I thought this was a pretty good book until the Sunderland fiasco. This story has many elements that are similar to "The Story of O" such as the o-ring collar, L's training in Sunderland, and her name being shortened to an initial. I thought this was a pretty realistic BDSM story since the main character still worked at her job and there was a lot of focus on consent, limits, and aftercare. This was less of the 24/7 submissive slave type fantasy. The Sunderland part kind of ruined the story for me because it seemed very random and Cur's girls were just high school level drama which just jarred me out of the story. After this point I still kept reading to see how it ended and it had a pretty decent ending. I thought L's relationship with Cassandra was beautiful in its own way. However, this just wasn't my type of fantasy and I wasn't too engaged in the story after Sunderland.

This book was not as good as I thought it would be. The blurb sounded interesting and being an award winning book I assumed it would be fairly good. I just couldn't get into the storyline and characters felt like strangers to me so no real connecton.

What a wonderful book. A simple story, despite whatever you may imagine of a BDSM lesbian romance, its really just a sweet and fulfilling love story. I can't recommend better, and more of a delightful surprise for any reader. There is little here not to love.

What is of particular interest is the interweaving of a very graphic sexual story with genuine heartfelt exchange of love between two people getting to know each other. You find depth of character, intense feeling and a very real sense of motivation and expectation. Although I never expected the emotional climax and fulfillment to come with L fisting her Mistress. Its not my experience or the world of many who will enjoy this book but you can't get away from the fact it is well written.

Debra Hyde writes a nice short novella that encompasses a lot of desire. There is here a great exposition of what masochistic and submissive desire is. The expectation, the focus on the beloved, the strong identification with the desires of the other, and a heightened sense of her own feeling and desires builds a depth of character and definition with the heroine. This is a treat and nothing prurient or strange.

I would recommend this book for any adult reader. Anyone who wishes to explore what desire is and what is the meaning of fulfillment should read this. Its almost so many other things, philosophical, drama, mystery and memoir. But it stops short in leading you away from what is a very simple story well written. Most of all, like the Story of O which this references in the title The Story of L stands alone in a class of its own. Well done Debra Hyde.

I am astounded at how much I adored this book. This is the first BDSM erotic novel that I actually enjoyed. It felt true to the BDSM scene and had very inventive encounters between the characters. The sexually experiences in the book were like none I have read before and they were very fun to see unfold. From beginning to end the book was well written, fun, and interesting. I couldn't ask for more in an erotic novel. This author and her book are very underrated and I cannot believe that I haven't heard of her works before. I get asked a lot for good books to read after 50 Shades of Grey and this is definitely the one I will recommend to everyone!

The entire experience of reading "Story of L" feels like a guilty pleasure from start to finish. It doesn't have to be that way; erotica can be warm and rewarding, and an engaging way to explore less talked-about topics. But in "Story of L," the sex is front and center, relationships pushed to the side, sub and dom characters existing without chemistry outside of BDSM.

The focus on sex instead of character may appeal to some readers, but it lacks the engagement and humor of other books in the genre. Recommended only for the "action" elements.

This was an interesting story, but I struggled to stay engaged. Many times throughout the book, I felt it was simply the retelling of “The Story of O”. I felt the Dominants character was very detached, and the submissive to be overly passive. I felt there was very little chemistry between the two main characters. When a book focus on physical connection, chemistry is a real must. I also found the writing style a little to descriptive in some parts. Especially when there was absolutely no need for additional (pages long) detail,

I received a free ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is my first F/F read and I really enjoyed it. Liv and Cassandra were intriguing characters and their relationship was non-traditional. This is a short story provided an intense and realistic glimpse into the BDSM world. I found the story flow easily and some of the scenes were hot. A unique experience for me. If you are looking for a non-traditional F/F BDSM erotica with an abundance of steamy sex scenes, I would recommend it and even if you are not, I would urge people to give it a chance.

This is a fairly good book. At times it can be fast paced and at times it's slowly paced. I do wish the novel would have explored the dynamic between the couple and the main character a bit more as well as the culture. I do however love the accuracy of the BDSM community that is in this novel.

