Title: A Game of Dress Up
Author: Elliot Mabeuse
Publisher: Elloras Cave 2006
ISBN: 1-4199-0838-3

Rating 5 out of 5

Elliot Mabeuse has written an in depth look at the naughty school girl fantasy. Vanassa enjoys playing dress up, but her dress up fun goes all wrong when Mr. Taylor comes into the house and finds her dressed up like a slut. She can't explain herself without giving herself away. Afterall, who wants to tell anyone that they dress like this only to play out a love scene in their head and masterbate? Mr. Taylor (Rob) could not be more turned on by her outfit and proceeds to take her on a ride that she won't soon forget.

There wasn't much to dislike about this story if you look at it through the characters eyes. Upon opening the file I was a little red in the face, I felt as though I had stepped into someone's fantasy that I didn't belong in. When Mr. Taylor shows up she is constantly telling him no no, but her body continuously shouts yes, yes. It sits in the middle of was this rape or not? But, you have to keep reading and you have to have a deeper understanding of the situation. This is a fantasy story. From start to finish A Game of Dress Up is not based on reality. What is your deep dark fantasy? There usually isn't much reason to it, nor discussion of how it'll be played out. It just is and everything goes right without having to explain yourself.

For Vanessa it seems to be that man who comes through the door and dispite her protests turns her from the young woman she feels like now, into a mature woman who understands sexual desire. He forces himself upon her, and pushes until he hears her moans and her body go limp against his. Then he strips her of her pride and her clothes and takes her until she's begging him not to stop. As with anyone who doesn't understand their own fantasies she feels guilty and dirty afterwards. Then, later agrees to his games. She dresses in the clothes he asks her, then demands her to wear. All the while she's saying, no Mr. Taylor, this is wrong Mr. Taylor, yet, she can't deny the fact that she loves the way it feels to be forced into doing naughty, sometimes even dirty, activities for a man that believes her to be the most attractive woman out there.

The story progresses this way for a while, Rob finds more ways they could meet and then even spend the night together. He can't get enough of her, he's infatuated with her, and sometimes I even wondered if it was a healthy attachment he felt for her. Both of them know that the age difference is wrong, yet neither of them can seem to do anything about it. Finally, Vanessa has had her fill.

It happened when he booked them both a hotel, he dreesed her in the shortest tightest dress he could find, puts on her make up for her, then makes her wear a vibrating egg inside her for a night of gambling. He sends her off to the slot machines by herself and while she's playing he's turning the egg on and off keeping her just on the edge of orgasm. During her play another man shows up and begins talking to her. He's just as excited about the slot machines as she seems to be. Rob, on the other hand isn't so thrilled to see someone else enter the picture and quickly removes Vanessa to a different part of the gambling facility. The men exchange a few words, but nothing happens.

He takes Vanessa dancing and holds her through her orgasms. When he has had his fill of public play he takes her back to his room and gives her a night that she had never even dreamed of having. He binds her hands and attaches the rope to the ceiling. Then pulls out a crop and sends their relationship to the next level. She has never had any of these things done to her before and she is too lost in lust to even try to tell him no for real. Afterwards, he has his way sexually with her and they both fall into bed exhausted and sleep.

Vanessa has other plans however, she has school first thing in the morning and she has to find a way to get across town by bus. She's had enough. Enough of lying to her mother about where she is at, enough of not understanding her overwhelming feelings and enough of being treated like a whore. She leaves him a note on her way out. At the elevator she meets the man from the night before. And if she thought she felt dirty before she better think again. This guy is even creepier than the man she's been with.

Throughout the first half of the book there is a very definite feel of older man, younger woman. So much so I really had to question her age at first. As she grows that age gap feeling goes away and is slowly replaced by a feeling that this woman truly has grown into a mature adult. At first I was creeped out by that feeling. I kept saying Elliot went too far. He should be more careful how he chooses his words. But, then I had to wonder why I didn't put this book down until it was finished. I sat at my computer for four hours and read and read until the last page. So, I came to this conclusion. Elliot Mabeuse knows what he's doing. You feel just as dirty and wrong as she does. I was appalled, yet hot at the same time over Mr. Taylor. He took her fantasy to the next step as anyone who is aware of their partner's fantasies should. He made them real and incorporated his own twists in there to keep her on her toes. So on the one hand I kept saying this is wrong, then I started looking at it from a fantasy point of view and it was a very hot story. I had a little bit of a problem with Mr. Taylor not telling and explaining how Vanessa feels. Why she feels the way she does. What causes her to act the way she does. It's great to be demanding. But, if you want to take on the "who's your daddy" role with someone you should be there to ease their fears. That said, I think if he had explained it all to her it would have killed the conflict in the book. Therefore, I can't really complain about it.

At first glance this book is NOT a BDSM novel. As in the same twisted sense of the whole book it is. It isn't the toys that make it about Domination and submission and it isn't the role playing. It's that point where she trusts him enough to do what he says. Once he refuses to take no for an answer he is able to take her places that she has never been before. After all, isn't trust the most important part of Domination and submission? If she didn't trust him she wouldn't bother to continue to meet him. These two might not use the term Dom and sub, even though slave is used a few times in Vanessa's mind. But, she submits to his wishes, every single time. I think Elliot covered that part very well. The tone and pace of the book were set perfectly to match the circumstances. The writing draws you in and refuses to let up until the last page. Elliot tied in the sex with the plot perfectly, making the sex integral to the story line. Without it he would have had no story. As a reader I understood her attraction to him and his attraction to her. Where most of us would skim over all the interesting details of a fantasy for fear of rejection, he laid it all out in the open. He left nothing out, from her secret inner workings, he covered her uncertainties and guilt, instead of just covering the fun parts. Elliot swung the door wide open and exposed every deep dark secret of this fantasy. I can appreciate and respect that in a writer.