NEED: A Lesbian BDSM Erotica

by Elena Abbott

Love. Desire. Need.

Lucy Myers knows her life isn't what she wants it to be. She works a menial job in a menial place with people who seem to have life figured out more than she does. She goes home every night to an empty apartment, sleeps alone, and sees nothing about to change.

Then one night after work her world is upended. Given a pity invite to a bachelorette party, she finds herself at The Fox Den, an upscale strip club that prides itself on inclusivity. When she's invited to join a show on stage she finds herself face to face with Lady Nyx - a beautiful goddess who possesses the bold confidence that Lucy has been searching for her entire life.

Immediately Lucy falls head over heels, but she can't stop the nagging feeling that Lady Nyx, a.k.a. Sierra Castle, is far, far out of her league. Through determination and communication Lucy begins to learn what it is to want, to desire, someone with every piece of herself. Their journey together changes them both as they explore the world of consensual BDSM and Lucy finds her true self in her desperate NEED.

NEED is a lesbian BDSM erotic romance with sexually explicit scenes and is intended for a mature audience.

Genres: BDSM, Erotica, Romance, Novella, Lesbian, Transgender

81 pages, Paperback

First published February 12, 2022

Reviews

[ᗩᑎᗪᖇᗴᗯ · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lovely story. By turns sweet and heartbreaking and sexy as all get-out!

Lucy is a trans woman and a loner. One night she is talked into accompanying a group of co-workers to a strip club where she meets and is immediately smitten with Lady Nyx, dominatrix and club MC.

"Need" is the story of their courtship. Lucy is woefully underconfident and finds it difficult to trust other people or accept affection. As they spend time together over several months Lucy learns more about herself and the lifestyle in which she finds herself participating.

Together they explore dominance and submission, both in and out of the bedroom, incorporating the use of restraints, impact play and public humiliation. All are written marvellously by Lily Hardt.

This one gets all the stars and a high recommendation from me!

[Kay read by Gloria · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. The relationship was fun and well-written. It is worth the read, very much so.
SECOND review: NEED by Lily Hardt: This is an 83 page reread from early last year. The protagonist Lucy Myers is downcast and alone. At a club she meets Sierra Castle aka Lady Nyx and the romance and adventure begin. The journey they take is one of self-discovery. This is very well written and unless you are really turned off by any BDSM I recommend this in a big heartfelt way. 5 stars absolutely 5 stars. Please enjoy this one.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

The care that Sierra has for Lucy is sweet. I know what it’s like to feel some of those things about yourself like Lucy does. I identify with her quite a bit. I also know what it’s like to have a caring partner who loves you for you, and loves you enough to recognise a spiral and help you out of it. Nice to see that sort of representation.

[Littlebookterror · Rating 3 out of 5]

For being an erotic BDSM novella, this really missed the mark for me.

There are two quite sad moments in the beginning of the story that I just couldn't shake off to enjoy the first time Sierra and Lucy play together. The dreary descriptions prior, Lucy's general outlook on life, and her unhappiness do not create an atmosphere conducive to some sexy action.
Now, I don't mind some heavier themes, in fact, I really enjoy them, and think its depiction of mental health was well done here - but don't work for an 80-page novella that is labeled erotic.
I am always torn when the first play between main characters where one is a newbie is a public event, especially when there is public pressure and a performance element involved. And since we are in Lucy's head we know she is not feeling the best. Now, I don't think it means she cannot participate in BDSM but it does mean there should have been a conversation first. It feels even more important when her kink involved public humiliation.
I also feel it covered a longer time frame than necessary.

[Nia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved Lucy‘s Story.
It’s a little heartbreaking, because she is so broken but it’s also a hot journey for her.
I would absolutely LOVE to read more from Lily Hardt!
She writes great BDSM Erotica.
It’s not only hot it’s also sweet and tender, but with very nice scenes ;)

[Sydney · Rating 3 out of 5]

This....missed the mark for me. It tried to be too many things and failed at all of them. It labels itself a BDSM erotic romance. The BDSM was not done very well, neither the impact play nor the Dominant/submissive dynamic. It definitely felt like it was written by a vanilla person who only had the most barebones understanding of the the BDSM community. The erotica fell flat. There was a singular spicy scene, and it was done so quickly and so vaguely that I have no real idea what was going on, which defeats the point of erotica. The romance was rushed and at the same time dragged? It takes place over months, but we jump from them just meeting to them several months into a relationship that honestly didn't sound super appealing or healthy. Then throw in the random, "it all stemmed from a bet" trope, which felt like a weird afterthought and didn't make a ton of sense, and everything was just muddled. The story needed to be much longer to handle well all the elements it tried to hold onto. And Lucy's over the top self flagellation all the time did not add anything meaningful to the story.

