Certain Requirements by Elinor Zimmerman was a fun, well-written romantic romp with a nice dash of kink tossed in. It was a pleasant surprise to see a dominant character like Kris—one that felt down-to-earth, despite being fairly closed-off in the beginning. I really enjoyed the premise of this book and the sex scenes were great. The build-up in their romantic feelings felt realistic and not rushed. I really only had a few gripes with the story. This may be a side-effect of the first-person narration, but I felt like Kris wasn’t quite as fleshed out of a character as I would have liked. Phoenix also seemed a bit emotionally immature to me and her whining grated at times. Overall, this was a really enjoyable read for fans of kinky romance.

The premise of this book is that a broke aerialist moves in with a butch lesbian as her live-in submissive.

That checks so many boxes for me.

I liked the premise of this book, I loved the San Francisco setting, and I liked the sex scenes. In fact, I wish there had been more of them and they were longer, because they were suuuuper hot! I also really liked the length of the build-up for the romance--Phoenix doesn't move in with Kris and then two weeks later they're ~in love~. I think the whole books takes place over the course of a year, maybe a little less, so the timeline for their relationship's development totally makes sense.

However, I did not love the character development. This book is in first person, which at first I felt was a nice change of pace from a lot of romance/erotica novels that have alternating chapters from the perspectives of each person in the relationship. I quickly realized that because Kris is so stuck in her ways and doesn't show her feelings a lot, her character felt flat. It would have been helpful to have chapters from her point of view so I could see and understand her thought processes a little better.

I did like the side characters, made up mostly of Phoenix's found family. I thought they were really cute and helped her work through her feelings when there were issues. I ended up liking this book pretty well, and I will be keeping an eye out for more from this author!

My main feeling coming away from this is boredom.

I‘m not much of a fan of a first person narrator anyway, but it really didn’t work for me here.

The premise of the book was extremely interesting and unique so I was very keen to read it. Unfortunately it didn't work for me. I couldn't connect with either of the lead characters - the book was written in the first person from Phoenix's perspective and I didn't particularly care for her. Kris, which started off as an interesting character, left me disappointed as I had no idea what she was thinking or feeling. I felt the two leads spent hardly any time together and when they did, there wasn't much connection, even though the subject matter - BDSM play - could have provided that connection massively. In the end I didn't see how the characters got close to another and developed feelings. The ending felt rushed and out of character for Kris. On a positive note BDSM was portrayed very realistically, especially in the beginning. I enjoyed the bits about Fetlife and lists.

This was a good read for me.  I found the story entertaining and the characters interesting.  Phoenix is trying to live her dream of being an aerial dancer but doesn’t have the money to do it.  Now in need of a new place to stay she meets Kris, who has certain requirements for Phoenix to live with her.  Will Phoenix agree?  Entertaining read with steamy chemistry.

I really enjoyed this book.  It’s about Phoenix, who is an aerial dancer, that just quit her job to follow her dream of doing it full time.  Unfortunately she finds out that not only is her rent being increased but her roommate and friend is moving across the country with his boyfriend.  Phoenix hears through a friend that someone she knows in the BDSM community is looking for a live in submissive and she becomes interested in this position.  

Kris and Phoenix meet and hit it off and both wish to try it out.  Kris has certain requirements for Phoenix and one is that they are not dating.  Phoenix sometimes struggles with the loneliness of the requirements and they renegotiate a few times.  I really liked how Phoenix slowly brought Kris out of her shell and how Kris came to see that there was more to life than working all of the time.  I think that the two of them balanced each other out and were good for the other.
 I really liked the story and would recommend it to others.  There is BDSM scenes in the book.  I really liked the end of the story as well.  I’m certainly going to checkout more from this Author in the future.

I knew from the beginning that this book would be out of my comfort zone: it’s very rare that I read erotica, and even rarer that I read about kinks other than like, light bondage. Honestly, I wouldn’t have been interested in this book if it hadn’t been for Jae’s Lesbian Book Bingo, which has an Erotica square I was struggling to fill. That being said, this book was a very pleasant surprise.

Before reading this book, the last 3-4 adult lesbian romances I read felt like I was reading the same story with the names and a couple of words switched out. Certain Requirements felt like something new and different, and not only because of the kinky/erotica aspect. It was great to read about Phoenix’s life, her friends (including a queer male best friend), her past relationship, the way she feels like an outsider in her family of intellectuals, and of course, her love for aerial performances. I especially loved that her life outside her romance with Kris didn’t magically disappear when their relationship started getting more serious. Phoenix still had aspirations, friends and conflicts outside the main relationship.

