I’m not usually one to pick up a BDSM novel, and when I do, I’m usually pretty picky about what I’ll choose to read. I looked around on a trusted adult toy store until I found a book I liked: Carrie’s Story. I am happy to report that Carrie’s Story was actually a pretty good novel. I like to describe it as a “modern Story of O with a twist”. It has a beautiful cover, tinted blue with a picture of a model with her skirt pulled up. It states “Carrie’s Story; An Erotic S/M novel” right on the cover, so unless you have a book cover, I don’t think I’d recommend taking this one to work to read. It’s 198 pages long and the paper that it’s printed on is all high-quality stuff. It only took me about three hours total to read. All in all, it feels like the publishers really did work hard to make sure this wouldn’t be another one of those crappy erotic novels.
Carrie’s story really does focus a lot on the S&M aspect of it all. However, don’t expect serious erotic adventure after another. While the author (Molly Weatherfield) does write very beautifully, it isn’t too focused on the sexual aspect of it. In easy to understand terms, it’s erotic but don’t expect “erotica”. For example, oral sex would be given about a paragraph start-to-finish. If you just want a great erotic story that leaves you wanting to participate in your own S&M, this is a good novel for you.
Carrie is just a regular college girl until she meets a well-dressed, confident man named Johnathan. In what is a little surreal, after a couple hours of talking, he asks her to be his slave. He gives her a time to come to his house if she agrees, and she does.
From then on, she goes to visit his house a couple times a week, having to undress and be shackled, having to do his will, and other creative things that he forces her to do. Johnathan brings home other women as well and allows them to do things to Carrie. (I’m being vague on purpose. Ruins the fun if you know what’s coming. :) ) After awhile, he decides that he wants to sell Carrie as a slave on the market and starts to do other tasks that will prepare her to get the best price. Johnathan decides one of the best ways to improve her performance is to send her off to pony training.
With the other reviews I’ve seen, they make it sound like it’s the majority of the book. Well, it’s not, but it does take up a good forty pages, but then it’s really forgotten about. She’s brought to a “pony-girl ranch” and is trained to be a pony girl along with thirteen other girls. It includes how the stablemasters use her and how she feels about the training that she’s going through. It is one of the best ponygirl descriptions I’ve ever read though.
After pony training, she is sent to be sold. I won’t tell you any more than that since that’s nearing the end of the book. It is a great ending, and Weatherfield definitely continues her great novel all the way up to the end. It even leaves an ending that would allow for a second novel.
However, unlike most S&M novels which are all about the action of it all, this book does take quite a bit of time to look into Carrie’s mind and understand what she’s going through as a slave. It follows her thoughts about her slavery and even her confusion at being used like she is.
Another thing that bothered me was the lack of safety issues. I’m a bit of a stickler for safety, and no preliminary discussions were done to make sure she was fit for slavery. However, as long as the reader understands this isn’t quite true to life, it still makes a wonderful story without it in there. They do sign up a contract though.
It is a great book with great imagery though. It’s quite possible it could be true since it’s written that way. The slave market, the slave shows, and the pony-girl training are all “underground” activities that the BDSM groups all participate in. It’s written that those events sound like one of the most wonderful places to be and they seem so realistic as well.
Weatherfield’s writing is also great to read. For example, when speaking of the other pony girl at the ranch, it reads “I wondered if I’d ever be that kind of slave. Worshipful, adoring, and totally without irony. I wondered if I wanted to.” There’s also a great passage where she speaks of her submission to Johnathan: “…I loved to hear him say ‘I want’. I’d meditate on it. I’d hear it like a mantra. I got off on thinking how privileged he was. Once, during my last weeks of school, I had to go to the women’s room of the library to jerk off, just from thinking how exquisitely consistently unfair it all was.”
If you’re bothered by ponygirl training, S&M, verbal humiliation, physical humiliation, or sex with strangers, this book really isn’t for you. It can tend to be very raw and very far into the world of BDSM at times. If you want to enjoy a great, well-written BDSM novel that stands well above the crappy erotica, this is a brilliant book to pick up. It’s easy to get attached to and hard to put down. If you’re looking for a copy of this book, you can buy Carrie’s Story at this great adult store.
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