Sally Bend's Blog, page 42

Book Review: Panty Shopping by Nikki Ruffles (erotica, transgender, femdom)

Title: Panty Shopping
Author: Nikki Ruffles
Publication Date: Feb 1, 2023
Genres: Erotica
Protagonist Gender: Transgender
Fetishes: Crossdressing, Femdom

Panty Shopping, the latest from Nikki Ruffles, is such a fun read. It's a simple little story about a crossdresser's excursion to buy himself a pair of fancy Saturday Night panties, but the level of detail, along with the personalities, is what makes it memorable.

The femdom element of the story is perfectly embarrassing, a little humiliating at times, but never cruelly so. We feel the narrator's anxiety, share in his confusing mix of dread and desire, and as much as we may fear exposure, the thrill of the experience is so worth it. Barbara, the older saleswoman who takes him in hand and insists he be a Good Panty Boy, is just wonderful. She's mature, attractive and assertive, but she's also caring - she doesn't force her subject along so much as she guides him to what he craves.

If you've read Nikki before, then you know they have a knack for capturing the thrill of feminization, and that's once again on display here. From the styles to the textures to the colors of the panties, it feels as if we're standing right there, running our fingers through the piles of panties, and feeling them slide up our legs. Panty fetish, crossdressing fetish, or both, Panty Shopping will leave you very satisfied.

Rating: ♀ ♀ ♀  ♀  ♀

© 2022 Bending the Bookshelf All Rights Reserved

Fetish & Fantasy Freebie Friday - Putting the TG in TGIF!

Before we get to this week's freebies, I'd love it if you voted for either of my books (Gurls Gone Wild: Naughty in Nature or Lost Ladies of the Nightmare) in the 2022 Golden Pigtail Smut Awards!

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.[image error]



While you're on Amazon, if you'd like to support my weekly efforts, could I kindly ask that you give latest erotic creations a read/review? 

Enjoy!  © 2022 Bending the Bookshelf All Rights Reserved

I'm a 2022 Golden Pigtail Smut Award Nominee - Please Vote!

I'm so excited to share that I'm a 2022 Golden Pigtail Smut Award Nominee and I would dearly love it if you'd take a few moments to cast your vote. You don't need to log in or provide any personal info, you just need to vote. Simple as that!

Under the "Everything's Better in a Group" Award for Best Erotic Anthology, I'm part of an exciting anthology that I'd love to see get some recognition:

Heckin' Lewd: Trans and Nonbinary Erotica - Mx. Nillin Lore
In the "All Love" Award for LGBTQ+ Erotica you'll find a story that's very near-and-dear to my heart, a tale I put so much of myself into:

Gurls Gone Wild: Naughty in Nature - Sally Bend
And in the "Things That Go Hump in the Night" Award for Paranormal/Horror Erotica , my dark pseudonym has a story it's taken me 3 years to get just right, and which I believe is one of the best things I've ever written:

Lost Ladies of the Nightmare - S.B. Medina 

Please take a few moments to cast your vote - and if I'm so lucky as to be a finalist, I'll ask you one more time. :)

© 2022 Bending the Bookshelf All Rights Reserved

Book Review: Going Out by Nicola Atherton (erotica, transgender, bisexual)

Title: Going Out
Author: Nicola Atherton
Publication Date: June 27, 2022
Genres: Erotica
Protagonist Gender: Transgender
Fetishes: Crossdressing, Maledom

In many ways, Going Out is very much like its protagonist - two stories, two genres, and two perspectives in one pretty little package. 