At the beginning, I wasn’t sure how to feel about the relationship – it starts out as a sex worker/employer relationship, and I felt like Phoenix started having different expectations way too early in the relationship. This could be explained by the fact that she wasn’t actually a sex worker before meeting Kris, and perhaps wasn’t used to being in a professional relationship with someone while also having sex and living with the person. Later, I felt like this was more balanced and the growth of the romance was more believable.

I really wish we had learnt more about Kris, her hobbies and her life outside Phoenix, but in a way we did – she didn’t really have any of those outside of work, which is why she needed a live-in sub in the first place.

It was really interesting to learn BDSM and different kinks, play parties, relationship dynamics, etc. I know that one book cannot be a representation of every kinky person, but I still felt like it was a good introduction. I liked that Phoenix and Kris started out by comparing their yes/no/maybe sheets that I’ve seen around on the internet before, and I liked that asking for consent (with the colour system) was a constant, even towards the end of the book when they’ve been in their arrangement for quite long. Even when the fantasies included Kris hitting or controlling Phoenix, and especially in the threesome scene, it was clear that it was all consensual – although in this case, I think it helped a lot that we saw things from the submissive’s perspective.

There was also a nonbinary side character, Ray, and I would like to talk about that representation a little. Overall, I felt like it was good rep: Ray’s gender and pronouns were respected, and it was especially great that Phoenix made sure to ask what words they are comfortable with for their body in a sexual situation. However, I did have two issues with the way Ray was handled. 1) Ray is first mentioned/introduced at a party, and even before they physically appear, some others at the party make ignorant comments about their gender and pronouns. These comments are called out immediately and they never come up again, so I could accept this as a realistic portrayal of cis people being ignorant even if they mean no harm – but I felt really weird about the fact that we got all these comments before actually seeing Ray at all. In a way, the nonbinary character was introduced by transphobic comments before actually speaking a word. 2) Ray just… disappears halfway through the novel. They are busy, so Phoenix and them keep postponing their plans, and then… Ray just never appears again. There is actually another party towards the end where Kris mentions inviting Ray but Phoenix decides against it, and just… Why? There is no real reason given, and both of Ray’s doms come to the party, so I don’t understand why they weren’t invited. This way, I liked Ray but at the same time there’s not much to like because they only really appear in a few scenes.

3.25 stars

I wanted to read this because f/f BDSM romance is very rare, so I want  to read it when I come across it. As a butch living in the Bay Area, I was looking forward to a butch/femme romance set in the San Francisco Bay Area written by someone queer who actually lives in the Bay. I was also excited to read a book centering an aerial dancer; I love dance stories. And this book centers a sex work to love arc; I was interested in seeing how it might get there, and am always looking for stories with good sex work representation.

I am feeling kinda meh about this book. It didn't go terrible places, and it really had potential to (especially since there was a threesome with a non-binary character at one point). It also didn't really excite me. I had trouble caring about the main characters, being invested in them as people or as a couple. I've been sitting here working on this review, trying to figure out why. I think the core reason is that there's very little emotional internality in the story. We have a butch dom love interest who is basically inscrutable, so readers don't get to witness her having feelings most of the time. And even though its told in the first person, I still feel like I barely got what the MC was feeling, throughout the story, even though its in the first person. We mostly hear about Phoenix's feelings when she reports them to her friends. (Which unfortunately is not often in the middle of the book.) She is not super aware of her feelings, and doesn't do a lot of self reflection, is more of an avoider, but for me the core thing is that the book is very much about reporting actions in its writing style, and not showing the feelings underneath. That's great when actions evoke responses for me as a reader, but really doesn't work for me in a low suspense, low stakes, slice of life story like this one.

This is one of those romances where the conflicts would mostly be resolved if people talked to each other, particularly about feelings, and what they want and need. I think I would have been okay with that (I sometimes hate it and sometimes am okay with it), if there were other ways to find out what was going on with either of the MCs, internally. As is, it made the book difficult to push through, for me.

The parts of the story that focused on dance, on practice, on choreography, on rehearsal, on being a dancer in a family of academics who don't get it, those are the parts I liked the best. I would have been happy with more of those, more about her relationship with her dance partner who she choreographs with, more about the difficulties with her family, more about her struggling with her career. That's where it felt like the emotional stakes were, and the engaged descriptions of action, the complex dynamics, the best writing.

