getDare Book Club

[sarahsarah]

Review of 'The Cabin in the Woods' by Runesmith

Contains spoilers

For the most part regarding this story I agree with it. Although I completely respect and understand Lia's opinion on the story, I enjoyed it greatly. The story certainly will not be for everyone and the opening brutal scenes can be very off-putting. I do also agree that the exact locations were not necessary and that was a mistake I made with my first story.

However, the story itself is well written, well constructed and flows from start til the end. If the themes of this story are to your liking, then you will likely love it, as those scenes go into very nice, but not an overload, of detail. I also understand Lia's feelings about it degrading a woman for a bunch of dirty men, but the underlying story arc of that character and that of 'cumrag' are intriguing.

Despite it being brutal, I find myself being able to somehow understand the characters. Yes, there are scenes where it is unrealistic, or not what would be expected, but considering it is a third person story by a male, I feel he did a good job of getting some of the emotions right within scenes, especially later into the story.

The overall feeling of the girl being broken, losing all spirit and hope, and somehow trying to rely on the only person she wrongly sees as a friend for some comfort nearly broke my own spirit as well. I probably didn't feel as turned on by this story as much as others, most likely due to the pure extremity, but I found myself invested in the main two characters.

After talking to Runesmith, and discussing possibilities, I have to admit that he possibly created one of the best twists in an erotic story that I have read. I am a massive sucker for big plot twists and cliffhangers and this one was executed beautifully. It turned the entire story on its head, and looking back at some chapters it seemed obvious really, but was so subtle and hidden that it was brilliant.

Runesmith did mention to me a possible idea for a sequel, and I feel if he goes with this route it will be phenomenal. It will make the overall story arc of the main character brilliant and I have faith having read this story that he can do it. I feel it would also completely counteract the opinion of it being purely about the abuse and degradation of a woman.

Again, I will stress that this story may not be for everyone but I certainly enjoyed it more than the majority of stories I have read on this site.

Sarah
X

[sarahsarah]

NEW STORY

I have had another suggestion for a story this week. The story is called 'The Promise' by DreamCloud. The link is below

https://www.literotica.com/s/the-promise-27

I look forward to reading any reviews
X

[The Slutty Princess]

I'll start with this,
In regards to my last post, I apologize that my message may have come off as angry or rude...or both.
Sarah is right, we all have our different opinions and the world would be dull and dry if we all shared the same opinions. My opinion of the story differs from many others, maybe because I can relate to the experiences present in the story.

Simply, there are two sectors of erotic fantasy; Dark Fantasy and Light Fantasy. Light fantasy usually is more of the romantic, happy ending, and sexual stories. Dark fantasy is more of the abusive, degrading, ignominious, and unethical stories. I prefer light fantasy. In my eyes, an erotic story should be beautiful, sexy, and arousing. There is nothing beautiful, sexy, or arousing about being forced to do something you clearly don’t want to do. Don’t get me wrong, I think some dark fantasy stories with happy endings are good, though the main character usually has to be dragged through hell before she reaches her happy ending. Stories like these don’t arouse me, they interest me but they certainly don’t provide any excitement or arousal. In fact, I think if I were to write an erotic story, it’d be something down the dark fantasy sector of stories. I’d drag the character through hell and emphasize on the beautiful parts of the story, her beating down her terror and I certainly wouldn’t go into detail of the darker events of the story. That’s what disturbs me. I can read a few dark fantasy stories but the ones that go into detail are horrid and disgusting. I think all women are fond of subtle domination, a little pain, limited forceful restraint, a little degradation...as long as they feel safe. There was no “safe” feeling in this story. There was no consent, no seduction, minimal arousal….nothing that provided the character for a feeling of safety. That’s what was disturbing. The story made me feel uncomfortable. I think all erotic stories should have an affection love wrapped within the story, there was none of that in the story. Erotic stories should present the beauty of every aspect of sex, the partners, the location, the affection, etc. Sex is beautiful, we are beautiful, the world is beautiful. We should focus on that.

I have a particular taste for erotic stories. A majority of erotic stories are part of the dark fantasy sector and either consists of blackmail, non-consensual sex, strict domination, BDSM, and underage stories. Quite frankly, I’m part of the minority. I don’t like stories the subject women as lower than men, or in some cases, lower than the dirt that covers your floor. Women are beautiful! (Believe me, I could write an entire book on it). It’s one of the reasons why I like romantic stories, they present equality and beauty of both genders. Nobody is better than anyone else. It doesn’t matter what is between your legs. We breathe the same air. As a reader, or even as a seldom adult film viewer, I look for beauty. Beauty arouses me.

Nevertheless, we all have opinions. My opinion is rather negative. By no means am I trying to discourage anyone that may have found this story arousing, I’m just simply freely stating my opinion on the “issue”. I’ll love and respect you regardless of your opinion!

************************************************** *****

Review of The Promise by DreamCloud

If you like emotion-gripping romance stories like I do, this story is for you! I found myself on the verge of tears numerous times while reading the story. My plan was to read three pages per night until I finished by the author did a great job at grabbing my attention and I found myself reading the entire story in one sitting!

This story is far from the erotic nature. If you are looking for a very erotic, sexualized story, you won't find it with this one. The story showed that there is more to love than just sex. It showed the true essence of love through loss, self-destruction, and compassion. I have nothing but praise for the author. I had read his/her other stories on Literotica and the author crushes it each time! DreamCloud completely owns the entire Romance section of Literotica and his competitors aren't even close to his level. The character development was superb! His detailing was superb! The backstory was superb! The entire story was superb! I can't find one thing to complain about. Maybe the author could have went into a little more detail in the sex at the end but I'm not quite sure if the author did write the ending. He did state in the beginning that he had someone else help him finish it. Usually, DreamCloud does a great job at detailing sex. Some may complain about the lack of sex scenes in the story but I thought a sole sex scene at the end gave the entire story a perfect balance. Romance stories should be more about the heart than about the sex! This story is a polished gem among a bag of stones, a must-read for any romance lovers! The story would make an amazing, beautiful movie! I honestly think if the author turned this into a screenplay, he could make a fortune!

By the way, I cried twice and I'm not even ashamed to admit it!

-Love,
Lia

P.S. For all you lurkers, I beg you to give your opinion of the story. Lengthy or short, biased or unbiased, neative or positive, they are all welcome. Nobody will judge!

[sarahsarah]

Review of The Promise by DreamCloud

Spoilers warning

I really don't know what to make of this story. It is entirely different to every story that has been mentioned so far. I have a very mixed reaction to the story.

I will start with the negatives. Usually when I read a story suggested on here or on an erotica site, I expect to be turned on, I expect to be aroused, I expect to read into some kind of thrilling sexual encounter. This story provided none of those things. Even when reading the story, I believed it was building to the one big sexual scene, the almighty crescendo. However, when it did arrive, it fell completely flat, was underwhelming and to be perfectly honest, dull. I was totally invested in the characters and was waiting for the big sendoff, that moment which would make me tingle, and it didn't arrive.

However, I will now move onto the positives. In terms of just looking at it as a story, and not erotica, it is absolutely phenomenal. Each section tugs at your heart strings, throws your emotional core into chaos and makes you desperate to read on. Like Lia, I was planning to read it in short bursts but was so engrossed in it, I had to keep going.

The main characters are developed incredibly well, the back stories are so well constructed, the premise is superb, the developments are intriguing and the feelings are very real. I found myself entirely submerged in the story, and I didn't want to surface until it was finished.

The finish and developments throughout twists and turns and leads you on a great scenic path to a beautiful place. I do think I may go and read some of the other stories by the author at some point in the future. The writer draws you in so well with such superb writing that you end up rooting for outcomes.

