Unconventional Desires is a new adult romance story told through the diary of one woman’s discovery of Domination, Submission, Sadism and Masochism. The principal character is Victoria, a twenty something biology graduate who lives at home with her parents and is aroused by submission erotica, something she desperately tries to suppress. At the beginning of the story, we find that she has agreed to a date with Sebastian; a dominant man whom she met online in a BDSM chat room. The story covers the first year of her growing relationship with Sebastian and how she balances this very secret relationship with demands on her life by her family and vanilla friends. She shares all of her thoughts, feelings, and worries she experiences in her diary about the progress of her submissive training. She describes in detail how Sebastian leads her down a path of submission and surrender, exposing her to different types of toys, various levels of pain, public play parties, and what it means to be submissive. During her journey, Victoria questions numerous times what she’s doing with Sebastian, her desires to submit to domination and submission, and her enjoyment of the pain he inflicts on her. She struggles to decide if she will have to give up some of her more vanilla dreams about marriage, by considering that she will have to accept an unconventional marriage, if she is to continue on her path into submission.
Review
Unconventional Desires: A Dairy of Discovery….Domination, Submission, Sadism and Masochism is the début novel from Victoria L. Sadler. Mrs. Sadler contacted me and asked if I would be interested in reviewing her book for Submissive Guide and being the avid reader of BDSM fiction that I am, I happily accepted and I can honestly say that this is not something I regret reading.
Unconventional Desires tells the story of Victoria, a young twenty-something woman who is very carefully exploring the world of BDSM through an online chat room where she meets someone local and they decide to meet. The story is told from Victoria’s point of view through journal entries starting in December 1998 and spanning over the next ten months. Readers are able to get a very clear picture of everything that Victoria is thinking and feeling while exploring her relationship with Sebastian and how to balance that with her workload, living at home with her parents, and vanilla friendships. There are also many times where Victoria finds herself struggling with her submission and wondering if the BDSM lifestyle is really the right place for her.
I really, really, love this book for several different reasons. One, I enjoy the writing style, being written in the first person perspective in the diary form. This is a style of writing I have always greatly enjoyed. Two, there are no millionaires or private helicopters. All of the characters are your average everyday run of the mill characters, which to me, makes the story much more relatable to the readers. Three, I feel that any submissive or slave who reads this book, they can very easily relate to Victoria and the struggles she has through her journey and overcomes her fears while having her limits pushed-something every s-type has experienced at some point during their journey.
I want to end this review with a quote from the book. This particular quote spoke volumes to me because it is something that every s-type has to deal with at some point in their relationship:
I do not consider this abuse; I entered into this relationship knowing what the ground rules were and what both needed. He tempers his sadism with care and I feel if he didn’t, then perhaps it could verge on abuse and I would be gone. What I do for him is an expression of my affection for him and my desire to please. Though I do not just do this for him, this fulfills a craving in me which I comprehend but maybe never entirely accept. …I have to concentrate on what I need and want, not make comparisons with other’s relationships. We all have different needs and desires. …it has finally dawned on me that it really doesn’t matter what other people think about our life. I said that it doesn’t matter what other people think, that’s not strictly true as it really depends on who those people are.
You can purchase Unconventional Desires…a Dairy of Discovery for Kindle on Amazon and you can connect with Victoria on Facebook and also on the Unconventional Desires website.