Like a train wreck, you want to look away, but you can't.

I picked up Beauty & Submission on a whim, after reading the back cover. I have recently begun to read a few BDSM and thought this book would help broaden my knowledge of the submissive aspect. I was disappointed with the outcome.

I thought the book held more issues with jealousy and swinging than the day-to-day life of a lifestyle submissive. I also thought that the slave seemed to switch between a dominant/submissive role. There were quite a few references to watersports which were personally not my cup o' tea, as you might say.

I did not enjoy all the pages where she "quoted" from her other novels. I believe the book would have been half the size if these would have been cut from the copy. It felt like an attempt to sell her other books.

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Where was the editor?

Technically this was an exercise in tautology, and albeit the author admits that they are events not presented chronologically/linerally, the whole thing came off as a repetitive scrapbook of free associative ramblings. Cultural allusions were off and revealed just a shallow dip into areas of interest; just deep enough to create a character for a sexual fantasy.
Every D/s relationship defines it's own perimeters, but this is the most silly top from the bottom (with a side of kink) i've ever read. Any girl who needs to prover her worth and devotion by degrading any and all around her isn't creating a deeper bond of submission, but pathetically wallowing in a misplaced sense of value (with a heaping side of self-image issues).

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Review from FRM Magazine, U.K.

Maria Isabel Pita not only writes about the SM lifestyle, having penned a string of sensual romances with punishment themes, she also lives it 24 hours a day. Having related how she met her Master, Stinger, and was introduced to the fetish and swinging scenes by him in her previous autobiographical book, The story of M - A Memoir, she goes on to outline the second year of her relationship with him in Beauty & Submission... In addition to her own journal entries, Maria uses extracts from her most recently published novels to show how the fiction she writes reflects her attitudes to sex and submission.

Beauty & Submission is worth reading not only for its insight into Maria's life as a 24/7 slave... but also for its descriptions of the American swinging and fetish scenes, which seem, from Maria's experiences at least, to be much more polarised than their UK equivalents. Maria's honesty cannot help but be endearing, as it reinforces the validity of the submissive lifestyle and inspires others to embrace it...

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