Friday, July 4, 2014


Happy July 4 to those in the US. Thanks for stopping by.
Natasha Knight is here to share one of her favorite Spanking Books. 

Blurb

Judgment--the ultimate disciplinary establishment, a forbidding mountain fortress where unfortunate young women are taken and trained to become the perfect submissives for a world-wide market. Abandoned to the whims of Judgment's ruthless masters, Callie McGuire descends into the depths of this prison, discovering a new capacity for sensuality as she becomes Mischief, the personal plaything of the Mountain Lord.


I've read this book three times now I think, maybe four. It was recommended to me by Trent Evans when I asked for a darker read without a depressing ending and I can tell you, after some months, I still think about it.

Denise Hall is another pen name Maren Smith uses to write darker erotica in case you did not know. Part of what captured me in this book was the non-con, abduction scenario and what subsequently happened to Mischief at the fortress. The book opens with Mischief in police custody after she's been separated from her Master, The Mountain Lord, Tane. Throughout the first half of the book, I couldn’t decide what I wanted - for Mischief to be 'saved' from him or for her to be returned to her Master. Tane was not a kind man, he never once let her off the hook and punished her harshly from the beginning, but somewhere in those pages, something happened and I wanted them to be reunited. I can't really explain it because this book was the definition of non-con, and I shouldn't want that, right? I should want her to be rescued…???

So my questions for you follow but I'd love to hear any others you have or any parts of the story that stayed with you. For me, the words "This one loves her Master, heart and soul," are so powerful, I can still hear Mischief say them.

1. This was darker than the usual spanking fiction I read but I have a great love of the capture fantasy. Maybe it's the idea of being wholly at someone else's mercy, but only if that someone else takes a very special interest in you. What did you think of how the story opened, how Judgment was introduced, how the Mountain Lord and the other Masters were introduced? Was it too much too fast and too harsh, or did it make you sit up and pay attention? Make you give up a night of sleep because you had to keep reading?

2. There was no time wasted when the first sex scene in the book was a non-consensual anal scene. To me, this is the ultimate act of power over another. Did this turn you off to the book or to Tane or did it have the opposite effect?

3. This book hit all the right buttons for me and one of the reasons for that was the way the punishment scenes were done. The demerit caning was probably the most intense. What do you look for in a corporal punishment scene and how detailed do you like it to be? Did you find the punishments in this book to be too severe or difficult to read? Have you ever stopped reading a book because you found the spankings to be harsh or excessive?

4. How long do you think it would take to break a woman in a setting such as Judgment?

5. At one point, Mischief walks out of Judgment but stops. No one is following her (she believes) and she can escape, but she doesn't. Instead, she turns around and goes back to Tane, slips back into bed with him, touching him, her tormentor. How did this particular scene make you feel? Were you telling her to run or by now, were you hoping someone would come out and take her back?



14 comments:

  1. I haven't read this book, but it sounds intense.

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  2. I also loved this book and I have Natasha to thank for recommending it to me!

    1. I liked how the story opened. It was a lot very quickly, and pretty harsh. I feel like I read almost the whole book with a hand over my eyes, like how you would watch a horror movie. But I couldn't look away, I didn't want to look away. And there was a good balance between story and flashbacks and present day that it just kept me riveted!

    2. I felt like the first anal sex scene should have turned me off, and that was what I was thinking the whole time. But it didn't and it kept me turning the pages. I think you are right that it may because it is the ultimate act of power. In a way Tane was already claiming Mischief for himself, even though he doesn't even know he is.

    3.I don't think I necessarily seek out corporeal punishment scenes. This book had a lot of them and yes, all of the punishments were harsh. It would start to build toward a punishment and I would think 'this is it, I'm probably going to have to stop reading, this is going to be too much.' But I never did stop reading and even though it was harsh it didn't turn me off (probably quite the opposite). I think it is just a testament to what an awesome author Maren Smith is.

    4. I don't think it would take long at all. I think the draw that Tane had to Mischief had to do with the fact that it was taking longer to break her. Don't we always like books where the heroine has spunk?

    5. I absolutely loved this scene. I think it is the most brilliant scene in this book, maybe really any book. She finally figures out a way to just walk outside, get beyond the walls. Her chance at escaping this imprisonment. And then she realizes she doesn't really want to be free, she loves Tane and this has become her life. I think I cried at this point, I am a little teary now. It is so f-ed up and so against my way of thinking and yet it seemed so right.

    I wasn't telling her to run, I think I was reading with a mixture of trepidation that she would leave (and then where would the story go?) and fear she would get caught. I definitely forgot to breath until that scene was over.

