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Close to the Edge #1
Seeing the Edge
Veronica "Vee" Close is still a young woman when she inherits a well established BDSM club from an aunt, who was well known to a group of Veronica’s school friends as "Cool Aunt Roni". The group had somewhat drifted apart after college and graduation. But now in their mid-to-late twenties, the group come back together to accompany Vee as she is shown the ropes, so to speak!
200 pages, Paperback
Published April 1, 2013
12 people want to read
About the author
Kristiene Gray
21 books11 followersKristiene Gray (1982 - ) was born in Cheltenham on New Years Day. She attended high class schools and a finishing college, where she drifted deep into the BDSM scene as a means to escape her upbringing. She left the scene when she felt she needed greater emotional attachment that she was getting. From there a successful career followed in digital media sales, where she ended up employing someone (now very high profile) who became the significant influence in her life. Traumatised by family tragedy and under increasing pressure at work, she decided to completely de-stress her life by allowing all decisions for her to be taken by someone - her employee with whom she was now deeply smitten. This led to her dropping her career and committing to do their bidding. One task was to write and has led her to create a series of two "factional" trilogies to be published in 2012-2013 based on her personal experiences, but st within the confines of a coherent story. The first, "The Life of Riley" published as a series of episodes that build into three volumes, covers the real and explicit content she felt missing from the E.L.James 50 Shades series, whilst the second "Close to the Edge" cover even darker genres. Because of the public profile of the major influencer, she keep her private details very private.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 18, 2013
**book provided by the Author through BDSM group TPE BAR Read2Review**
Veronica (Vee) inherits BDSM sex club from her aunt. She is thrown into this world she knows nothing about. The idea for the beginning is promising but the story is too short to get really into it. It is simple, nothing unpredictable or dramatic. The characters are ok but without the depth.
I liked how the story covered lots of hot scenes, from bondage, fisting, anal, MM, flogging, D/s, S/M to watersports and ménage. They were hot and arousing. I liked her first real encounter with Drew, when he fingered her while she was watching the scene with Mistress and her 3 subs. Everything from the beginning was leading to them being together so it was really just a matter of time. I liked how he whispered and explained thing to her and all the questions with a hint of promise were really hot.
I didn’t like the repeating of the same info over and over again in every chapter. We know that she’s 25 and she inherited the club and that Drew is smoking hot bartender…. I understand it when it’s in the book series to sum up some of the past events, but in the same book, chapter after chapter, I found it disturbing. I also didn’t quite understand who were the characters in the “put-in” chapters, is this a prequel to other books or some info about other characters? I kept waiting to reveal something more but it left me hanging.
Veronica (Vee) inherits BDSM sex club from her aunt. She is thrown into this world she knows nothing about. The idea for the beginning is promising but the story is too short to get really into it. It is simple, nothing unpredictable or dramatic. The characters are ok but without the depth.
I liked how the story covered lots of hot scenes, from bondage, fisting, anal, MM, flogging, D/s, S/M to watersports and ménage. They were hot and arousing. I liked her first real encounter with Drew, when he fingered her while she was watching the scene with Mistress and her 3 subs. Everything from the beginning was leading to them being together so it was really just a matter of time. I liked how he whispered and explained thing to her and all the questions with a hint of promise were really hot.
I didn’t like the repeating of the same info over and over again in every chapter. We know that she’s 25 and she inherited the club and that Drew is smoking hot bartender…. I understand it when it’s in the book series to sum up some of the past events, but in the same book, chapter after chapter, I found it disturbing. I also didn’t quite understand who were the characters in the “put-in” chapters, is this a prequel to other books or some info about other characters? I kept waiting to reveal something more but it left me hanging.
August 17, 2013
Inheriting a business is awesome when it's an edgy BDSM sex club! Veronica "Vee" is gifted "The Edge" by her favourite relative, Aunt Roni. Aunt Roni leads Vee down the rabbit hole as she's exposed to sex, glorious sex! Where is this club and how do I sign up for membership? How much does it cost? Is it even profitable? How is it possible for it to legally run? Then again it is located in New Orleans, the den of hedonistic depravity.
The plot is simplistic. The characters are so-so. The sex on the other hand is smoking hawt! Ms. Gray pens steamy sex scenes one after another. There is anal, exhibition, fisting, watersports, dub-con m/m anal screwing just to name a few. It's highly arousing and I can recommend this book for some great sexy scenarios. If you want material for your spank bank, this book fits the bill.
