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This was an okay romance story with likable characters. Easy light reading. Great for taking it easy and relaxing anytime.

Young girl seeks favor of a businessman (Mortensen) because of poor behavior of her boyfriend. She's afraid that if she does not "cooperate" with Mr. M's wishes, he will fire her boyfriend. She is slowly "brought along" little by little until she finally starts "cooperating" not because she trying to curry favor with Mr. M, but because she's actually liking the awakening of her new-found senses. Well written and a good story (which doesn't hurt either).

Alex Mortensen-- sadistic dominant and translator of ancient erotic texts -- takes shameless advantage by blackmailing a nineteen year old virgin into serving him naked, but he's the best of a bad bunch, apparently, especially compared with the evil Mrs Ackworth, the heronine's employer who relentlessly preys upon her waitresses, who somehow never leave her employment. "Lucy Golden" -- the heroine who shares her name with the author -- is an innocent little muppet right out of the Lolita mould, who after falling for the nefarious Mr Mortensen (the Morning Star, no less, and therefore the perfect Lucifer in his patient corruption of a Nigh-Eve's innocence). As the novel progresses the hapless Lucy is led through some pretty nasty scenes, nothing on the level of Reage or de Sade but certainly on the SM spectrum. The heroine never seems to mind all that much having a wide open and a (problematically) child-like trust in all her masters. I would place this piece firmly in the area of dubious consent because of the level of blackmail and coercive control presented especially at the start, but for those who know what to look for there are subtle signals throughout the work the arrangement is fully consensual and the submissive knows exactly what’s happening and what she’s getting into. Even so, my hair curls slightly at some of the actions — and ethics — of the dominant parties in this piece.

What sets this writing apart is the quality of the erotic writing. I can well believe much of the intimate interactions are indeed biographical, as is the subtle, snarky, horrible sense of humour of the male first person narrator. The piece is clearly written to entice and please a straight dominant, and yes, sadistic,man. Physical scenes are lavishly depicted with high emphasis on visuals, and are therefore at the pornographic of the erotica-porn spectrum but still with the lush brush of the pen for those who prefer to read rather than watch. It has an air of classicism about Ms Golden’s writing. If I were to judge this piece purely on the concerns of what most readers will be looking for, it would receive a five-star rating, but as is usual, I'm having to dock stars for plot and most significantly in this case, the characterisation of the female protagonist. This piece is not office-girl doormat-sub smut. It has aims of literary fiction, and it crafted as such. And so for something that isn't office-girl smut, I can't let the author off the hook.

The plot doesn't work well set in the modern era. You couldn’t do as an employer what Mrs A does -- sexually coerce her employees -- and not be exposed, even in the days before internet and smart phones. But set this piece in the 1930s or earlier, and you'd have a more believable dynamic. This piece should have been set between the Wars. Since where the dominant man speaks in 19th Century English (a sin, I note, plaguing most D/S erotica), it would have made his dialogue much more credible as well. However the main issue was the heroine's characterisation.

The problem with the characterisation is there isn’t any.The heroine is not merely objectified, but an object. She has no real wit or intelligence or agency (and yes, you can have wit and intelligence at nineteen, those gifts are not age-dependent). And actually, I cannot believe that the plot is therefore in anyway related to autobiography. Nor is the heroine an author avatar, since the author is clearly much smarter than the girl as she’s portrayed in this work. I can see the appeal of course-- the perfect gorgeous compliant blank-slate submissive a man (or a woman as we can see here as well) may kink at will without regards to discussing her limits, her preference or her own tastes. For this reason the attempt here — rarely seen — to portray a sadomasochistic switch and true submissive falls flat. "Lucy" is a glove-puppet who is whatever "Alex" wants her to be. She's also much younger than nineteen, emotionally and mentally, even for a piece clearly set in the 80s or 90s before the advent of the internet. A significant issue for me, but possibly not for others. The sadistic narrator's sense of humour, so darkly and brilliantly drawn, I think would perhaps have been better rendered next to an older, more experienced female lead, one with bit of snark and fight in her. With a personality, in fact.

As it stands, I suspect this piece is a love letter. As such it probably does very well as a piece of private, theatrical eros written by a very smart literary artist performing for her lover, but because of that it falls down on the criteria for literary fiction. If this be erotic literary fiction, BOTH the concerns of Eros and the concerns of literature must be met. A very reluctant three stars, then. With less of a doormat lolita, with a more believable plot and setting, we might be looking at one of the great erotic classics of the English language.

I found this book far more erotic in many places than other SM books. The whippings were not much different, but the innocense in her being disrobed or disrobing herself was a turn on for me. The episode in which the gardner bathed her naked body, and the episode where she was tied naked to a whipping horse and forced to urinate on herself was interesting. The party at which she was disrobed and caned was an erotic scene. The scene after her wedding, when she gave herself to the hero was highly erotic.

In a few places it dragged, but in general I found it an exceptionsl book of its kind.

If you like it explicite, this is for you.

Yet another female author revealing in novel the innate desires of so many women to be taken and controlled, dominated, and made into the perfect whore. You cannot read this without getting an erection if a man or wet if a woman. The truth of this work and the form it is conveyed gives license to a more unabashed honesty of womanly desire to be consumed by male libido and sexuality. A vampiristic delight.

The story was good enough, kept me reading through the book. There is a certain amount of g/g to the story and it's a bit far fetched, but then, isn't most of it. There are parts of the story that redeem it and all in all i enjoyed it.

The best one of the genre since Sadopaideia and The Pearl, which I got in ... 1967 !

Ideal support for erotic games online like Fond of Writing.