The Story of L by Debra Hyde
• Romance, f/f erotica, bdsm, LGBTQ+
• Winner, Lesbian Erotica in 2011, Lambda Literary Awards

Rating: 4 stars

The Story of L is about Liv, a lesbian who struggles with her constant desperate desire which she tries to quell by going to a sex club. One night she meets Cassandra, a notorious dom in their gay bdsm community. What follows is L’s (Liv’s) journey into being a submissive and ultimately falling for Cassandra.

Thoughts:
I enjoyed this book! It’s not my first sapphic romance, but as my first lesbian erotica/bdsm novel, I was pleasantly surprised. The writing is beautiful and you really feel L’s emotions. I know nothing of the bdsm lifestyle so I cannot speak for its accuracy, but everything was explained in great detail and wasn’t left in the dark.

Also, I absolutely loved Reese; Cassandra’s transgender, life-long friend/assistant, who forms a friendship with L and helps her navigate her new lifestyle.

Interest: 4/5
Romance: 3.5/5
Heat: 4/5
Happy Ending: Yes
Cliff Hanger: No
Would I recommend: Yes


*** I was given a copy of this book for an honest review by the publisher through Net Galley ***

I might have bit off more than I expected with this one. This is not for the faint of heart. It swings deep into BDSM, which I guess was the whole point...hence the 4 stars, but I’ll admit I had to power through some parts of it.

There was the feel of a graphic novel with this. The way the world sways around the main character with little significance as she finds ways to feed the ‘Void’; then it morphs into a journey of self discovery. I thought the way the story circles its and ties up was good. What I enjoyed most about this was the way Cassandra’s was vulnerable and how L evolves to submission.

Overall, this ventured too far into BDSM for me but there’s a good story told. For what i think it was intended to be, it was good.

Well written full length bdsm novel. Relationships between characters was believable and healthy. Scenes were crafted vividly.

#Storyof L. This is a tale of love among the leather lesbian community. Liv has experience within the BDSM community. She often tops others. However their is a part of her that longs for something she does not quite understand. She calls it the void. I believe that is a good description on the part of the author. The character Liv details how she is left after each unfulfilling encounter. One night a Domme of legendary proportions, Cassandra has a tryst with Liv. Both their lives are changed as both seeks to form a connection with the other. Perhaps leading to a relationship. Cassandra seeks a slave and sets about building Liv into nthe perfect slave for her.

For the most part it is a good story. It is my opinion that explanations of several terms or practices for those unaware of the culture would have helped with comprehending what was going on several places within the novel. I also struggled with keeping up with the transgender characters as the author fluctuated between the gender pronouns, He, she, her and him. It made for confusion.

I would have also liked to have seen the inner thoughts from Cassandra during the build up towards their relationship. The author did a wonderful job of doing this with Liv. For me if you are telling the story of a developing relationship it should include both parties.

It is a quick read and very well constructed. I would recommend it to those who enjoy erotica.

This novel tells the story of a woman who becomes the submissive to an aging dominant in a psychological /sexual relationship.
While I do not fully understand this relationship, it was an interesting read. I believe the intent was to show how what started as a primarily sexual encounter became a love story of sorts.
It is well written. It covers ( assumption on my part ) sexual encounters of the lesbian submissive/ dominant culture in quite a bit of detail.
I received this ARC for my unbiased review.

Full disclosure -- I don't usually read this kind of a book and went into it with just some curiosity. This is an escapist lesbian BDSM novella that was too hard core for me in terms of pain and domination -- whips, electricity, extreme humiliation, and so on. It tries to be a love story and to have a feminist main character, but I didn't relate to the main character on any level. For those who want a fix of extreme BDSM lesbian sex, this will probably fill the need well.

Not my cup of tea. Some may like it. Thought I'd go for something different and it was.. ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers of "Story of L" for affording me the opportunity to read and review this book.

There's no doubt from the book synopsis or the front cover that this storyline will travel into the world of BDSM.

This is no watered down story. Neither is it poorly constructed. It's simply a very well-crafted and written gripping erotic account of one person's journey into Submission.

Real life BDSM can travel into Sadism and Masochism, depending on individual preferences and limits. If that is out of your comfort zone then this will be an uncomfortable read. But this is not about the reader's comfort, but about Liv's. An active player in the BDSM world, both as a Domme and Switch, the Void she craves becomes possible when she is topped by experienced Domme Cassandra . They both have what the other craves. And this book is the story of how their journeys progress.

The purist in me would have liked to see the formal contract signing of both Cassandra and Liv's agreement rather than verbal third hand agreements. The lack of direct communication from Cassandra may have worked for Liv, but I would have preferred to see safe practice acknowledged and adhered to more closely simply because there will always be those who try to imitate art and it could lead to dangerous power play.

Yes there are aspects of this journey that I found uncomfortable and which would have been hard and very hard limits for me to undertake but this is not about the reader despite the author drawing the reader in so succinctly. This is the story of how Liv became L. and is unique to her.

Thank you for such a gripping read.
4,5 *

This is a short read. I'm guessing more a novella than a novel. Only took me a couple hours to finish. It's an intense and realistic glimpse into the BDSM world. Some scenes might offend people looking for some of the more vanilla aspects like in 50 shades.
The work this is loosely based on, The Story of O, angered me at the end. Happy to say this one gave me a much better feeling at the end. There's some hope here. It might even be possible we'll get a sequel sometime.

