+Giveaway

BDSM, Erotica, Steampunk - novella
TBR reviewer: Luta Wolf

An airship pirate who ran away from his soul crushing London life, finds himself at an infamously decadent carnival out in the English countryside. A fellow pirate does his best to convince him to go and sample the lovely women of The Row, but Buck isn’t sure he ever wants a woman again.

That is until a mysterious woman in a red dress and mask sits down across from him,
entrancing him instantly. He follows her back to her red silk tent, where she puts him through his paces, whetting his appetite for more erotic delights. Each time he returns, she brings him further beyond his boundaries, while learning that he can help her break her bonds.

Buck couldn’t leave London quickly enough but now that he’s out in the world, he finds that perhaps losing control isn’t what he was really looking for. Jane is a woman of the night, one that holds the reigns tightly in hand. In each other’s arms they find sublime submission and control.
 
The plot takes place in a futuristic Victorian world with a heavy dose of BDSM. With a plot like that, I knew that I’d either love the story or hate it. I’m picky about my Dom/sub and have come away more than once with a bad taste in my mouth from an author not truly understanding the lifestyle. That was not the case here as the author proved quit knowledgeable about the subject.

I admit to being hesitant about the alternate universe as well. I needn’t have worried though as the author provided amazing details to the point that I felt she was literally painting this world for me. What I loved most about the story though is the fact that the woman is the Dom. Who doesn’t love a woman that knows what she wants and has full intention of getting what she wants. Don’t get me wrong though, Buck isn’t any less of a man, just that he also happens to be a man that knows when to let go of control.

My only complaint with the story is that, I personally felt that it could have been drawn out a little bit longer. I loved everything else and look forward to more from this author.

The Red Lady’s expression returned to blank beneath the mask.   

“What’s your name?” Alaric asked.

“I haven’t decided what you’ll call me yet.”

His heart beat picked up again, and a tremor started in his legs.

“Why did you follow me here, Alaric?”

He shrugged, not sure of the answer. “Well…this is The Row isn’t it?”

“It is.”

“And you’re a woman on the Row right?”

She didn’t reply. Alaric felt his face heating, a faint prickle starting in his cock despite it.  This was worse than in China, when that beautiful girl pretended to react to his clumsy fumbling and then tried not to laugh when he paid her for an hour and only lasted a handful of minutes.

“Look, my ship’s just back from a long tour. I can pay you.”
 
“We’ll see,” the Lady said, a small smile quirking her lips up. “You’ve accompanied a prostitute before?”
 
“Of course.” He pointed at himself with a touch of bravado. “Pirate.”

The Red Lady let a silence land there, stretching out before him.

“Just once.”
 
“It didn’t go well.”

Now she was reading his mind. He should go, simply turn around, leave, and never see
a prostitute again. Maybe she really was a demon. Maybe the mask was hiding the demon parts of her face.  
 
His mind was trying to move his limbs, turn his feet, push him out the door, but his body was entranced. The tremor in his legs climbed up to his groin, making him very aware of the way the dim candle light moved across her rounded body. “No.”
 
“Why didn’t it go well, Alaric?”

His mouth was starting to go dry. His hands were beginning to shake.

“She laughed at me,” he told her, dropping his eyes to the floor.

“Why?”
 
“Because I…I couldn’t,I didn’t…,” He stopped, gulped, wondered again what magic he had run across.

“Look at me when you speak, Alaric.”

He lifted his gaze up from the pattern of pomegranates running along the border of the red rug and met her shadowed eyes. "I couldn’t.... I barely got inside her before….”

The Red Lady didn’t reply. Alaric suffered a terrible moment of fear she would throw him right back out of her tent and let him find a lower class prostitute who would welcome a quick trick like him between the carnival crowd.

“Fortunately, that won’t be a problem here,” the Red Lady told him, a smile spreading over her red lips. “Undo your trousers, Alaric."