The kinks the MCs play with are right up my alley (well, some of my alleys anyway): sexual submission, objectification, service, group scenes, exhibitionism, D/s, being offered to others in a controlled safe way. And they barely felt hot to me, because they felt more like a scene report of what happened than anything else. This is where I missed the internality the most; I never got a sense of the MC's responses, emotions, internal experience of the kink. I also think that this book misrepresents domestic service kink, which is a central thing for the love interest, partly because the MC doesn't really seem into service in that way, except for maybe sexual service. I struggled to believe that this would ring the right bells for the dom, given that.

I was impressed by the way they negotiated their relationship around the power imbalance around class and housing, as the MC was in a very precarious situation, and it could have felt very coercive. So I liked that they talked openly about that and ways to even the playing field to make consent more possible.

There are a number of moments where the MC's identity as a Chicana was a core part of the story. Given that, it felt off to me that race wasn't part of the early negotiation or consideration of the kink in the story, beyond a limit around epithets and race play. We have a wealthy white butch dominant who is entering into a D/s relationship with a Chicana femme submissive, and wanting her to take on the role of a servant, both a sexual servant and a domestic servant/housekeeper. These roles are not neutral things to play with, they are intensely racialized and loaded. I wanted these characters to speak as openly about the realities of race impacting this power dynamic as they did about class and housing insecurity. As a white reader, I felt like this was an important piece missing from their negotiation.

I struggled with the moment late in the story where the dom insists on having input into the MCs career decisions; that felt like a big overstepping of boundaries, especially in a sex work situation. It felt like wielding power in a way that made me uncomfortable. I wanted to see the shift from sex work to love happen more explicitly, and the lack of internality made it difficult to connect with or believe in that shift.

I did really get a deep sense of place from the story; it felt very Bay Area to me, and I appreciated that about it. And I liked how important her community was to Phoenix, how much she valued her relationships, even when she was messing things up and hurting her friends. I liked how much of the story was about her platonic relationships. There is a whole aspect of her arc that's about her BFF moving away and how difficult it is to transition to a long term friendship, and I really appreciated that. I liked watching her be flawed and make mistakes and get in her own way. I liked watching her dynamics with her family, and hearing her talk about that, a lot.

There is a non-binary secondary character, and the non-binary rep generally felt pretty good to read. There were a couple moments that felt a bit off, but nothing that really bugged me. (ETA: However, I've heard from another enby reader that the micro-aggressions landed differently for them, and were more hurtful. And I can see when I step back that the initial introduction of the character frames them as an object in a way that may make the later moments in the story involving this character feel bad to read.)

I liked that the MC had a trans ex, and knew to ask about language to refer to their body. I liked that Ray's dominants pushed back against the way someone expressed doubts about respecting their singular they pronouns. I liked Ray as a character, in general. In fact, I shipped them and their doms more than the MCs, and found myself wanting to read a story about their relationship.

My favorite bits beyond the dance moments were the moments when they are starting to build a platonic relationship outside of kink. I would have honestly been content had this resolved to a queerplatonic partnership, as the romance really did not seem to fit the story, or feel earned.

This was a really good story. Phoenix and Kris had a long, hard road to find what they really want. Both of their pasts kept them from being able to let their feelings take the lead. They were very much compatible in the bedroom. And the scenes were very erotic. I loved watching them fall in love and would like to see a novella of how their relationship progresses in the future.

This book is about 2 women, Kris & Phoenix, who enjoy playing in the world of BDSM. This is the first book I have ever read on this topic. The sotry is educational on some of the methods of BDSM.  This is something I have no interest in, however, I do think the novel was well written. The women used Red, Yellow & Green to indicate their interest in a method they were trying out and whether or not to continue with a certain level of pain.  There are several sex scenes in this book all relating to the topic. There were rules Kris established for this relationship, there was to be no relationship between the two women (girlfriends) and they were not to fall in love with each other.  They had a set schedule of what days they would "play".  During the week it was a few evenings starting at 8:30 PM for 1 hour and Sundays, were for extended play in the afternnon. Kris gave Phoenix free room and board in exchange for being Kris's "sub". Phoenix had a list of chores to be complete each day dusting, laundry, keeping the house picked up, errands, cooking and "play time". Phoenix still had the freedom to pursue her own dreams as long as the terms of her agreement with Kris are met. Sometimes life gets in the way and changes are bound to happen. Kris was hurt in a previous relationship which left her believing she's not capable of a relationship. Having a 'sub' relationship is all she is capable of, but is it?? I also enjoyed the other supporting characters who were Phoenix's friends. They offered advice, supported her and stood with her.  Sasha, a good friend of Phoenix's, also an aerialist, create and practice routines to perform on weekends. Phoenix and Sasha hope their weekend gigs lead to something much more.
Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book for free, for a review.

