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Kinked Sober: An Erotic BDSM Novel of Recovery
“The morning was crisp.
And there stood Venica Bella (though she was not known by that name then)…”
Here begins the erotic story of Venica Bella, a lush and exquisite woman who is obsessed with the tantalizing BDSM lifestyle. With the support of Thomas, her partner, she is admitted to the elite training institution ‘Bravada’ where her adventure begins, fully intending to experience two weeks of intense pleasure as she delves into the darker side of sexual fantasy. But, Bravada isn’t for those seeking submission training, or sexual gratification, or the forbidden regions of seduction…
Join Venica as she journeys through a spiritual process that forever alters her understanding of self-awareness, boundaries, and BDSM. Written in beautiful prose, Lauren L has captured the truthful essence of pleasure through pain, completing a text that fuses eroticism with spirituality.
And there stood Venica Bella (though she was not known by that name then)…”
Here begins the erotic story of Venica Bella, a lush and exquisite woman who is obsessed with the tantalizing BDSM lifestyle. With the support of Thomas, her partner, she is admitted to the elite training institution ‘Bravada’ where her adventure begins, fully intending to experience two weeks of intense pleasure as she delves into the darker side of sexual fantasy. But, Bravada isn’t for those seeking submission training, or sexual gratification, or the forbidden regions of seduction…
Join Venica as she journeys through a spiritual process that forever alters her understanding of self-awareness, boundaries, and BDSM. Written in beautiful prose, Lauren L has captured the truthful essence of pleasure through pain, completing a text that fuses eroticism with spirituality.
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First published August 13, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
June 27, 2012
Strange journey of a submissive...
Kinked Sober is written in an unusually passive tone, but I feel like it was done this way on purpose, almost like it's part of Venica's characterization. Venica is very proud of how beautiful she is, how beautifully she submits, at how perfect a slave she is able to be.
So during her time at Bravada, a slave training facility, the Dommes work to destroy that pride so Venica can truly be submissive. They feel Venica takes power away from her tops by being perfect to a fault. My feeling is that the "sober" part, and the 12 Step references are significant to Venica's addiction to pain, not significant to alcoholism.
The prose is oddly lyrical, and yet at times harsh. The vocabulary is strange and sometimes completely mystifying, and yet I can't say that I didn't like it.
Here are a couple examples of what I mean:
"Once Domina was satisfied that the scent and essence of a woman had fully infiltrated Venica's physical disparity, she rose from atop her..."
"But then she had a feeling she did not recognize. Was it panic? Desperation? It stirred inside her, drilled at her, almost like a thought adorned her subconscious and unbeknownst to her, she fought whatever realization was trying to surface."
"It [a vibrator] rattled under her fingers, sliding about frantic from the heavy coating of extract."
"Venica was too beautiful, too enriching and she simply harmonized too well with the rope that lynched her arms."
Private parts were called many unusual things:
"tightness of her femininity" - "her indecency" - "plump endeavor" - "her wet insatiability" - "her sensitivity" - "[anus] her most sacred of area"
The entire tone of the book is kind of soft and dreamy because of the interesting choice of words, and yet the subtext of a sentence with the words "harmonized" and "lynched" is NOT soft at all.
Readers who enjoy erotic fantasy and unusual description will like this book. Readers who expect comprehensive world and character-building, and active voice might not like it so much.
Ultimately, I found Kinked Sober to be a very unusual read, and I liked it more than I disliked it, but the writing style took some getting used to, and some of the word choices pulled me right out of the story to reach for a dictionary.
Kinked Sober is written in an unusually passive tone, but I feel like it was done this way on purpose, almost like it's part of Venica's characterization. Venica is very proud of how beautiful she is, how beautifully she submits, at how perfect a slave she is able to be.
So during her time at Bravada, a slave training facility, the Dommes work to destroy that pride so Venica can truly be submissive. They feel Venica takes power away from her tops by being perfect to a fault. My feeling is that the "sober" part, and the 12 Step references are significant to Venica's addiction to pain, not significant to alcoholism.
The prose is oddly lyrical, and yet at times harsh. The vocabulary is strange and sometimes completely mystifying, and yet I can't say that I didn't like it.
Here are a couple examples of what I mean:
"Once Domina was satisfied that the scent and essence of a woman had fully infiltrated Venica's physical disparity, she rose from atop her..."
"But then she had a feeling she did not recognize. Was it panic? Desperation? It stirred inside her, drilled at her, almost like a thought adorned her subconscious and unbeknownst to her, she fought whatever realization was trying to surface."
"It [a vibrator] rattled under her fingers, sliding about frantic from the heavy coating of extract."
"Venica was too beautiful, too enriching and she simply harmonized too well with the rope that lynched her arms."
Private parts were called many unusual things:
"tightness of her femininity" - "her indecency" - "plump endeavor" - "her wet insatiability" - "her sensitivity" - "[anus] her most sacred of area"
The entire tone of the book is kind of soft and dreamy because of the interesting choice of words, and yet the subtext of a sentence with the words "harmonized" and "lynched" is NOT soft at all.
Readers who enjoy erotic fantasy and unusual description will like this book. Readers who expect comprehensive world and character-building, and active voice might not like it so much.
