Rating: 
Summary: Good for beginners, little for experienced players
Review: This is excellent for beginners, curious about the evermore visible world of SM. By putting a softer edge on the subject, Ms Payne removes much of the stigma attached to SM, making it more palatable for a mainstream audience. If Cosmo or Mademoiselle were to write a serious book about SM, this is what I would exzpect to be the result. Ms Payne, a self described "Avid SM Hobbyist" is not a professional dominatrix, she is however the Martha Stewart of SM.Seasoned veterans of the SM scene however will find little in this book that they didn't already know. Most basic SM texts are far more advanced than Ms Paynes offering. If you've been around the dungeon for a couple of years, the best use you'll find for this book is as a gift to your curious vanilla friends.
Rating: 
Summary: I enjoyed Miss Payne's tips.
Review: This spanking new work is tailor-made for the amateur who wants to get into the sport. I've been literally tied up for days reading it from end to end. Miss Payne is a very striking personality, and some of her tips are pretty sharp, too.
Rating: 
Summary: More than enough for the curious...
Review: While this book may provide little of interest for the advanced or even intermediate devotee of BDSM, it will more than satisfy the idly curious, like me. The first three chapters (approx. 60 pages) I found intriguing and interesting. And, if you're like me and get a laugh at bad puns, you'll enjoy Mistress Payne's sense of humor. Apparently, this domme not only enjoys inflicting physical torture on her subs but also gets a thrill out of inflicting intellectual torment on her readers with horrendous puns. But, at the end of the day, you could get as much enjoyment and useful information out of a magazine article on the subject as Mistress Payne's entire book. Unfortunately, from Chapter 4 on, the book bogs down in details. Mistress Payne, for example, devotes a lengthy chapter to knots. If you're truly interested in knots, then check out your Boy Scout handbook. The descriptions and illustrations are a lot clearer. Mistress Payne also spends a whole chapter on yoga as good exercise for BDSM. While it is amusing to see figures in yoga positions decked out in fetish regalia complete with arcane BDSM devices, yoga is better treated in other books devoted exclusively to that rich subject. If you think BDSM is for you, then getting through this book will be a good test. If you find all 200 pages of Mistress Payne's lightweight how-to book fascinating, you'll probably fit right into the BDSM scene. If you're idly curious, like me, her book will certainly demystify the subject. But one side effect of demystification is to render an intriguing subject mundane and, therefore, sadly, boring. Of course, there is something satisfying in imagining a formidable domme - fresh from making her sub grovel in agony and humiliation at her feet - turning around and fussing over potential punctures in her black latex catsuit and meticulously dusting it with talcum powder before hanging it up to wait for the next encounter. I guess it isn't only accountants who have to attend to boring details. Even powerful, sexy dommes do!
Rating:
Summary: More than enough for the curious...
Review: While this book may provide little of interest for the advanced or even intermediate devotee of BDSM, it will more than satisfy the idly curious, like me. The first three chapters (approx. 60 pages) I found intriguing and interesting. And, if you're like me and get a laugh at bad puns, you'll enjoy Mistress Payne's sense of humor. Apparently, this domme not only enjoys inflicting physical torture on her subs but also gets a thrill out of inflicting intellectual torment on her readers with horrendous puns. But, at the end of the day, you could get as much enjoyment and useful information out of a magazine article on the subject as Mistress Payne's entire book. Unfortunately, from Chapter 4 on, the book bogs down in details. Mistress Payne, for example, devotes a lengthy chapter to knots. If you're truly interested in knots, then check out your Boy Scout handbook. The descriptions and illustrations are a lot clearer. Mistress Payne also spends a whole chapter on yoga as good exercise for BDSM. While it is amusing to see figures in yoga positions decked out in fetish regalia complete with arcane BDSM devices, yoga is better treated in other books devoted exclusively to that rich subject. If you think BDSM is for you, then getting through this book will be a good test. If you find all 200 pages of Mistress Payne's lightweight how-to book fascinating, you'll probably fit right into the BDSM scene. If you're idly curious, like me, her book will certainly demystify the subject. But one side effect of demystification is to render an intriguing subject mundane and, therefore, sadly, boring. Of course, there is something satisfying in imagining a formidable domme - fresh from making her sub grovel in agony and humiliation at her feet - turning around and fussing over potential punctures in her black latex catsuit and meticulously dusting it with talcum powder before hanging it up to wait for the next encounter. I guess it isn't only accountants who have to attend to boring details. Even powerful, sexy dommes do!
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