16 Aug 2011 Posted by zeldagillian on 16 Aug 2011 | 1 comment

Review: Hard Bitten by Chloe Neill

“A Turning Point in the Chicagoland Vampires Saga”

The Download… Straight from the Cover Times are hard for newly minted vampire Merit. Ever since shapeshifters announced their presence to the world, humans have been rallying against supernaturals–and they’re camping outside of Cadogan House with protest signs that could turn to pitchforks at any moment. Inside its doors, things between Merit and her Master, green-eyed heartbreaker Ethan Sullivan are … tense. But then the mayor of Chicago calls Merit and Ethan to a clandestine meeting and tells them about a violent vamp attack that has left three women missing. His message is simple: get your House in order. Or else. Merit needs to get to the bottom of this crime, but it doesn’t help that she can’t tell who’s on her side. So she secretly calls in a favor from someone who’s tall, dark, and part of underground vamp group that may have some deep intel on the attack. Merit soon finds herself in theheady, dark heart of Chicago’s supernatural society–a world full of vampires who seem to ready to fulfill the protesting human’s worst fears, and a place where she’ll learn that you can’t be a vampire without getting a little blood on your hands…

Zelda’s Two Cents…

I would call this a book of change for Merit and the Chicagoland vampires. After three hot hot hot Chicagoland Vampires novels, I feel like Chloe Neill is allowing her audience to breathe a bit with this installment. While it is arguably as action-packed as the previous books, it is very light on the romance side, a bit of a let-down for those of us who’ve grown accustomed to the steamy suspense between Ethan and Merit. Of course, Merit still kicks ass while supporting her House and the well-being of the vampire community as a whole, and there may be some stirrings of a relationship with Jonah around the corner, but one can’t help but feel a little lost without the heat.

As far as the rest of the plot is concerned, old villains haven’t quite disappeared and new villains are seemingly minor. Merit’s best friend Mallory and her boyfriend Catcher only have ancillary roles. The leader of the North American Central werewolf pack Gabriel only shows up once in the entire novel.

All this being said, the ending of the novel packs enough punch to carry the rest of the book on its coattails.

Spoiler Alert!!!
(Continue reading only if you don’t mind spoilers!)

So, yeah…. BIG changes erupt at the end of the book. Such big changes that I didn’t see them coming at all. The first huge plot twist is when Merit is told that her father had commissioned Ethan to assault her and turn her into a vampire as a political ploy. Of course, this throws everything that has happened between Merit and Ethan in the previous books into question and dashes hopes that they will ever be happily in love. Even though Ethan is exonerated in the end for not accepting the proposal from Merit’s father, we still experience the heartache with Merit and it stings. This is also just further evidence that nothing is ever as it seems and calls into question just who in Merit’s life is actually trustworthy.

The second showstopper? Ethan dies! Holy shit, this completely floored me. Whhhyyyy!?!?! I really liked Ethan as a character and was truly hopeful that we would get to see further romancing between him and Merit, but it is just not to be. After I picked my jaw up off the floor, I started thinking about this twist from the author’s perspective and see that it was probably a necessary move in order to keep the plot moving forward in the series and avoid becoming stale. I mean, the push and pull of Merit and Ethan couldn’t go on forever, right? Plus, this now opens the door for many potential plot developments in future books: a real possibility for Merit and the Red Guard, a possible future for Merit and Jonah, the evolution of Cadogan under Malik’s lead… who knows?

Regardless, Neill still has a great story on her hands and I’m looking forward to seeing in what direction she decides to take it. The next installment of the Chicagoland Vampires series, Drink Deep, is due out in November 2011!

Tags:

Chicagoland Vampires, Chloe Neill, Paranormal Romance, Reviews, Tough-Ass Chicks, Urban Fantasy, Vampires, Weres/Shifters, Witches

1 Mar 2011 Posted by zeldagillian on 1 Mar 2011 | 0 comments

Review: The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty by Anne Rice

“Quintessential Kinky Fantasy”

The Download… Straight from the Cover From bestselling author Anne Rice, writing as A.N. Roquleaure. In the traditional folktale of ‘Sleeping Beauty,’ the spell cast upon the lovely young princess and everyone in her castle can only be broken by the kiss of a Prince. It is an ancient story, one that originally emerged from and still deeply disturbs the mind’s unconscious. Now Anne Rice’s retelling of the Beauty story probes the unspoken implications of this lush, suggestive tale by exploring its undeniable connection to sexual desire. Here the Prince reawakens Beauty, not with a kiss, but with sexual initiation. His reward for ending the hundred years of enchantment is Beauty’s complete and total enslavement to him as Anne Rice explores the world of erotic yearning and fantasy in a classic that becomes, with her skillful pen, a compelling experience.

Zelda’s Two Cents…

WARNING: This review contains graphic representations of fictional non-consensual torture and captivity and highly sexual content. Please proceed with caution.

This book had me at “hello” and makes me wonder why on earth I had never read it before now. Note that it is not written for your average audience and is a pretty hardcore representation on non-consensual captivity and sexual fantasy. The story would most appeal to a reader with kinky preferences or at least a fond familiarity with BDSM. That being said, as a member of the kink community, I truly appreciate that it was written as a fantasy for kinksters and not aimed at the mainstream crowd for shock value. I LOVE that it was so unabashedly kinky. Seriously. Some of the kink in this book makes you gasp and then blush when you realize how much it actually turns you on.

Especially interesting is the mental and emotional development of the slaves as they are forced to endure this hardship or right of passage. Throughout the book, the elements of force and humiliation set the scene for pretty much every interaction, from Beauty’s initial capture and forced nudity to all of the trials that the slaves in the kingdom must endure. It is essentially a lesson in humility — a chance for the priveleged to experience what it is like to be down-trodden and inferior.

