Craving Flight by Tamsen Parker

Carolyn:  This is an older novella; I acquired it in 2015. Although I'm most definitely NOT into hardcore erotica, I'm not sure this would qualify as such, but maybe it would. What do I know?

Here, have a blurb:

Tzipporah Berger is thirty-seven and single, which is practically unheard of in the Orthodox Jewish community she now calls home. Her increasing religiosity and need for kink may have broken up her first marriage, but she’s decided it’s time to try again. And the rabbi’s wife has just the man in mind.

Elan Klein is the neighborhood butcher whose intimidating size and gruff manner hint at a deliciously forceful personality. But BDSM isn’t exactly something you discuss during an Orthodox courtship. Will a marriage to Elan solidify her place in the community that she loves and provide the domination and pain Tzipporah craves or will she forever have to rely on flights of fancy to satisfy her needs?

Lori:  Carolyn mentioned this book and suggested I should try it. Not for the BDSM but because of the religion. I love religion and a book that delves into Judaism that's also kink sounds interesting.

It was fucking brilliant.

Tzipporah is a religious studies teacher. She is Jewish raised in a secular household. She likes rough sex and was married to a man who didn't. Didn't like rough sex, didn't care about religion and was the wrong man in every way.

Tz (I'm shortening it for heaven's sake, and my sake for writing this) ends her marriage and moves into Orthodox Judaism. In the sense that she physically moves into an Orthodox neighborhood, adopts the laws and rituals and becomes a practicing Orthodox Jew.

Elan is the butcher, a widower, a man Tz is attracted to for his size and brusque manner. When the Rabbi's wife suggests a match and Elan is among the choices, Tz says yes. They have a few meals together, agree that they want children, will both continue to work and they get married (it really is that cut and dried).

Elan, on their wedding night, says what do you like? And Tz takes a chance and tells him. And discovers that her new husband understands BDSM quite well and gives her exactly what she needs.

What she needs... is the theme of this book and how BDSM and Orthodox Judaism merge together. It's about accepting restrictions and forms of bondage to find freedom. To take flight. What this book does is gives us a heroine who can only be free by choosing her shackles and losing herself in the bonds.

The sex is so necessary to this story but it isn't purple cock heads and glistening drops of pre-cum. It's pain and discomfort. It's being bound into immobility and learning to let go while bound. It's about modesty on the outside and complete freedom on the inside.

My reaction to this book was ... well... right now I have tears skimming my eyes when writing this. It was one of the best books I've read this year and possibly among the best I've read ever. It's glorious.


Carolyn: Lori's just about said it all, really, and much better than I could. I just know that this is an amazing book and deserves a wide audience.

I still have difficulty relating pain to pleasure. Perhaps it's like scratching an itch until you bleed? It certainly couldn't be equated to a gallbladder attack because there's NOTHING pleasurable about that and nothing to be learned either, except pain hurts along with a longing for immediate surgery.

And still, the silly side of me wonders ...  They want children and what happens if little Tz or Elan Jr wander into the bedroom to find mama strung up by her hair (to all appearances) and bound with pretty blue rope? I'm being facetious, of course, but still ... I do wonder.

I could see that Tz wanted to live an Orthodox life and tried her best to do so but it was never linked with her religion; kosher is part of being Orthodox but how and why does it relate to beliefs? The BDSM fit in, yes, but it seemed kosher closed her in, rather than letting her fly as the sex did. Was kosher a religious experience to her? Seemed like more of a hassle. How did covering her hair fit in her religion?

The book needed to be longer, damn it!

Lori: In Orthodoxy, Carolyn, people keep their head covered in respect to God. Men wear a yarmulke and women cover their heads with scarves or oftentimes, a wig. So that explains why nobody knew her hair color. And why it mattered to Tz.

And of course keeping kosher is how one is an observant Jew. It's following the rules and laws. And I truly believe that the entire point of who Tz was, is that in being bound by laws, rules, observance and rope was all that could set her free.

This is just such an excellent book. I could never find pleasure in pain although as Carolyn pointed out, sometimes in scratching a certain itch or probing a painful spot feels deliciously bad. We've all felt it. So I guess there's a small awareness of how it can feel good while feeling bad.

Although I'm not interested in pain as pleasure or even the sexual aspect of the story really, it was all about finding freedom. Taking flight. 

I can't say enough about this book. Read it. Feel it. It's amazing.

Is It Time for Resolutions?

Yes, I'm one of those. There's something about a new page, a fresh start, a second chance that delights me. It isn't just the idea of decoding to go on a diet or resolve to write 500 words a day... it's bigger than that.

A new year. A new beginning. A new chance to grow and learn. To come closer to being who it s you really want to be. To a life not mired in regret or sadness. To a life lived and a life appreciated.

