Review - Named and Shamed by Janine Ashbless

5 stars

The number of times I’ve found a book that has hit more than a few of my hot buttons can be counted on one foot with toes left over. I’m not into vanilla sex or even most BDSM. But, when you mix fantasy and magic into the mix, there is a good chance I will fall in love. This is one of those stories that I would have broke the binding if I got the physical version simply because it was an incredible journey of fey, monsters, and submission. I love that the story wasn’t about just normal humans (or human-shaped/sized analogs), but it spread far into huge troll cocks, a great idea for a leash, and submission to creatures of all forms and shapes, and beyond.

The variety of fetishes that are brushed on this story is great, all done in the exquisite skill of Ms. Ashbless. The crumbling resistance, the hunger for something that cannot be sated, it all made me want to be the main character, to go through her journey in her stead. I love the touching on fey legends throughout the story; the sexual tension of the fey and their own hungers were portrayed beautifully in this novel.

There were a few (relatively minor) things in the novel that I didn’t care for. One was the urgency in the beginning, the entire start of the thing. I didn’t think it was justified making such an obvious mistake. Likewise, the main character presents herself as an expert, but was so clueless about something that should have been obvious. In the end, there was a “time passing” scene that really didn’t do anything to me and it cooled the story a bit too much for the final scenes. I also felt the conclusion was a bit rushed but I could easily see why it had to be written that way. Both of the ending bits could be just fatigue, my fingers were getting a bit tired.

None of these detracted from my love for this story. I could easily see me using it as both as a stroke story and also just enjoying a perverted, well-written fairy tale. My love for monsters of all types definitely throws this up on the five-star rating.