Cover Image: Story of L

Story of L

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Member Reviews

Thank you Netgalley for the gifted copy, all thoughts are my own

This was the first bdsm novel I've read so I wasn't really sure what to expect and am not able to currently compare it to others in this genre. It's definitely not for the faint of heart, but I enjoyed it. While some make not consider it "romantic" in a traditional sense it does contain love and care between characters.

It also contains consensual "sexual punishment". Whips, chains, humiliation ect.

While it definitely won't be for everyone, it will be fantastic for others.

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This truly is a love story set among the world of BDSM. The introduction of both characters comes early in the book and their relationship progresses steadily through their dominant/submissive relationship. As I was reading, I felt engrossed and compelled by the main character: Liv. Her unwavering willingness to push herself and her clear understanding of limits, boundaries, needs helped flesh out the psychology behind the relationship and opened up the veil so we could witness love growing from there.

I was delighted to see a trans person as a primary character and the author’s knowledge of physical changes during transition. No ounce of trans-phobia at all throughout the story. There was some maligning of bi-sexuality, but that was a character’s point of view, not the point of view of the two main characters. It did not read like it was perpetuating intolerance and disrespect toward bisexual or pansexual people. It illuminated a bias by a single character.

When I finished reading, I felt tired and drained, but satisfied. This was mostly because I felt exhausted witnessing the characters push and push and push their own boundaries. It would take an amazing amount of energy to enter into a relationship such as this and I can’t even muster up enough to put the laundry away some days, I admired the authors vivid descriptions and the sex was unique, nothing I had ever read before.

Debra Hyde is simply a good writer and her characters are believable and likable. Telling the story from the submissive’s point of view was important, I think. With any BDSM story, I need to see clear consent before I can read it through. Having access to Liv’s thoughts and experiences demonstrated consent the whole way through.

I received an ARC of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review,

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3 stars

So, I know nothing about the BDSM scene or lifestyle, and have no interest in exploring it myself, but it was interesting to see what it was all about in this fictional account of such a relationship. I also appreciated that the "love" scenes weren't overly graphic, so that the story focused more on the relationship, rather than just the sex. While intellectually I understand that people enjoy these type of relationships, I can't say that I understand that desire, even after reading this.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley and Riverdale Avenue Books in exchange for an honest review.

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This was honestly the first time I picked up an erotica which I kind of liked reading.. Having read a couple before this book in this category, I had my inhibitions and doubts about how the authors deal with the subject, but was pleasantly surprised with this book. The author has managed to touch this topic without going overboard and turning it into a sleaze affair.

Five stars for the manner in which the author has written this one.

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The Story of L by Debra Hyde
• Romance, f/f erotica, bdsm, LGBTQ+
• Winner, Lesbian Erotica in 2011, Lambda Literary Awards

Rating: 4 stars

The Story of L is about Liv, a lesbian who struggles with her constant desperate desire which she tries to quell by going to a sex club. One night she meets Cassandra, a notorious dom in their gay bdsm community. What follows is L’s (Liv’s) journey into being a submissive and ultimately falling for Cassandra.

Thoughts:
I enjoyed this book! It’s not my first sapphic romance, but as my first lesbian erotica/bdsm novel, I was pleasantly surprised. The writing is beautiful and you really feel L’s emotions. I know nothing of the bdsm lifestyle so I cannot speak for its accuracy, but everything was explained in great detail and wasn’t left in the dark.

Also, I absolutely loved Reese; Cassandra’s transgender, life-long friend/assistant, who forms a friendship with L and helps her navigate her new lifestyle.

Interest: 4/5
Romance: 3.5/5
Heat: 4/5
Happy Ending: Yes
Cliff Hanger: No
Would I recommend: Yes


*** I was given a copy of this book for an honest review by the publisher through Net Galley ***

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I might have bit off more than I expected with this one. This is not for the faint of heart. It swings deep into BDSM, which I guess was the whole point...hence the 4 stars, but I’ll admit I had to power through some parts of it.

