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Pleasure House

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Asylums are for the insane, a place where outcasts live and die, where rule-breakers are broken. Strange inhabitants live in secrecy behind locked doors. Lips never speak of what's seen or heard.

Unlike the others, The House has one secret it shares with special occupants. Those admitted for transgressions of the flesh are embraced, their curiosity welcomed, their behaviors rewarded. Roles of domination and submission are taught with equal vigor, and those who leave emerge whole and stronger than ever.

Rose discovers this truth when she's sent to The House for the treatment of her erotomania. In a time where modesty and prudence are revered, the experience shatters tradition, leaving her with forbidden knowledge few women possess. When she finds herself in the arms of a formidable lover, the gauntlet is thrown, and power unleashes power.

**Warning: This story contains scenes that may not be suitable for those with more sensitive tastes. Scenes are filled with unique situations not normally presented in novels of this kind.**

282 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 15, 2012

22 people want to read

About the author

Scarlet Darkwood

24 books21 followers
Scarlet Darkwood wields a mighty pen, or at the very least, delivers mighty punches to the computer keys when she's typing furiously on a story. She likes dark and twisted, and the weirder, the better.

Always preferring avant garde themes, her stories take the reader on unusual adventures, exploring the darker parts of the human psyche as she whips out cunning prose wrapped in provocative themes. Sometimes she veers from her beaten path and takes a happy-go-lucky romp in the brighter sides of life, kicking up her style into sharp, snappy dialogue and clever descriptions.

Writing in several genres unleashes her imagination so she never grows bored. From a young age, she's enjoyed writing and keeping diaries, but didn't start creating novels until 2012. She's a Southern girl who lives in Tennessee and enjoys the beauty of the mountains. She lives in Nashville with her spouse and two rambunctious kitties.

For more information about the latest concerning Scarlet and her work, sign up for her newsletter: http://eepurl.com/Rt5HP


You can visit her BLOG at: www.scarletdarkwood.com
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Follow her on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/ScarletDarkwood
See the snarkier side at Tin Hats: http://www.tinhatsblog.wordpress.com

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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
Profile Image for Mollien Fote Osterman.
722 reviews11 followers
November 20, 2015
Review
5 Devices of Pleasure

From the very beginning this book take you down a very erotic path. The house is thought to be a place to bring people to be cured of their lustful behavior. In actuality it is a place where the “inmates” are encouraged to not only explore their sexuality, but to participate in all sorts of sexual play. I have no idea what time period this book is set in. At first I thought it was set in the mid to late 1800’s, but there are cars and electricity as well as other modern conveniences. So I am thinking the 1930’s. Not that this really matters, but it was something that I thought about while picturing the scenes in this book. The author has a very vivid way of describing the sexual acts portrayed by the residence of The Pleasure House. The acts are far from the norm. Do people really do these things? This book definitely has a hard core element to it. Christian Grey would blush at the things that happen in this book.
Bottom line if you like things way out there, you will love this book. I can’t wait to see what happens in book 2 Mistress of the House.

ARC Provided by Enticing Journey. Honest review done by Mollien, for Alpha Book Club without influence from publisher or author.
Profile Image for EroticaAfterDark (Lilith).
2,780 reviews957 followers
dnf
April 18, 2016
I was provided with a review copy of this book by the author in exchange for an honest review. Therefore DNF at 12 % without any rating.

I was stoked to read a book which would remind me of the Marquis de Sade, the "father" of Sadism, with a a different, more female approach like maybe to the story of "O". Simply put: the free-spirited, and open-minded exploration of sexuality. So, I couldn't wait to start reading this book, which disclaimer was promising just that, but...

When I started reading this book absolutely nothing pointed out in which time time period this book takes place. This is alright for contemporary books, but not for historical books.

The worst thing for me was the initial treatment of Rose at the House. I'm sure that it was meant to be erotic, but it was absolutely creepy and repelling for me.
The male POVs were degrading Julia to a mere object of lust and further more exploiting the fact that she is their charge, confused, scared and feeling left alone.
The worst however was the examination by the doctor of the house, actually doing and thinking exactly that what we absolutely do not want from our gynecologist. And that was the reason I just had to stop.

review copy
Profile Image for Michele Gantz.
Author 5 books35 followers
January 10, 2016
 photo 12516825_10208063953377144_1111376284_o.jpg

#####5 Adventurous Hashtags#####

Scarlet Darkwood's Pleasure House is an erotic journey of self discovery. Upon entering Pleasure House, or simply The House, you immediately are aware that this is not all you thought it was. No, instead you journey with Rose, a young woman sent away to 'a mental asylum' for being too interested in sexuality, through a sordid tale of lust, passion and illicit games.