Nicola Atherton has crafted a novel that does an absolutely superb job of capturing the crossdressing experience and those first tentative steps into gender exploration. The allure, the thrill, the excitement, and the anxiety of embracing femininity are all represented here, allowing the reader to experience the complete process of becoming  a woman. We not only feel the caress of satin or the pinch of heels, but we also feel the joy of seeing 'her' in the mirror . . . and the dread that, if we step outside, others will see through to 'him' instead,

In many ways, the early chapters of the novel remind me not just of stories I read in my youth, but my own first forays into gender exploration. So much of Adam's experience is real and relatable, even if it does make me jealous of things like self-checkouts and online shopping. Seriously, I remember when Amazon was just a bookstore, and you had to tell the old lady at the mall you were buying sexy lingerie for your girlfriend (who just happened to be your size). It makes me sound super old to say this, but kids these days have it so easy! That said, Atherton does throw in some challenges, one of which turns out to be rather opportunistic, but I won't spoil it.

There is a definite element of fantasy to the novel as well, however, especially in how easily (and completely) Adam passes as Amy. Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of effort put into passing - wigs, fake boobs, tucking, cosmetics, etc. - but Adam also has an already androgynous body to transform.  Personally, I still adore that sort of fairy tale of feminization, but it's important to acknowledge that fantasy because that leads us into the fetish elements.

Let me be clear, Adam is not the fetish. The transformation into Amy is something that feels genuine and heartfelt from the very beginning. For all the protests and promises of never again, the happiness and comfort that come with being Amy are very clear. This feels like a transgender journey from the start, and I loved how the realization of that identity was so drawn out. Where the fetish element comes in is with the erotic encounters with various older men, most of which fall into the naughty girl or slutty sissy. There's nothing necessarily wrong with those sexual explorations, but given how authentic and relatable so much of the book is, some readers may find the clichés a bit of a turn off.

Ultimately, Going Out is a wonderful story of gender exploration that feels as if Nicola Atherton has either lived it or loved someone who has. It's beautifully written and almost perfectly paced, taking its time where it needs to, and getting frantic and rushed where the story demands it, with a small cast of key characters who give it life. The ending comes on a bit suddenly, with the epilogue leaving a few unanswered questions, but as fairy tales go, it's everything the reader could ask for.

Rating: ♀ ♀ ♀  ♀

© 2022 Bending the Bookshelf All Rights Reserved

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.[image error]


While you're on Amazon, if you'd like to support my weekly efforts, could I kindly ask that you give latest erotic creations a read/review? 

Enjoy!  © 2022 Bending the Bookshelf All Rights Reserved

Book Review: The Shadow of What Was Lost by James Islington (fantasy)

Title: The Shadow of What Was Lost
Author: James Islington
Publication Date: May 9, 2017
Genres: Fantasy
Protagonist Gender: Male/Female

I'd had this bad boy sitting on my shelf for quite a while, but our winter vacation gave me an excuse to pluck it from the TBR pile. It came highly recommended by a few friends whose opinions I trust, so I decided to give it a chance . . . and I'm glad I did.

The Shadow of What Was Lost started out with a bang, taking the coming-of-age and chosen-one tropes of epic fantasy, then slapping an immediate layer of danger and death upon it. It's clear from the start that there are huge stakes to this struggle, proper save-the-world storytelling, peopled by characters who are as unique as they are compelling.

While I wouldn't say I found it dry, there was a sense of distance to the narrative that I find is common to the current batch of epic fantasy, and that's probably my only complaint. It's a raw sort of realism, a desaturated thinness between the world of the author and the reader, that lacks the wonder of the pulp fantasy I grew up with. It's not quite grimdark, even if it has elements of that sub-genre to it, but there is death and destruction galore to go with the hope and heroism.

Aside from that, the narrative comes closer to my memories of epic fantasy than most stories I've read over the last few years, making it worthy of the World of Time comparison on the cover. There's magic, mystery, and monsters within it, cosmic fates and human struggles combined that drive us through quests and battles alike. There are key characters who are more than they seem, other than they seem, and even though we get one very big answer before the end, it opens up a whole new world of questions.

