Bound By Lust is a 2012 publication from Cleis Press. The theme within all the stories is bondage with someone you love. I was pleasantly surprised by how well written this book was and what an easy read it was. It only took me two nights to finish the whole thing, at 207 pages.

What most impressed me was the wide variety of points of view (male and female, first person and third person perspective), the variety of kink for every level, from pet play to light bondage, threesomes and cross dressing. The relationships also vary, from straight, lesbian, and polyamorous, to characters who are married long term to those with a fresh new fling.

The only thing I didn't like about this book was that it seemed to throw in a bit too much love. But, many readers will love this aspect, especially if they are in love themselves.

Here are some short summaries of the stories. I don't want to spoil the whole book so I'll only give a quick peek of a few of the stories to show you the general themes:

"Reclaiming Spring" by Sommer Marsden: When the main character decides she hates the season of spring, her husband knows she's actually upset because spring reminds her of the affair she had and broke off. He decides to change her perspective of the season by them making their own outdoor memories with some light bondage.

"Being His Bitch" by Janine Ashbless: Dev and his girlfriend are into pet play and go to a pet club, where his girlfriend, dressed up as his dog, ends up having a threesome with Dev and another sub dog while everyone watches.

"Spring Training" by Donna George Storey: Erin agrees to her boyfriend's sex spring training regime that takes her to sexual places she's never been before.

"A Preference for Difference" by Allison Wonderland: A vanilla lesbian couple finally find their kinky side with spanking in church.

"The Heart of Chaos" by Rachel Kramer Bussel: After a live art show filled with hot wax, a long-time married man realizes he can be a dom too and takes over the night with his wife.

"Under The Clock" by Justine Elyot: An online relationship finds true love in a woman's submission to the man she loves. The more she loves him, the more she will do for him.

"Slave Sisters" by Vida Bailey: (the story that got me off) When her lover leaves for work, his slave is sad to be left alone for too long, so they bring in a third partner to the relationship.

I had to read about half the book before I was hot enough to get off, but in the end it worked out great.

I'm still rating this a 5. It's really well written with great variety. It would especially appeal to couples in love. Since the initial review, I've given my copy of this book to a friend that was just starting out with toys and didn't like pornography to get her in the mood. Since we are both so opposite in sexual interests (she's much more vanilla and reserved), it really shows that this book has something for everyone.