Review: Sexy, genial, literate BDSM romance
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 11 21, 2012
"Paula's Place: Surrender" is the second installment of James Wood's stylish new BDSM romance trilogy. Those unfamiliar with the series to date will want to start with the first book, "Seduction," as the storyline is cumulative, and each subsequent part increasingly referential to the earlier episodes. (A third volume is slated for release in January, 2013.)"Surrender" ushers readers into the intoxicating, terrifying, sublime world of uncharted erotic romance, where lovers abandon themselves to the sheer joy of carnal novelty, eager to learn each other's secrets. The title itself takes on deeper meaning as Paula begins to discover her place in this brave new world; her deepening relationship with the handsome writer, Max Broekner, her initiation into his very genteel practice of ethical bondage and submission, a stylized theater of manners more apropos the Edwardian era than the early years of the 21st century. (Sufficiently intrigued readers may want to seek out Wood's "The Doctrine of Venus," a sort of primer to the author's unique vision of the BSDM lifestyle.)Indeed, Wood's language and style evoke earlier, more elegant times, though he is intentionally cagey about the exact when and where of this story. It seems to occupy a sort of alternate reality; a falsely remembered realm of nostalgia in which things exist as the author would wish, not as our own mundane existence might dictate. Descriptive passages are infused with a glowing appreciation of sensuous antique luxury, reveling in opulence and tactile wonder, when polished oak takes on its own strange erogenous power, the texture of fine Dresden china the stuff of fetish, and the aroma of old books becomes an aphrodisiac in and of itself.Sexy, genial, imaginative, well-polished, literate and likeable, "Paula's Place: Surrender" is recommended to fans of BDSM romance, as well as all who romanticize the forbidden pleasures of the past.