For years, Alison Tyler has thrilled us with her novels, as well as dozens of anthologies-on-the-edge. [Keep reading here to find out about a give-away of one these, Twisted,] Now she’s presenting the greatest gift of all: herself. This trilogy of novels based partly on her own life is written with passion, lyricism, and a profoundly kinky sensibility.
I reviewed the first in the series, Dark Secret Love, when it first came out. Here’s just a taste of what I said:
“Does the idea of submission intrigue you, but the much-discussed books you’ve sampled seem to fall flat? Or do you long for work that truly resonates with what you already know you want? Does knowing that a story has true life at it core turn you on? Maybe you appreciate fine erotic writing, no matter what its flavor, or can’t resist an author who chooses her title from the vivid, surreal, enigmatic poetry of William Blake. How can you resist a juxtaposition of ‘dark,’ ‘secret,’ and ‘love?’
Nothing can describe this book as well as Alison’s own words, and she’s given us a wonderful excerpt that I’ve posted below, but humor me for a few minutes while I discuss some of my own reactions.
As the story unfolds, I was especially struck by the way Alison’s alter-ego, Samantha, had her own personal take on submission. Her need for pain with sex had less to do with the usual endorphins or amorphous sense of guilt, and more to do with finding her own core ability to endure, “take it,” even refuse to use a safe word. For her, submission expressed a secret strength, not a weakness. And, having already known so long just what she wanted from a man, her real moment of revelation came in this passage:
‘I need this, too,’ Jack told me. And everything changed. By taking care of me, he was taking care of himself. I don’t think I’d ever tried to envision the situation from a Dom’s point of view before.’
Just one more thought before serving the main course of Alison’s own words. Very near the end there’s an image that stays in my mind, as of course it’s intended to stay in every reader’s. Into Jack’s stark, minimalist, black-and white apartment, Samantha dares to introduce a strikingly red blanket—and Jack reveals how much he needs the closeness that lets him raise that same intense glow of color on her pale, lovely asscheeks.
In the Blake poem that supplies this book’s title, the line before ‘dark secret love’ includes the phrase “crimson joy.” The sequel to Dark Secret Love, coming out very soon now, has the fine title The Delicious Torment, but I find myself hoping that someday Alison will use the title Crimson Joy for a book. It would be great for a collection or anthology of spanking stories, but even better for another Alison Tyler novel.”
You can find my complete review including Alison’s own words here: http://sacchi-green.blogspot.com/2013/10/alison-tylers-dark-secret-love-guest.html
Then came second book, The Delicious Torment, hitting me even harder than the first. Here’s some of what I had so say about it:
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,…
You’ve seen Shakespeare’s sonnet number 116. You’ve probably heard it read. In fact, I read aloud it at my brother’s wedding. But it isn’t about weddings, as such, but about two people who match each other’s needs so perfectly that nothing can destroy their love.
Alison Tyler’s The Delicious Torment, the sequel to her Dark, Secret Love, is about two people with such intense, specific, on-the-edge needs that it seems like a miracle that they found each other.
Samantha, the heroine based on Alison Tyler herself, is “ensconced in an S/M relationship that makes everything I’ve done before turn a whiter shade of pale.” Jack is older, a high-powered lawyer, whose need to dominate through “pain and shame and utter humiliation” could only be satisfied by a woman like Samantha, as strong in her way as she is submissive. Pain and humiliation are pleasure to her, even when she dreads them, and they bring her to orgasm even when they bring her to tears. Jack gives her what she needs, and she loves him without reserve, while he needs her love as much as her submission, even though he needs her to prove that love over and over.
There are plenty of S/M books out there now, but nobody does it with as much style and skill as Alison Tyler. Nobody makes it as real, as convincing, as appealing even to people whose tastes have never run that way. And the story here is more than a series of “scenes,” even though the traditional canes and belts and crops and chains play their part. The relationship has its twists and turns and unexpected deviations, especially when it comes to involve a third person. There are adjustments and alterations that might strain a love less strong. Jack’s difficulty in trusting Samantha’s love and the lengths he goes to in testing her could have destroyed the very thing he craved. But no impediment is great enough to tear these true minds (and bodies) apart.
For more, and Alison’s own excerpts, go here:
http://sacchi-green.blogspot.com/2014/02/alison-tylers-delicious-torment-from.html
How can you resist going directly to the next book, Wrapped Around His Finger? This time I’ll let you immerse yourself in it with no preconceptions form me. Once I’ve savored it two or three more times, and caught my breath, maybe I’ll write another review.
Now for the give-away part. I’m offering two copies of Alison’s recent anthology,
Twisted: Bondage with an Edge.
My obvious reason for choosing this one is that I have a story in it myself, so I thought of posting an excerpt of that. On second thought, though, considering some reviews I’ve seen, maybe I’d better not. You might be better off not thinking my piece is representative of the book as a whole; in fact, there’s so much variety in the anthology that no single story can represent it. I’ll just quote a couple of reviews, so you can’t say you weren’t warned.
“Sacchi Green is so good at writing scary stories, and her ‘Stag Beetle’ was so well done - it'll be a cold day in hell before a story with insects in it will turn me on, but she writes the scene effortlessly - extremely evocative.”
And:
“’Stag Beetle,’ by Sacchi Green, is the most unusual story in this anthology. The one almost guaranteed to make people squirm. Would you let a big bug walk over you? How about if you were tied up? Think of those little insect feet on your bare skin. You know your safe word. Would you use it?’”
Really, my story is a rather sweet D/s romance. And hot. And with a very pretty silk kimono. What’s not to like? But all the other stories are much better. Trust me.
If you like short-short kinky stories, you’ll love the book as a whole. If you want to win a free copy, just comment on this post, and if somehow Blogger is uncooperative, you can comment over on my Facebook status where I discuss this post, or e-mail me at sacchigreen@gmail.com. You have until March 31 to enter.
