Now it may be just me, but with all the recommendations I have heard over the years for the book "The Loving Dominant", I actually expected quite a bit more than what it actually is. Not to take anything away from John Warren or anything as I have read quite a few of his articles here and there on this and that.
The problem comes in when the book is not at all what I expected it to be. In fact, it is quite a bit less than what I expected it to be and what the title suggests that is within the pages of the book. What makes it worse is that right on the cover has a little subtitle calling it "new and improved".
Good gods, how bad was it beforehand?
Its not a bad book, from what I have read of it, but it is...well its just not what I was looking for. When I think of a book entitled "Loving Dominant" I sorta somewhat expect essays and treatise and things of that nature on the various facets of a D/s type of relationship. Theory and philosophy so to speak. And that is not what I found.
Oh that part is in there, for all of maybe ten pages, but its very glossed over in favor of "this is how you play with this toy" which takes up well over 95 percent of the book. Very dissapointed. I know very well how to play and how to use all the various impliments gone over in the book as I have a good deal of them myself. And if I wanted a How-to type of toy manual I would have gone out and got one.
What I expected was a book that focused on the relationship aspect and the power exchange and things of that nature, not what I actually got. What I expected was a book on Dominant and submissive relationships, not a top and bottom play manual.
And the fuck of it is, John and Libby Warren, at the very least in this book, make any relationship based on D/s or what have you, seem to be limited and relegated only to the play aspect and nothing else. Not only is that disengenous, its insulting.
I'm going to finish the book all the way through, probably thinking the whole time that "Screw the Roses" is a much better book for this sort of thing as well as a great many other aspects, but I'm gonna finish the damn thing.
And I so hope that the other book I have on order is a more satisfying buy. My recommendation, is unless you really don't know anything about BDSM, D/s, M/s or any of that sort of thing. You're better off passing this book by. Its not going to be helpful to anyone looking for a real relationship that doesn't focus solely on the playtime S/M aspects.