I'm not sure if this was originally several smaller stories combined into one book or not. What I found annoying was the repetition of information. At least three times it was mentioned how much Vee and Roni looked like sisters instead of aunt and niece. I got it the first time, repeating it doesn't make it better. There were several pieces of information recapped in a manner which is distracting. It's one thing if the chapters where in different books published months or years apart. For a reader who reads it all at one sitting, it's a redundancy best removed.
This tale is more of an exploration on the wild sex. It's Vee's maiden voyage and quite eye opening. It's a lovely bit of fantasy. This smoking hot erotica is recommended for those who enjoy are sorts of kinks.
*Provided to me by the BDSM group by an author through their R2R
The plot is simplistic. The characters are so-so. The sex on the other hand is smoking hawt! Ms. Gray pens steamy sex scenes one after another. There is anal, exhibition, fisting, watersports, dub-con m/m anal screwing just to name a few. It's highly arousing and I can recommend this book for some great sexy scenarios. If you want material for your spank bank, this book fits the bill.
I'm not sure if this was originally several smaller stories combined into one book or not. What I found annoying was the repetition of information. At least three times it was mentioned how much Vee and Roni looked like sisters instead of aunt and niece. I got it the first time, repeating it doesn't make it better. There were several pieces of information recapped in a manner which is distracting. It's one thing if the chapters where in different books published months or years apart. For a reader who reads it all at one sitting, it's a redundancy best removed.
This tale is more of an exploration on the wild sex. It's Vee's maiden voyage and quite eye opening. It's a lovely bit of fantasy. This smoking hot erotica is recommended for those who enjoy are sorts of kinks.
*Provided to me by the BDSM group by an author through their R2R
August 25, 2013
***book provided by the Author through BDSM group TPE BAR Read2Review***
In brief: a entertaining, quite sexy ponographic read with a lot of medium level bdsm / fetish variety.
The heroine Vee gets her aunt's BDSM club from as a present. New to this world, she's starting a journey of discovery (with a - male - very handsome colleague / lover).
I thought that generally the story was a very good and entertaining read, for those who are into diverse, medium-heavy BDSM and fetish play. There was a bit of just plain sex including quite a bit of anal, but also bondage, fisting, flogging and watersports, covering all sorts of arrangements (though the foucs is on Mf we also get a bit of Fmmm and some mm action).
The exciting part about this was the portrayal of the initially innocent / shy Vee and how it might develop. As a male reader I certainly wanted to see her being dominated, though I would think that for female readers who ware into beautiful fit dominant males, this could potentially be an even better read.
The plot is straight forward, and consists mainly of a sequence of SM fantasies and encounters, but really that doesnt hurt too much, if you are into simply reading for the erotic excitement. If you are expecting to read a novel where plot and characters develop you'll be a bit short changed here. This is just plain good pornography, and honestly, there is nothing wrong with this.
In terms of style, the novel is well written and reads easily. In fact compared to similar stories, it's on certainly better than average in this respect.
I must admit I am quite torn with this novel: I really liked Vee as a character and a couple of scenes, especially that with a mistress and three submissive males was very hot. However, there were also a couple of things which I felt were just 'not good enough':
The first is that the entire novel feels like the author has aggregated a number of loosely connected sexual fantasies. It does read a bit like an introduction to all flavours of bdsm and fetish. There is generally nothing wrong with this, but somehow I felt a bit short changed towards the end of the book when I realised that really, there was nowhere this novel would acually go-to. Now again, if you are just into reading some pornography this might be fine, I personally do like a bit of depth regarding character and plot, rather than just a story the quality of a porn movie.
I personally also felt that Vee was just falling to quickly for the pretty dominant colleauge. Then again this is a fantasy, so hey...
The second thing I found irritating was the fact that the chapters of the story are very much individual short stories - in fact the author has pointed out that this was originally the case - which can be read individually. But when read as a novel you get a lot of repetition of who the characters are, what has happened before, the mis-en-scene, etc. This I found was quite annoying - maybe I hate this so much as I do read a lot of graphic novels where the same thing happens when they get compiled. I wonder: why could this not have been edited, just a bit? If feels like neither publisher nor author could be asked to do a quick of a review on this...
Having said all this, I'd be more than happy to read the second part to this. However, there, I'd expect to see a bit new / exciting stuff, rather than it falling into the trap of presenting the circus of fetish sex...
In brief: a entertaining, quite sexy ponographic read with a lot of medium level bdsm / fetish variety.
The heroine Vee gets her aunt's BDSM club from as a present. New to this world, she's starting a journey of discovery (with a - male - very handsome colleague / lover).
I thought that generally the story was a very good and entertaining read, for those who are into diverse, medium-heavy BDSM and fetish play. There was a bit of just plain sex including quite a bit of anal, but also bondage, fisting, flogging and watersports, covering all sorts of arrangements (though the foucs is on Mf we also get a bit of Fmmm and some mm action).
The exciting part about this was the portrayal of the initially innocent / shy Vee and how it might develop. As a male reader I certainly wanted to see her being dominated, though I would think that for female readers who ware into beautiful fit dominant males, this could potentially be an even better read.
The plot is straight forward, and consists mainly of a sequence of SM fantasies and encounters, but really that doesnt hurt too much, if you are into simply reading for the erotic excitement. If you are expecting to read a novel where plot and characters develop you'll be a bit short changed here. This is just plain good pornography, and honestly, there is nothing wrong with this.
In terms of style, the novel is well written and reads easily. In fact compared to similar stories, it's on certainly better than average in this respect.
I must admit I am quite torn with this novel: I really liked Vee as a character and a couple of scenes, especially that with a mistress and three submissive males was very hot. However, there were also a couple of things which I felt were just 'not good enough':
The first is that the entire novel feels like the author has aggregated a number of loosely connected sexual fantasies. It does read a bit like an introduction to all flavours of bdsm and fetish. There is generally nothing wrong with this, but somehow I felt a bit short changed towards the end of the book when I realised that really, there was nowhere this novel would acually go-to. Now again, if you are just into reading some pornography this might be fine, I personally do like a bit of depth regarding character and plot, rather than just a story the quality of a porn movie.
I personally also felt that Vee was just falling to quickly for the pretty dominant colleauge. Then again this is a fantasy, so hey...
The second thing I found irritating was the fact that the chapters of the story are very much individual short stories - in fact the author has pointed out that this was originally the case - which can be read individually. But when read as a novel you get a lot of repetition of who the characters are, what has happened before, the mis-en-scene, etc. This I found was quite annoying - maybe I hate this so much as I do read a lot of graphic novels where the same thing happens when they get compiled. I wonder: why could this not have been edited, just a bit? If feels like neither publisher nor author could be asked to do a quick of a review on this...
Having said all this, I'd be more than happy to read the second part to this. However, there, I'd expect to see a bit new / exciting stuff, rather than it falling into the trap of presenting the circus of fetish sex...
August 20, 2013
I loved this book. Can't wait to read the next one! Characters were different in how they met. I loved how the book seemed as if it was a walk through to the decision of the club exchange. The most interesting part for me that I only got a dabble of and hopefully more will unfold in the future is that Vee is clearly sexually submissive (at least right now) and she's taking ownership of a club where she'll have to "manage" her dominant. I think it can be done but the way that she'll choose to do it seems to be overly interesting for me.
There was a lot of exhibitionism in this book. I think that while a lot of books skate around the topic at hand, they seem to only work up to a big scene where the main characters have a "finale" where they expose the relationship and growth to not only the readers but the crowd (if you will) within the pages. To me, this book was all about being center stage and just being comfortable with your sexuality which is super super rare. The things that transpired were enlightening, literally, to see/read something that wasn't so main stream! Everybody seems to think that the BDSM community is very 50 Shades and that was intense for a lot of people. But for the rest of us that live it daily or as often as we can 50 Shades fell short. Seeing the Edge This book was the opposite. It showed a different avenue into the kinky world which is considered mainstream within it. This is the kind of book that not only teaches but sets forward a truth that I love. Sexuality isn't something that just is, its something that you build. And seeing something doesn't make you want to necessarily live it but it opens the door to MORE.
Kristiene,
Excellent job on achieving different. Even better job of pulling my attention into something that I wasn't used to reading. I now understand that there are some writers that can convey a higher sexuality, sensuality, and go beyond the lighter stuff. Job well done.
