*Book source ~ NetGalley

Substitute teacher Cerise Norrell’s life would be perfect if she could just find the right sub to obey her very specific Domme demands. About ready to give up her search, she goes to a BDSM-type Speed Dating event and meets William Gentry. William is known in the community as Chilly Willy because his skin is always cool to the touch. She agrees to give him a chance and William is ecstatic. He believes he’s finally found the Domme he’s been searching for throughout his very long life, the one who will put an end to his loneliness and satisfy his every need. But he’s got a huge secret and his Mistress Cherry has a crap-load of baggage. Will they be able to work through their issues or are they doomed to be alone forever?

The description of this story is what hooked me. A Domme looking for a specific type of submissive and when she finds him it turns out he’s a vampire. Come on! That’s intriguing! I love Femdom especially when the sub is a big strong guy or in this case, supernaturally strong and one you would think would be the one in charge. I love the juxtaposition. If you’re expecting a lot of kinkiness then this really isn’t the BDSM book for you. However, if you like role play then this is it. Cerise’s fetish is role playing and she never likes to do the same scene twice. The variety is wonderful and the sex is pretty good. Not overly graphic, but more hot, steamy and even sweet. I wouldn’t call this erotica, per se, but it’s definitely paranormal romance with a lot of steam. And I mentioned sweet, right? Because it is. Cerise and William have issues that they need to work out and there were plenty of times I wanted to smack Cerise, but overall I enjoyed their story. ( )

When I first read the synopsis for Mina Vaughn’s How to Discipline Your Vampire, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it because it sounded like a really fun read. While Vaughn does deliver on humor, the romance aspect between Cerise and William was a bit underdeveloped.

Cerise Norrell is a substitute school teacher by day and a Domme by night. Unable to find a sub worthy of her and her expectations, she offers trial periods to potential candidates. No one seems to interest her or able to meet her demands, but then out of nowhere William Gentry appears and he’s ready to submit. Together Cerise and William embark on a test period to see if they’ll be a match. William surprises Cerise by meeting her demands and oftentimes exceeding expectations. When William wants to take things further than their agreement, Cerise is prepared to walk away. Will William be able to get Cerise to open up about her past and will Cerise believe William’s secret?

Writing is first person narrative using dual perspectives from both Cerise and William. Vaughn has a talent for mixing humor throughout the novel. I laughed at William’s nickname among the community, “Chilly Willy.” It’s also very clear that Vaughn understands teenagers and the interaction between Cerise and the kids at school was believable. Vaughn also incorporates William’s history throughout the narration using journal entries and I really enjoyed those! We have good character development and both Cerise and William grow as the story progresses. Although we have several secondary characters, none play a huge role and basically are just there to fill out the daily activities our main protagonists.

I’ll come out and say William’s secret since the title hints at it: William is a Vampire. We’re accustomed to the brooding, sexy, and very alpha vampire that makes us…ahem…quiver all over. William is different in the sense he’s very much a beta hero and I know a few readers might be turned off because they don’t want to see a male character give up control. Vaughn; however, does add a little twist to the whole D/s (Dominant/submissive) relationship. When we finally get to know Cerise’s past and why she prefers to be a substitute teacher, William issues an ultimatum. It’s here that the D/s relationship changes and William, himself, takes control of their future. Don’t take William’s desire to be dominated as a weakness because he’s very much in control.

I know a few people have commented about how misrepresented BDSM is and while I agree, I see Vaughn’s How to Discipline Your Vampire as a satire. She’s not making fun of the lifestyle, but rather shows her respect for it using tongue-in cheek humor. Think about it-before Fifty Shades of Grey, if someone mentioned BDSM, we’d either think of the Marquis De Sade or think of someone being perverted. Here, Vaughn takes aspects of it and twists it slightly with it taking place alongside a world where Vampires exist.

While I did enjoy Vaughn’s ability to tell a story, I felt we were missing a few key pieces. The conflict between Cerise and William regarding an ex-sub of Cerise’s is a bit flat. You can tell early on that he’s going to cause trouble at some point, but he never does. When the ex is finally relevant, William doesn’t believe Cerise’s explanation which causes them to go their separate ways. Believable? Not really, especially since Cerise believes he’s a Vampire! William could have easily done research using the public archives. Furthermore, I really couldn’t feel the attraction between Cerise and William. It sort of felt as if they came together because each needed something and that was it.

If you’re looking to spend a lazy weekend reading or have had a difficult work day, Mina Vaughn’s How to Discipline Your Vampire is the book to read. Fans of erotica or paranormal romance, I suggest downloading a sample before proceeding to see if you like what you read. I am looking forward to reading Vaughn’s future books. ( )

This was originally a mediocre fanfic with a lot of similarities to the source material. This "novel" just shows a lack of creativity. ( )

Unfortunately, as soon as I found out this books origins in Twilight FanFic, I couldn't stop looking for comparisons. It stopped me even truly reading it so I can't write a review that would be fair.

The original summary for the fan fic: Bella is a math teacher by day, a strict Domme by night. Edward is a sub looking for someone to punish him for his misdeeds. Probably the only BDSM comedy you will ever read. Probably the only vamp-subward you’ll ever meet.

This had to be one of the most laughably bad Twilight fan fictions every posted on the internet. While I believe the author intended it to be cheeky, it overshoot that goal and became a ridiculous trainwreck pretty freaking quick.

Then again the premise is pretty silly. Bella, or in this case Cerise (why can't any of these published Bella's have a regular name like Jane?), is a mild mannered teacher by day and a sassy Domme by night. Her life is turned upside down when she takes on a new client who happens to be a vampire.

I'm curious to see how much "Mina" aka Snowwhiteheart stripped away from the Twilight world. Since she regularly forgot the Stephenie Meyer's Twilight mythos in regard to the sparkly stone hard vampires when writing the lulz worthy sex scenes that felt more clinical than sexy.

Don't even get me started on the offensively inaccurate portrayal of BDSM (not to mention sex work, let's not even go there). Please for the love of all that's holy do not take a shred of what Domme Bella or Cerise (god what the fuck with that name?) says to be accurate. In fact, she's about the worse Domme I've seen in action. I wouldn't trust this woman with a toy dog, muchless a human submissive. Which is sadly not that different than a lot of FAKE BDSM erotica on the market. Written my ignorant and/or misinformed people who want to capitalized on the taboo while having little to no regard or respect for the community of real life people they're stigmatizing.

Then again that kind of lazy writing characterizes this story as a whole. This is all tell and very little show. With excessive amounts of Thesaurus abuse, where Edward's voice is velvety, sultry and every other kind of $0.02 descriptor you can think of, but there's no real depth to his character that is actually shown on the page. He, much like Bella are two dimensional paper dolls being moved through the story not by realistic motivations, but contrived plot devices and forced emotions.

That's the thing, as a fan fic that's dependent on your knowledge that these characters are the Edward and Bella from Twilight, the story is hollow, and soulless. Half of the humor is in referencing the source material, and without that this is just watching two empty people going through the motions.

Oh, who [Spoiler Alert] fall in love and of course, live happily ever after. Because that's what Edward and Bella ALWAYS do. I doubt that part, or much of anything in this story has been changed other than the names.

Let's hope for the sake of whomever buys this book she spent some of the advance she got from the publisher on a good editor and some writing classes, because even at $1.99 I can't see this sad little story being worth even one cent of someone's hard earned money.

This is a fun waste of time, that you could laugh at with your friends, when it was free Twilight fan fiction, but I have a hard time believing that even the most skilled writer and editing team could breath life or depth into it.
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