different circumstances as one half of an estranged couple seeks to escape into her fantasies while the other seeks to win back her love through those very say fantasies. There’s an element of tension to this story, some melancholy amid the arousal, but the more we learn about Max and Dee the more we desperately want to see them reunited.

Exclusive Content by Piper Jordan eschews the couples approach and slips a reporter named Addison into the ball, hoping to score an interview with the hostess, Elizabeth Hathaway. Without a relationship to be explored or mended, this story feels a little less emotionally charged than the other two, but it still makes for a wonderful story of erotic self-discovery.

As the title suggests, all three stories in Decadence are explicitly erotic, with every ounce of sexuality and sensuality explored on the page. It’s a story of beautiful women enjoying even more beautiful moments, proudly and openly, as nature intended.

Rating:   

My sincere thanks to the publisher 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!

Spirit of the Wood by Kristen Britain (fantasy)

Title: Spirit of the Wood
Author: Kristen Britain
Publication Date: November 7, 2023
Genres: Epic Fantasy
Protagonist Gender: Male/Female

Although this is not the anxiously awaited final novel of the Green Rider saga, Spirit of the Wood is an excellent way to mark the series’ 25th anniversary. It’s also likely not what you’d expect from the blurb, but I really like the way Kristen Britain approached this.

A prequel to the series, this tells the tale of Laren Mapstone and her Rider trainee, Tavin Bankside. Wounded in an attack by bandits who recognize her from her battle against the Darrow Raiders, Laren spends much of the novella unconscious, trapped in dark memories of that battle and its tragic aftermath. It’s Tavin who drives the narrative here, but he does so by immersing us deeper in the magic and mythology of Sacoridia.

Surprisingly, for a prequel novella where we know Laren has to survive, given her role in the saga, there’s a genuine sense of danger and tension. I found myself worried for her in a way I hadn’t expected, fully invested as much in her mental/spiritual battle as Tavin’s physical one to keep them alive against ex-Raiders looking for vengeance. The fact that his Rider gift is perfectly suited to aiding her recovery might seem opportunistic, but when you see how it can also be misused, you have to appreciate how Britain uses the two characters to illuminate their struggles.

Spirit of the Wood feels like a Green Rider novella in every sense, a familiar visit to a favorite place for readers as we await the Karigan’s next adventure, and a fitting introduction for new readers who will hopefully be motivated to keep reading.

Rating:   

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