4.5 Star Review

It's obvious that the author of this book aced her SAT's in school. The erudite vocabulary alone made this reading session a schooling in literary verbiage (see what I did there?) And that I'm saying this of a hardcore BDSM F/F erotica novel. leaves me completely flabbergasted. I really enjoyed this read, and not just because it's beautifully, cleverly written. The erotic themes were far from vapid - there was depth here, deep-rooted explorations of the psychology of sexual submission. Clearly the subject matter isn't mainstream, and I don't suppose many except fans of the sub-genre of master/slave relationships would embrace it, but I see the allure and appreciate the message that the story conveys. This is probably the most successful BDSM master/slave erotica tale I've read this year. It tackled difficult topics with maturity and courage. The scenes of intimacy, even in the most intense of scenes, were never initiated without established consent, and were never conducted in a distasteful or masochistic manner. And though there were times the flowery wording seemed forced to the point of histrionic, it didn't take away from my appreciation of the story. I enjoyed being inside L's head, even if her borderline dramatic litany of the Void and Cassandra became repetitive - it asserted the narrative of what this relationship was and what it meant to her and I respected it through to the end, even though many might not understand or even approve of it.

All in all, a great read.

I've heard great things about Story of L, so I finally dove in and checked it out. Now, I don't pretend to understand a BDSM relationship, and I can't say that I would even consider some of things Liv so readily accepted. I will say that Debra Hyde does know how to set a scene, but that fine attention to detail is sometimes detrimental to the story. There's a fine line between giving a good visual and dragging it out a little too far, and sometimes, this one went over the edge. The story is - well, it's erotica, plain and simple. It's one woman's journey to complete submission. However, I would not consider this a romance. Oh, it generates plenty of steam, but sexual attraction and steamy goodness is lust, not love, and I don't feel like this one ever got deep enough with these characters to call it love. The book is okay for what it is, but I prefer a better connection between the characters, something more than just attraction. Basically, I wanted some substance, something to show that these two women are as compatible outside a BDSM scene as they are in one. So, if you're looking for FF BDSM erotica, this is it, but if you want some real story, I can't say that I found that here. In the end, Story of L was worth the read, but it isn't something I would revisit.

I wanted to love this a premise was right up my street. I just found it was a bit too much and it just got too much as it went on. I really liked the first few chapters and really got into the story but the more that the story progressed, the less I liked it and could not finish it.

This was a very good book in the BDSM genre. It shows the growth of a dom/sub relationship without the stereotypes which many people associate with kink. L, the main character is not a weak person. She is a strong woman that has discovered her sexually and without shame. Plenty to like in this book.

So I have read the BDSM genre many times, it is one of my favorite genres. I am new though to the F/F genre. This was an interesting book to start my journey into this sub genre. The story was very true to life in the in it's telling. The story was well written and characters come together nicely making the story enjoyable and an easy read. I do plan to read more stories by this author in the future.

Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this book In exchange for an honest review.

Like other readers I requested this book because I was curious to see how the author handled the BDSM angle from a female/female perspective. Whilst the erotic handle of the book was handled well by the author (although some terminology I found arcane or altogether superfluous) the ‘story’ was a little one-dimensional. Characterisation was adequate but not written with any real depth and I did not find myself engaged with the narrative for any sustained period of time.

The author does however deserve credit for her invention. For curiosity sake this was worth the read.

Pretty hot erotica mixed into a kind of meh story. Definitely contained a satisfying sexy story, but I didn't really connect with or care about the characters. So whether I would recommend it would depend on which aspect you're looking for.

This reworked title I had a lot of issues with. At times I was really enjoying the title and then at others I wasn't. I finally just had to call it quits around 55% as I was just having so many issues. The story could be amazing but I think it just needs more editing and reworking.

Story of L, wow, was an great read. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. The cover leads much to the imagination encourage people to read it and explore the story within its pages. Certainly was pleased with the read. Great book and is entertaining especially for its genre.

Where to begin? I requested this book from NetGalley because BDSM and erotica books can be really well written and have a nice story going. So I remember requesting this book based off the cover alone (I'm usually not that judgey lol).

The story is about Liv, nicknamed L by the woman who becomes her "dom" Cassandra halfway through the bok. Their dynamic is very strange, and not typical "D/s" behavior in my opinion. There's a few other side characters, all in the scene of course, who don't have too much bearing on the overall story. There's a "bad guy" type naturally, but it was so weak it honestly wasn't needed. Something called The Void is mentioned a lot in the beginning on the story and it is a rather stupid name to call that hunger inside all of us who craves sex. And there were less than a handful of sex scenes in this story, which was disappointing for an erotica genre book. Plus no safe word agreement mentioned? Yikes!

I did not care for this book. I had a very hard time getting through it all. The story nor the characters captured me in the slightest. Thank you NetGalley for this read.

I enjoy a good BDSM book but this is the first time I read from f/f perspective. It wasn't bad and of course, the lifestyle was presented in a positive way. Sometimes the story dragged but overall, I thoroughly enjoyed.

Very descriptive book but I loved it from beginning to end. I will definitely be reading more from this author in the future. Highly recommend.