book review

Book Review: Comfort Object by Annabel Joseph

May 1, 2017 By anniebear 2 Comments

Comfort Object by Annabel Joseph is the first of a four book series. There is little similarity between the books within the series other than the theme of BDSM and the recurring appearance of characters threaded throughout. I’ve completed the entire series and the other three books don’t seem to capture the same magic and relationship as Comfort Object.

Comfort Object hit all of the buttons in what I like out of my erotica; BDSM themes, a strong dominant male figure, and a girl in trouble. To take a next step, the girl in this story is in trouble because the guy purposely gets her into it! We begin with Nell, she’s working as a professional submissive in a dungeon in LA. A very handsome man comes in one evening and pays to dominate her. Spoiler alert, this handsome man is not our main attraction for the book, rather he is to be the male lead’s assistant. Nell breaks the dungeon rules by meeting this man outside of the dungeon for sex. The head Mistress finds out and subsequently fires her. Come to find out, the sexy male assistant was on a search for his boss to acquire a new submissive. You heard that right, the assistant gets to “test” Nell out for his boss.

Enter Jeremy, famous movie star (of course). After his assistant gives him the information on Nell, he finds her at her new waitressing job and solicits her to be his new assistant. She eventually relents out of financial desperation, only the find out the new “job” is actually to be his live in submissive. I don’t want to give away the rest but sexy shenanigans ensue, Nell gets placed in danger, and you’ll need to read it to find out what happens!

I really liked this book because the BDSM scenes seem very authentic, as if someone who knows what they are talking about wrote them. The D/s exchange is really hot and I love the power play between Jeremy and Nell. I will say that Jeremy is borderline a terrible jerk for a portion of the book. He does not take care of Nell mentally and emotionally like a D/s dynamic should be but a lot of that is due to the contractually relationship they share. There are also a few moments where the contract and perhaps even consent were thrown the wayside. I would have liked Jeremy to be more stable as he was echoing some Christian Gray standards.

The book also shared group sex scenes which I really enjoy reading about. Many of the past BDSM themed erotica avoid this theme, centering the book solely on a monogamous relationship. This was a change to the repetition of the last few books I had read. I highly recommend Comfort Object for your summer reading. The other three books in the series, Caressa’s Knees, Odalisque, and Command Performance are also very entertaining but lacking that “spark” I enjoy in my erotica. I hope to check out more of Annabel Joseph’s books a sI rarely follow specific authors, so it would be nice to have a new go to! The Comfort Object series is available here.

anniebear is a submissive living with her partner Dexx in Los Angeles. She enjoys writing, modeling for friends, animal rescue, and teaching herself how to cook. You can catch her on Fetlife or Facebook.

Book Review: Future Sex by Emily Witt

April 24, 2017 By anniebear 1 Comment

I first discovered Future Sex while researching topics for our “This week in kink” section on Kink Weekly. I’m always on the prowl for BDSM news or anything pertaining to sex and alternative relationships. I saved the book information and moved along only to circle back to it again once I had some serious travel coming up. Having secured the book into my Kindle app on my iPhone, I promptly read the entire thing in about three days. Author Emily Witt describes the topography of contemporary dating by living out more experiences than most will encounter during the whole of their existence. She also manages to both dissect and explain commonplace dating and sex while being able to move past the norms, all with a sense of ease and understanding.

She takes us through a journey of several years and many experiences that the average person would consider to be unusual. From “OM”-ing (a new wave method for female orgasm) in San Francisco to finding new partners in the desert at Burning Man she takes each moment in stride with an ernest self awareness lacking in most.

One of my favorite moments is near the beginning as Witt realizes traditional dating is not for her, that she needs to look into other options. But should she fail in her mission she states, “I would have embraced the project of wifeliness, monogamy, and child-rearing and posted them as triumphs for collective celebration on digital feeds.” Never has this idea been more clearly painted to me than in that sentence. For me, Future Sex was not only an investigation into alternative dating and non-monogamy but it was exposing what monogamy has become; the “one true option.” Those outside of monogamy are labeled as strange degenerates in way and with little attempt from “vanillas” to even understand why others choose to date or have sex this way. Witt says, “I had disliked my freedom because I didn’t want to see myself landing on the outside of normal.” Because anything but “normal” is difficult for most people to even share with their friends and families.

