Customer Reviews

Velvet Glove (Black Lace)

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I've become addicted to Emma Holly's erotic novels and I couldn't wait to read another one of her Black Lace offerings. Velvet Glove is a smoldering novel that centers on BDSM and other mouthwatering scenarios. Audrey is on the lookout for the perfect master, but things don't look too good when candidate number one, a influential millionaire, turns out to be a sadist and candidate number two, her old friend, is a big softy. But when she meets Patrick, a sexy barman and son of a famous politician, not only is the third candidate a charm, but she embarks upon a sexual odyssey that she hadn't envisaged. With sexy bondage scenes, man-woman-man threesomes and other scorching exploits, Audrey may have found the perfect dominant partner. But what's going to happen when she discovers that her sadistic ex-dom is stalking her? And will Patrick's misguided attempts to throw the stalker off affect his father's political career? There are various insatiable twists throughout the novel.

This isn't the best Emma Holly novel I've read. But her trademark building of tension, smoldering scenes and excellent plot development and characterization aren't lost in this book. I especially love how she illustrates S&M in a more positive light. Ms. Holly is one of the best erotica authors of this era and I shall continue to read her books with gusto. I recommend Velvet Glove...

Emma Holly has pretty much established herself as one of the top authors of erotica. Her novels have compelling stories, well-rounded characters, and hot hot sex.

All of the characters are interesting and none are wasted - from bar-owner Patrick & transvestite singer Basil (with whom Audrey forms an unlikely threesome), to her old college friends, Tommy & Cynthia (living with each other but both in love with Audrey) and a host of others besides.

If you are not into S&M you will still enjoy Velvet Glove, because it is basically a love story with the plot twists created out of the twists & turns of the characters' interaction with each other.

Also Emma Holly has that rare storytellers gift of being able to pull her readers wholly into her world and make it ours as well. She makes the life of a submissive female seem not only normal, but positively idyllic.

Read this book and then buy everything else by Emma Holly!

I have been reading Emma Holly's work for several years. She has blended romance and high eroticism to a fine art. In VELVET GLOVE the scenes of old fashion style romance and hard edged S&M seem to just flow one into another. I found myself rooting for Patrick and Audrey and hoping that their love and passion for each other would prevail. The secondary characters are well written and visually the book is a feast. I highly recommend buying this and any other BLACK LACE novel written by Emma Holly. If you have not read any BLACK LACE novels and are curious as to what they are about I suggest starting with VELVET GLOVE. Its Simply The Best. Thanks again Emma.

Emma Holly grabs the reader by the throat from the first pages as we find our young and naive heroine, Audrey, dump her friend in Miami during a vacatiion and move into the mansion of a much older, man of the world, wealthy, of course, banker. The fact that she entered the world of becoming a sex slave in training didn't really bother her at the beginning, but after a few weeks of this exploration, and abuse, she decided to escape and maybe think this whole thing over.


Feeling safe to be back with her friend she plays some wonderfull 'I'll show you mine if you show me yours' games that are so crisply written that the temperature in the room must have risen by like 10 degrees. Anyway, little Audrey didn't get away as we soon learn that our older banker friend and pervert, not only had a tracker on her but started to pull in favours with his wide web of powerfull friends to 'keep an eye' on Audrey and continue her training.


It's at this point we meet Patrick Dugan, the son of a prominent politico and a cast of characters including a drag queen singer who works at the local bar owned by Patrick. The little games played our cast of characters and the intrigue of our Miami banker friend not wanting to loose a yummie morsel like Audrey is what makes this a great book.


I have noted some reviewers making comments about the proclivity of Audrey to be a little free with her favours .... I don't know just because on her first day of work as a waitress at Dugans bar she does a serious lap dance on the drag queen singer in his dressing room, finally does the 'dirty' with Tommy her 'friend' shes been teasing for ten years, at his apartment, is forced to start her slave training and 'lick' spilled beer off the 'pants' of Patrick her new boss, at his apartment, and then 'really' pleasures herself with a vibrator that has suction cups and can be stuck on the wall ... that doen't really make her a nympho though, does it?


I believe that Emma Holly made the story the central theme of this book since it's really hard to fixate or place any kind of real attachement, as the reader, to any of these characters individually. But just take a young beutifull nympho that likes it rough, mix in an old wealthy banker perv, a young 'hot to trot self conscious boyfriend, a bar lizzard drag queen, the son of a prominent politico and you vertainly have the makings of a wonderfully erotic sexual cocktail .... no pun intended ...

This was the first Black Lace series book I picked up-- and I was hooked. Audrey's journey from her first cruel master to Tommy's welcoming-but-frustrated arms, to the upscale lair of Patrick (complete with live-in friend & female impersonator) makes for an interesting tale. The complicated relationship that springs up between Audrey and Patrick is completely plausible, and the story unfolds as both romantic AND erotic. Lots of D/s, S/M-- and a wide variety of partnerings-- straight, bi, and otherwise! Looking forward to reading more from this author. Thanks for the Washington, DC setting, Emma-- we loved it being here! Kudos from the DC Scene!

