Required Reading for BDSM Novices
Katerina Ross’ 'Tenderly Wicked' should be required reading for BDSM novices. It’s a delightfully cautionary tale of what can go wrong (and right) in a 24/7 lifestyle relationship. Max is a language teacher and US ex-pat, fulfilling his aspiration to live in Moscow. He’s only dreamed of domination. After all, who would want an average looking newbie who can’t fake an air of mastery. Summoning nerve to enter a club, he sees Vadim, smoking cigarette after cigarette in front, as if the gorgeous man is also nervous to enter. Vadim agrees to go home with Max without negotiation. Max is concerned about his sub’s negligence of his safety, especially when it is confirmed by bruises on Vadim’s back. It’s a pattern. Vadim has little respect for his body. While Max and Vadim have oodles of chemistry, neither man communicates limits. Ross indicates Max “was so excruciatingly nervous about doing something wrong that he wanted to get as specific as possible… and so shy at the same time that he didn’t dare to.” Vadim is scared to acknowledge his desires or distastes because his prior Dom abandoned him after Vadim wisely safe-worded. My heart broke as Vadim tells Max, “I knew of masochists of course, but nothing more than that they were sick perverts. A few psychos. I also knew about homosexuals to the same extent. If I was one of them, I must be not right in the head either, and it was better to hide it from others.” Readers know disaster awaits the new couple. Set in the luscious, gritty city of Moscow, 'Tenderly Wicked' could be a travel log, with its generous descriptions. But perhaps the choice of cities isn’t by chance. Because Russia‘s prejudice against gays is government-instigated, Max and Vadim have no support to ask questions of seasoned BDSM community members. Will Max and Vadim be capable of honesty? Their road is circuitous. And yet, when they finally do communicate, they never break character. Ross conveys their words starkly, their emotions tucked in. And it flows just beautifully, poignant, yet realistic. In 'Tenderly Wicked', I was finally treated to answers I’ve hungered to pose. Aren’t sadists ever insecure? What questions would ethical Dom’s ask themselves as they learned how to provide pain without harm? If Dom’s enjoy the bliss of their sub’s, are they truly sadistic,? And who is serving whom?