Deck the Halls With Canes and Floggers- Submitting For Christmas

Merry Christmas eve everyone!

Two weeks ago, I gave an obligatory Christmas story a read and came away pleasantly surprised at how funny it was. Sure, there was a happy ending, but it was an adorable read nonetheless. However I decided that I wanted to step into a new realm within the Regency sub-genre and give BDSM a fair read through. So in I went into the world of Em Brown’s Chateau Debauchery series, a set of e-books that are equal parts short stories and domination. Some of the stories left me wanting a bit more from them besides just scorching hot scenes of submission. Namely they left me wanting a more personal feeling towards some characters. The different heroines each have unique personalities and issues within themselves that push them to seek out Chateau Follet. Whether it be an unhappy marriage, the need to fulfill a bet, or sheer curiosity, each woman has a driving force that pushes them to submit to these men. And the heroes are determined to get full submission, but without the abusive melodrama of Fifty Shades. Yet only one of the couples had an initial story that I wanted to see go on beyond the walls of the Chateau. Technically two, but moving on.

Submitting to the Marquess is the story of Alastair and Mildred, henceforth known as Millie, because no woman should be called Mildred in 2016 if she is younger than my grandmother. Millie has a deep secret that she has attempted to hide from everyone except her aunt by marriage. She’s a F-REAK. A sexual deviant of the whips and chains variety. She even goes so far as to try and hide that side of herself even from herself and attempts a true run at being respectable. Her cousin by marriage Alastair D’Aubigene has the keys to Millie’s dowry. A dowry that she just wants to disappear. She would love nothing more than to become a spinster and be able to freely live her life unattached and able to be as wicked as her heart desires. Through a series of coercive decisions made by his aunt, Alastair and Millie spend one passionate night together in the illustrious east wing of the mansion. With Millie having promised never to come back there. Their story left me wanting to see if they could overcome their class and economic differences and find happiness in each other's arms.

Boy, did I get my wish. Not only did I get a follow up to the initial story line, but I got a Christmas story that features heavily erotic situations during a time of yuletide joy. And this time it was almost a full length ebook and not a brief novella. We’ll come back to the length gripe later on though.

Several months after their one night of passion at the chateau, it is nearing Michaelmas and Alastair has doubled Millie’s dowry in order to get her married off much quicker. For those of us who don’t speak holidays outside of the US, Michaelmas is a celebration of the day of St. Michael the archangel. This occurs on Sept. 29th and is another holiday for families to get together before the weather begins to further cool. What better way for Millie to escape the horde of would be suitors than to spend Michaelmas with her favorite aunt. Unfortunately all of his family will be there as well as hers which offers little to no peace of mind.

Alastair, who hears of the intent of a certain randy Lord Devon from the original book towards our Millie, takes off with one of his drinking buddies promptly to ensure the lady in questions intentions. And to make her swear to never return to the Chateau. Upon arrival he surprises his aunt, sisters, and Millie with his appearance and takes to his usual cool nonchalance. At least until nightfall. For three nights he turns Millie into the deviant that she craves to be before having to do her duty and get married. It also causes them to lapse into their roles during the day, where Alastair realizes that she is an intelligent woman with opinions of her own. He tries to get her to obey his commands during the day and is met with a huge amount of resistance. This leads to some super nova hot scenes at night where she has to endure her punishment. However at the end of the three days, the two are in worse straits than they were previously because they realize that they care for one another somewhat. Or in Millie’s case, she realizes that she’s in love with a man who by societal standards is too good for her. A realization made even clearer by one of his judgmental, tactless sisters.

They part ways once again with no contact with one another for three months. She is unable to find but one man who she could see herself marrying, and her family objects to her even courting the man because he is not of the kind of bloodline they want her associated with. When Alastair learns who the man is, he pulls out all of the stops to try and discourage the union. Which if we all know our stubborn heroines in literature, just makes her want to marry the gent even more. He threatens to revoke her dowry, and of course Millie will not be swayed because she didn’t want the dowry, whether doubled or the original amount in the first place. When she plots to run off and elope with the man she hopes will wed her, money or not, and the only person who figures out her Christmas eve plot is Alastair. He tracks down the man he had previously threatened and then has to guess as to where she would go if she didn’t come back to her friends and family. Thus leading him to the place that their tangled web was weaved around. The Chateau. He punishes her for breaking her promise and returning to Chateau Debauchery and then proposes to her. Thus granting them their happy albeit slightly dysfunctional ending.

There is apparently an epilogue coming soon that is going to be sold versus just being attached to the original novel. Which spurs my one massive gripe with a lot of the Em Brown novels/novellas that I’ve  come across. Most of the ebooks are stories of couples that could be easily made into one book for one price. But some just don’t do that. The Red Chrysanthemum Inn series is largely  a giant collection of stories that occur in the inn. But one such story is about 20 parts long (Punishing Miss Primrose.) That doesn’t even include the Master/Mistress stories of the owners of the inn. It stresses me out to only get bits and pieces of one story that could all fit with ease into one or two books versus several smaller editions that will take up extra book slots on my kindle and cost anywhere from $0.99 on up to $3.99 per section. In the case of Alastair and Millie’s books, the first novella isn’t terribly long and left me wanting a full resolution for the two of them. A resolution that we did get as a full length book.

In the end, Submitting For Christmas is a really good read. The BDSM is believable for the time period, as are their class differences and how they treat each other. I am looking forward to the epilogue no matter how miffed I feel at the fact that it exists as a different entity than as the end to a story as it normally would be. And I am resigned to come along for Em’s wild ride for the visitors of Madame Follet’s chateau. My only question is can we PLEASE get a full length book for Leopold and Trudie (Submitting to the Baron)? An honest to goodness full length book explaining exactly how they got to be so far apart despite being married without being constrained to only 43 pages? A full resolution to their problems or a more in depth look at her side of the story? Please?