They enter their terms of service from lives of entitlement and wealth. They are used to getting their way and ordering others to bow to their whims. What they receive is an education on how to be subservient and submissive. They learn to dig deep into their own psyches and overcome preconceived notions of what is right and wrong, fair and not.

Some of the finer points of force and coercion that stick with me are:

• Arousal. The slaves were kept at such a point of arousal throughout the story with repeated edging and stimulation, making them always ready. For women, they are always wet and well-lubricated. For men, they are always standing at attention. I find the thought of being forced into a state of arousal to the point of having no control over it is such an incredible turn-on. And, to some extent, I find this quite realistic. The mind is a powerful thing and repetition and suggestion can indeed force physical responses, whether you want them or not.
• The Hall of Torture. The hall of torture where slaves are hung so that their bodies are folded in half with their genitalia exposed and repeatedly edged and tortured for weeks on end was intense. Add to this, the description of using honey on female genitalia to attract insects made my heart skip a beat, yet also held some sort of sick fascination for me. For anyone with torture, genitorture or orgasm denial fetishes, these scenes alone will keep you up at night.
• Impalement. The method of impaling, specifically anal impalement, is used throughout in a lot of the scenes for mounting a slave to be placed on display or used in some other fashion. The forced vulnerability and humiliation in this terrifies me, yet at the same time turns me on.
• True and complete submission. I must admit that the thought of being fully removed from normal life and forced into a life of submission holds such a great fantastical appeal to me. To no longer have responsibility. To be taken care of. To be “claimed” and “kept.” This is one of the reasons that I love to read fantasies like this. I know that it is not possible for me in my own life, so I can at least live vicariously through the characters in my books.

There is a point later in the book where the plot starts to drag a bit in the retelling of Prince Alexi’s history. That being said, it is from this section that I found what I felt was the most poignant quote.

“I love it. I loathe it,” Alexi said. “I am humiliated by it, and recreated by it. And yielding means to feel all those things at once and yet to be of one mind and one spirit.”

This is almost a mantra of submission to me. Where else can you find such diametrically opposed psychological effects — love and hate, degradation and creation, the concept of destruction creating peace. It is really a compelling journey, and despite the fantastical nature of Rice’s Sleeping Beauty series, laced throughout is a truth and reality that has a profound effect on its reader.

While the Sleeping Beauty series is in no way going to appeal to most readers, I found it utterly fascinating and cannot wait to continue reading.

Tags:

Anne Rice, BDSM, Captivity, Erotica, Fairy Tale, Non-Consensual, Reviews, Slavery, Sleeping Beauty, Torture

21 Jan 2011 Posted by zeldagillian on 21 Jan 2011 | 0 comments

Review: Mercy by Annabel Joseph

“A Dancer’s D/s Dream”

The Download… Straight from the Cover Lucy Merritt has always defined herself by her body, whether dancing in a small avant-garde company or posing for art. But she has always felt as if something is wrong with her, as if something is missing. She has never been in love. Suddenly, in the darkness of the theater wings, a strangely affecting man enters her life. Matthew Norris, rich, handsome patron of the dance company, has decided that he wants Lucy for his own. He makes her an offer that both frightens and compels her, and they soon begin an affair characterized by only two requirements, beauty and truth. But how truthful are Matthew and Lucy? How much of Matthew’s strenuous brand of love can Lucy endure? And how long can their rigid Dom/sub relationship stay frozen in time, never growing, never moving forward?

Zelda’s Two Cents…

Mercy is another great BDSM and ballet novel from Annabel Joseph. For those who follow my reviews, I have what you could call a weakness for ballet and dance mixed in with my BDSM erotica. Really, the two just belong together in my eyes, through and through. And Mercy does not disappoint.

When Lucy first meets Matthew, sparks fly. Before she can even understand what it is that compels her toward him, she knows that it is something special. And Matthew is hard to resist. Confidant. Assertive. Wealthy. Successful. Just what a ballet dancer who is nearing the end of his/her dancing career needs; someone to provide for them when their bodies fail. But Lucy finds she needs something more than just financial support in a partner… she needs to be dominated and taken care of.

I love that Mercy depicts a very realistic relationship that experiences growing pains and imperfections. Neither Lucy nor Matthew are perfect, though they try to make things work for each other, through thick and thin. They discover that “Even if it’s not perfect… if you enjoy it, if it makes you happy, then it’s a good thing.”

I also appreciate the realism in their BDSM play, in the activities they engage in and the emotions they experience — from the desire to please and be controlled on Lucy’s part to the jealousy and ownership that Matthew feels for her. I will say that at times things get almost too realistic and commonplace, as the couple deals with their daily lives, relationship issues and even pregnancy. Though, in true romance novel fashion, Lucy’s and Matthew’s love for each other prevails despite their disagreements and troubles. I must admit that I did find the Happily Ever After in this novel to be a bit of a stretch. In my eyes, without revealing too much of the plot, I find some of the deceit that these two commit on each other (specifically from Matthew’s end) to be insurmountable. I get that it’s a fantasy and you need to suspend disbelief to some degree, but I just can’t imagine rising above what happens and maintaining a healthy relationship without resentment over the long-term.

Despite this, Lucy’s and Matthew’s courtship throughout is sweet and sexy. I yearn for domination with Lucy and feel for Matthew’s struggle over falling in love. I enjoy their dynamic, Matthew’s rules and Lucy’s submissive power over him. I love the struggles they have with their limits and just how much they are willing to give to each other. All in all, it was a very enjoyable read.

Tags:

Annabel Joseph, BDSM, Dance, Erotica, Reviews