Future Sex is not at all what I expected. With the organization of the book being separate chapters outlining a glimpse into different facets of dating as a millennial, with titles like “Internet Dating” and “Live Web Cams” it’s both entertaining, raw, and at times awkward. In the chapter “Internet Porn” Witt spends a great deal of time discussing Princess Donna and the “Public Disgrace” series from Kink.com. I loved reading every word about how one of these shoots would go down. Basically a model signs a specific agreement allowing him or her to be “publicly” humiliated in front of an audience. Oftentimes, audience participation is allowed. The Public Disgrace videos were some of my very first exposure to the lifestyle, I just didn’t realize it at the time. I read this section with a bit of sadness as Kink.com has recently moved their offices from their home at The Armory in San Francisco. But that’s a lamentation for a whole other article!

Where was Witt going with all of this Kink.com business? She pointed out that everything she witnessed for Kink was about rules and perhaps she realized, her rules may need to change.

Most eye opening to me was the chapter on Birth Control and Reproduction. Witt points out that basic birth control technology for women has not advanced or evolved in almost forty years. This reinforces the idea that except for condoms, birth control falls squarely on the shoulders of women. No one seems to care enough to advance it because “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.” (that was a direct quote from me, not the author of this book 😉 But the birth control methods and process are broken. The pain, side effects, burden…its one more nail in coffin of how we’ve arrived to the way sex is now.

Witt eventually wraps the book up into a startling conclusion. There won’t be some amazing evolution of how we have sex. The conversation will simply change as it always has. Even from ten years ago, we talk about sex differently or perhaps it’s just me? There is always a shift occurring, even if it’s minute.

Future Sex is available on Amazon.com.

Review: Human Surrender

October 17, 2016 By anniebear 7 Comments

UPDATE: Currently this book is no longer available on Amazon.com. We will update again as soon as it becomes available once more!

Alright everyone, I’ve got a confession to make and it’s a little humiliating doing it so publicly but I’m into that so here goes: I’ve recently gotten into reading sci-fi BDSM. Think aliens kidnapping humans and BDSM/power exchange ensues. Thankfully I know I’m not alone in this interest as I’ve corroborated this “kink” with others near and dear to me. It is slightly uncomfortable admitting to this seemingly taboo topic. I happened upon one story collection in particular that hits all the important buttons for a (in my opinion) good erotic story. These buttons include being well written, imaginative, hot, and “relatable” in so much that I could imagine along with the character all of these things happening to me.

Human Surrender: Five Dark Sci-Fi Alien Romance Novellas is a captivating collection for it’s genre. The book includes five different stories from five different authors. Typically in the vast online erotica to be found on Amazon, it’s difficult to come across anything of much quality or that will hold ones attention. There is also the bang for your buck factor. I don’t even bother purchasing erotica that is under 100 pages because it’s not worth it. I want long, meaty (no pun intended) stories that I won’t blow through in an hour.

Each story was similar in a way; an almost humanlike alien or aliens somehow captures or comes across a human woman and kidnaps or saves her. There is a battle of wills at first, but ultimately the love story wins. There are elements of Stockholm syndrome and even a bit of rape fantasy. I think the latter was presented in a way as not to “trigger” people who have actual experienced that type of trauma. These stories are lighter on the BDSM play but heavy on the Dominance and power exchange. There is also plenty of MMF threesomes to be had *swoon*. The “alien” element was not so different as to have tentacles or strange experiments though there as definitely some medical play fantasies going on. The portrayal of the alien beings were very human like in nature as well as the sex.

I was captivated by these stories and could hardly put them down. Perhaps it played on the part of my brain that enjoys imagining these fantasies rather then them actually happening to me. I mean, would I really want to be kidnapped for example? Would I ever explore a rape fantasy? That’s the beauty of reading, opening your imagination to possibilities, even ones that could never happen in real life. I think a lot of the stuff you find in books can be translated into everyday life or play scenes in some form or another.

