Never the Face: A Story of Desire

by Ariel Sands

In an age where every sexual frontier seems to have been breached, it’s hard to believe there could still be unexplored corners, dark desires that few people dare make real. In the tradition of Josephine Hart’s masterpiece, Damage , Never the Face uses riveting storytelling to tackle a complex and provocative relationship – where the most exquisite passions are also the most dangerous… The heroine of Never the Face is searching. Dissatisfied with love, bored with sex; in her experience, all lovers are predictably dull – and she longs for more, for an intensity she knows exists and has yet to discover. Just after her thirty-third birthday, she runs into David, an old flame who’s now married. David invites her to dinner. Then he says, “I spent the weekend choosing a stick to beat you with.” With these words, unable to resist the allure of sexual submission, she falls into an abyss of violent intimacy and excruciating pleasure. But as their brutal bond begins to unravel, carrying them together into an unfathomable territory of increasing violence and sexual extremes, she begins to discover the full, destructive power of obsessive love – and gradually spins out of control. Written in spare, savage prose, Never the Face shocks us into realizing there are people we know, friends perhaps, who are on dark, erotic journeys they dare not confess to. And they might just live next door.

Genres: Erotica, BDSM

208 pages, Hardcover

First published March 31, 2011

About the author

"Ariel Sands is a pseudonym for a bestselling author"-publisher.

Reviews

[mark monday · Rating 2 out of 5]

'tis the season...

13 TALES OF TERROR: BOOK 3

despite being marketed as an erotic novel about a "power exchange", this really seems to be more about an emotionally and physically abusive situation that is disguised as a power exchange. the dominant is a sociopath; he is surprisingly well-developed, although the author overcompensates a bit much in the depiction of his need for ownership. the submissive is psychotically submissive; she is also surprisingly well-developed, although again the author overcompensates a bit much by making her such an amazingly successful person with such a glamorous, jet-setting lifestyle. i think both characters need lots of very expensive therapy. there is an extremely disturbing passage on the guy's unrealized fantasies. and there is an equally upsetting flashback of the gal's loss of virginity. and of course tons of especially brutal rough sex (NOT bdsm). an interesting thing to me was how the two were always switching back and forth between their abusive scenarios and various supportive, chatty, empathetic conversations - a bizarre, ongoing occurrence.

the bleak, undramatic ending is surprisingly downbeat and actually felt rather realistic. the last few pages are very effective but certainly not remotely erotic.

this is the kind of novel in which our hero, a childhood friend of the narrator, first announces his intentions by casually mentioning that he'll make her bark like a dog. gosh, who wouldn't be won over by that opening salvo?

[Jasmine · Rating 1 out of 5]

there are lots of really great books about sex. about boring sex, about kinky sex, about sex next to corpses, about phone sex, probably even about sexting. The one thing all those books have in common is that they are very honest about sex. Even a lot of the romance novels. with nothing for plot that are basically trash, they are still honest.

This book not so much. This book reads like someone offered someone 100,000 to write a book about sex and they didn't say no. I find it tasteless and boring, and maybe other people would think I was wrong. but since this is my review. not. a. fan.

save yourself the energy read The Story of O instead. same idea better book.

[lola · Rating 2 out of 5]

If this was a movie, on the DVD, you could watch a deleted scene where they go to Burning Man.

[Mandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book in one sitting last night, on my first night off in a while. I picked it up from the library because of the cool cover art and a book-jacket-synopsis that made the book seem like it would be much better than it ended up being.

Here's the thing...I'm no prude by ANY means, and I'm all for spicing up a sex life with some new and possibly even controversial things/activities. I also understand that there are people out there who exist in relationships such as the one described in this book, so I know it's a real thing. However, I just think the book is poorly written. The Dom/Sub analogy was beaten into the ground (um...pun NOT intended there) and only morbid curiosity and the fact that it was a very quick read kept me reading it.

It was also incredibly irritating that there seemed to be no real resolution or recovery for the narrator. I know that not every story has a happy ending and all that, but still. It irritated me. I'm not surprised the author wrote under a pseudonym; I wouldn't want to put my name on it either.

[Angels · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hum what did I think. Well this was a first for me reading a book like this. I had mixed feelings about it. The book as I was reading it reminded me of watching 9 1/2 Weeks with Mickey Rourke and Kim Basinger. After reading this I could not imagine being in that kind of situation and being part of such violence but to each there own.Reading this story my thought from the beginning is that someone is going to be hurt when this fantasy affair plays out for both parties or one. This book enlightened me realizing that you definitely have to put your trust in you lover to have that kind of trust to be part of this kind of relationship and this kind of sex is definitely. Not for the faint of heart.I will say my eyes are opened if they weren't before after reading this story LOL

[Felicia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Disgusting. I have no problem with bdsm when done safely but this is emotional and physical abuse. Rape of the body and mind. This book had the potential of being a 5 star book if it showed the struggle of a person in this situation better. This is a problem in some relationships, and the author wrote about it as if it was entertaining. Absolutely disgusting.

David is a well developed character but he's a sociopath. His fantasies go beyond a healthy thought process. The protagonist is psychologically damaged, she's a submissive to the extreme. It gets to the point where he completely shatters her. I feel like David lives by the phrase, if you can lift them up, shatter them until they can't be fixed, and that is exactly what he does to her and she lets him.

[Fallon Blake · Rating 3 out of 5]

However well-written and compelling this work of fiction is, it's not what I would consider BDSM. It's a story of abuse and a woman so desperate to feel, so desperate to be loved, she allows it. Over and over and over. It's about obsession and perversion and lies and illusion and rape. David had absolutely no redeeming qualities. None. The book's only saving grace is the narrator. I felt for her, though I wanted to smack her myself at times. And even though I found the relationship portrayed repugnant and distasteful, I had a difficult time putting it down. I was morbidly fascinated.

