Giveaway and first Chapter Review Saving Sunni Hosted by Innovative Book Tours
Book Synopsis:
Jessie
Chambers—“Sunni” to the local BDSM community—needs to grow up. Her master, Sir
Rune, has told her to get a job. Her sister slave sage is struggling through
college, serious as ever. Sunni goes to the local goth/kink store, The Fringe
Element, and is immediately embraced by its quirky owner as the newest member
of her “little family.” But almost immediately things start to get complicated.
Sunni’s ex shows up, claiming he’s found God and that God wants them to get
back together. A video of Sunni and Sir Rune doing a scene at the club winds up
on television and all kinds of trouble ensues. Sunni must figure out a way to
restore her relationships, keep her master from getting deported, take over
running the store, and stop everybody else from trying to “save Sunni.”
Author Information:
Reggie and Kasi Alexander are writing partners as well as real-life
Master and slave. They live the lifestyles that they write about and are
passionate about sharing information concerning these relationship dynamics. Their
goal is to help educate and dispel common misunderstandings often held by the
general public. They live in the Denver, CO area with their partner Eeza and
are active in the local kink community. In addition to writing, they own and
operate a family business making chainmail jewelry and clothing through their
company Poly’s Pleasures (www.polyspleasures.com). They can
often be found at writing conventions and fetish events around the country and
love to talk with their fans.
Website www.kasialexander.com
Book Excerpt
Chapter 1
The Fringe Element
was on a little side street right off Colorado Boulevard in Denver. I stood on
the sidewalk and looked at it for a minute before I went in. Three mannequins
stood in the front window. One was dressed in a short, sexy nurse’s outfit
complete with a stethoscope and thigh-high stockings that ended just under the
white miniskirt. The next one was in a latex bodysuit with a gas mask covering
the face. The third was dressed like a dominatrix, in a leather bustier with a
flogger hanging over one shoulder and shiny black boots that extended halfway
up the thigh. I briefly pictured wearing that to my job interview and laughed a
little as I opened the door and went in.
My owner, Sir Rune,
had said I needed to get a real job, although he had also said it could be a
fun one, and when my sister slave sage had heard through the grapevine that The
Fringe Element, a local kink/Goth/punk store, was looking for some help, we all
thought it might be a good option for me. I called the owner, Geri, and we set
up a time for me to come in and meet her.
When I told the girl
at the register why I was there, she silently pointed to a woman bustling
around the back of the store. I guessed Geri was her late fifties, but trying
her best to look like she was a carefree teenager. Her hair was dyed a mixture
of colors, mostly black but with thick purple, red, and blue stripes that sort
of matched the various articles of clothing that clung, draped, or floated in
the vicinity of her body. I could hear her high, birdlike voice and the jingle
of her jewelry as she flitted around giving instructions to the two boys who
were hanging a display high up on the back wall. It looked like some kind of
vampire stuff. sage would just sigh and shake her head at that. I smiled. She
preferred real life to fantasy, and the whole vampire thing was completely
beyond her.
The girl called to
Geri, who seemed to ignore us. I leaned against the counter and watched for a
few minutes as she alternately scolded and flirted with the boys, who paid
almost no attention to her. She abruptly turned and almost skipped toward me,
smiling and waving her hands as if she were about to take off and fly around
the building. I had a feeling I might like her. Sir and sage were always so
serious; this would be a really nice change of pace. If she gives me the
job.
But there didn’t
seem to be too much doubt of that after her first words.
“Oh, deary,” she
crooned, nearly kissing me in her effort to scrutinize my face over her John
Lennon glasses. “Please, please tell me you’re Jessie Chambers. You’re
the first actual human to apply for work!”
I laughed. “Yes, I’m
Jessie, but please call me sunni. That’s my scene name.” I wanted to say it was
my slave name, since that’s what it really was, but not everyone
appreciated the Master/slave dynamic, and I wasn’t sure what kind of kink Geri
was into. From the looks of her it could have been just about anything.
She nodded absently,
picking up a flyer from the counter and scanning it before slamming it back
down. She whirled around to head for what I thought must be her office.
“Well, come this
way, then, sunni,” she called over her shoulder. I resisted the strong
temptation to swing my arms out and march in an imitation of her, not knowing
if there was a mirror where she might catch a glimpse of me and get offended. I
would be constantly tempted to make fun of her, although in a friendly way, and
wondered how much she would catch if I did. I shot the girl a smile, but she
was staring down at a magazine on the counter, not paying attention.
I followed Geri into
her office and sat down in the chair she pointed out. She fluttered around her
desk for a minute, then plopped down and leaned forward to stare into my face
some more. I laid my resume in front of her, the one Sir and sage and I had
spent hours agonizing over, trying to make it sound like I had some practical
work experience. She didn’t even glance at it.
