Review: The Story of Simon
The Story of Simon by Rachel LoewenMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
New to me author, Ms. Loewen came to my attention as one of the author sponsors to the BDSM group on Goodreads. I saw this book cover and thought, wow, it is sexy and I generally don't notice covers. Then I read the blurb and thought, this I have to read. A new to BDSM submissive and a femdom... how could I resist?
When I first started this book, seeing the inner dialog from Simon concerned me a bit. The little insights from one of the dominants, Richard also gave me pause. Not that their thoughts are inaccurate or exactly wrong, but that this thoughts don't bode well for a healthy BDSM relationship. A dominant that never admits they are wrong and when they do make a mistake, they blame it on the submissive and take it out on them? Yeah... that's a hard pass for me. Is this realistic? More oft than not. Is it recommended? No. But then there are ways to have a very healthy non kink relationship and very few people are able to follow those ways either. I tend to be a little bit more sensitive about how the BDSM lifestyle is represented because it is so misunderstood by those outside of the BDSM world. Regardless, these are subtle elements that made this story feel more realistic.
Simon's interaction with Mistress Alannah is both thrilling and exasperating at times. The mistakes made are so true to life, especially with a newbie like Simon who connects sex with BDSM. I admire Ms. Loewen trying to explain why sex isn't inherently tied to BDSM. Although she did muddy the waters a bit with Mistress Alannah rewarding Simon a couple of times. There are several things in their interactions that caused me to wince, not because of the play, but because of how they thought or what they forgot to do. Yes, Simon is new and ill prepared to go off with a stranger w/o a safety protocol. Mistress Allanah is very experienced and yet she purposely doesn't bring it up. Different styles for different folks. When I play, or even meet up with people for the first time, I'm extra cautious because I definitely don't want cops involved incase of a misunderstanding or issue. I know people in the life style that play as hard or harder than Mistress Alannah and her dominant spouse. So none of that surprised more or made me think either one are especially hardcore sadists. Since I do both fire and electrical play ... blood play doesn't bother me nor does temp/permanent branding or fighting/sparring... the BDSM in this book is within my preferences.
Some of the interactions between Mistress Alannah, her spouse and their household did throw up yellow warning flags that let me know there is some dysfunction. The ending of this book did not surprise me. I liked and hated the epilogue because I wasn't surprised by the turn of events. But I feel like I'm missing a large backstory and now I want it. I immediately went in search for another book in this universe only to find nothing out there. Now I eagerly await a possible explanation of what happened in those 4 years because I can pretty much guess the salient points and none of them look good.
All this aside, the femdom in this story is well done. I liked how Alannah explained her style of what she needed as a dominant. The common misconceptions are revealed and highlighted. Showcasing different styles of dominants as well as different types of submissives/slaves is equally well done. It goes to show that there are many different flavours of kink.
Lastly, I have to admit, this story came across less of a fantasy creation and more of a retelling of real life events. Some things may have been changed, but this almost gives me a feel of something that happened in real life that needed to be processed and reinterpreted. This only increases my curiosity of both the author and what will come in her next book.
This erotic novel is recommended for BDSM readers who enjoy femdom and edgeplay. Warning, this is not for SugarKink fans nor is it recommended as a Gateway into BDSM.
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