Review Tuesday: My Wife & Master Jake - #BDSM #erotica #ReviewTuesday

My Wife & Master Jake by Pebbles Lacasse

Amazon KDP, 2019

Happily married for a decade, Beth and Henry have no children, and no complaints. They’re still in love; their sexual relationship is active and satisfying. Still, the problems Beth is having finishing her novel might indicate some underlying psychological issues, and her occasional fantasies in which her attentive and considerate husband turns demanding, even brutal, could suggest that she is not totally satisfied.

Perhaps that’s why Beth so willingly succumbs to seduction by Henry’s co-worker Jake. Blond, fit, sexy and articulate, Jake doesn’t shy away from telling Beth exactly what he wants from her – total physical and sexual submission. Younger than her husband by nearly a decade, he’s an experienced dominant, seeking a partner with whom he can play out his sadistic fantasies. Jake offers Beth pleasure, respect and safety, but is quite clear that their relationship will not include anything like love.

Jake is a temptation that Beth cannot resist, especially when Henry urges her to explore her submissive side. When it becomes obvious that Henry wants her to submit to Jake – that in fact, the men have discussed it, and Henry finds the scenario incredibly arousing – Beth agrees. Her decision launches both Beth and Henry on a perverse erotic journey that changes their lives as well as deepening their emotional bonds.

Few authors I know can write graphic, intense, extreme BDSM scenes as well as Pebbles Lacasse. From Beth’s and Jake’s first encounter, My Wife and Master Jake is scorchingly hot. Jake is demanding, inventive, and unrelenting in his use of Beth’s body. The scenes go on and on, one nasty implement of torture after another – one orifice after another – one orgasm after another. The Dom fulfills his promise to Beth, teaching her about pain, pleasure and the intimate connection between them. As the book continues, Henry joins in their scenes, along with beautiful Domme Jenna. In a marathon session close to the end of the novel, Ms. Lacasse delighted me by including both FF and MM interactions, something many erotica writers shy away from.

In short, if you’re looking for heavy BDSM scenes that will make you cringe while soaking your panties, I can recommend this novel. You’ll find plenty here to fuel your masturbatory fantasies.

If, however, you’re seeking something a little more substantial, a realistic portrait of a couple’s initiation into BDSM, you might be disappointed. I have to say that I found the characters in this book shallow, and the premise unconvincing. Jake’s proposal comes out of the blue, but Beth shows no real concern about submitting to a total stranger. Henry displays not the least hint of jealousy or sense of inferiority. Furthermore, Beth’s initiation was far too rapid to be believable. While it’s true that Jake escalates their scenes each time they meet, their very first session includes far more intense pain than a responsible Dom would ever inflict on a total novice. Meanwhile, Beth slips into submission with almost no difficulty – no self-doubt, no fear, just lots and lots of climaxes. Based on my personal experiences as a submissive, this didn’t ring true.

Another aspect that might be more controversial is Beth’s willingness to trust her body to someone she barely knows, with the proviso that love is strictly forbidden. For me, D/s begins in the mind, Submission and devotion are strongly linked. I can’t imagine surrendering to a dominant whom I didn’t love.

However, I know this isn’t true of everyone who is into kink. For some people, BDSM is more about the physical sensations than the emotional nuances. I guess Beth is supposed to be that sort of person.

One reason I wasn’t completely satisfied with My Wife and Master Jake is that I know Ms. Lacasse can do better. Her Coaching Rayna series offers both erotic intensity and emotional subtlety. This novel delivers the former, but is sadly lacking in the latter.

That might not matter to some readers, but it definitely does to me.

[I received a free copy of this book from Booksprout and chose to write this review.]

Review Tuesday: As She's Told by Anneke Jacob - #BDSM #Owned #ReviewTuesday

As She's Told by Anneke Jacob

Pink Flamingo Publications, 2008

I've often observed, both in my stories and in real life, that the most erotic moments derive from complementary fantasies. Exhibitionist and voyeur. Sheik and harem girl. Strict schoolmarm and naughty schoolboy. And of course, Dom and sub. You want to do something. Your partner wants to see/feel/taste/touch you as you do it. Each participant is aware of the other's desires. That awareness sets up an erotic circuit, each person's excitement amplifying the other's arousal.

Anneke Jacob's remarkable novel As She's Told presents an extreme case of this sort of reciprocity. Her heroine, Maia, craves complete submission. She wants to be owned—the life of a slave with no choice at all. She has harbored these desires since childhood, struggling to make her way in the world, pretending to be a "normal" person, but knowing that only this total relinquishment of her will can make her feel whole and safe.