My so-far defining moment happened on Christmas day. We sat together around the tree and unwrapped presents. Mollie almost busted a gut in joy, so many K-Pop things she wanted. Video games, clothes, gift cards. I was so happy to see her excitement.

I didn't get what I really wanted most. There were two books I asked for and a 2018 calendar. They were the things I wanted most. And I didn't get them. I did get other things I wanted: a shoe rack, a beautiful journal, new pillows. But I wanted those books and disappointment settled into me like an unwanted but persistent friend.

Later that day more family came and Mary gave me a present she made herself: a purple shawl/blouse, flowy and light weight and made for me. Made expressly for me. Everyone had a story about how frustrating it was for her to make it to my changing size, to figure my bust and height, and to make something she'd never made before but to want to take the time and effort because, as she told me later, she wanted to recognize how much I do for my family that goes unsung.

That was the moment the window opened and I got it. Almost 60 years old and I got it. I went onto Amazon and ordered the books I wanted. I told Mollie we were going to go and find me a perfect calendar for 2018. I refused to allow the disappointment I knew so well to take a deeper root.

Mollie and I discussed it yesterday in the car. I told her about my epiphany. I told her that it doesn't matter our age, we are always growing and learning and to embrace it. It's okay to be sad about something or disappointed in someone but does that have to be what defines you?

This is the blouse, by the way.

A lot of other things have happened since I started this post. But right now I'm going to end this. We have a long haul.

It's almost 2018.

I can't wait for the new year.

Man Hands by Sarina Bowen and Tanya Eby

The blurb:


BRYNN

At thirty-four, I’m reeling from a divorce. I don’t want to party or try to move on. I just want to stay home and post a new recipe on my blog: Brynn’s Dips and Balls.

But my friends aren’t having it. Get out there again, they say. It will be fun, they say. I’m still taking a hard pass. 

Free designer cocktails, they say. And that’s a game-changer. 

Too bad my ex shows up with his new arm candy. That’s when I lose my mind. But when my besties dare me to leap on the first single man I see, they don't expect me to actually go through with it.


TOM

All I need right now is some peace and quiet while my home renovation TV show is on hiatus. But when a curvy woman in a red wrap dress charges me like she’s a gymnast about to mount my high bar, all I can do is brace myself and catch her. What follows is the hottest experience of my adult life. 

I want a repeat, but my flying Cinderella disappears immediately afterward. She doesn’t leave a glass slipper, either—just a pair of panties with chocolate bunnies printed on them.

But I will find her.

Lori:  "Try it," Carolyn said. "It's funny."

Ladies, Carolyn didn't lie.

I laughed out loud on page 2. I finished the book in one day. I laughed out loud a few other times. I snickered, I snorted and for once, I read all the sex scenes.

It's an erotic romance without erotica. It's romance with actual heart. 

It worked. It seriously worked.

It wasn't just that it was funny. This book took a trope I despise and made it work. And that's sex between strangers. It sets my teeth on edge. But in this, I was okay with it. Brynn is newly divorced, she's at a party and she sees her ex with a woman who is basically a younger version of herself and she can either fall apart or launch herself at the gardener.

She launches. Has sex. Condom is involved. And then later things go all wrong. But at that point, I was all in.

Carolyn:  It is truly a romance for modern times. Brynn likes to cook and she started a blog and uploaded three recipe books to Amazon. So when a partygoer videos her ... um ... experience with Tom, her book sales go out of sight and here blog gets all sorts of hits. It just tickled me, it was so millenium, lol.

And, like Lori says, it's erotic and yet not. I think it's because they're doing stuff beside tab A into slot B. You know, dialogue, shit like that. There was no time for precum! Thank God!

There's also the usual girl herd - well, in this case a trio. Ash shocked me just a bit, both her name and her language, but I got used to her and the part she played at the end of the book had me in stitches, lol. Bet the next book is about her.

Love the sense of humor displayed by these authors and despite the crazy blurb, loved the plot. These people were adults; any misunderstanding was not allowed to grow. They TALKED to each other.

And they make the cutest damn couple.  :-) 

Lori: Because no book is perfect, we will say that the cover sucks. I mean, it really sucks. Like yuck.

And I had some small issues with the girl posse because they had a lot of shit going on with them and I didn't know if they were just being set up as sequel bait or if we weren't supposed to care. I cared, dammit!

But the book was adorbs and I can't suggest it highly enough. Thank you Carol for promising I'd laugh. You were right. 

Japanese Fundraiser

I'll try not to be too embarrassed to post this here... my daughter and two other young ladies from her high school are going to Japan in June as part of an exchange program. Mollie has been studying Japanese for three years and intends to go to college and major in languages and Asian studies in the hopes of living/working in Japan and/or Korea.

We're fundraising to help with expenses.

I won't be too obnoxious with this.

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