There was the feel of a graphic novel with this. The way the world sways around the main character with little significance as she finds ways to feed the ‘Void’; then it morphs into a journey of self discovery. I thought the way the story circles its and ties up was good. What I enjoyed most about this was the way Cassandra’s was vulnerable and how L evolves to submission.

Overall, this ventured too far into BDSM for me but there’s a good story told. For what i think it was intended to be, it was good.

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Well written full length bdsm novel. Relationships between characters was believable and healthy. Scenes were crafted vividly.

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#Storyof L. This is a tale of love among the leather lesbian community. Liv has experience within the BDSM community. She often tops others. However their is a part of her that longs for something she does not quite understand. She calls it the void. I believe that is a good description on the part of the author. The character Liv details how she is left after each unfulfilling encounter. One night a Domme of legendary proportions, Cassandra has a tryst with Liv. Both their lives are changed as both seeks to form a connection with the other. Perhaps leading to a relationship. Cassandra seeks a slave and sets about building Liv into nthe perfect slave for her.

For the most part it is a good story. It is my opinion that explanations of several terms or practices for those unaware of the culture would have helped with comprehending what was going on several places within the novel. I also struggled with keeping up with the transgender characters as the author fluctuated between the gender pronouns, He, she, her and him. It made for confusion.

I would have also liked to have seen the inner thoughts from Cassandra during the build up towards their relationship. The author did a wonderful job of doing this with Liv. For me if you are telling the story of a developing relationship it should include both parties.

It is a quick read and very well constructed. I would recommend it to those who enjoy erotica.

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This novel tells the story of a woman who becomes the submissive to an aging dominant in a psychological /sexual relationship.
While I do not fully understand this relationship, it was an interesting read. I believe the intent was to show how what started as a primarily sexual encounter became a love story of sorts.
It is well written. It covers ( assumption on my part ) sexual encounters of the lesbian submissive/ dominant culture in quite a bit of detail.
I received this ARC for my unbiased review.

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The Story of L is a compelling love story set in a lesbian BDSM scene.
L is empty and disorientated after the end of a long affair but encounters Cassandra, a legend of the scene, at a club. She is immediately entranced and we follow her steps, via some memorably dramatic submissive events, into a full, and ultimately loving relationship with Cassandra.
From my position of biological distance from the scene, I found the encounters believable and exciting. It felt like Janet P Hardy had written the Story of O and been able to give the characters real feelings and credible evolution through the development of the story up to its happy, but not necessarily inevitable, ending.
It’s richly poetic on occasions and imbued with many of the memory triggers that we nourish from our childhoods to enable us to smell and taste our current worlds and put our lives into larger contexts.
I did find it striving to be overly literary on some occasions (“She replied in the affirmative,” is not what people really do) but I found the narrative nevertheless engrossing and, from the perspective of an outsider, fascinating

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Full disclosure -- I don't usually read this kind of a book and went into it with just some curiosity. This is an escapist lesbian BDSM novella that was too hard core for me in terms of pain and domination -- whips, electricity, extreme humiliation, and so on. It tries to be a love story and to have a feminist main character, but I didn't relate to the main character on any level. For those who want a fix of extreme BDSM lesbian sex, this will probably fill the need well.

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Not my cup of tea. Some may like it. Thought I'd go for something different and it was.. ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

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This book was good, however not amazing. I wanted to love the characters however never really became attached to them. I enjoyed the details, however felt at times the descripting took away from the story telling.

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Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers of "Story of L" for affording me the opportunity to read and review this book.

There's no doubt from the book synopsis or the front cover that this storyline will travel into the world of BDSM.

This is no watered down story. Neither is it poorly constructed. It's simply a very well-crafted and written gripping erotic account of one person's journey into Submission.

