Sarah K (2)

I remember reading the first book The Secret Life of a Submissive last year and enjoying the heck out of it. Bonds of Love was just as awesome. "Why?" you'd ask.

The majority of BDSM fiction can be easily read as fantasy, but this was so normal and realistic, you have no trouble accepting it as a part of Sarah's life.

First of all, she was a divorced mother of two in her late forties. She was not fragile, she was not damaged and she knew what she wanted from life. I had great respect for Sarah who used her brain, no-nonsense attitude, a network of friends to rely on and a good-natured behaviour to get on with her life after she walked away from her first Dom, Max in the last book.

When she started dating again and met Alex I could have just hugged them both. He was such a sweetheart, the pages would lit up every time they were together.

This was a beautiful piece of intelligent, bittersweet, romantic fiction from a British author with an ending worthy of an English chick lit movie, and I loved every moment of it. Very much recommended.… (mehr)

Sarah K's story grabbed my attention after I read a glowing review on Claire's Book Corner. The story was a true account and it was based in England which ensured that I went and bought the damn book straight away.

I would not call The Secret Life of a Submissive an erotic romance - it reads like a true, raw and honest account, sad and awkward at times, an intimate exploration of your own desires without going into surrealistic over-the-top territory which is a bane of most of erotic novels existence.

Sarah herself is an erotic writer, 40 woman with kids. She just divorced and decided at last to give into her curiosity and desires that have been lurking within her subconsciousness for a long time. She is a real woman, she doesn't have anything extraordinary about her and she is just as vulnerable and insecure about her appearance as most of us. In truth she is endearing and very familiar, which makes you feel for her even more.

Max is older than her, he's got rich history and very specific desires, and after a series of unfortunate interviews with potential Masters through internet BDSM site, Sarah decides to try and let him introduce her to the world she is so curious to know.

Their connection is explosive and it changes both of them throughout the story while Sarah tries to adapt to Max's desires and her own peculiar, heady reaction to them. At the same time Max is telling his own story, how BDSM was introduced into his own life and how it made him the man we see now.

If you expect over dramatic reactions of Fifty Shades and non-stop inner goddess monologue, forget it. This is a great psychological, visceral exploration of dominance and submission with great sexual scenes. There is no happily-ever-after per se, but there is a positive ending that rings true and makes you a little sad but hopeful for the heroine.

I loved it. Recommended to anyone interested in quality, challenging, thought-provoking BDSM erotica.… (mehr)

Reviewed by: Crystal N
Book provided by: publisher for review
Review originally posted at Romancing the Book

This is not a book that tells you that you need to be into BDSM. Just a decision that one woman made to get into BDSM.

This a a book that I enjoyed reading. I have been thinking about the whole BDSM and wanting to know more about it. There are so many kinds out there and if it is something you want to do you need to find out more about it and what you will and won’t do. I really appreciate this author bringing out her life like this. I know that it couldn’t be easy.

In her book she tells what all started her research and what she did to get into the BDSM. Some things I couldn’t see myself doing. I have thought about the whole tying up and maybe spanking. I just think getting whipped with a cane would be too much for me. I enjoyed reading this book. The author did a wonderful job describing what she was feeling during every course of her education. I really didn’t like her husband all that much and I am glad that she found her someone that could give her what she wanted.

I was hoping that things would work out for Sarah and Max. I had to remember that this is a true life story not a romance novel that I love to get into and everything works out in the end. Sarah has found someone to love her and give her what she wants. She love to have vanilla in the mix. I just couldn’t see having the BDSM everyday in my life. That is something that you need to work out for yourself and your partner.

With reading this book my eyes have been opened up even more to the different sides. I know that you can never know how much you want to be in the lifestyle until you try it. It also is an experience on trust and if you can trust your partner to look out for you and make sure you are never hurt. I really commend the author for opening up and sharing what I know had to be a little hard.

This is not a self-help book that tells you what you need to do. It is the journey of one woman and what she wanted in her life. I recommend this book to people that wants to know about someone that has tried it and what they experienced and if it is for them.… (mehr)

Intriguing and interesting.

The book is presented as a true story, so it made ​​me wants to discover Sarah's adventures. It's one thing to read stories romanticized about BDSM, with charming princes, even if they are a little perverted and licentious, and another to imagine living in the shoes of a real sub.

Sarah describes her process, step by step, with her questioning, fears and apprehension. The same as you readers, so that's good and reassuring.
Suddenly, the story has a an educational side and you embark on a journey within her insight thoughts.

For example, the heroine embarks on her BDSM adventure by seeking a master on the internet. Daring? Risky or completely insane? But when you ask yourself questions about a particular livestyle that you're intrigued about, Sarah explains that it is difficult and delicate to talk openly about your desires or push open the doors of a club by yourself. So the internet become the easiest way.

Once Max, her dom, is being found a contract with very specific rules are imposed on Sarah. Some, for example, as abstaining from speaking uninvited. A huge effort to ask for a majority of the female population often unable to hold their tongue! Personally, my hairs began to bristle at this moment.

But Sarah continues her discovery and the fact that you are being inviting to share her emotions and pleasures is intriguing and disturbing at the same time.
Especially when overtaking her limits, always under the benevolence of Max long accustomed to this lifestyle. So used to it that he is unable to maintain a more vanilla traditional relationship. So cuddling is unthinkable.

An invitation to an evening with BDSM friends, with dogs bowls for feeding the subs and the fact that sharing a bed is not conceivable, literally pushed me in my corner. While my mind was screaming, Sarah was seeing a form of affection. It was the evidence that she was at her place in the BDSM environment in which she was initiated.

Then the last part is more personal and certainly more romanticized too. Fellings invite themselves between Max and herself. As everyone comes with baggage, the end is bitter sweet. Certainly, the heroine ends her story by explaining to be very happy, but not necessarily as one expected or would have hoped for her to be.

From an outside point of view, I struggled to understand the blinding faith with which Sarah is bent and opened herself to Max's initiation while he kept voluntarily his share of shadows and mystery. Retention of informations and lack of honesty do not mix, in my opinion, with the contract between the Dom and his sub. This is why the end taste bitter. But again, this story is meant to be realistic or, at least, to show one way that submission can be experienced.

Very interesting because Sarah's romanced testimony show the evidences that compels you to see the practice of BDSM differently. Not a fiction but a real lifestyle. Well written.

Lucie
http://newbooksonmyselves.blogspot.fr/2013/03/the-secret-life-of-submissive.html… (mehr)