[Monique · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a disturbing and violent story. The heroine's name is not revealed. We only know her as Kitten or Bitch. David was married and his wife Maria supposedly had no problems with him fucking another woman. The heroine did feel sexual relief and got off on some of the beatings but she ignored all the warning signs that David wasn't an honorable man and that she should run as far away from him as possible. I don't think David ever loved the heroine and was just using her to fulfill his sexual fantasies. That made me sad. Well written novel but I didn't like the way it ended.

[Melanie · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book made me sick. By the end of it I felt physically sick. I went into it knowing that the book was controverisal, and wanting to see what all the fuss was about. However, it wasn't fantastically written, nor did I ever even find it very realistic.

The title says that it's a story of desire...but I never felt that the lead character was at all in the throws of desire. I just felt she needed some counselling, and her abuser, David, needed a dose of his own medicine. If it was possible for him to feel anything geniunely, and truly, I missed it, and I think that's what bothered me the most. Neither character was feeling much of anything at all. Most especially not 'desire'.


If I could give it less than 1 star I would have.

[Tess · Rating 2 out of 5]

Heartbreaking. I agree with others that this story has much in common with the movie 9 and 1/2 Weeks, but this book did not intrigue me as much as the movie did. I was especially disturbed by the last half of the book where the relationship crosses the line from dysfunctional to abusive. I gave it 2 stars because I was interested enough to read it to the end. Sadly, the ending of the book was in no way as satisfying as the movie ending.

**minor spoiler**











At least in the movie, I felt that the female character maintained some of her self-esteem and could move on from the dysfunctional relationship.

[It's Me - Yvette · Rating 5 out of 5]

So intense!

This is a total rollercoaster. I enjoy books that give a realistic portayal of human, raw emotions. This book shows the psyche of two characters who are long-time friends. Although there is a lot of sex, for me, this was not about sex but about the deep emotional attachment that is formed when someone gives up total control to another and gives a realistic depiction of what happens when that is relinquished. Be warned that the sex is very dark (that works well in this intense plot).

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really hated the male lead, but not for the obvious reasons; I don't think he started out as a purposely emotionally manipulative jerk, but had definitely gotten there by the end. The real tragedy in this for me was the narrator's inability to stay away--she knew the guy was awful, dangerous, destructive, but that almost didn't matter. The worst part is that toys is a book about abuse, and I think it comes across as every vanilla's worst fear (greatest judgment?): that BDSM relationships are just cleverly disguised abuse.

[Holly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love reading novels about people or situations I've never fully understood but want to. This novel gets you into the mind of a woman who has longed to be in a submissive/domanating relationship (she being the submissive). Now don't judge! She's a successful career woman, has had boyfriends in the past, but nothing quite clicked. It's....interesting. A little sad, but not without hope. Give the book a try.

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Totally not what I expected. I little too crass for my liking, I did not finish it. Don't remember why I ordered it through library, probably because I liked the cover and then when I started reading, it made me put it down, really quick!!
Not for the faint of heart or easily embarassed.

[Charlene · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a quick read. I liked many aspects of the book, and found others quietly disturbing. I am not sure I would put it on my re-read shelf, but I would recommend it to other readers of the BDSM genre.

[Mindy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I felt bad for the main character, the girl w/o a name. Thank goodness David called her Kitten.
It was a well developed story, but I'm not sure why Kitten was in such need of being tormanted and still went back for more punishment.

[Barb · Rating 1 out of 5]

You owe me, Misty! I wanted to DNF after pg. 18, and I wanted to vomit after pg. 23. This book was definitely not for me...no redeeming qualities AT ALL. Well, maybe one giggle..."Your left tit is being naughty." Too bad it didn't punch him in the throat...
Just EWWW and ICK...

[Karmen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Novel began went well but ended on a trite and already traveled road. The girl goes off the deep end when the married man returns to his wife.

[Ariellafaerie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written and explicit, but not my cup of tea. I don't like that we don't even know the lead character's name.

[Thebookmistress · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hard to figure out how I feel about this. The story is very disturbing, but also compelling. One thing it's not is erotic in any way.

[Natalie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very different than anything I've read lately. Not my cup of tea.

[Kathryn Dale · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very strange novel, very disturbing in some ways.

[Alejandra Quezada · Rating 3 out of 5]

So much pain and so much violence. this is deeply disturbing, and extremely sad :(

[Mary · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is so different and the relationship between the two characters was all about "OBSESSION".
The desire felt wrong.

[Sandy Crozier · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn't like this book at all to brutal and the story was all over the place. Very poorly written!!!!!!!

[Tanya · Rating 3 out of 5]

extremely graphic dialog. very intense. enjoyed the book

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

full of angst,too little female spine, 3*

[Skylar Newbury · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nope

[Litos · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a complex, but well narrated story of a submissive woman and a dominant man. The book deserves a reading because it describes how a woman may accept pain despite disliking it. She really like to be badly treated and damaged and to some extent mentally. It is clear that she find an extreme pleasure in accepting the orders and being punished. Furthermore, she craves for her master when she it not with him. But, the story is more than that. She is really in love with him and accepts to be treated in such a way in order to ultimately gain his love. They have some sort of connection through this kind of relationship which both largely enjoy.

The book is well written despite using a weird prose. It maintains the interest up to the end. The reader easily connects with the heroin and their thoughts and feelings. In this sense, it is a pornographic book, because it depicts quite well her state of mind (not hidden feelings). Anyhow, the story ends sadly probably as many other love stories.

[Maryjane Coons · Rating 5 out of 5]

It weird I liked this book but at the same time I hated the book.