Screw The Roses, Send Me the Thorns - bdsm toy by Mystic Rose Books - review by Cinnamon

This was the first BDSM book I've read. The authors of this book, Phillip Miller and Molly Devon are amazing and very easy to follow. Their dynamic is apparent throughout every section of the book. They are hilarious in every sense of the word, you can tell they do not take themselves too seriously, which makes the book a great read.

Screw the Roses, Send Me the Thorns has everything that a person would need just starting out in BDSM. The foreword written by Dr. William A. Granzig, is a great to start the book, especially for those that may be skeptical of the lifestyle.The book itself is divided into 13 Main parts, complete with Glossary and 6 appendixes. The writing style is very tongue in cheek, and it gets very hard to put it down. By the end, you really feel as if you have been visiting some new friends and all along they've been explaining it to you in your own living room. You really get the sense you know them. It is definitely geared toward the inexperienced, however I would recommend it to the experienced as well.

The first few parts make up an introduction to your "hosts" and to the art of sadomasochism. There are a lot of explanations and definitions in these sections. The first section has everything you would need to know about the people in the lifestyle, and a little about what they do. The second section is more about communication, trust, and be involved in a S/M relationship. I would not hesitate to even give out the second part to my vanilla friends. There is a major wealth of information to help any relationship. The third section discusses finding that special someone to have an S/M relationship with. It covers a lot of dating safety and where to look.

The fourth section covers a lot on negotiating and the different levels of D/s (that's Dominance/submission, for you nilla folks). I kinda hit a snag here, since some of what they spoke did not sit too well within me, but hey if one paragraph is all we disagree on, we're still doing great! The fifth section covers letting go of society's views on sex.

The next five sections cover various primers on sexual "torture" (YUM!), such as clamps, ice, bondage and bondage techniques, electro play, flogging, spanking, and a myriad of others. I read these sections numerous times as they do go over a lot safety precautions to take when playing, especially when you are still new.

There is a small section on "flying" that is very interesting. The next covers humiliation, embarrassment, and the mind fucks, which was also a great section to read several times. I've gotten lots of ideas from this part of the book for scenes. The last section goes over how to furnish your own dungeon. It has lots of information on how to build your own equipment, which saves money, and who doesn't want that?