Series: The Playgrounds #1
Publication date: May 26th, 2020
Page: 306
Spice Rating: 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Synopsis:
FROM AWARD-WINNING ROMANCE AUTHOR P. STORMCROW
Book one in The Playgrounds series
It all started with a munch, a meetup for the kink-minded. How was Luna supposed to know that it would change her life forever?
A munch.
A play party.
A Dom that sets her passion aflame.
After a string of failed vanilla relationships leave her feeling unfulfilled, Luna Weir decides to give the fetish scene one last shot. But with her one and only experience as a submissive leaving much to be desired, she has little hope that the lifestyle is her answer. So when she gives the local scene one final try in the form of a casual meetup for the kink-minded, the last thing she expects is to be pulled back into the world of ropes and commands.
But that is precisely where she meets Jacob Dakota--Mr. Tall, Dark and entirely Dominant. The experienced Dom commands respect from other Dominants and desire from the subs in the community who frequent The Playgrounds, a local fetish club. And when Jacob takes her under his wing, Luna senses he wants something more beyond the careful words and veiled glances.
Now she must figure out whether her feelings for Jacob are enough for her to take a leap of faith and relinquish control. Because a simple yes will bind her to him, heart and soul.
Review:
Luna is new to the BDSM community. She has had a few experiences but they weren't the best. However, she decided to give it one more shot before she threw in the towel and resigned herself to a life of dissatisfying sex. She attends a munch and joins a community of like-minded individuals that are more than willing to help her along as she learns the ins and outs of BDSM. Along the way she comes face-to-face with an attractive dungeon monitor/trainer named Jacob. From the moment she lays eyes on him she can't fight her desire to have him as her Dom. However, the ghosts of Luna's past threaten to make it a bit more difficult for her. Skittish and green she befriends other community members and forces herself to push past her reservations to see whether her role as a natural submissive is what she truly desires.
Luna was delightful as a character. While the mousy characters are usually a huge cringe-fest for me, Luna was able to be shy without making it so that it was unnatural. She had her own way of opening up and being herself and I found a lot of similarities between my own personality and hers. I loved every facet of her character even down to the fact that she was honest to a fault. I detest liars and lying. All-in-all, Luna was a breath of fresh air that was long overdue for me.
Jacob, I had wished was a bit more developed. While Luna was very firm in her creation, Jacob was a bit lackluster. Don't get me wrong. I loved him as the male protagonist. I just wish there was a bit more substance to him than just being a dungeon monitoring submissive trainer. A bit more of his background would have probably solidified him a bit more. That being said, he was no Christian Gray. He was respectful, always requested consent, and stern when he had to be but with a light tone that bother brokered no argument but also seemed to have an air of request rather than demand. He was a stellar Dominant.
I am also as green as Luna is in the BDSM community. I can recognize her skittish disposition and reservations as a lot of the same I do. I have a friend who is a Dom who I discussed the book with after completing it and he also confirmed just how accurate and well depicted the community is as a whole. I have also had a fear that since I am inexperienced that I would be seen in a negative light within the community. But this book made me feel like that couldn't be further from the truth. This is the book that deserves all the hype that 50 Shades got. It's informative while also maintaining that fantasy love story that everyone hopes to have.
If you are curious about the real world of the BDSM community, I would suggest reading this book over any other you may find saturating the market. The author weaves a world of fantasy straight out of real life and will leave you panting for more.
Series: The Playgrounds #2
Publication date: January 5th, 2021
Pages: 300
Spice Rating: 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Synopsis:
FROM AWARD-WINNING ROMANCE AUTHOR P. STORMCROW
Book two in The Playgrounds series
When her contract with her Dom is about to expire and her past comes knocking, Luna must make the right moves or risk losing her heart and her soul.
On the surface, Luna Weir leads a perfectly normal life, and behind closed doors, she surrenders control to someone else--Jacob Dakota, who is sexy, charming and entirely dominant. The problem is that they only agreed to this power dynamic for a limited time.
Jacob has never taken on training a submissive for more than three years at a time. However, as their end date draws near, he finds himself more reluctant to let go of Luna than he'd expected. To make matters worse, Luna's past returns in the form of the charismatic Bryan Walsh, her original Dom, who offers her another choice--to become his after her contract with Jacob expires. But there are secrets between the two of them that not even she can explain.
With the future of their relationship unknown and a suspicious Dom waiting in the shadows, Luna's will to submit and Jacob's ability to lead are both tested like never before. Now they must decide if what they feel for each other is strong enough to hold them together beyond their contractual terms--for the measure of a Dominant is how willing their submissive is to serve.
Review:
Luna and Jacob are reaching the end of their three year contract and Luna is feeling the pressure. If she had her way their arrangement would never end. She can't imagine herself with another Dom but knows that Jacob is a trainer and must help her find her own long-term Dom so he can move on and train more new submissives. The thought alone makes her feel ill, but she is determined to enjoy what little time they have left together. However, she wasn't expecting a monsoon like blast from the past by way of her previous Dominant who has made it known that he plans to take Luna back into his care once Jacob and her contract runs it's course. The problem lies in the fact that her previous Dom, Bryan, is a narcissistic psychopath who gets off on hurting his submissives. Will Jacob secure her transfer to Bryan thinking he is the best thing for her?
Jacob has his own internal struggles going on. He has never kept a sub longer than three years but Luna makes him want to rip up the contract and keep her forever. He starts having fantasies of what a long and happy life with Luna would look like. Then her ex turns up and he can focus on nothing but trying to keep her safe. He recognizes Bryan as the terrible Dom he is but he must tread lightly. The last thing he wants to do is push Luna too much and have her run into the arms of someone who could undo all that they have worked to create. He must figure out what will come of Luna and him once the contract is at an end and whether he can let her go when that time comes.