“So,” she said
intently, “Which side are you on?”
I’m sure my face
went completely blank. I couldn’t imagine what she was talking about, although
I could hear Darth Vader’s voice in my head growling, “Come to the dark side,
Luke.”
My confusion must
have shown, because she said impatiently, “Edward or Jacob?”
It still took me a
minute, but then it dawned on me. She was actually starting my job interview by
talking about vampires versus werewolves. I pictured Sir’s face when I told him
and nearly burst out laughing.
“I… I don’t know,” I
finally said, trying to sound as serious as possible. “I think there are
benefits to both.”
She nodded, as if we
were discussing something very philosophical and important. “What benefits?”
“Um, well, I like
how wild and free werewolves are.” This was a really bizarre conversation, even
for me. “And I must confess I do like doggie style.” Geri giggled and nodded
vigorously. “But the vampires can make you immortal, and you don’t have to
worry about your weight anymore. Although I have to say I would miss ice
cream.”
She laughed approvingly.
“I can see you’re the kind who looks at all sides of an issue. That’s not a bad
thing. Tell me more about yourself.”
I looked down at the
resume, trying to get my head back into a professional space, but she pushed it
aside dramatically.
“I don’t care about
your work history,” she stated. “A monkey could learn the job. What I want to
know is how you will fit in with us here. My staff is like a little family, and
I don’t want to hire people who wouldn’t be comfortable with us. Tell me who you
are. In fact”—she pushed a piece of paper at me—“write down your birth date and
place, and I’ll run a chart for you later. That will give me a good idea of
your personality traits. But I also want to know about your life experiences.”
I blinked at her. I had
spent the last few days practicing “interviewing skills,” but none of them had
included an interpretation of my astrological chart. I fought down the giggle
that was rising in my throat and tried to reorganize my thoughts as I
obediently wrote down the information. While I did that she talked about the
other employees, when they had come to her, and how much she loved each and
every one of them.
“Well, I’m not sure
what you want to know.” She paused and I hastily went on before she could start
talking again. “I got married right out of high school but it didn’t end well.
I never went to college, but I’ve tried lots of different kinds of jobs. I
guess I haven’t found the right thing yet. I want something that will be fun
and give me a chance to meet lots of people. I’m very social.” I ran out of
things to say and was happy when she jumped in.
“What are your
spiritual beliefs and political leanings?”
I stopped myself
from pointing out that I was pretty sure that was an illegal question to ask in
a job interview and instead said, “I don’t really believe in organized religion
and I’m not particularly political. I’m curious about paganism but haven’t ever
been involved in it.”
She nodded again.
“Are you kinky, poly, or gay? I assume you’re at least kinky, since you have a
scene name.”
It occurred to me
that my next job interview, wherever it was, was going to seem awfully tame
after this. “I’m not gay,” I said, “although I do consider myself
heteroflexible. I am kinky and poly.”
“Tell me about it.”
“Well…” I wasn’t
used to discussing my lifestyle with strangers, but I knew she was at least
familiar with the scene, if not an actual part of it, so I took a deep breath
and plunged in. “I am in a Master/slave household. My master is Sir Rune, and I
am one of two slaves.”
Geri nodded. “I
think I’ve heard of him. I haven’t been very active in the community for a
while, but I do still have a lot of contacts, and of course a lot of them shop
here. What kind of play do you do?”
I wasn’t sure if the
conversation was getting too personal or not, but I decided to go with it for
the moment. She probably had a good reason to ask.
“Oh, general stuff,”
I said. “Wax play, fire play, knife play, flogging, bondage, that kind of
thing. I’ve been getting into puppy play, too.”
She raised her
eyebrows. “Puppy play? I’m surprised. That’s mostly boys, isn’t it?”
I shrugged. “Maybe,
but I like it.”
“Why? What is it
about puppy play that you like?”
“I’m not sure,” I
admitted, leaning forward in my chair. “I think it’s the fact that I don’t feel
any pressure to be human, or talk, or even think, really, when I’m a puppy.
It’s like letting out a whole other side of myself that needs to play. It’s
very relaxing for me.”
“How did you get
into the scene?” She scribbled some notes on a thick legal pad, but I couldn’t
tell if she was writing comments on what I was saying or if her mind had gone
off in a different direction and she was making a grocery list or something.
“After I left my
husband, I took a break from relationships for a while. I toyed with the idea
of dating only women.” I hoped if she was a lesbian she wouldn’t be offended.
“I didn’t find anybody I felt compatible with, but one girl I dated introduced
me to the scene, and it felt natural to me. We didn’t go out very long, but she
told me about Fetlife, and I set up a profile, met Sir, and decided I wanted to
move to Denver to make a new start.”
