The Deep End by Kristen Ashley

The Deep End by Kristen AshleyNarrated by Lizbeth Gwynn

Kristen Ashley is a marvel at every prior romance sub-genre she had ever attempted, so when I saw she was venturing into the world of erotica to tell the romantic tale of a dominatrix and her male submissive, I signed up to see if she could come up triumphant in this sub-genre as well. All that said, this is not a sub-genre that I had previously read or listened to – BDSM yes, but not where the dominant was the heroine and the submissive the hero. So, though I’m admittedly flying somewhat blind in this area, I think Ms. Ashley delivered a fairly decent story for her first attempt in this arena. All that said, there are definitely some aspects of The Deep End that, while classic Kristen Ashley (a strong alpha hero), I’m not totally sure how genuine they would be in a real dominatrix/male sub relationship. For example, is there such a thing as an “alpha sub” who is not topping from the bottom (a trait that would be deeply frowned upon by those who practice this lifestyle)? Or perhaps is it really more that the hero and heroine in this story are “switches” (meaning they are comfortable in either a dominant or submissive role)?

Additionally, I will warn you that this book is explicit and loaded with erotica scenes. So much so that this is one area where I had a bit of a reservation on (I mean really how many times in a row can you engage in this play without absolute exhaustion!). There is definitely a story to go along with the “lifestyle” part of the book, but most of that comes in in the later pages and that’s in a book that at 15 hours plus is definitely on the long side for this romance sub-genre (though it is classic Kristen Ashley style in length – in fact many of her books are longer). I would have liked more of a story early on and throughout the book. Just because this is erotica doesn’t mean it has to be only those scenes. I think in the end there was enough of a story, but I’d like to see more emphasis on character development earlier on and throughout the book in the future books in this series.

Mistress Amelie is an accomplished and highly sought after dominatrix. So while she is happy with this aspect of her life, she is not quite so happy with the rest of her personal life. Having thought she had found her significant other twice before, she learned each time that the man she thought to be her future husband really only enjoyed her talents after dark and had no desire to share marriage and children with someone like her.

Then Olivier enters The Honey Club, the exclusive BDSM club that she is a member of. From his impressive nearly 6 and 1/2-foot height to his muscular frame, everything about Olivier appeals to her. However, on their first meeting she becomes afraid of breaking him. He doesn’t speak or even act like a sub, causing her to suspect that either he has had not-so-great dominatrixes in his past or he lacks some training, and she does not work with inexperienced subs. Though they stumble, however, their chemistry becomes instantly apparent.

But Amelie’s first impression was spot on. Olivier hasn’t had much training and is still struggling with his desires versus what his head (and society) tells him is right. This makes him highly likely to get hurt, particularly if he doesn’t start sharing with Amelie what his true level of experience and feelings are – after all, trust is of paramount importance between a Dom and a Sub. To add further difficulty to their relationship ever progressing beyond The Honey Club, they also both come from very different economic stations in life (he’s a firefighter and she’s a rich heiress). Additionally, as is typical with most Kristen Ashley books, there is a whole slew of secondary characters who add either obstacles or encouragement along the way. Will Olivier and Mistress Amelie be able to find their HEA under these circumstances?

Lizbeth Gwynn narrates The Deep End as a solo narrator. To begin with, I found this approach odd, given that the book was perfectly set up for a dual narration since Kristen Ashley wrote it from Amelie’s and Olivier’s point of views in alternating chapters. In particular, I felt that Olivier’s chapters would have greatly benefited from a male narrator with a deep and alpha sounding voice. Also, having only one narrator made it difficult to differentiate the point of view by merely listening to the story.

Additionally, I wasn’t the biggest fan of Ms. Gwynn’s voice for Amelie. Amelie is described as having a French accent, but Amelie’s voice sounded like somewhat of a muted mix of a number of different accents. Had I not been told Amelie was French and had she not used French words throughout the story, I could have easily believed she was Russian or of another origin. I also had difficulty differentiating the male characters from each other as they all sounded somewhat similar.

However, the narration was good in other respects. I was able to differentiate Amelie from Olivier, so for most of the dialogue scenes I didn’t have to rely on dialogue tags. I also had no difficulty understanding the story from Ms. Gwynn’s pacing.

All in all, The Deep End was a decent start to a new BDSM series. While a few aspects left me wondering whether they would actually take place in real life, I did enjoy those moments when the classic Kristen Ashley shined through Olivier and his protective alpha nature came through. So perhaps the answer is that it doesn’t completely matter if a story is factually correct so long as the listener is entertained. In that arena, I definitely learned a lot more than I ever knew before about how dominatrixes engage with their submissives (some of which was eyebrow raising though there were definitely also a few vanilla and combination scenes that were extremely hot). Therefore, I’d be happy to give book 2 a try, and I’m definitely curious to see how some of these secondary characters achieve their HEA. I will say, though, that I’m hoping for some changes in the narration for the next book, including at the very least a dual narration.

BJ


 

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2 thoughts on “The Deep End by Kristen Ashley

  1. If you want to try a femDom/male sub pairing, I’d recommend Natural Law by Joey W. Hill. I don’t know whether it is on audio – I read the digital book. It’s very good. Mac Nighthorse is an alpha guy (a police officer) and outside the bedroom (or play area!) he is very dominant in his personality but within a scene he prefers the submissive role – that’s not to say he’s a pushover or anything – he will only submit to someone who proves herself worthwhile. At least, that was my take on it. It’s very erotic and also has an RS subplot but I really liked the romance and I enjoyed the way the D/s pairing was portrayed.

    I have this book (in digital format) on the TBR. Given your experience of the narrator here I think I’ll stick to digital. I have also pre-ordered the upcoming book. I was inspired after reading a blog post from the author about her favourite scene. Apparently the upcoming book had one scene (I don’t know what it is but I gather it is emotional but not sexual – I could be wrong on that though) that she feels just came out perfectly and it has leapt to the top of the tree. That was enough to have me one-clicking!

  2. Thanks Kaetrin. I’ll have to check out Natural Law and see how the heroes’ traits compare.

    I’ll be curious to hear your thoughts when you do get to The Deep End. I’m also interested in book 2, but unfortunately it looks like it is going to be read by the same solo narrator again. So like you, I may be inclined to just read it.

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