I have grown so fond of this couple that I was hesitant to read the next book in the series. The first ended on such a high note that I felt like reading the sequel would be putting my favorite characters through more heartache than I truly wanted them to experience. Talk about protective instincts! But I was hard-pressed not to continue on in hopes of an even happier ending.
I did not like Bryan from the jump. Maybe that was because I was #TeamJacob (and not the Twilight version) from the start or because I got a bad sense of him from the moment he opened his mouth to address Luna. I knew Luna had been through some torment in her past but I couldn't have imagined what the details of that was nor how she could have allowed herself to come back to a community that brought such terrible memories back. She is stronger than I gave her credit for.
This book was full of heartbreak that made me sob into my iPad, laughs that made me clutch my stomach in gaffaws, and a connection that we all hope to have with someone in our lives. I could not have asked for a better sequel and, P. Stormcrow, you have a new #1 fan in me.
Available at:
Trailer
Excerpt from The Words to Bind
On the platform, a tall Asian man, young with a slim, athletic build, stood in the center. Rather than fetish wear, the man wore a pair of black slacks and a crisp white shirt with the sleeves rolled up. Behind him, lengths of rope already trailed from the hooks above that Luna had seen above earlier. Next to him stood Erica, almost a full head shorter, despite the impossible stilettos she wore.
"Good evening, all. I hope you are enjoying the party so far. It's my pleasure tonight to introduce my dear friend Elijah Lee, who's an award-winning artist in the shibari arts. You may have seen his works featured in national exhibits and various publications. Tonight, he will show us live how he turns the human body into art, and he has also graciously offered to teach some basics. Without further ado, I'll pass the stage to you, Elijah."
A brief smattering of applause filled the air before dying away.
"Thank you, Erica, for the kind introduction." The man offered a slight bow, clapping both of his hands together. "It's always a pleasure to share my art with others and to introduce shibari. You know, the word 'shibari' means 'to tie in Japanese and comes from a martial arts style used to restrain captives. The name of its erotic counterpart, as we know it in North America and much of the Western world today, is actually 'kinbaku.'"
Luna found herself once more itching for a notebook and she made a mental note to do more research when she got home. He smiled, almost sheepish in his mannerism. "But you aren't here for a history lesson. So instead, let me welcome my assistant to the stage. I have to thank Erica for so graciously letting me borrow Dominique."
Widening her eyes, Luna inhaled as the submissive strode across the stage in her full naked glory and with confidence that she envied. Dominique's legs seemed unending and her proud, larger breasts swayed, along with her hips. Luna could only hunch a little and lean closer against Jacob.
Another round of applause filled the air but Elijah was already a blur of motion. With deft movements, he looped different strands of rope around her body in dizzying ways and a hushed, almost revered silence fell on the crowd. When he next stepped back, he beamed as he showed the intricate harness he had threaded around Dominque's abdominal area in a crisscross pattern that framed her breasts. The sheer sensuality of it all made Luna's own breasts ache with need.
"Now, a party like this is also a rare opportunity for me to push my limits as an artist into more of the performance art variety. This is not something I usually get to do in my studio..." Elijah trailed off as he started working again, looping the rope around her limbs, creating a V that dipped between her legs. Once done, he began pulling the ropes dangling from the hooks in the ceiling to tie around Dominque before hoisting her. Her body hung horizontal, face-up, with her back arched , her hair cascading down toward the floor. The rope suspended one leg upward. The other was bent back while he tied her arms behind her back. He ran his hand along her body and, in response, Dominque moaned, closing her eyes in obvious pleasure.
"While the art form is a sensual display of the human body"--Elijah circled his thumb along each of Dominique's hardening nipples, and Luna had to bite back a moan herself--"the act itself can be extremely arousing for the one being tied."
Luna's breathing grew shallow as he trailed his hand downward. Her gaze followed Elijah's, toward Erica, who gave a perceptible nod, likely for some permission. He trialed his hand farther down as he spun Dominique around until he was displaying her pussy to the crowd, a particular knot nestled against her glistening folds. He crept his hand with agonizing slowness and it was as if the crowd collectively held their breath for one of the goddesses of The Playgrounds.
Without thinking, Luna's own hand rose to cross her own chest, reaching to hold on to the one Jacob had laid on her shoulder.
"You see, the knot in the middle, along with the tension that the entire harness is under from the suspension, creates a particular friction. And with a simple move, I can provide the most intense reactions."
Elijah gave a hard tap on the knot. Immediately, Dominique's body tensed and her face scrunched up. Encouraged by her reactions, he kept tapping, alternating in rhythm. As she began to writhe, he pressed the knot against her. Her lips parted in a wordless scream and her body spasmed in climax, causing all the ropes and Dominique herself to swing wildly.
Flushing now for a different reason, Luna tried to squeeze her legs together without drawing attention to herself. When Jacob turned his hand to engulf hers, giving it a reassuring squeeze, her stomach clenched and her core turned to a molten mess.
P. Stormcrow grew up with a love for love and somehow that turned into authoring contemporary and paranormal BDSM romances. Fierce women and sensitive men fill her stories while she examines the social normal and challenges conventional tropes of the genre through her craft. She is the recipient of the 2021 inaugural Good Sex Awards in the category of Erotic Touch. Born in Hong Kong and raised in Canada, she enjoys writing about both cultures.
In addition to being an author, she is also a techie, a graphic designer, a mother, a lover, a fighter, and a little bit of everything else in between. When she's not typing away madly on her phone and running into poles, she enjoys copious amounts of tea, way too many sugary treats and as many sci-fi / fantasy / paranormal TV shows as she can sneak in time to watch.
