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A review by zoepomegranate
The Principle of Desire by Delphine Dryden
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
It's a light easy heterosexual romance with some BDSM. I found it fairly simple, but found other factors that made it unique in my reading experience. It has a switch main female character who has recently ended a long term D/s relationship and has been exploring her dominant side that her ex never let her explore. Enter the love interest who is completely new to the BDSM scene but realizes that this attractive woman and some of his friends are involved in it and his interest is piqued. I love how it depicted BDSM as something that can be realistic, light-hearted, and that can work well within an egalitarian romance.
I loved the emotional intelligence and maturity of the lead characters. Beth as a psychology lecturer has an interesting perspective into her past and current relationships and this leads to a very emotionally healthy romance, which is a thing I love! The love interest Ed was a nice change from typical romance heroes. He's fascinated about Beth and her kinky switch tendencies. He's openminded. He's a smart aerospace engineer. He's socially awkward in a way that I found very relatable. He's sweet. He's nerdy. He's chubby. He's not some unrealistically rich CEO alpha male DOM jerk. He's also not an incredibly bitter and objectifying s-type guy who only likes Beth for her kinks either. They treat each other with respect and as people first which is something I've struggled to find in fictional stories that depict BDSM.
The conflict didn't feel forced or exaggerated and fit smoothly within the story. The pace is entertaining and has good momentum while being slow enough for character and relationship development. It has good momentum, in that the story is always moving forward.
I thought the relationship felt very casual, natural, and realistic. There was attraction and chemistry but no insta-love. I enjoyed the pace of the story-telling and romance. Their feelings for each other always felt very proportionate to the amount of time they'd known each other and spent together. If someone was looking for a simple, healthy, and entertaining romance that had concise plot points I would definitely recommend. If someone was looking for romance with BDSM that is refreshing and grounded in reality I would recommend. Lastly, this is the third in the series but I didn't read the previous books and think that it is still enjoyable if you start here. The rest of the series seems focused on the kinky friend group of Beth and Ed, and you read enough of them to know if you'd be interested in going back and reading their stories. It's my own personal opinion that you can read this as a stand alone and not misunderstand anything or lose enjoyment from the experience because of it.
I loved the emotional intelligence and maturity of the lead characters. Beth as a psychology lecturer has an interesting perspective into her past and current relationships and this leads to a very emotionally healthy romance, which is a thing I love! The love interest Ed was a nice change from typical romance heroes. He's fascinated about Beth and her kinky switch tendencies. He's openminded. He's a smart aerospace engineer. He's socially awkward in a way that I found very relatable. He's sweet. He's nerdy. He's chubby. He's not some unrealistically rich CEO alpha male DOM jerk. He's also not an incredibly bitter and objectifying s-type guy who only likes Beth for her kinks either. They treat each other with respect and as people first which is something I've struggled to find in fictional stories that depict BDSM.
The conflict didn't feel forced or exaggerated and fit smoothly within the story. The pace is entertaining and has good momentum while being slow enough for character and relationship development. It has good momentum, in that the story is always moving forward.
I thought the relationship felt very casual, natural, and realistic. There was attraction and chemistry but no insta-love. I enjoyed the pace of the story-telling and romance. Their feelings for each other always felt very proportionate to the amount of time they'd known each other and spent together. If someone was looking for a simple, healthy, and entertaining romance that had concise plot points I would definitely recommend. If someone was looking for romance with BDSM that is refreshing and grounded in reality I would recommend. Lastly, this is the third in the series but I didn't read the previous books and think that it is still enjoyable if you start here. The rest of the series seems focused on the kinky friend group of Beth and Ed, and you read enough of them to know if you'd be interested in going back and reading their stories. It's my own personal opinion that you can read this as a stand alone and not misunderstand anything or lose enjoyment from the experience because of it.