Read with caution, you may not want to go here...
"A Dom's Dilemma" recently received a rather
negative review primarily due to differences in personal taste. The reviewer was perfectly justified to give
her opinions, and I'm glad she left the comments she did because they will help
forewarn other readers about some possibly offensive material in my book.
What was missed in the review, however, were the reasons my
Dom, Jim, did the things the reviewer disliked so much. He did them, not for a vicarious thrill, or
because he has a scatological fixation, but because he wanted his sub, Kelly,
to accept that nothing she did, or they did together, would disgust him, so she
had no reason to be embarrassed in front of him--no matter what.
Despite his reasons, some readers are going to be put off by an activity they view as too personal, private or even sordid to share. Bathroom functions are not romantic, as Kelly acerbically points out. She's right, they're
not, and Jim agrees with her. But that's
not the point he's trying to make. The
need for privacy is taught to us at a very young age, and when that privacy is encroached
upon, we get embarrassed or angry. We
feel violated. However, there is no room
for embarrassment or artificial barriers between a Dom and his sub. Jim knows this, just as he knows by remaining
with Kelly when she seeks privacy, he is forcing her to face, and ultimately traverse, a barrier she will balk at crossing. Does that mean he will never allow her any
privacy? No. He does--eventually, but by then he believes Kelly
has finally accepted that he alone determines what is acceptable between them and
what is not. She doesn't get a vote.
Are there other ways Jim could have taught this lesson? Sure, limitless ones. So, why did I have Jim use that particular method for
proving his point? Because for me,
having a man I found sexually attractive insist on remaining with me during
what I consider a very private time, would mortify me. That would be scaling a private bastion I
would do almost anything to keep him from climbing and for the very reasons
Kelly gave. It is gross, not
romantic. In fact, it is the antithesis
of romantic. Few other activities could
embarrass me as much as that would. So,
even though I would hate it, Jim's lesson would work with me.
Despite those two scenes, I believe I have loads of romance, love and discipline in the novel, but my disappointed reviewer is also right about the lack of sex scenes. Due to plot and length constraints, the story doesn't allow Jim and Kelly much time for sexual hi-jinks and that shows in the book.
I would have written the reviewer and thanked her for giving
her honest opinion, if I'd known how to contact her. So, instead I'm telling anyone who reads this
article why I wrote what I did, so they can decide for themselves if they're
willing to follow a character into places they may not want to go, either. I know what I write is not to everyone's
taste, and I do encourage readers to e-mail me.
We all have private bastions we don't want scaled, and now you are privy
to one of mine.
The link to the review, if you're interested, is listed below:
