A Change in Our Marriage by Sara Desmarais

I’m not sure there’s any such thing as the perfect erotic novel, but Sara Desmarais comes damn close with A Change in Our Marriage. I can’t say enough good things about this read – it aroused me, amused me, intrigued me, and delighted me with every virtual turn of the page. It’s clear that a great deal of thought went into this book, both in terms of plot and theme, which is a level of professionalism we see all too rarely in electronic publishing.

Nearly all of my favourite fetishes are explored here: cuckolding, forced feminization, female domination, humiliation, mind control, pegging, cum-eating, and forced bisexuality. What makes it all work so well is the way in which Sara so careful develops the psychological coercion, alongside the physical domination.

Right from the start, Sara manipulates John into heading down the path she has chosen for their relationship. He thinks she’s stumbled onto his cuckolding fetish, and is so wracked by guilt that he’ll do anything to appease her rage. When we discover that it’s actually Sara who secretly turned him onto the fetish, carefully setting him up so that she can pursue her own twisted fetish . . . well, let’s just say my mind wasn’t the only thing that was blown.

Sara is in complete control every step of the way, but succeeds in breaking John’s spirit by granting him the illusion of control. Time and time again she leads him down the path of temptation, putting ideas into his head, and then teasing him to the edge of arousal, before suddenly turning the tables and forcing him to make a decision. She gives him the chance to either take things further, or to back out entirely, but always does so in such a way that there’s really no choice but to go forward. Sara gets inside his head, using the threat of post-arousal humiliations to make him readily accept them while still aroused and open to enjoying them.

For me, the turning point in the novel came rather late, with a bit of enforced role playing. Sara turns her bedroom into a brothel, her hubby into a whore, and herself into the well-hung stud she’s been cuckolding him with. As Steve, she not only physically reinforces their new roles (violating Julie orally and anally with her strap-on dildo), but she talks about their relationship from the bull’s point of view, reminding John of who he is and what he’s allowed his wife to do. It’s the first time she really treats Julie as a complete woman, and the first time she forces her hubby to be completely lost in the illusion of pleasing a man.

This is a read that’s as emotionally powerful as it is exhausting. Slowly and inevitably, John (a slightly submissive hubby with a bit of a transvestite fetish) is transformed into Julie (a caged cuckold with a hormonally-induced borderline transsexual condition). The gender roles in the relationship are slowly reversed, with Sara continually reinforcing Julie’s femininity. For me, that respect was the key to the whole story – she never treats him as a sissy, never mocks his submissive femininity, and never treats him as if he’s gay. Instead, she nurtures the woman hidden inside him, making it entirely natural and acceptable for him to desire a man (not another man, but simply a man). There’s definitely some question as to how much of Julie’s transformation is born of her own hidden desire, and how much is the result of Sara’s careful manipulation, but eventually it all blends together.

Finally, what puts the book over the top is the fact that Sara and John/Julie never lose their love for one another. Rather than looking to escape the relationship or destroy her husband, Sara is looking to adjust their relationship so that it can accommodate her sexual needs. Not just an arousing, amusing, intriguing, and delightful read, but a respectful and empowering one as well.

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