Book Review - The English Professor by Rachel de Vine

 

 
 

Five Stars!

You know that feeling when you finish a book and then you're a bit sad because it means you can't read that book any more? There's probably a term for it - Reader Drop, or something. Anyway, that's exactly how I felt when I finished Rachel de Vine's The English Professor.

This is a wonderful book. The story spans twenty years and envelops the reader so completely that by the time you reach the last page, you don't want to leave.

Eleanor is in her final year of university when she meets English professor, Dan Jamieson. His admiration for her as a talented English student develops into something more and their feelings for one another develop over a mutual love of literature, classic erotica and, eventually, kinky sex.

This book has a lot to answer for.

Their brief love affair is beautifully described and scorchingly hot. Unfortunately, it is also inevitably doomed. Because he is her professor after all, and recreating scenes from The Story of O with one of the students in your class is generally frowned upon by University authorities.

The book begins with Eleanor expressing regret for the mistakes of the last twenty years and tells the reader that 'having met up with Dan again', she wanted the opportunity to tell both their stories. This serves as warning from the very first page that the paths of these two protagonists isn't going to be a straightforward journey to sexy, kinky true love.

And, my god, it really isn't. This book will tie your heart up in knots, then break it and then put it all back together again. In a good way.

Alongside Eleanor and Dan, there are a host of wonderfully realised supporting characters. The best of which is literary agent, Betty Conway, a no-nonsense lesbian with a fantastic line in dry humour and caustic comments who is nevertheless an understated champion of Eleanor and Dan's love.

The cover of this book - although very pretty - almost does it a disservice. This isn't a "Seduced by my Sexy Professor" XXXX bit of porny fluff (although to be fair, I do like a bit of porny fluff too sometimes).

This is a story of love, of life, of missed opportunities and a message to the reader that something that has been lost does not have to stay lost forever.

Rachel de Vine's The English Professor is available on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.

Spankless in Surrey

It's thirty six days since I went further than my front garden and I'm fine. You know, the way Ross Geller was totally fine.


It's thirty-seven days since I saw my lovely Gentleman Friend. I'm isolating over here with my elderly parents and he's isolating over there with his grown-up sons and, once again, it's totally fine.

We've been doing whatever it is we do for over three years now. We don't live together and, except for when we've been on holiday, we usually see each other about three times a week. So each individual day is OK because it's just a day when I'm not seeing him.

But after a month, the cumulative effect of not seeing the man I am in love with is starting to take its toll.  It's not just the lack of sex and spanking although, obviously, there is a lack of sex and spanking. I am a regular reader of Girl on the Net's excellent blog but I may have to ban myself from reading it for a bit because it's hard to read about someone getting thoroughly fucked and enthusiastically beaten when you're not getting any of that sort of attention yourself.

"Do you know how lucky you are isolating with your partner, Girl on the Net?" I want to shout at her. "A damn hard spanking would do wonders for my anxiety right now!"

At least Girl on the Net gets to take her mind off the craziness that is the world right now for a bit.

I'm sure she does know how lucky she is. Just as I appreciate how lucky I am. This may be the longest I've gone without a spanking since early 2017 but, you know what, I am lucky that I have a lovely man in my life who - were current circumstances different from what they are - would be more than happy to bend me over and do all manner of deliciously naughty BDSM things to me.

I have joked that he is currently on furlough as my boyfriend. He has pointed out that it's not like either one of us are going to meet anyone else for the next few months. We are a pair of fucking romantics, clearly.

We chat, we message, we send stupid memes to one another. We are making a lot of plans for the future. Most of these plans feature my arse.

But like I said, it's not primarily the sex or the spanking that I am missing right now. Even though he is very good at both those things.

My most explicit fantasy about him right now, involves him coming round with chips from the Happy Fish Bar down the road and then us snuggling on the sofa with the cats and watching Death in Paradise.

A few weeks ago, that was just a regular Friday night, now it's the stuff that my wildest dreams are made of.

Ooh yeah, baby. Give it to me.