If I were a drinking woman, which I can’t be, I would be a Scotch kind of woman. The few times I’ve tried Scotch, I’ve liked it, so there it is. I also am a huge fan of scoundrels. I mean, my first crush was Han Solo, you can’t get much more of a scoundrel than him. Harrison Ford, yummmmm. Hmmm, maybe my head version of Victor Drayton will now be Harrison Ford in a super sharp suit. Anyway, what does my little digression have to do with anything? Well, that’s because Victor Drayton, the hero of Scoundrels & Scotch is always sharp looking in his expensive suits.
S&S is the third book in Alta’s Top Shelf series. It’s also the one I’ve been looking forward to the most. Don’t get me wrong, I liked the other two books, and Harley has a special place in my heart, but Victor Drayton and Drayton’s Dolls is something I’ve been looking forward to reading since they were first mentioned.
So, Victor is a performance artist. He uses a very particular type of material to create his art and his pieces tend to be very sexual and taboo in nature. His material is his Dolls. These are beautiful young women who he has trained, dressed up as dolls, and displays as his art. He has taken them all over the world and shown them in all kinds of ways. He’s also a founding member of Spiked Roses, New Orleans’ premier kink club. Together with the rest of the founding partners, he has agrred to strict rules for the staff, so that they don’t have problems like they had before. That includes a zero tolerance policy for drugs. Anyone who tests positive for drugs is immediately fired. No ifs, ands, or buts, they are out on their butts.
Ivy is one of the waitresses at Spiked Roses. She works hard, does as many Tastings as she can, and loves her job. She also got busted doing drugs. She says that she’s not a junky, but she does have a good reason for doing them, on occasion. The problem is, that even if she only does them every now and again, she tested dirty for drugs and that means that she is going to be fired. However, Victor is willing to offer Ivy a job.
Victor wants Ivy to be one of his Dolls. He knows that she will be a beautiful Doll and covets her for his collection. More than that, he also wants to possess her in other ways. As one of his Dolls, he will be able to have her whenever he wants, as well as spank her, or use one of his other, more creative punishments. She will be perfect for his collection and for his art.
Ivy takes him up on his offer and goes off to be one of the famous Drayton’s Dolls. She learns what being a Doll is all about and puts a lot of work into becoming a Doll and being a credit to Victor’s artistic views.
Time for you to choose, dear reader, which path you shall take. We know which one I’m going to take, in fact, I’m off to blaze it for you. Aren’t I such a nice, nice person? S&S is, thus far, the darkest of the series, less mindfucky than V&V was, but darker overall. The kink is very kinky and damn hot. The story did make me sad on occasion, when you read it, you will see where I got sad, and I’ll be you get sad there too. Honestly, go read this story, especially if you love to read kinky kink that is put into a good story. Each of these books can be read as a stand-alone, but you will enjoy them more if you read the entire series. They aren’t in any kind of larger story arc, but they do interconnect, so you will get the world a little better if you have read the other books.
Pretty, pretty dollie, right? When I was out looking for pictures for this post, I ran across all kinds of doll pix. You have to be really careful when you put in search terms looking for pix like this. Some of the pix I found were… horrifying. But, some of them were like this, beautiful and perfect. I now have a doll folder on my computer in my smutty pictures files.
Anyway, Victor’s punishments are really interesting. I love the whole doll stand. That was just wow. That was just such a wicked, wicked idea.
I liked seeing Harley, like I said, he has a special place in my heart. I hated seeing him for the reason that we did, because that was terrible, and that’s why I thought that the story was darker overall than even Harley’s book.
I was sad for Victor for what happened, although, he was a tad bit short-sighted, or maybe just obsessively focused on what he was doing with his art. I hope his further artistic endeavors are as interesting. I’d love to get a glimpse into what he and Ivy are doing in later books.
So, this is all I have to say about this one. Later tonight, you’ll get the first half of my review of Alien Alphas, and tomorrow will be the other half, plus a brand new to me author. Keep your eyes peeled for that. Meanwhile, happy reading!
In Between the Pages 