There was a lot of exhibitionism in this book. I think that while a lot of books skate around the topic at hand, they seem to only work up to a big scene where the main characters have a "finale" where they expose the relationship and growth to not only the readers but the crowd (if you will) within the pages. To me, this book was all about being center stage and just being comfortable with your sexuality which is super super rare. The things that transpired were enlightening, literally, to see/read something that wasn't so main stream! Everybody seems to think that the BDSM community is very 50 Shades and that was intense for a lot of people. But for the rest of us that live it daily or as often as we can 50 Shades fell short. Seeing the Edge This book was the opposite. It showed a different avenue into the kinky world which is considered mainstream within it. This is the kind of book that not only teaches but sets forward a truth that I love. Sexuality isn't something that just is, its something that you build. And seeing something doesn't make you want to necessarily live it but it opens the door to MORE.
Kristiene,
Excellent job on achieving different. Even better job of pulling my attention into something that I wasn't used to reading. I now understand that there are some writers that can convey a higher sexuality, sensuality, and go beyond the lighter stuff. Job well done.
September 23, 2013
I love a good BDSM story and this was a different twist.
It is a quick read and I enjoyed learning (although I have read about most of the stuff but some of it was new for me. :) ) right along with Vee.
Here she shows up at her Aunts club when she finds out that she is going to be moving and she wants to hand over the reigns to Vee. It was fun watching her squirm a little. I also have to say that my favorite parts were when Drew would lean into her ear and tell her things, he would help explain what is going on, what she was seeing and why people liked doing what they do.
I was a bit at a loss when at the beginning of the chapters there are parts that were about other people. I wasn't sure what that was about at first and when I asked the author she told me that it is to help set up what is to come in that chapter. Plus you can see how things play out in a quick few chapter out in everyday life. What we see all happens in the club. But the parts that are at the beginning of some of the chapters are things that people do on their own time not at the club. But I do believe there might have been one or two that took place in a club.
I just know it kind of threw me, I wasn't sure what to make of that at first.
I am interested to see how things turn out for her as she takes over this club, also to see her friends go and play. That will be fun to learn more about also. :) It was a fun short read so if you are looking for something that is quick and hot. This falls under that!
It is a quick read and I enjoyed learning (although I have read about most of the stuff but some of it was new for me. :) ) right along with Vee.
Here she shows up at her Aunts club when she finds out that she is going to be moving and she wants to hand over the reigns to Vee. It was fun watching her squirm a little. I also have to say that my favorite parts were when Drew would lean into her ear and tell her things, he would help explain what is going on, what she was seeing and why people liked doing what they do.
I was a bit at a loss when at the beginning of the chapters there are parts that were about other people. I wasn't sure what that was about at first and when I asked the author she told me that it is to help set up what is to come in that chapter. Plus you can see how things play out in a quick few chapter out in everyday life. What we see all happens in the club. But the parts that are at the beginning of some of the chapters are things that people do on their own time not at the club. But I do believe there might have been one or two that took place in a club.
I just know it kind of threw me, I wasn't sure what to make of that at first.
I am interested to see how things turn out for her as she takes over this club, also to see her friends go and play. That will be fun to learn more about also. :) It was a fun short read so if you are looking for something that is quick and hot. This falls under that!
August 29, 2013
Veronica Close, "Vee" is a young lady, drifting through life with no clear direction.
Aunt Veronica Close, "Roni" to her friends, is the owner of a BDSM bar, The Edge, where sex, BDSM and voyeurism/exhibitionists are the rule of the day. Roni decides to give the club to Vee, and shenanigans ensue.
I liked the characters, I liked the story, and I liked the scenes. I was very pleasantly surprised by this book, and definitely recommend it as a good gateway novel.
***book provided by the Author through BDSM group TPE BAR Read2Review***
Aunt Veronica Close, "Roni" to her friends, is the owner of a BDSM bar, The Edge, where sex, BDSM and voyeurism/exhibitionists are the rule of the day. Roni decides to give the club to Vee, and shenanigans ensue.
I liked the characters, I liked the story, and I liked the scenes. I was very pleasantly surprised by this book, and definitely recommend it as a good gateway novel.
***book provided by the Author through BDSM group TPE BAR Read2Review***
April 30, 2013
well, i have to say i thought it was awesome, but then i would....
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews