Principled Perversions

by Eli Wray

Kai and Esther are college classmates with a shared affinity for queer studies. When these sex-nerds-in-training discover their mutual interest in the new local swinger's club, it makes sense to go explore it together. Purely for educational purposes. That's definitely all it's about.

Lavender Dreams is a explicit series about kink and swinging between consenting adults in a queer-inclusive atmosphere. All of the leads identify as various forms of nonbinary. Principled Perversions specifically depicts fire play in a safe environment between trusted friends.

Genres: Romance, LGBT, Queer, Transgender, Novella, Erotica, Genderfluid

50 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 1, 2021

Reviews

[Kazen · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars, rounded up

I love that Principled Perversions both made me smile and made me think. I'm a cisgender woman and this trope feels completely relevant:



Fascinating conversations between a butch nonbinary woman and a nonbinary he/him lesbian, with some fire play at a queer inclusive sex club make for a great one sitting read.

Content notes: semi-public nudity and sex, fire play

[Littlebookterror · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just really need Wray to write a full novel cause I want is just more?
The discussions of gender and how we are perceived, the public role it plays in our every interactions and how it intersects, in this case, with swinger culture.
Just a delightful experience.

[zenzeromante]

This short story is an insight on queer sex and queer genders, specifically on queer public sex and queer public genders. I loved the way it described queerness as something open, something that becomes all the more rich when it's experienced in a community, because of the way it lets you explore and examine yourself.

And some parts hit hard.

“The same comment could mean being misgendered, or being deeply seen, depending on context.”

This resonates a lot. Gender is just fucked up—especially when you don't fit the norms. As a nonbinary person myself, I had to stop for a moment there because it's 100% true. The same things that might make you euphoric can also make you extremely uncomfortable, and most of it comes down to who is in front of you and how they're approaching your identity.

As far as the writing goes, I have to say that some part were messy and difficult to understand—especially when describing the (group) sex scenes while keeping the language ungendered. But I don't see it as a bad thing, actually. It made me think that so much of the literature as we know is rooted in gender expectations. For example, the simple idea that when a character appears they must already be gendered.

So maybe some parts were a bit hard to decipher, but a) that's probably because I'm not used to it and b) the way the story tried to queer the narrative definitely gave me some food for thought. What could make it easier to understand without making it less queer? Is the language we have good enough for the ambiguity of our public, not-clear-at-first-glance queerness? How would I translate that scene in Italian, where you can't escape gendered language? That's definitely something I'll be chewing on for tonight.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first in the series surrounding a queer inclusive and body diverse swingers club. All of these books can be read a standalones but honestly they are so short and you'll become so invested that you'll just read them all. All of Eli Wray's books feature nonbinary MCs.

This one is a friends to lovers featuring Kai and Esther who are heading to lavender dreams as a part of their queer studies course. Kai is a non-binary butch who uses she her and Esther is a non-binary lesbian who uses he/him. I think one of my favorite parts about this book is not only the friends to lovers because that's one of my favorite tropes, but also just the intense importance about pronouns and body cues and being queer in public. What it looks like to queer traditionally cisheternormative spaces like a swingers club. This book does include fire play which is obviously done safe and consensually but that could be a trigger for folks.

I honestly can't recommend these stories enough. If you are okay with reading about kink and reading explicit sex scenes, I highly encourage you to check these out.

[Erika · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book. I thought it was a great romance and I liked the discussions that both Kai and Ester had around their gender explorations and what it means to them. The kink club was also tastefully done and it felt like an earnest look into what this space could look like. I cant wait for the rest of the series. It was also nice to see two nonbinary leads and have them be different in terms of how they got to understand who they are. I like that Eli writes such diverse forms of being nonbinary.

[Kate W · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven’t read very widely among kink queer romances but I loved this little series. I think it’s the first book I’ve read where new secondary characters are introduced without gender until the person shares their pronouns. I also loved how sex acts and even genitalia were described without gender. The whole series was so sweet and lovely, which considering it’s set in a sex club seems impressive. So sex positive, so gender affirming, so good.

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

I knew that I was going to be educated on fire play, but I was also schooled on gender identity.

[Emmers · Rating 5 out of 5]

An erotic story told thoughtfully

Expanding my rating into a review because I’d like more people to find this book! I love how gentle and sweet Kai and Esther are with each other, and how the author handles the setting of a sex /swingers club without depersonalizing the participants. An erotic story told thoughtfully and with care.