2023-06-19
A transfeminine dominatrix finds love and community in Garrett’s erotic novel.
As a teenager, Rebecca struggled with acceptance of her gender identity. At 32 years old, her life is very different—and better. Rebecca has a close group of friends who often double as playmates in the bedroom, a budding romance with newly out cis lesbian Candace, and a healthy relationship with the BDSM lifestyle. Once a submissive to her good friend Lilith, Rebecca reignites her true dominant persona—Mistress Rebecca—both with Candace and at the professional dungeon owned by her friend Alicia. She quickly acquires clients craving dominance play in their lives, including handsome and open-minded Paul, who brings wine, and cross-dressing David, a businessman with a penchant for pain. When Candace and Rebecca stumble upon Stephanie, a young transgender woman whose parents have kicked her out of the house, the couple take her under their wing by hiring her as their personal maid, overseeing her physical transition, and training her in the ways of submission. All the while, the couple’s sensual and romantic connections deepen further. The novel is low on conflict and high on sexual content, fitting for a short work of erotica, and there is high representation of trans women and sex workers—not in high-risk or dangerous situations but rather enjoying their friendships, romances, and sex lives. In Rebecca’s world, it’s not unusual for a spontaneous four-way to happen among friends (“Now, if you don’t mind, you have two choices. Join us on the bed or leave the bedroom and allow us to finish what we started”) or for a dungeon client to become a friend who joins in orgies and forges connections of their own within the group. Regarding power dynamics, Stephanie’s character arc is a bit uncomfortable at times: Though Rebecca informs her that she can’t engage in play until she is 18, Rebecca also implies that Stephanie may be watching at times and trains Stephanie to be her submissive though Rebecca is a fully transitioned and grown adult and Stephanie is still underage.
A low-stakes, sex-filled romp of positivity and acceptance.