Certain Requirements is an adult erotica novel.  The main characters were nicely developed showing their different strengths and weakness as women.  If you enjoy Dom/Sub lesbian relationships, this book is for you. Although well written it was not my favorite book.

A story of lesbian dominance and romance. I was actually more engaged in this story than I thought I would be although the therapy buzzwords put me off .

Thank you, NetGalley, for introducing me to this book and this author. I had no preconceived notions and no idea of what to expect.  I loved this book.  What an interesting premise for introducing two characters who obviously need each other in similar and different ways.  I always enjoy first person point of view and for me it was really effective for getting to know Phoenix.  The BDSM was very well written as well as informative. I literally didn’t put the book down till I finished it. The ending was a little rushed, but the positives completely outweighed that one negative. I can’t wait to read more from Elinor Zimmerman.

Certain Requirements by Elinor Zimmerman was a really pleasant surprise. Because of the blurb, I was expecting a plot driven by BDSM and not much else. The opposite is true. While the plot is built around a BDSM relationship, there is also a very dear romance that blooms over the course of the book.

Phoenix Gomez is a hardworking artist. Her medium happens to be aerial dancing. She is creative, open minded, and a free spirit. However, that doesn’t really pay the bills. After her rent is increased and her roommate decides to move out, she feels like her dream won’t come to fruition. A friend introduces her to tech genius, Kris who happens to be a seasoned top in the world of BDSM. Kris is looking for a live-in sub. Phoenix has always wanted to explore her kinky side and with the promise of free room and board she decides to give it a go.

The book is told in the first person, past tense from Phoenix’s point of view. I tend not to like first person narration because I don’t feel like I get to know the other characters in the book. This was NOT the case here. Even though everything is revealed through Phoenix’s point of view, it is through Kris’s actions that I got to know her and Zimmerman did a great job of developing Kris’s character in this manner. The dialogue really paints clear pictures of who these women are. In Kris’s case, it’s often the lack of dialogue, but that is who she is.

The best part of this book is how Phoenix and Kris bring out the best in each other. They don’t try and change each other; rather they support each other in attaining what is important to them. They are an improbable couple, but they have great chemistry as seen through the sex scenes. To say that the sexy bits are good is a heinous understatement. Zimmerman does an excellent job is portraying a sexy and safe BDSM relationship.

I liked this book and would recommend it.

I was provided with an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

My review is 4 stars.

This is not like the erotica that read all along because there is something deep that was not there in the other ones. First talking about the characters. Phoenix and Chris both are a quite strong character and the way they are written is nice. When I started this book I was a little bit disappointed and thought that I'm not going to like it and would end up like rating it around 2 or 2.5 stars. But as I progressed in the book I was enjoying myself every bit and I felt connected with the book as well as the characters and end up rating it 4 stars.

Both the characters are hot and the story is very erotic, what else you expect in an erotica but you will definitely be surprised to know that there is more to that. An impactful story with deep emotions and that was quite surprising and I must add very good surprise which I liked at my best. That why I will not put this book is in the genre of erotica but I'll mark it as a romantic book but a hot romantic book and I would definitely like to recommend this book.

*** I would like to thank Publisher for providing me with an ARC copy to review ***

Woah, this was one intense read. There wasn't a moment that I thought the story was slowing down, or turning boring.

It was steamy, sexy, kinky and heartbreaking all at the same time. To be honest, this was the LGBT form of Fifty Shades, only Certain Requirements was hundred times better.

The characters were well crafted, easy to relate to, despite their different careers and fun to read.

Though I loved all the characters, my absolute favourite will have to be John, because he was such a good friend. The kind of friend everyone should have.

Certain Requirements is the kind of book that won't let you go until you turn the last page, and when you do that? You'll be smiling widely, making everyone think you've gone crazy. (Thank God I finished it at night!)