If you’re looking for something off the beaten path that will make you hot, check this collection out!

Review: Master of O

August 1, 2016 By Master Peter Raven 4 Comments

Story Rating: 4.0 of 5
Hotness Factor (kink): 5.0 of 5

‘Master of O’ is a novel by Ernest Greene that loosely uses the novel ‘Story of O’ by Pauline Reage as its inspiration. The story revolves around Steven Diamond and his evolving relationship with a woman only known in the novel as “O”. His brother, Ray Vincenzo, and Ray’s future slave to be Jacqui, also play major roles in the evolving story of Steven and O’s developing M/s relationship.

Steven is a highly successful defense attorney in Los Angeles, and the primary owner of his brother’s kink related magazine ‘Forbidden’ (think Playboy for the kinky folk). “O” is the main photographer for ‘Forbidden’, and when the story begins she is Ray’s slave, though their relationship, it is revealed, has started to slide into being tepid and predictable. Ray actually makes a present of “O” to his older brother, as he knows her tastes for the extreme are more closely aligned with his brother Steven’s tastes than they are with his own. Ray feels it is a way to pay back his older brother for all the help Steven has given him over the years. This then is the basic premise for the novel and what follows. The main character is Steven Diamond and the reader gets a full description of the life he leads, from his work to his strictly structured home life to his personal life. The reader gets glimpses and anecdotes of most of the characters’ pasts, at least enough to fill in any potential gaps that would otherwise have developed during the course of the novel.

Are there problems with ‘Master of O’? Yes, there are, but not enough to detract from the story, nor from the wonderfully hot and kinky scenes contained in its pages. The editing could be sharper, but that is not the writer’s fault but the editor’s, and the occasional typo or missing word does not interfere with the enjoyment of the read. The biggest complaint about the book is the two main characters, Steven and “O”, are not the most likeable people in the world, especially Steven. He is a millionaire, and a lot of time is spent on description of his wardrobe, jewelry, cars, living quarters, and his BDSM furniture and toys. “O” is not nearly as dislikeable, but there is a certain level of looking down her nose at others that comes across. The most likeable character in the book is Steven’s brother, Ray. While we get a good amount of Ray storyline throughout the novel, the character could definitely carry a follow up book as the primary.

However, the entire previous paragraph aside, ‘Master of O’ works. As a novel in its own right and as an incredibly erotic, steamy, no holds barred BDSM kink novel. The scenes between Steven and “O”, “O” and Jacqui, Steven, Ray and “O”, Ray and Jacqui, and the brothers (separately) with members of the “staff” at the Mansion (homage to ‘Story of O’) are very well written and extremely hot and entertaining. If you are in to BDSM/kink in any way, this novel will not fail to get you sufficiently turned on and very hot under the collar or in the pants or under the skirt as the case may well be. Plus there is the added bonus for those who are inclined to practice the arts of BDSM to perhaps supply the reader with a new idea or two. Both of these things make a very worthwhile reason alone to read the book. Add in the fact that all the different story arcs occurring during the novel are resolved believably, including the romantic ones, and ‘Master of O’ is a book worth buying and adding to one’s erotic collection. The novel may be purchased here.

Master Peter Raven, Great Lakes Leather Alliance Master 2012 and Illinois Leather Master 2012, was active in both Chicago’s oldest BDSM Leather Club and dungeon as a former board member and member and the Chicago Pansexual community at large. Since moving to Nevada he has continued to be involved in his local pansexual/Leather/BDSM community. He is the founder of House of Raven, a small but close knit leather house of like-minded individuals. He also started the MAsT:Buffalo Grove chapter of MAsT International. He started his kinky reading at the tender age of 10 when he read ‘The Story Of O’ and discovered his kinky side very early. He is a voracious reader of vanilla and kink books, and a fledgling writer in his own right. Follow Master Peter on twitter @m_peterraven. If you are an author with a published novel or story and wish it to be reviewed for kinkweekly.com, please contact or forward the story to Peter Raven at m.peterraven@gmail.com

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