    Thanks so much for hosting Natasha and for suggesting this book to me! For anyone who hasn't read it, you should give it a try. You will be thinking about it for months to come!

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    1. Thank you, Casey. I wrote this book when I was very, very young. I hadn't yet experienced any of the BDSM that I so frequently fantasies about, so my fantasy was my only guide, which is why the punishment scenes are so harsh. That part where she walked out of the walls and just stopped was one of my favorite scenes in that story. I loved the idea that she would be so caught up in the habit of wanting to escape, that she never even realizes until she's outside that she really doesn't want to escape anymore. I had never heard of Stockholm's Syndrome before, or I'd have tried harder not to make it sound like that's what it was.

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  3. I, like Casey, had this recommended to me by Natasha! It was amazing. I have to admit, I thought I had another week, so I took the time to finish the last little bit of the book so I could participate today!! I loved this book. I love any of the books that Maren has done under the pen name, Denise Hall. I love dark and a little twisty (well some days I guess a lot twisty) and Denise's books fill that for me.

    1) Now, I don't usually like capture fantasies. They just don't do it for me, so I wasn't really sure I would like this when I started. But, per the normal, Maren can make you like anything in her books (like a Praying Mantis--LOL). I was sucked in immediately and, yes, stayed up late reading.

    2) Again, typically capture fantasies don't do it for me, but that anal scene was amazing and I wanted to not like it--tried talking myself into not liking it. But, I couldn't help it--the forced claim with anal had set the tone and I found myself wishing for Tane to continue taking her. Maybe not anally every time, but the tone is set with that scene. He is the Master, she has no choice, she is forced to submit. God, I get excited just typing those words. I love that!

    3) Well, because I am me, I do like harsh and dark. So when I am able to read a "darker" book that has harsh discipline, I DO! There are times when I think, "Oh God, I can't read this. This may be too dark for even me" which I did with this. But I was riveted and later found myself thinking and pondering on these scenes.

    4) Well, I wouldn't think it would take long. And, I may like spunky and mouthy heroines who don't buckle under easily, but in real life, I bow pretty quick. LOL So I am thinking it would take ... oh about one session with Tane and I would be good. Totally a model slave. No snarky remarks, no sarcasm and quick compliance.

    5) I think I reacted to this scene like everyone else--it just made me melt and I cried. It was the perfect "set it free" scene--once given the ability to leave, she can't, she loves him and wants to be with him, her Master. It was amazing and the gift that Maren has is unbelievable. You walk away glad that the stern, harsh Master has done the ultimate and captured her heart and has his perfect slave. *sigh*

    Maybe I have to read it again....just one more time this weekend!

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    1. LOL! Happy reading, Megan! :) That's a pretty high compliment. Thank you so much!

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  4. I haven't read this book yet but it keeps catching my eye. I love capture fantasies, as well as darker erotic stories, so I am definitely planning to read soon!

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  5. I haven't read this yet, but I did love Incubus Moon, by her other alias, Penny Alley.
    It sounds intense.
    So, you really did stay up late one night reading it, Natasha?
    That is always a good sign for me.
    Happy 4th!
    :)

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  6. Thanks so much to you both, Natasha and Celeste for sharing my book with your club and for inviting me along. :) As I said before, this was one of two books I wrote when I was 17. I hadn't yet experienced BDSM in the real world. I was still living vicariously through heroines in books I was reading via Blue Moon Books and Masquerade, the only two spanking publishing houses I could get my hands on way back then, and of course in the books I was writing. The discipline is harsh because mentally we (or perhaps it's just me) sign ourselves up for so much more than we can physically take. I didn't realize that back then. lol

    That first night that they shared, the non-con anal, said everything about who Tane was. He was absolute power, absolute authority, and absolutely the master over her, physically, mentally and sexually. I might have been young, but I already knew exactly what I wanted--symbolically if perhaps not in actual fact.

    Thank you again to everyone who read Judgment and stopped by, on a Holiday no less! Enjoy the rest of your Fourth of July! I'm heading out now to catch some fireworks myself. :)

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  7. I'm totally late to reply! Thanks to everyone who stopped by and on a holiday!! For those of you who haven't yet read Judgment, read it.

    Maren, I think it's interesting what you say about signing ourselves up for much more than we can physically take. Food for thought. Also interesting how you knew at that age what you wanted - it took me way longer to understand it for myself.

    Loved the book, thank you so much!!

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I love getting feedback. Thank you for taking the time to comment!