Anders is Maia's complement, a dominant who finds the games and play parties of the BDSM scene silly and frustrating. He wants complete control over a woman—the freedom to do anything at all to his slave, to require any service, to experiment with any sort of pain or bondage that appeals to him. He wants a woman to be his belonging, his chattel,"his own thing". When the story opens, though, he has almost given up hope of ever satisfying his deep-seated desire for total control.

Anders first encounters Maia in a BDSM chat room, where she asks, in response to a discussion about negotiation: "but doesn't that spoil it?" and later adds: "I mean if a sub chooses that means control. Contradiction in terms." Anders hardly dares to believe that he might have finally found his counterpart, but when they meet in person at a "munch", mutual understanding and mutual attraction are both immediate.

The early chapters, when Maia and Anders first realize that their dreams may have come true, left me breathless. Despite their lightning attraction, Anders forces them to go slowly. Step by step, he leads Maia into a new world of unquestioning obedience. All does not go smoothly. Although she is desperate to please, Maia is also sloppy, irresponsible and occasionally rebellious. In addition, she is unrelentingly horny, and Anders rarely allows her any release for her sexual tension.

In each chapter, Anders introduces new torments or requires new adjustments. A waist chain is replaced by a tight corset, then labial piercings, then a chastity belt, then a bit and bridle and leather mitts that turn Maia into a dumb animal. In the early stages, he regularly checks with his would-be slave to make sure that she has not changed her mind. By the time they have been together for a year, however, she is truly his, and he stops asking her to describe her feelings or give him feedback.

Anders is a perfectionist, a construction contractor with a passion for detail. As She's Told is almost obsessive in its descriptions of the equipment he designs to decorate, test and torture his slave. The book includes all the familiar trappings from the BDSM canon: the slave suspended and whipped; the slave plugged with dildos and vibrators but not allowed to come; the slave used as furniture; the slave eating out of a dog bowl; the slave harnessed to a cart and forced to trot and gallop. (Ms. Jacobs also dreams up some more unusual and imaginative kinks, but I won't spoil the impact by describing them here.)

We've seen all these notions before, in Carrie's Story, in the Beauty Trilogy, in The Story of O. The difference is that in As She's Told, these are not treated as fantasy. Ms. Jacob is convincingly realistic in her depictions of what Anders does and how Maia feels. At some level, this book is still a fantasy, a thought experiment exploring how an extreme Master/slave relationship might develop, but the tone demands that the reader take the whole process seriously.

In fact, parts of this book are sufficiently extreme that they may be difficult for some readers. I found that I could not read more than a few chapters at a sitting because, despite my long-time fascination with BDSM, they made me uncomfortable.

This is not (despite some horrified reviews on Amazon.com) a story of abuse. Anders does not negotiate, but he cares for his slave and makes sure that she will not be seriously injured. When he offers his brother, cousin and several women friends free use of Maia's body, he makes sure that they use condoms, even for oral sex. He is giving Maia what she wants, and she is suitably grateful. Still, I wouldn't want Anders for my Master. He's too interested in stripping away Maia's pretensions of being human. He delights in turning her into an animal or even an inanimate object. Toward the end of the novel, Maia spends eight weeks without the use of her hands, sleeping in a stall, forbidden to speak, and worst of all, banished from her Master's bed. I can scarcely imagine this—it sounds too horrible to be endured (far worse than being forbidden to or unable to come). But then, I'm not Maia. Ms. Jacobs managed to make me believe that Maia could and would endure it, in order to please Anders.

As She's Told is not without its faults. It is a long book without much plot. Each chapter pushes new limits, but there's no climax and very little conflict. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, for Maia to rebel or for someone to be hurt or killed, for some revelation or resolution, but in fact nothing much happens. We're led to believe that this relationship will continue, satisfying both of the participants, as they live out their complementary fantasies together. I think that this is Ms. Jacob's point, to suggest that such a relationship could actually exist and that it could be healthy and mutually fulfilling.

I don't know whether I am completely convinced. People change. Maia is very young (she graduates from college in the course of the book) and Anders not much older. Furthermore, it seems that there must be an objective limit to the escalation Anders practices on Maia. My Master and I have debated the question of escalation, the continued pushing of limits. Clearly there must be some point when you can't push any further without doing serious physical harm. What happens then? Do the participants get bored or jaded? Or is it the case that a truly imaginative dominant will never run out of things to do with his slave?

The very fact that I'm thinking about these issues, though, is a tribute to Ms. Jacob's skill.As She's Told is a rare item, a serious novel about BDSM relationships that does not sacrifice realism for titillation. I found it exciting, disturbing and challenging. I just bought a copy for my Master.