So yeah, go on and preorder this really awesome book!

This was well written and enjoyable enough. The premise was interesting. However sometimes the characters were a little irritating, Kris was too arrogant in some instances and Phoenix was whiny. Another issue is the romance didn’t happen near the end and the BDSM was sort of bland and very superficial.

It's been a really long time since I have read a BDSM romance. To be honest ive read two proper BDSM series,Fifty shades trilogy(not sure why I call it BDSM) and the "The original sinners" by Tiffany reisz. While one series was crappy the other one was pretty extreme with literally everything you can think of - lesbians, gays and heterosexuals doing all these elaborate and sometimes wierd scenes. So I've basically been on both sides of the spectrum.

I have never actually read a proper lesbian BDSM book and this was the first. I think the book got the basic D/s relationship pretty well. Thank god this wasn't a mess like Fifty shades. 

Kris is a great person, just really really lonely. On the other hand phoenix is kinda in my face, and I wasn't sure what to feel about her. At times I liked her and at other times I was like *sigh*. I think this is why I wanted them to end up together, one was too self obsessed while one was too busy to care about mundane stuff. 

The story had a lot of sex and a lot of D/s play which was all fun and game. I was kinda bummed that the emotional drama part of the story was really less. There's just one scene where the protagonists bonded over something other than sex. What I liked a lot was how much emphasis was put on the importance of consent. There was no blurring of lines and rules. 

For someone who isn't into BDSM I think this book can be acceptable as nothing is in too much graphic detail. There is a lot of kink but its all superficial. Nothing really scarring or shocking. This is a romance in its core and that's what I really liked.

I rarely read erotica because I want to connect with the characters in the emotional department that’s why I prefer romantic stories with hot sexy scenes, and while the description of this book was promising, it just fell short in both romance and spiciness (I had high expectations). The romance didn’t happen until the last portion and the BDSM was not very titillating, in fact awkward specifically the three-way. Ray’s character was odd, no offense, and the use of “Sir” to address a woman? It kind of ruined the dynamic for me. Plus there was this use of anti-STI paraphernalia which was not sexy at all. Ugh. 

The writing wasn’t exactly bad and I would still like to read the author’s next book. It’s just that a few things of this book didn’t sit well for me. I’m giving it 3.8 stars.

3.25 Stars. I thought this was slightly better than okay, but I didn’t connect to it like I hoped. I’m not a big BDSM fan, but I don’t mind it. As long as it is pain for pleasure and not pain just to cause pain, I’m okay with it. This book fit into that first category and the actual premise was interesting, but something was a little off for me.

Phoenix is an aerial dance looking to move into dancing full time. She has finally saved up her money so she can afford to only dance or teach dance. With the sudden notice of a rent increase and her roommate moving, all of her dreams seem to be crumbling. When Phoenix hears Kris, a friend of a friend, is looking for a live in submissive/household caretaker, this could be the answer to all of her problems. Will this pay to play situation work out of will feelings get involved?

First I want to mention, I loved Phoenix’s job as an aerial performer. I have been lucky enough to see some performances in Las Vegas and it is absolutely mesmerizing. It was such an interesting job for a character to have and I really enjoyed those parts. If anything I could have used even more.

This book is in first person so everything is seen through Phoenix’s eyes. I actual like first person, but in this case I don’t think it worked as well. I really struggled with any sort of connection with Kris. She was a very dull character half the time and not knowing what she was thinking didn’t help. I didn’t feel like she was a main character. I like when an author can write in first person but still make it feel like you know the other main.

Here comes the part that really surprised me, I did not care for the sex scenes. They were fine, but they were not steamy to me which was shocking. You know when there are certain books you have to be careful not to read in public? For me I learned do not read a Meghan O’Brien book, at work, on my lunch break. It is just too hot and steamy. This is what I expected in this book, and I didn’t get it. I felt almost numb reading it. I’m all for steamy and like I said I’m fine with BDSM, but these scenes just didn’t move me. I felt very detached. I don’t know if it was the first person or not connecting to Kris, but I was disappointed.

I want to make clear; I seem to be a bit of an outlier here. Other reviewers really enjoyed this book, and many thought the sex scenes were very steamy. I wish I could say the same. My suggestion is if the premise sounds good to you give the book a try. Hopefully you will enjoy it more than I did. I would be willing to give this author another read.