Pleasure Bound is a Cleis Press erotic novel that has 183 pages. It’s a soft-cover book that is black and white on the inside. The editor, Alison Tyler, wanted this book to focus on true, real-life stories of bondage that people had experienced. This book was published in 2009, and it has 23 stories contained in the 183 pages. The front of the novel shows a girl sitting on the floor with her legs sprawled and her wrists contained in handcuffs. The back of the book shows the same picture but includes some words about what stories are inside. I wouldn’t recommend taking this out in public because it’s obvious that it’s a sexual book. This book took me about two hours to read from cover to cover.
What I really liked about Pleasure Bound is that all of the stories are true. Like Alison Tyler says in her introduction to the book, the stories are hot on their own, but when you realize that every story isn’t just fiction – that it really happened – it can make everything about ten times hotter. I honestly can’t imagine some of these stories happening in my own life. After I finished the book, I put it down and reflected on some of the kinky things that Jor and I have done, and I wondered if they’d make a good addition to the book.
The stories included in this anthology are mostly heterosexual in nature. In fact, off the top of my head, I honestly can’t remember reading a story that was homosexual or included same-sex genders. I don’t remember any stories about cheating either.
All of the stories in this book focus on bondage. Like with most scenes, the bondage, however, is usually accompanied by some S/M as well with impact play and lots of Dominance and submission. Some of the stories are extremely BDSM (like one that takes place in a bondage club with a Dominant and his subs) while some of the other stories are about an average couple that ends up adding some kink to their sex life.
In “On the Mend” by Sophia Valenti, an broken-up couple is at the same office party. When she notices that her ex is in deep conversation with another attractive man, she goes over to join them. Her ex assures the strange man that they share the same “interests”, and shortly after her ex leaves the conversation, he forces her into his office and up against a window for some fun bondage play.
In “Yes, Master” by Donna George Storey, a woman spends her early twenties fantasizing about being Jeannie off of “I Dream of Jeannie”. She buys a specific costume to wear to office parties in hopes that someone will understand what she desires. It takes years, but soon, she meets a guy who dresses up as Major Anthony Nelson and uses her in the role she’s put herself in back at his place.
In “Bound to Act” by Brooke Stern, a woman longs after another guy in her acting class for months, but he never seems to notice when she’s around. After awhile, she finally makes himself known to him, and in an act of Dominance, he forces her to kneel in front of an abandoned theater on the street and do as he commands.
In “Won’t You Be My Neighbor” by Rita Winchester, a couple moves in next door to an ex-military man named Mr. Rogers. He does everything by clockwork – the trash, watering his plants, getting groceries. While her husband finds it hilarious, she finds it downright arousing, so when he goes off to a business meeting, she takes special care to make sure she bends over extra far in her short skirt while he waters his garden.
I could identify with Alison Tyler in her story “Stickler For Details” which talks about her experience with doing a research piece into BDSM, but the Dominant won’t work with her because he suspects she has an attitude. She talks about learning how to uncapitalize her letter “i”s and how to show proper respect to the Dominant which ends in a hot scene with her and him in a restaurant.
All of the stories, overall, were pretty hot. I wouldn’t say that this is the best anthology that I’ve ever read, but it’s definitely a great erotic story book. The stories are all arousing and knowing that they happened in real-life makes them even hotter. If you are interested in kink or want to take a “look” in other couples’ lives, I’d recommend checking out Pleasure Bound.
