I love this book for so many reasons. It's so well written, beautifully perverse, and allows the reader to become the protagonist: Beauty, as she is pulled into an erotic, S&M pleasure palace. This book has genderless boundaries and such a richly painted world of 'sex for pleasure', it surpasses any experience you could otherwise have with a movie!

Taken from the classic fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty, Anne Rice steals the protagonist, a virginal, young princess in a coma like state for hundreds of years, with a kingdom asleep around her. As you know, a young Prince battles the deadly thickets surrounding the castle and lifts the spell of sleep...with a kiss... the castle is reborn and then indebted to the Prince's kingdom for their revival. The prince takes with him, his prize, Beauty. And that's where this story begins.

I don't want to reveal too much about the plot or this world Rice has created because the writing is so good that it will not only turn you on, but keep you turning the page. However, I will say, that as regular fiction goes, I have never been so engrossed in a story and have never so easily morphed with a character as I did with Beauty. It is written so you become engrossed and use Beauty to live vicariously though, but this book is rich with S&M and ancient sexual-bondage play so don't be surprised if your horizons are expanded. I found myself becoming interested in things I would have never considered before. I love it when I can find a fetish acted out so passionately that it actually becomes incredibly appealing.

This book covers part 1 of Beauty's transformation into a vibrant sexual being, and "The Claiming of..."
deals a lot with her psychological struggle with allowing herself to let go and accept that she likes being sexually expressive- a real contemporary issue that I relate to. I think women sometimes have a hard time allowing themselves to be fully expressive sexually without inhibition or self criticism, this book secretly deals with it head on and allows the reader to use Beauty's story of self-discovery as a stepping stone for inward looking.

I think this book is great for women who want something erotic to share with a partner without going the pornographic route, or for someone who would like a more sensual, honest form of eroticism to pair with a toy. This book will stay under the bed for years and always have an exciting dog-eared page to turn to on a cold night.

If you like reading something more substantial than an erotic short story volume, go with a book that can grow with you. This is a full novel, and it is part of a trilogy. I was a big fan of Anne Rice's vampire work, so I thought, fairytales? sex? why not? This book was a risk and it paid off big time. Plus it's cover is so benign people at work and on the train will think you're doing some required reading.