So overall, in terms of erotica and wanting to be aroused, I was very disappointed. If you want a story to turn you on or ignite some fire, this certainly isn't it. However, I feel it is a must read nonetheless and am delighted to have read such a piece of art.

Love Sarah

[Joan Sky]

Bumping this thread, because I feel I should make at an attempt to, in honor and recognition of the whole experience with my fellow reviewers who have touched my heart more than they probably know.

This moment in time
And those combined
And after,
before
In one big blur
Yet it's a seeming illusion
There's no confusion
There's clarity

Here's to you
everywhere and always
Here's to you and me
Here's to God

I love you guys.
Thanks for everything.

~Joanna

[LitDarkness]

With Sarah's permission, I will post the shorties to review. Of course, I'll take recommendations/suggestions too.

So Dignity Academy; http://www.getdare.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=71749 is up.

[The Slutty Princess]

Review of Dignity Academy by korvaid

Firstly,
Thank you, TheKidWithSkills, for continuing this thread, as for you too, Joan!
For a short story, I enjoyed it. Overall, it had a great theme! The theme is about the only thing I can speak positively about. The storyline could have been much better. It seems as though all of these girls were underage (Hence, being close to their mothers, in a boarding school, etc) and everything seems to just scramble together without any real flow to the events. The characters, I thought, could have been described much better. Their physical attributes were well-described, but there is more to a character than physical attributes. As far as erotic goes, I wasn't turned on much by the story. I really wish someone would have proof-read it as well, the story contains too many spelling errors...it almost becomes annoying to read. But I will say, with a few tweaks, details, and elaborating on characters, events, and the storyline, the story could be very good! It is a great idea, just poorly put together.

[sarahsarah]

Review of Dignity Academy by korvaid

Firstly thanks to TheKidWithSkills for taking this off my hand. I am very busy at the moment but will reply and read the stuff when I can.

I think for the most part I agree with Lia. I think my feelings towards this story were just a bit 'meh'. It was just there, but there wasn't much there. I feel the premise could have worked, could have interested me, could have been good, but it was just satisfactory at best.

I couldn't invest in the characters at all as there wasn't really much to invest in. I finished the story not really knowing anything more about them than I did at the start. The main character was almost a narrative with no real care or emotions. The only character which actually mildly intrigued me was the mystery guy but I thought this could have gone much further. The 'bad guys' were just very generic and weren't given any proper purpose or intrigue other than they are just a bit creepy.

I couldn't invest in the plot as again, there wasn't really much to invest in. Scenes were fired at machine gun pace to the point where there was barely even a scene. As an example, the fire could've lasted pages and chapters, intrigue, a who did it, what are the consequences, the overall effects. But in one chapter, it happened, all the consequences happened and all the intrigue disappeared with pretty much no payoff.

There was just nothing to invest in, nothing to really get behind, nothing that made me think this it great. I wasn't turned on as the erotic scenes were basically finished before they even got started.

I don't think this was a bad story, it was just a nothing story. I don't feel much better for reading it, I don't feel much worse. I just think it could have been a lot better than it was, if it had just been developed. As I said at the start, it was just a bit 'meh'

[LitDarkness]

I have to agree with others on this. The storyline was good and had potential. But, the scenes were kinda rushed and the story went from one place to another, constantly.

The scenes would of been better if they were drawn out and had more detail. It's really not possible to get into the scene.

The story tells, but doesn't show.

The characters have the same problem. They were told to the reader, but not shown. I really don't know much about them and I often got confused between who was who.

The mystery guy was interesting and honestly the best part of the story.

And I do wish the author added some spaces after his punctuation (periods, commas, etc.), it's just confusing where it is a punctuation and a word smashed together.

It's not a bad story and has potential but, it isn't really the greatest story on Earth either.

[LitDarkness]

I've been busy with life and having some issues. So here is a story to review; http://www.getdare.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=212448, Prison Island.