Davian is clearly the protagonist here, the character who drives so much of the story forward but, for me, it's Asha who gives it meaning and significance. Hers is a story that starts out tragic before becoming heroic, and there ares deep hints that she's destined for something more. That, coupled with the development of the Caeden mystery, and tagged with the curious foreshadowing of Davian's future, has me excited to see what James Islington has planned next.

Rating: ♀ ♀ ♀  ♀

© 2022 Bending the Bookshelf All Rights Reserved

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.[image error]



While you're on Amazon, if you'd like to support my weekly efforts, could I kindly ask that you give latest erotic creations a read/review? 

Enjoy!  © 2022 Bending the Bookshelf All Rights Reserved

NEW RELEASE: Cougars and Coeds by Sally Bend

If you’re a young college boy on Spring Break, be wary of aggressive older women, and very careful about signing erotic employment contracts with secretive, high-security resorts. No matter what you fear you’re getting yourself into, it’s guaranteed to be far more humiliating . . . but possibly more exciting.
As a boy, Jackson was never anything special, certainly nobody a woman like Miss Penny would ever notice. Feminized and locked in chastity, however, Princess Pink is something special indeed, if only the boy can step aside and let the sissy take the lead.

Cougars and Coeds is a story of forced feminization by mature, dominant women who know their way around a sissy. It won’t be easy, but stick with your training, let your inhibitions go, and maybe you can serve your new owners too.

READ IT ON AMAZON

ADD IT TO YOUR GOODREADS SHELVES

Please remember to leave a review wherever you buy, read, or share. Please.

© 2022 Bending the Bookshelf All Rights Reserved

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.[image error]


While you're on Amazon, if you'd like to support my weekly efforts, could I kindly ask that you give latest erotic creations a read/review!

Enjoy!  © 2022 Bending the Bookshelf All Rights Reserved

Book Review: Southern Chastity by L.D. Cub (erotics, BDSM, chastity)

Title: Southern Chastity
Author: L.D. Cub
Publication Date: April 13, 2021
Genres: Erotics
Protagonist Gender: Male
Fetishes: Maledom, Chastity, BDSM

Chastity is an underappreciated and often underestimated kink. When you come across it in erotica, it's usually something that men have to be coerced (or forced) into, usually with some sort of emasculation or humiliation attached. 

With Southern Chastity, L.D. Cub explores a power exchange dynamic where men enter into chastity willingly, sometimes even eagerly, and does so in a positive manner. Instead of being something that makes them lesser men, chastity is explored as something that accentuates their submission and empowers them to become more focused on providing pleasure. 

Matt is the protagonist of the story, a gay submissive who experiments with chastity and immediately discovers the appeal. When he meets Sir John, a local dominant who trains submissive men to embrace permanent chastity, he discovers how orgasm control and denial can contribute to his focus and attention as a bottom, and that year-long journey is what drives the story.

Sir John is a wonderful dominant, a man with the perfect blend of power, authority, compassion, and understanding. He pushes his chastity subs, driving them to explore new kinks and fetishes as part of their submission, and provides them with a supportive mentorship framework. It's not just about locking them up and using them, it's about creating a community and empowering them to share themselves with any men who desire to use them.

There's definitely some fantasy here, with the chastity subs becoming free-use bottoms for any man who asks, never worrying about condoms or STDs, but there's also a realistic portrayal of the need for cleaning, lubrication, stretching, and dealing with the pain beneath the pleasure. It gets edgy at times, with submissives pushed beyond their limits, but consent is always asked, confirmed, and sometimes reconfirmed.

For all its kinks and erotic encounters, though, Southern Chastity is first and foremost a character-driven story, and it's the personalities that keep you reading. There's also a wonderful camaraderie explored among the subs, with genuine friendships and even an adorable non-sexual romance. You'll come (or not, as the case may be) for the chastity, stay for the rough and messy sex, but it's the relationships you'll remember. 

Rating: ♀ ♀ ♀  ♀

© 2022 Bending the Bookshelf All Rights Reserved