Review- Her Majesty's Maiden by Michelle Houston

Her Majesty’s Maiden
by Michelle Houston
October, 2010
Historical/lesbian
12.3 K words
Ebook- Phaze Publishing

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When Margaret Dudley joined the ranks of Queen Elizabeth I as a gentlewomen, she never expected the whirlwind of changes that occurred in her life.

Expecting to retreat to the background, to serve her sovereign with integrity and devotion, she never dreamed she’d find herself embroiled in a world of jealousy, lust, and betrayal.

Or that she would experience a love that surpasses all.

OK, I’m going to say it. The first book that I read of Ms. Houston’s didn’t leave me with a great impression. I have bought other books of hers that I haven’t read yet since then. But this book in particular attracted me because it’s really rare to find a f/f historical. So I bought it and unlike the others, didn’t leave it on my shelf to read at a later date.

What a nice little story this was! It’s got all the elements to make it not only erotic, but fun to read. Like a typical fairytale story with greed, passion, and evil doings. Although it’s a short story, it was written with no big gaping holes or areas left untouched with a nice flow in the story telling.

Margaret was born illegitimate. Having no prospects for marriage due to this, she ends up as one of the queen’s ladies to serve her in her private quarters. As soon as she sees the queen in person, she’s enthralled by her. As the days wear on, serving her, she finds herself feeling something she can’t explain for the queen.

Queen Elizabeth takes Margaret under her wing straight away. It’s pretty clear in this story that Queen Elizabeth has been having lesbian trysts with some of her other ladies and it’s pretty clear that she has more than special feelings for Margaret.

Of course, there is evil lurking in the wings as the other ladies have found their favor displaced by the Queen’s affection for Margaret and back stabbing events go on, which throws a wrench in Margaret’s life as the queen’s favorite and maybe even her status as a free being.

I can’t speak to the historical accuracy of this story. I’m not talking about actual people or events, the author does write a disclaimer that she took a lot of liberties with facts. I’m talking about the language used, whether or not ladies to the queen were set up to be married while in service to the queen or the status of illegitimate children of the upper crust. I don’t know much about these things, so if you do, this is something that might push your buttons or not.

Strictly from a visceral experience, I thought the characters came to life in a real way. Queen Elizabeth is somehow how I’d imagine someone of her status would be. She’s commanding, she’s soft but dominating with Margaret and acts on her basest of emotions at times flying into a rage at any perceived slight. She’s really smitten by Margaret and that comes through. She’s also extremely jealous and thinks that everyone will fall in love with Margaret.

“Breathlessly, she waited for the order to leave the royal bed, and found herself instead curled up against Elizabeth’s side. “Oh, my darling, I know that I frightened you, but you pleased me so well tonight. Libby, precious Libby, I want to drape you in diamonds and emeralds and have you parade naked everywhere we go so that I can watch the envious eyes follow us, knowing that they can never have you. Yet, I find I cannot bear the thought of anyone else’s eyes on you but mine. Even my beloved Kat, who is as a mother to me, I want to blind her for having seen the beauty of your mons.”

Margaret is the type to know what she wants and doesn’t think twice about how she acts. She’s madly in love with the queen, but not just in a lustful way. She just adores her and is willing to be her servant, both in the real way and sexually. She has no desire to look anywhere else or to explore the fact that as a lady of the queen, she will be set up for marriage.

The interactions between the two are sweet and hot at the same time. I’m rather fond of stories in which both parties feel an intense passion for each other and this comes through in this story. I can't help it, I'm a bit of a sucker for that type of love in books, one in which deep loyalty is part of the passion even if it borders on obsessive.

The dynamics do change with them over time and Margaret takes more liberties in controlling the relationship. So it’s not all the older/younger power dynamic. This is an HEA story. Not just an erotic dalliance for the Queen or Margaret, which I liked.

It’s been a while since I’ve read a conflict in a love story caused by evil manipulations of an outside person so that was actually refreshing for a change.

Bottom line, I enjoyed this book. It left me feeling good and like I was fully entertained, which is what I want in a book.

Heat level: 5- graphic sex, strap-on.

Grade: B+

Edited: So I put in the original review that some readers might be squicked by the age difference between the Queen and Margaret. For some reason I had it in my head that Margaret was only 14, but she was actually 19 when she went to work in the court. Apologies to the author for that mistake. I've revised my review taking out that part.

Review- Enslaving Heaven by Michelle Houston

Enslaving Heaven
by Michelle Houston
2007, 2008
Fantasy/ Sci-Fi/ F/F
Short Novella
Ebook

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Lyssa is disgusted by the whole sale of slaves, but finds herself drawn to one of the ladies on the selling block. After impulsively purchasing her, Lyssa now has to decide what to do with Alya û she can't just keep her. But the former prostitute, now slave, has other plans for her new mistress, including convincing her to let her stay.

