His Intimate Submission
Anne Douglas
E-book Novella
Ellora’s Cave Publishing
$4.95
“Months ago, on a hot Florida night, three friends explored one another. It’d been good enough that they’d explored together some more.
But while the sex is as amazing as ever between the couple, Jason’s shutting Lucy out of the everyday things. He’s searching. Lucy doesn’t know what Jason is seeking, but she’s scared that might mean leaving her behind. It’s time for her to pull up her big girl panties and figure out what’s wrong before things go really bad.
Jason surprises her—he’s not cheating and he’s not about to leave her, but he has an overwhelming desire he’s worried to admit. Lucy will have to demand her lover’s intimate submission to set them back on the path to happiness.
Reader Advisory: Contains a little male/male action, ménage elements, and some veryerotic female domination. (And, um…did we mention the enema scene? Hey, don’t knock it ’til you’ve read it.) This is the continuation of Jason and Lucy’s story, which started in Curious Intimacies. While this book can be read as a stand-alone, do you really want to miss the events that led them here?“
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The writing is the slightest bit conceited the way Romances are, though not unpleasantly so. I was surprised at how tolerable I found the writing, considering how much of a literature snob I am.
The scenes were tastefully done, and well handled. Tasks otherwise unpleasant and mundane were eroticized and dealt with in good taste such as the enema scene or the shaving scene.
It’s very light BDSM, the incorporating of a D/s dynamic strictly in the bedroom.
Diana is not so much a Dominant woman as she is a switch, which is something I identified, and something I enjoyed reading. I caught on to submissive tendencies in her character; that eager need to please her lover, among one of them, yet she is able to switch for him in her desire to please him, and take on the dominant role for him.
Jason, as your stereotypical macho man was endearing in his vulnerability.
She was lovingly commanding, torturing him with pleasure and desire, which was one of the things that I found myself liking the most. There was no need to put on a bitch act and be cold or cruel.
I loved how she teased him.
Good, clean, fun playful kink.
They also made reference to the idea that though orally servicing someone might seem like an act of subservience, there is a degree of power one holds in the mere act of doing so.
It played out to my kinks and fantasies rather nicely. The scenes described were so much like my own, I really enjoyed someone else writing about them more or less in the same context I would.
I liked that she struggled somewhat to take on her role, and there was a constant hesitation of who was controlling who despite their actions and despite their position. There was also no stigma attached based on that oh so Roman way of thinking in regards of who is being taken and who is doing the taking.
The basic plot follows the continuing story (I have yet to read the previous segment) of Diana & Jason, a couple going through a rough patch because Jason has some hidden desires he won’t admit to lest his lover think less of him.
He admits right off the bat (it’s a novella, hence need to move fast) he needs her to take control, which catches her off guard, though she doesn’t object to the idea. She does some research, talks to a mutual lover, Shane, who’s gay, and has been involved in their threesomes.
He’s had previous experience in the scene, somewhat unpleasant, as did Diana in her early twenties. He hooks her up with his previous Mistress, who talks to Diana and explains the dynamic of a loving D/s relationship, and sheds truth on some myths and misconceptions (that was actually a scene I really liked).
Diana leaves and purchases a variety of adult toys to use for their test-trial later that evening, and afterwards, stops for a quickie over at Jason’s office, leaving him frustrated for the rest of the day.
We have the shaving scene, the enema scene, teasing, internal turmoil, and then hot strap-on sex, and then the cherry on top, it ends with a MFM ménage.
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I was actually not familiar with this style of writing. I’d seen hints of it in The Secret History and Brideshead, though not utilized in such a blunt manner. It was just scene after scene after scene which I find a very appealing form to try out.
All in all, I was surprised by how not turned off I was by any of it (the writing, especially; it didn’t annoy the hell out of me). Being such a spoiled brat (once you’ve read erotic novels like Lolita, or the Beauty books you just sort of develop a very distinct and refined preference for writing) and all, I enjoyed it and even got the previous one.
I enjoyed how the topic was dealt with, how it treated it in a positive light , the scenes focused on internal turmoil (a pre-requisite for me) while still being hot, and there was even the incorporation of a ménage. Now if only they’d been poly, now that would have been very hot.
And who’dthunk it? Apparently I’m reading trashy smut for amusement now, and I’m enjoying it.
It’s just one perversion after another, I swear.