Rose's story is developed fluidly and allows the reader to travel with ease through the story while being throughly captivated (and turned on... whew)!!! The men within the house are just delectable and I found myself desperate for Rose's next encounter with every one.

This is a great, unique twist on a flagrantly erotic concept. Hands down must read!!

Reviewed For #Minxes
Profile Image for Tara.
76 reviews1 follower
November 21, 2015
This is a story about a young woman coming into her own as she discovers and learns to embrace her sexual side in the 1920's.
Rose was seen as an outcast by her parents for acting out on her sexual desires; as it was frowned upon for a woman to be open about anything of the sort. The only remedy her family deemed fit was to have her admitted to The House. Little did they know, the time spent there only exposed Rose to a world that she never knew existed. A world that she flourished in.
This is a story that contains strong BDSM references and is not for the shy or squeamish.
Profile Image for Judie.
1,233 reviews
November 16, 2015
*An ARC was provided in exchange of an honest review*

Wow this read was something! Definitely not for the faint of heart but it was Sooo good in a naughty twisted kinda way lol.
354 reviews4 followers
December 28, 2017
Having not read much erotica (and none that I would class as good) I decided to give House Tales books 1-4 a go, not realising that it was actually a follow up to this one. I enjoyed it enough to want to give Pleasure House a try. To be honest, I was a little disappointed, but that is a good thing. It means that the author is getting better ( not that she really needed to). I wish I had read them in the right order. This is the reader’s first introduction to The House and it would have been a nice surprise had I not read the follow-up first. It builds up the characters well and does not become repetitive or boring. There are some interesting scenes. I still want to know more about The House though, where it is set (and when) and how it all came about. Hopefully the author will write a book detailing its beginnings. After finishing Pleasure House, I went back to House Tales to confirm that it is some of the same characters which are in both, which is a good thing.
Read Pleasure House first and you will not be disappointed. It is an enjoyable book. Then read House Tales and you will love that one just as much.
89 reviews6 followers
October 9, 2017
I loved the book so much. Read each individual books then bought all in one. The author has a very distinguished was of telling a story. The sexual part was fantastic loved all her books
Profile Image for Devi Ansevi.
Author 18 books18 followers
May 1, 2016
Pleasure House by Scarlet Darkwood is one. wild. ride.

Twenty-year-old Rose is caught behaving with licentious impropriety for the nth too many time. Her dad carts her off to The House, a place where men and women with behavioral issues are either spectacularly cured or never heard from again.

Turns out The House specializes in helping people explore their sexual desires. The rest of the novel is quite the education for our young heroine. Pleasure House is a compendium of kinks. Dominance and submission, voyeurism and exhibitionism, anal, menage, oral, medical play, watersports, sounding, bondage, spanking, male-male, female-female, male-female, gay-straight ...Oh my gosh I can't even list all the variations. Well written, graphic but not, I don't know, pornographic - the best way I can describe it is to say a sense of wonder pervades the story. Rose has found a place that accepts who she is and encourages her to be all that she can be. The author revels in sharing all those sexcapades. Despite the cover looking melancholy and dark, it's not actually a dark story. More joyful with a touch of angst.

The House is an fantastical experiment in sexual open-mindedness gone spiraling down the rabbit hole. Inmates and their attendants completely accept each other, are willing to try new things, and are focused on mutual pleasure. I would have liked the author to spend more time on the encounters, with possibly a few less encounters. It felt like we raced through many of them.

I commend Ms. Darkwood on her level of research, and the respect with which she approaches each scene. Much of the book is a few hundred yards to the right of vanilla, but if you're willing to keep an open mind, you'll find much to enjoy, and possibly you'll question the arbitrary societal rules that dictate what's accepted and what's forbidden.

I received a complimentary copy of the book in return for an honest review.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews

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