As if Lyssa doesn't have enough to deal with, her pilot and best friend Nita is having problems adjusting to the newest member of their crew, and how it makes her feel. Nita had once found what Lyssa has, but lost it thanks to her. When an accident gives Nita a second chance with the woman she loves, she risks Lyssa's wrath to be with her.

OK, I have to admit that I had to stop reading this story because it wasn’t my cup of tea. But I did go back to it and it did actually get a bit better for me even though I don’t like the sexual subject matter and it’s not the f/f, but the whole world of sadism, which is portrayed strongly in this book.

Lyssa is on an outstation fulfilling a contract. While she and the pilot of her ship, Nita, are waiting, she sees a former prostitute, Alya, being auctioned off and buys her. It’s actually illegal to own slaves in this world and prostitution is illegal as well. Lyssa buys her intending to set her free, but can’t help herself and keeps her. Technically she’s not a slave because Lyssa tore up the bill of sale and makes Alya work on the ship as part of the crew, but Alya and Lyssa both know it’s to service Lyssa sexually.

Nita, who is also Lyssa's best friend, becomes jealous of this situation because she had a one night fling with Lyssa, which didn’t work out. But when Nita did find a women she wanted to be with Lyssa denied that to her, so Nita is pissed off about Lyssa doing what she wants even though it's illegal.

What kind of turned me off straight away about Enslaving Heaven is that Lyssa is so contradictory in her attitude. She is a sadist, a domme. She picks up that Alya is a real submissive and that turns her on. But at the same time, it’s illegal to own slaves for sexual purposes and she goes on and on about doing the right thing and setting Alya free, taking her to a place where she can start her own life. She even acts incredulous and upset when she sees marks on Alya’s body telling her that she’s been abused.

But in the end, she cannot resist Alya and seduces her. In fact, she treats Alya in the same way, very cruelly constantly letting Alya know that she can do whatever she wants to her and will, and Alya can’t do anything about it.

This includes: tying her up, putting electrodes on her nipples and shocking them, hooking her up to a whipping machine that whips her crotch and nipples at regular intervals and so on. Then she tells Alya she is free but she is basically a slave on the ship, doing what ever she is told. And Alya loves being abused and gets off on it because she’s a submissive. I guess I just don’t get those kinds of dynamics, because I didn’t feel for one moment any kind of respect or lovingness between these two even if it is in the world of BDSM.

When they all go on another contract, Nita gets hurt and Lyssa gets her to the closest Dr., who just happens to be the Dr. who saved Lyssa’s life after a serious accident. This Dr. saved Lyssa by basically making her semi bionic, which pissed Lyssa off. But there’s also a nasty history between them having to do with Nita and now that Nita needs help, Lyssa is forced to deal with the Dr. again.

I will say here that until this point, I couldn’t see one redeeming quality about Lyssa. She’s a prick-- nasty, and cruel and I could feel nothing appealing about her. After she takes Nita to the Dr. though, things come up; truths she’s needs to face about Nita and something in her softens, a little bit. While I never really did warm up to her, at least I could appreciate that she is capable of doing something that doesn’t directly please her.

I felt nothing for Alya either. She’s a total submissive who gets off on pain. Real pain. To give credit to her though, she’s only submissive when with Lyssa in sex. On the ship, she holds herself high.

The only characters I felt anything for were Nita and the Dr. Nita is a sympathetic character and someone with heart. She’s a sub as well, but didn’t feel like the wet blanket, with no personality like Alya did. Nita is strong and feisty. And the Dr. really stands up to Lyssa, which I liked. She’s a strong domme, but not cruel like Lyssa.

The sex in this book was all f/f, however, because of Lyssa’s accident, her crotch area is bionic and she always wears a strap-on with a dildo that hooks into her internal electrodes. This almost made the book have the feel of Lyssa being a man. Outside of that, it’s all pretty hardcore S&M. If that’s your cuppa, you’ll love this book. This definitely isn’t any kind of sweet love story.

Even though BDSM is not my bag, I’ve read lots of very well written books with this kind of sex and theme. What usually gets me in those types of stories is that even though I don’t really understand the dynamics in the BDSM world, why people would really get off on pain, in most books the characters have a deep love and respect for each other in that, which makes me get that this type of sex is fulfilling to the characters. In this book I felt none of that. Zip. Lyssa is really cruel with nary a thought to Alya. She really treats her like an animal, or possession and it turned me off.

In the end there really wasn’t anything about this story that didn’t make me feel a bit sick after reading it. Even the f/f sex didn’t turn me on, if I base it solely on this book being erotica, which would mean that the focus is on the sex and not necessarily on any kind of emotion between the characters. If you’re really into hard core S&M though, you might get off on this book.

Sex rating: Wet Panties. Very graphic f/f, strap-on, hard core BDSM

Grade: F