[MissAlice · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm enjoying the most recent burst of books on the scene where one of the MC's is trans. Be it FTM or MTF it adds a layer to the relationship I've not been exposed to before and I find myself intrigued. I have little exposure to this world, but anything married to BDSM I do find exciting and this is a very short, erotic, novella. It has a few moments where you'll find yourself cringing (the writing is quite good) and other moments where you'll slap your face and shake your head. The sweet D/s relationship is adorable and their bond is wonderful to watch develop and solidify.

[Jamie (TheRebelliousReader) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars. A lot more emotional and heavy than I was expecting but I really liked it. My heart hurt for Lucy and the way she thought about herself. It was tough to read at times but I liked her relationship with Sierra. They had great chemistry though the bet thing at the end was pointless. I could’ve done without that plot point but everything else about this novella was really good. I enjoyed it.

[Lake · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got this rec off bluesky, from an author I'd never read before. Very well written kink by someone who clearly has first hand experience with it. I found it a difficult read sometimes because Lucy's low self esteem and dysphoria are so severe - it's the kind of internalised angst I don't enjoy reading very much. And because it's all about the anxiety spiral in Lucy's head, Sierra feels a little flat and idealised. Tbf this is pretty common in BDSM romance on the whole (why do doms never have any personality beyond dominating???? argh) and Hardt does do a better job than most at giving her insecurities and flaws.

Kink notes: trans femme sub, cis femme domme, bondage, mistress/slave, degradation, praise, flogging, spanking, paddling, exhibitionism, blindfolds, gagging, pet play and leashes, edging, forniphilia, sub space, use of safe words

Content warnings: explicit transphobia and misgendering, panic attacks, dysphoria, low self esteem

[Robin Kenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

For a short read of BDSM erotica this is really good.

Elena Abbott has provided a slightly educational look at BDSM for beginners, stressing mutual consent and trust. Not only that, but she has also developed a delightful side note of self worth in a trans woman that is extremely positive. Her characters are quite well developed and the story works well.

[Zureena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awwww

Amazing author, captivating story that pulls you at the heart strings. Truly an eye opener of what beautiful people in sutch sad situations, can go threw in life. Well depicted, a must read.

[Phyllis Mann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book

I liked this book. It has good characters. I liked how they met and stayed together in the end. I can't wait to read more books like this.

[reen · Rating 2 out of 5]

lacking

[Julia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Between the very unhealthy relationship dynamic and the more frequent use of “transwoman”, it was not an easy read. It feels a lot like a diary of internalised transphobia. 🫤

[Juniper L.H. · Rating 2 out of 5]

This novella was a mixed bag. It was fine; there were some parts that were good and parts that weren’t, and the whole package was underwhelming. It wasn’t terrible (well parts were), but I would never recommend it to anyone.

It was spicy, and there were some sweet scenes mixed in. Some of these sections were done well, if you ignore the other parts of the novella and a lot of the context.

They tried to do far too much given the page count. Lucy had a lot of issues which were not adequately explained or explored. There wasn’t enough follow-up for the heaviness Lucy has going into the story. It was instalove…..kind of….. which I usually dislike. There was the twist at the end that resulted in a 3rd act breakup which was immediately resolved with little effort. Just a LOT packed into those pages, and none of it was done well enough.

Their initial interactions were horrible if you think about it. Lucy was a sad and unhappy person who was peer pressured on stage to participate in some BDSM public humiliation. This was orchestrated by two people for the purpose of a bet, praying on what they knew were her insecurities, and one of those people actively disliked her and was doing this for the purpose of hurting her. What a great “meet-cute” eh? Best-case scenario Nyx was planning on exploiting a vulnerable person for her personal benefit?

There were a lot of details that didn’t make sense when you think about them too closely. One example: Nyx takes a bet where she thinks she WONT get Lucy (why?) and therefore she puts a bunch of effort into trying to get her……. which would result in her loosing the bet? Doesn’t really make sense if you think about it. The standard “it was a bet” trope was done backwards and it honestly doesn’t make any sense.