I should write a proper review for Sandstone, as my previous review gave the impression that I wrote it with one hand only, and that's a shame.

I discovered Sunstone in the Humble Bundle, but man, it was something else. The BDSM part, sure, it was ok - after all, I won't lie to you Stjepan really knows how to draw good erotica. In a sense, I find the BDSM part the weakest - mainly because it's a personal introduction to the phenomenon, and while he tries to portray BDSM in a positive light (because it can be positive, like the author proves) he somehow overdoes it at the expense of character building and story. This is not a mistake he perpetuates, as the future issues are not suffocated with all these „what BDSM is and what it's not”. The whole BDSM part feels a lot like: „you know, I like something weird, let me explain why it's ok”. And it's ok, only that it feels weird and fake at times; because all of a sudden this is such a clean phenomenon - and we know it isn't; not only it is not, but what Stjepan describes is toy-BDSM, more like it. And I totally respect that, because he hangs on the safe-er side of the spectrum, and he talks about all the good parts, and I'm down with that (with talking about the good parts). It's all positive, but he is terribly preachy. I get it why, but still, the feeling is there.

What he manages to do amazingly well is the remote relationship, and that feeling of meeting someone for the first time. The over-enthusiasm, the imposed auto-limitations that follow, and all the stress of „oh my god it will happen” which he really captures incredibly well in the first volume. And while the characters are somewhat undefined for the time being, it does make sense - as the characters themselves are in the magic moment of getting-to-know-each-other. And it makes sense to have the characters not very well defined, and knowing the rest of the volumes I know that his characters grow in an interesting way - and, what's important, there's less overt sex and more relationship.

And the relationship is cute from the start to the end of the volume. It's an amazingly wonderful story, I love it, I love how it develops, how humane it is. That's why I loved this volume, my god, that's a superb development for a relationship. The emotion, the humanity, oh, it was just lovely. And that makes up for the somewhat boring preachiness about ideal BDSM. I guess, it was necessary for a wider audience.