I have always been a fan of Emma Holly mainly because her novels are very well written with well developed characters and the plot-line is unique. For these reasons alone new readers to the genre of erotica should read an Emma Holly novel. However, what I particularly like is the challenge presented to her readers with each novel. BDSM (bondage domination & sadomasochism) is an area I have mixed feelings about because I associate it with pain, yet I would like to understand its role in relationships. In Cooking Up A Storm and more so in Top Of Her Game, Emma Holly helped me to see that there are various ways in which people use BDSM and she illustrates well its significance in her characters' lives. But I have never fully understood nor appreciated the many levels of BDSM until Velvet Glove. All the elements of an Emma Holly novel are there - it's well written, the plot is unique and interesting and the characters are great. Velvet Glove is a great exploration into two polar sides of BDSM. Readers will get so caught up in the storyline that they will learn about the BDSM culture while enjoying the story. This is a must have for Emma Holly fans and a great introduction for new readers of erotica.

This book left me feeling like I'd just had a one-night stand. It was mildly enjoyable, if you're ok with casual sex a la the 70's, but afterward it just felt dirty.

Had there been no pretense at romance, I might have liked the book better. However, I had a hard time believing that there were any real feelings going on between Audrey and Patrick, and couldn't for the life of me figure out what Patrick would see in Audrey. Basically, the heroine is an empty-headed nymphomaniac and the hero is cold and aloof. I think some statements about Audrey being warm and intelligent or something like that are made somewhere, but every action she took throughout the book showed nothing but stupidity and weakness.

I mean, she takes off with some old guy she barely knows and lets him chain her up and torture her while totally abandoning her apartment, job and friends without a word to anyone. Real smart. Then when she escapes him - literally - she can't wait to jump back into another slave role with another man she barely knows. At least this one is a little better looking. Audrey comes off as nothing more than an witless sex slave. Patrick seemed cold and distant, and I never felt as though I knew him well enough to care about him. It was also hard to respect him after he supposedly fell in love with helpless, naive, incredibly easy twenty-something Audrey.

As in many of Emma's books, the heroine is unable to be in a room with another human for more than five minutes without seducing him or her. This gets old, and a little gross. She really has no standards at all.

I think the most appealing scenes were between Patrick and a transexual man, but they would have been better if Audrey hadn't been present.

So while there were some steamy moments, in the end I couldn't get past Audrey's weak personality and undiscriminating nymphomania. I much prefer Ms. Holly's historical romances, where the characters are better developed and the romantic aspect more believable.

My main advice to everyone is please read beyond the first chapter. I read it and thought it was really not my cup of tea (heavy bondage, S&M) and put it aside. A few months later I picked it up again and proceeded to read past the first chapter and was immediately hooked - now this was the Emma Holly I know and love. There is bondage in this book - the heroine is a sub - but there is also the normal love and tenderness I expect from EH.

Emma Holly's latest book keeps up the style of her earlier books: there is plenty of adventurous sex, mixed with romance and real characterization. It is actually possible to care about the characters and the story, which makes this book considerably more erotic than a list of who did what to whom. There's plenty of variety in this book, a little something for every taste, the S/M is light, but the domination theme was much more compelling (because it was actually based on the psychology of the power situation) than most tough S/M books. The ending was happy and fulfilling, unusual for an erotic novel. I recommend this book highly to anyone who enjoys erotic novels already-this is a cut above the usual. I also recommend it to anyone who usually avoids them for reasons of style, poor plot, or ick factor.

Emma Holly is a very versatile writer who seems to understand people in a rare way, and know every dark fantasy you've ever had, committing it to paper.

Here she veers a little off.

Audrey is much more young and naive than her usual heroines; on a vacation she happily leaves her life to become a disrespected sex slave to a complete stranger, the very old and cold Sterling.

She escapes but he plants a tracking device in her nipple ring and finds she lands back in Boston with her best friend Tommy. He is a whiny mn who worships her and desperately desires sex to the point of pathetic begging and misogynistic demands. With Tommy there are slowly escalating scenes of her dominating him, which seems odd as she is very much a submissive at that point. She even dominates his girfriend Cynthia, yet another person who worships the great and two-dimensional Audrey.

Sterling asks old friend Senator Dugan to keep an eye on her, and Dugan dcides to stick it to him. He knows his son Patrick, a bar owner, is part of the group D/s scene and asks him to master the girl.

Patrick draws Audrey in an an unbelievable stroke of luck and realizes she is too skittish for the group scene. He asks her to move in with him and asks his drag queen nightly performer (at an Irish bar in Boston? What the HELL was Holly thinking????) Basil to pretend to be his gay lover, lulling her into submission.

Patrick discovers he likes men, not as much as women though; Audrey discovers she is a weak willed spineless twit with an amazing, uh, "asset" between her legs who wants to be cossetted and spoiled by day, chained and spanked by night.

Somehow, inexplicably, she falls in love with him and refuses Sterling when he comes for her. It seems without motivation, there is no real relationship between the bar owner and his new pet.

The sex is so weak, it reads like a husband and wife of 30 years decided to try a little light spanking to spice up their sex life. The D/s is nonexistent and the best sex scenes are Basil seducing Audrey when they first meet, Basil seducing Patrick in the kitchen, and Patrick dominating Basil while Audrey watches pretending to be a dominatrix.

The characters aren't fleshed out enough and the sex scenes were A: too far apart, and B: had no sensual anticipation leading up to them.

Audrey, unlike all of her other heroines, seems like an empty-headed spoiled beauty queen and I really would have liked for just one person to not be head-over-heels in love with her. Just one. That is, besides me.

Skip it, and try "Cooking Up A Storm" or "Menage" for her typically GREAT erotica.