Real life BDSM can travel into Sadism and Masochism, depending on individual preferences and limits. If that is out of your comfort zone then this will be an uncomfortable read. But this is not about the reader's comfort, but about Liv's. An active player in the BDSM world, both as a Domme and Switch, the Void she craves becomes possible when she is topped by experienced Domme Cassandra . They both have what the other craves. And this book is the story of how their journeys progress.

The purist in me would have liked to see the formal contract signing of both Cassandra and Liv's agreement rather than verbal third hand agreements. The lack of direct communication from Cassandra may have worked for Liv, but I would have preferred to see safe practice acknowledged and adhered to more closely simply because there will always be those who try to imitate art and it could lead to dangerous power play.

Yes there are aspects of this journey that I found uncomfortable and which would have been hard and very hard limits for me to undertake but this is not about the reader despite the author drawing the reader in so succinctly. This is the story of how Liv became L. and is unique to her.

Thank you for such a gripping read.
4,5 *

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This is a short read. I'm guessing more a novella than a novel. Only took me a couple hours to finish. It's an intense and realistic glimpse into the BDSM world. Some scenes might offend people looking for some of the more vanilla aspects like in 50 shades.
The work this is loosely based on, The Story of O, angered me at the end. Happy to say this one gave me a much better feeling at the end. There's some hope here. It might even be possible we'll get a sequel sometime.

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This is not my first time reading BDSM...I’ve read a variety of stories that have light, intermediate and advance BDSM scenes. I would probably say this was more intermediate/advanced. I really enjoyed this book and lost sleep over it because I wanted to see the conclusion...
The growth between the main characters is astounding! What really got me was the whole aspect of longing for something, but yet you don’t quite know what that is until you find it. Then once that longing is fulfilled it somewhat surprises you because you didn’t expect that to be what you were longing for.

For me BDSM is all about trust and intimacy on a different level. Which this book definitely had. It might not be what you would expect, but if you’re open to experiencing something different then read this for sure!

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We all know how much Fifty Shades was acclaimed by the world, even though it doesn't take any BDSM experience to notice the hundreds of red flags popping throughout those books. It was obvious the author had no experience with these kind of relationships. I spent houuurs talking this through with some fellow bookstagram friends, who are more into the BDSM scene. This is also why I was intrigued by this book, which led me to request it on Netgalley!!

THINGS I LIKED :
• The (many) gender and sexual diversity
• The descriptions were so detailed and well done
• The portrayal of the deep connection between Dom and Sub
• This book isn't just about sex. There's a story and a well developed plot!
• Consent, consent, always consent!!!!

THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE :
• The spelling mistakes 😅
• The fluctuating pronouns for one of the characters. I don't know if it was supposed to show off gender fluidity, but it just looked like the author kept changing her mind about the character's gender and forgot to fix all of the pronouns
• The Dom physically marked her sub very early on in the relationship, which felt kinda forced
• How both Dom and Sub fell in love with each other, without ever talking about their lives outside of sex

Overall, I definitely appreciated this book about self-discovery, new experiences, and trust. Definitely worth so much more than Fifty Shades 😅

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This wasn't very good. I've read The Story of O, which is very good.
I never understood why the characters felt the way they did. Their alleged affection for each other was told, not demonstrated.

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Okay, so this book is truly a dark fantasy that likely will stir many loins. I won't elaborate on where I sit on the spectrum, but I will simply say that I found it difficult to sleep last night after reading the first half of this book. It is well written and spares the reader of the crude degradation that so many books of this erotic genre carry. It is frank, yet tender. I was tentative as I started and quickly found myself hooked. It is lesbian fiction, and while I can't speak for straight women, I can say that it was a memorable read that mindfully parallels the classic Story of O. As a lesbian, this is the satisfying story that I wanted.

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A compelling voyage of discovery story. Even though I failed to connect to the characters the story made me think and consider situations and dynamics differently, which I enjoyed very much. Akin to walking a mile in someone else's shoes.

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