She didn’t say
anything, looking totally absorbed in what she was writing. I wondered if she
had even been listening to me. When she looked up, I couldn’t tell by her
expression if she liked me or was going to call me a freak and tell me to
leave.
“Tell me about the
other slave in your household,” she said, as if that was a standard interview
question.
“sage? She’s pretty cool.”
I tried desperately to think how to describe her. “We grew up in the same small
town in Michigan. She’s been living here for a long time, but she joined Sir
and me about a year ago. We’re…really different, but we get along pretty well.”
“Different how?”
Geri persisted. I wondered if she was going to ask about our sexual
relationship.
“She’s more serious
than I am,” I said, trying not to make it sound like an insult. “She and Sir
are both really smart. I am more…” I didn’t know exactly what I was trying to
say.
“Virgo?” she
prompted, glancing down at my birth date.
I nodded, shrugging.
“I guess so. That’s
probably why I like being a puppy; I can kind of get away from all of
the…thinking.” I stopped, suddenly embarrassed.
She smiled and I
felt my face get hot, wondering how much of an idiot I sounded like, and if she
was laughing at me. Instead, she said, “If this were your store, what kinds of
things would you sell?”
It took me
completely by surprise. Why would she be asking for business advice from
someone who had just admitted she wasn’t very smart?
But she was waiting
for an answer, so I glanced out the window in her door that showed the sales
floor and took a deep breath. “I like what you do sell,” I told her, “but if I
was going to add things, I think I would bring in more fetish stuff, like
collars and harnesses. And maybe costumes too, like puppy ears, tails…things
like that.”
I shrugged a little
lamely, but she nodded and made more notes. Neither of us said anything for a
minute or two, then she stood up suddenly, still looking down at the mess of
papers on her desk. I stood up, too. Should I offer to shake hands or just walk
out? It had been a really odd interview, and she hadn’t even given any
indication of what kind of person she was looking for. I had the impression I
was just too freaky, and she was rethinking her comment about me being the
first human to apply.
I was just about to
turn and open the door when she said suddenly, “When can you start?”
I froze, not sure
I’d heard her right. I debated asking her to repeat herself, but I thought that
would make me seem like an idiot. Hope bubbled up inside me but I kept my face
neutral in case she had muttered something completely different than I’d
thought.
“How about
tomorrow?” she asked, staring intently at the papers as if expecting them to
sprout fangs and bite her. She seemed to be unaware that she hadn’t formally
offered me a job, and I hadn’t accepted. We hadn’t talked about salary, or
duties, or hours, or anything, and she was asking if I could start tomorrow?
“I guess so,” I
said, and hastily added, “although I’ll have to ask Sir if it’s okay.”
She nodded, as if
her employees always had to check with their masters before agreeing to their
hours. “I’ll try to work with your schedule preferences as much as possible, if
you can work with the 8
others on theirs,”
she said in the most businesslike tone I’d heard her use. She rooted through
several stacks of papers before finding a bright pink one that she handed to
me. It was titled “Working at The Fringe Element.”
“Here,” she said. “I
never remember all the details to tell people. If you have any questions after
reading this, we can discuss them tomorrow when you’re filling out your forms.
Welcome to our family.” And then, surprising me even further, she jumped up and
raced around the desk. Throwing her arms around me, she hugged me ferociously.
“I feel like we’re
going to be best friends,” she said as she let go of me, opened the door
and swooped out of the room.
I stuck my head out
and called after her, “What time tomorrow?”
“Ten, if you can
make it,” she said, disappearing into a door in the back. “Or whatever time
your sir can spare you.”
I shook my head as I
gathered up my instruction sheet and purse and wandered toward the front door,
absently touching the clothing on display as I went through the store. This was
going to be an interesting experience.
Available at
www.omnificpublishing.com
Book Review:
Wow This book it hot, hot, hot!!! Warning it is a bondage, multi-person family. The book is told from the point of view of the first "slave" in a household containing multiple slaves and a master (dominate). The story focuses on Sunni who was physically and mentally abused in her marriage and is now living in a BSDM household where she is the submissive. Her ex-husband comes back and uses religion to try to get her back. He doesn't understand why she can live in a bondage household but thinks he abused her. It is actually a really good description of the difference in BSDM and abusive relationships.
While I am not interested in living this lifestyle, the idea of a relationship where all the parties responsibilities are spelled out and there is no guess work is appealing. The sex in this book is highly erotic and includes M/F; M/F/F; F/F and several other situations involving multiple partners.
I give this story 4 out of 5 clouds and a chili pepper rating of 9. Seriously Hot!
This product or book may have been distributed for review; this in no way affects my opinions or reviews.
I really enjoyed the first book of this series and am eager to read SAVING SUNNI. We learned a lot about sage in the first book and I am looking forward to learning more about sunni.
ReplyDeletemanning_j2004 at yahoo dot com
GFC: June M.