Today’s my day on Rachel Kramer Bussel’s virtual blog tour. I just finished She’s On Top last night. The book starts out strong with Suit and Tie by Donna George Storey. A woman works as a temp in the financial district and discovers a willing submissive under a domineering suit. This one was one of my favorite stories in the collection. It caught my attention from the first paragraph, the characters and situation were both erotic and realistic (an important combination for me) and the ending was superb.

Rachel also sent me an excerpt to share with you. It’s from the story about a prodomme so it’s funny she sent it to me. How’s that for a mind for details?

Excerpt from “The Mistress Meets Her Match” by Kristina Wright

If you’ve never squeezed a man’s balls in your hand and seen the terror in his eyes, you haven’t known power. If you’ve never cracked a whip and watched a man flinch, you haven’t known anticipation. And if you’ve never had a man grovel at your feet, you haven’t known what it means to be a bitch goddess. These men who come to me, hearts pounding, cocks hard, know who I am and they know what they want. Because I am a benevolent bitch goddess, I usually give them what they want, but not before they suffer.

I came the first time a man begged for mercy while I whipped him. It was the most amazing sensation and I was nearly faint with the effort to remain standing and continue the session. I have always suspected I was more easily aroused than the average woman, but to come without being touched, to come without even thinking about coming—now, that was a heady experience. I barely acknowledged my grateful slave as I crumpled into a chair and slid my hand beneath the leather crotch of my panties. There, glistening on my fingertips, was proof of my arousal.

I’d fallen into being a dominatrix because of a need to pay my bills, and yet I’d found something much more rewarding—personal fulfillment. From then on, I reveled in the feel of the whip or crop in my hand, the cries of men who desired pleasure in the form of pain. It became as addictive as a drug, this ability to control men. I discovered that not only was I good at it, I needed it. It was enough, for a while.

My sex worker anniversary is this month so I’ve been musing on being a professional mistress for the past couple of weeks. This made me read The Mistress Meets Her Match with interest. In it Mistress Katarina discovers that the excitement she gets in her pro sessions has seeped into her personal fantasies. If you’re not a prodomme you’ll probably like the story. As a professional mistress I’m torn. The story is well written, no doubt about that. But I don’t see how a domme would fail to realize her own kinks until a lover tells her. We deal with sex on a daily basis. Discovering a person’s fantasies, especially the deep, hidden ones is part of the job description. How can doing this day in and day out not lead to personal reflection?

I’ve been thinking how as a phone mistress I’m not dominating much of the time. When men tell me they want to talk about whatever I want to talk about or that they’ll do anything to please me I know that’s it’s not true. That is my cue to figure out their kink. The trick is to repackage it as my kink. Why? I think that it helps them feel acceptance, that they’re not the only one with such desires. Or sometimes it lets them off the hook. They can pretend it’s not their kink at all and put the “blame” on me. This is especially true of homophobic men who secretly want to suck cock.

The essence of professional domination was summed up in a line in Pinch by Tara Alton. The story, about a man who craves to be pinched, ironically is not about prodomming. At first I was intrigued because I know nothing about pinching fetishes. But the story seemed rushed and I felt the fetish was barely explored. Also, the “dominant” woman doesn’t really do much dominating. Her comment of “So, you tell me what to do to you, and you submit to it?” sums up the story.

As disappointed as I was by the story that line stuck with me. It seems to illustrate the difference between personal bdsm and professional bdsm.

In personal bdsm I feel it’s more of a partnership. Fantasies are discussed and the participants act out a part. Each person benefits from the play. Professional kink is mutually beneficial sure, I get paid after all. But the focus is on fulfilling the client’s fantasy. No matter how much a prodomme professes to love her client’s fantasy at the end of the day it’s still the client’s fantasy. I enjoy giving spankings in my private life and while I can enjoy a spanking pro session there is always a separation for me. As Tara Alton alluded to “they tell me what to do to them and they submit to it.”

One of my favorite stories in the book was Ottoman Empress by Noelle Keely. Yoga plays a major role in the plot. How exciting to read that someone else thinks yoga’s as sexy as I do. It took me by surprise and I was utterly delighted.

I read Room 2201 by N.T. Morley with interest. It’s a good story but what really got my attention was that it mirrored one of my work calls. In it a woman takes a submissive man to a hotel room to get fucked by another man. The thing read just like my client Cum Guzzler’s fantasy, like she had taken notes while listening to my conversation.

Penelope the Punisher by Stan Kent was a disappointment. The sexual details are one’s that don’t excite me-Mommy play and castration. But I can appreciate a well written fantasy. My problem with the story was that it jumped too quickly to the action. There’s one paragraph that gives the backstory and poof things are happening so fast I was left confused. What was the backstory? Why were the characters motivated?

One story I didn’t expect to like was Feeder by Adelaide Clark. When I read the title I guessed correctly that it would deal with the feeder/feedee fetish. I’ve never understood the fetish of feeding someone to make them obese. But Clark’s story isn’t a thing like that. The food is sexualized and the act of feeding turned into a sensual ritual. An added bonus-the meal she describes in the story sounds delicious.

Would I recommend this book? Definitely. Female domination is explored in so many different ways in She’s On Top that in addition to giving the reader some exciting fantasies it will probably give them kinky ideas to try out.

And don’t forgot you can win your own copy of She’s On Top. Just write a comment to my post A Contest For My Readers. You must enter a valid email address (it won’t be published) so I can contact you for a mailing address if you win. I’ll pick the winner late this evening so if you haven’t entered yet today’s your last chance. The winner will be announced tomorrow.

Posted by Vixen in Reviews