We all know how much Fifty Shades was acclaimed by the world, even though it doesn't take any BDSM experience to notice the hundreds of red flags popping throughout those books. It was obvious the author had no experience with these kind of relationships. I spent houuurs talking this through with some fellow bookstagram friends, who are more into the BDSM scene. This is also why I was intrigued by this book, which led me to request it on Netgalley!!

THINGS I LIKED :
• The (many) gender and sexual diversity
• The descriptions were so detailed and well done
• The portrayal of the deep connection between Dom and Sub
• This book isn't just about sex. There's a story and a well developed plot!
• Consent, consent, always consent!!!!

THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE :
• The spelling mistakes 😅
• The fluctuating pronouns for one of the characters. I don't know if it was supposed to show off gender fluidity, but it just looked like the author kept changing her mind about the character's gender and forgot to fix all of the pronouns
• The Dom physically marked her sub very early on in the relationship, which felt kinda forced
• How both Dom and Sub fell in love with each other, without ever talking about their lives outside of sex

Overall, I definitely appreciated this book about self-discovery, new experiences, and trust. Definitely worth so much more than Fifty Shades 😅

This wasn't very good. I've read The Story of O, which is very good.
I never understood why the characters felt the way they did. Their alleged affection for each other was told, not demonstrated.

Okay, so this book is truly a dark fantasy that likely will stir many loins. I won't elaborate on where I sit on the spectrum, but I will simply say that I found it difficult to sleep last night after reading the first half of this book. It is well written and spares the reader of the crude degradation that so many books of this erotic genre carry. It is frank, yet tender. I was tentative as I started and quickly found myself hooked. It is lesbian fiction, and while I can't speak for straight women, I can say that it was a memorable read that mindfully parallels the classic Story of O. As a lesbian, this is the satisfying story that I wanted.

A compelling voyage of discovery story. Even though I failed to connect to the characters the story made me think and consider situations and dynamics differently, which I enjoyed very much. Akin to walking a mile in someone else's shoes.

I thought this was a pretty good book until the Sunderland fiasco. This story has many elements that are similar to "The Story of O" such as the o-ring collar, L's training in Sunderland, and her name being shortened to an initial. I thought this was a pretty realistic BDSM story since the main character still worked at her job and there was a lot of focus on consent, limits, and aftercare. This was less of the 24/7 submissive slave type fantasy. The Sunderland part kind of ruined the story for me because it seemed very random and Cur's girls were just high school level drama which just jarred me out of the story. After this point I still kept reading to see how it ended and it had a pretty decent ending. I thought L's relationship with Cassandra was beautiful in its own way. However, this just wasn't my type of fantasy and I wasn't too engaged in the story after Sunderland.

This book was not as good as I thought it would be. The blurb sounded interesting and being an award winning book I assumed it would be fairly good. I just couldn't get into the storyline and characters felt like strangers to me so no real connecton.

What a wonderful book. A simple story, despite whatever you may imagine of a BDSM lesbian romance, its really just a sweet and fulfilling love story. I can't recommend better, and more of a delightful surprise for any reader. There is little here not to love.

What is of particular interest is the interweaving of a very graphic sexual story with genuine heartfelt exchange of love between two people getting to know each other. You find depth of character, intense feeling and a very real sense of motivation and expectation. Although I never expected the emotional climax and fulfillment to come with L fisting her Mistress. Its not my experience or the world of many who will enjoy this book but you can't get away from the fact it is well written.

Debra Hyde writes a nice short novella that encompasses a lot of desire. There is here a great exposition of what masochistic and submissive desire is. The expectation, the focus on the beloved, the strong identification with the desires of the other, and a heightened sense of her own feeling and desires builds a depth of character and definition with the heroine. This is a treat and nothing prurient or strange.

I would recommend this book for any adult reader. Anyone who wishes to explore what desire is and what is the meaning of fulfillment should read this. Its almost so many other things, philosophical, drama, mystery and memoir. But it stops short in leading you away from what is a very simple story well written. Most of all, like the Story of O which this references in the title The Story of L stands alone in a class of its own. Well done Debra Hyde.

I am astounded at how much I adored this book. This is the first BDSM erotic novel that I actually enjoyed. It felt true to the BDSM scene and had very inventive encounters between the characters. The sexually experiences in the book were like none I have read before and they were very fun to see unfold. From beginning to end the book was well written, fun, and interesting. I couldn't ask for more in an erotic novel. This author and her book are very underrated and I cannot believe that I haven't heard of her works before. I get asked a lot for good books to read after 50 Shades of Grey and this is definitely the one I will recommend to everyone!

The entire experience of reading "Story of L" feels like a guilty pleasure from start to finish. It doesn't have to be that way; erotica can be warm and rewarding, and an engaging way to explore less talked-about topics. But in "Story of L," the sex is front and center, relationships pushed to the side, sub and dom characters existing without chemistry outside of BDSM.

The focus on sex instead of character may appeal to some readers, but it lacks the engagement and humor of other books in the genre. Recommended only for the "action" elements.

This is my first F/F read and I really enjoyed it. Liv and Cassandra were intriguing characters and their relationship was non-traditional. This is a short story provided an intense and realistic glimpse into the BDSM world. I found the story flow easily and some of the scenes were hot. A unique experience for me. If you are looking for a non-traditional F/F BDSM erotica with an abundance of steamy sex scenes, I would recommend it and even if you are not, I would urge people to give it a chance.

This is a fairly good book. At times it can be fast paced and at times it's slowly paced. I do wish the novel would have explored the dynamic between the couple and the main character a bit more as well as the culture. I do however love the accuracy of the BDSM community that is in this novel.