Ultimately, I found Kinked Sober to be a very unusual read, and I liked it more than I disliked it, but the writing style took some getting used to, and some of the word choices pulled me right out of the story to reach for a dictionary.
July 2, 2012
A very tough read. I nearly gave it up a number of times. I can't say I'm glad I persisted though.
I'd just call it an interesting dark book, placing importance on the personal relationship between the Dominant and the submissive at the end of the day, instead of only desiring to reach subspace through physical play.
I'd just call it an interesting dark book, placing importance on the personal relationship between the Dominant and the submissive at the end of the day, instead of only desiring to reach subspace through physical play.
June 7, 2015
A submissive who has learned how to be the perfect submissive for their Dom, is sent to a training institution for 2 weeks to learn how to be truly submissive.
Now this was a weird ideal to me because if the submissive is happy to submit to her Dom, and has perfected the art of submitting the way the Dom wants, then I don't see how the submissive isn't being true to themselves.
So to me the whole premise of the book was built on a reason that was a bit of a mystery to me, it didn't really make sense.
Venica spent 2 weeks at Bravada being beaten, humiliated and tortured and loving every bit of it, quite often attaining sub-space, which is the ultimate goal for the submissive. However at Bravada, they wanted to teach her that submission is different and her way of thinking and acting is actually not allowing her Dom to be a proper Dom.
I guess that by being so perfect, her Dom has no challenge.
So anyhoo, once you get over the reasoning behind Bravada, whether you agree or not, that's the story. I think.
The author has a very purple prosey way of explaining everything, and I mean everything. I don't think there were any of the usual terms used to describe anything sexual. It all seemed to be over-flowery and it's almost something that you could give your Granny to read and she probably wouldn't have a clue what was going on or what was going where!
I don't really like reading books where the author has gone hyper descriptive especially when it's done in such a nineteenth century vernacular, but strangely enough, I had to finish the 2 weeks at Bravada to find out what, if anything, Venica had learned.
While this isn't a book I'd particularly recommend, I did find it interesting enough to get to the end!
Now this was a weird ideal to me because if the submissive is happy to submit to her Dom, and has perfected the art of submitting the way the Dom wants, then I don't see how the submissive isn't being true to themselves.
So to me the whole premise of the book was built on a reason that was a bit of a mystery to me, it didn't really make sense.
Venica spent 2 weeks at Bravada being beaten, humiliated and tortured and loving every bit of it, quite often attaining sub-space, which is the ultimate goal for the submissive. However at Bravada, they wanted to teach her that submission is different and her way of thinking and acting is actually not allowing her Dom to be a proper Dom.
I guess that by being so perfect, her Dom has no challenge.
So anyhoo, once you get over the reasoning behind Bravada, whether you agree or not, that's the story. I think.
The author has a very purple prosey way of explaining everything, and I mean everything. I don't think there were any of the usual terms used to describe anything sexual. It all seemed to be over-flowery and it's almost something that you could give your Granny to read and she probably wouldn't have a clue what was going on or what was going where!
I don't really like reading books where the author has gone hyper descriptive especially when it's done in such a nineteenth century vernacular, but strangely enough, I had to finish the 2 weeks at Bravada to find out what, if anything, Venica had learned.
While this isn't a book I'd particularly recommend, I did find it interesting enough to get to the end!
March 5, 2013
I loved loved this book it was so sexy and made a good point the violence made my mouth water I adored it!
August 27, 2012
I didn't find this book as dark as I expected. I thought it was beautifully written and showed a deeper side of the D/s relationship. I found it empowering and awakening. I wouldn't say its sexy, but there is a love story. Just not the one you may expect.
February 27, 2013
An interesting story about boundaries and self-awareness.
June 20, 2012
I was torn over this book, and was between 2 & 3 stars, but decided to go a bit higher. I thought there were some really juicy scenes and dialogue which made the book hard to put down in sections. However, the plot of the book weighed it down, and made it thoroughly confusing. I was unsure the whole time of what Venica was actually doing at Bravada- obviously the style was showing that Venica didn't truly understand either, but it made it seem as though the author was anti-bdsm (bdsm recovery) vs. bad bdsm recovery. I wish more had been explained to Venica (and thus the reader) because it seemed like neither knew what was actually going on or why. I also thought the ending was not well thought out and ended abruptly. There was no reason to start a whole plot idea of Domina getting Teary back and then suddenly Venica is just pushed into a car and has to leave. I think it could have been extended by a few pages and wrapped up smoother.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 28, 2013
Not what I thought it was going to be....very brutal for my tastes
September 1, 2013
I'm not quite sure why I've now read this twice... something about it grips me, though I find it a bit hard to muddle through the way it's written.
December 12, 2013
It's ok. Not what I expected
It was a hard read,for me. But I pushed threw and finished. Then I understood. Took two days to read.
It was a hard read,for me. But I pushed threw and finished. Then I understood. Took two days to read.
May 15, 2022
Good
First time I've read this author and even though it wasn't what I expected it was a good read and fairly easy to keep up with everything.
First time I've read this author and even though it wasn't what I expected it was a good read and fairly easy to keep up with everything.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews