Review: Submissive by Moonlight

Submissive by Moonlight by Sindra van Yssel

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


A witchy computer nerd and a skeptical cop combine into a magical relationship.  Marisa practices her witchcraft in the woods by her house.  She works from home in this sleepy village and keeps to herself.  People think she's a flaky one.  When her path crosses with Nolan, who is searching for a lost little girl, her secrets are revealed. 

Marisa's help locating a missing girl it the woods makes him very suspicious of her.  Marisa "claims to have seen" the girl to help guide Nolan to the right pace.  Nolan is a "see it to believe it" kind of guy.  Fortunately, Marisa is cleared from being a suspect.  Still, she isn't removed from person of interest status.  Nolan finds Marisa may be just a little kinky.  In a small town, it's hard to find a submissive woman to match his dominant desires.

Ms. van Yssel pens a lovely D/s story between two strangers experimenting to see works for them.  Nolan is more experienced while Marisa is very new.  She's read a lot of books and found information about BDSM on the internet.  She's never submitted in real life.  This interaction between Nolan and Marisa is very realistic.  Ms. van Yssel does a great job of showing a newbie's misconceptions through Marisa.  Just as Nolan demonstrates the concerns and worries of a Dom finding a new submissive.

The BDSM in this story is gentle and great for those just learning about BDSM and interested in the D/s parts.  Using every day character helps add realism to the story.  The characters Ms. van Yssel creates are easily relate-able.  She creates a regular guy who is nice, like the guy next door.  The female is quirky yet smart.  Giving Marisa a work from home job in computer programming is spot on.  Many programmers are in this scenario and it may surprise people how many in the information technology industry dabble in the kinky lifestyle.  What is really subtle is how Ms. van Yssel clues the characters into each other's fetish.  This is an excellent example of how someone may go about finding others into the lifestyle.  It's actually not too different than the techniques I use when assessing if a person is kinky or not.

This story is more than just about two people trying out D/s.  There is a plot involving building a respectful relationship as well as a bit of suspense.  The suspense piece helped add an extra oomph to the story.  It fit quite well since Nolan is a cop and it plays to Marisa's psychic abilities.  This D/s contemporary romance is recommended as a Gateway to BDSM book.  It's perfect for readers just starting to read kinkier books.



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