Yanking on The Silver Chain

You know it's crunch time when your book is finally sent out to a raft of reviewers who are asked to say honestly, generously, and/or brutally, exactly what they think of the book you were slaving over for the best part of six months, including revisions. You tiptoe up to the pages, for example on Goodreads, glance down the list of reviews, note the number (if any) of stars. Swerve away.Avert your eyes. Five. Wow! Four. Great! Three stars. Not so great. One or two. Avert your eyes when you catch the comment 'I didn't even want to give two!' You know these are going to be pretty blistering.
   So, the negative comments so far. Come on, gotta face it. And learn from it.It's a good thing at last not to be writing in isolation all the time. They all seem to revolve around two areas. One, interestingly, is how to classify the book, ie whether or not to compare this with 50 Shades and the Crossfire series, or whether that is misleading.I acknowledge the influence of 50 Shades but twixt you and me I aimed to write something tighter and better. If you are looking for a lot of BDSM content, toys, aids, constraint, domination, etc, then this isn't for you. There are some significant punishment scenes, but the symbolism of the Silver Chain itself is to bind the lovers, not restrain them. The whole reason I went into the new erotic romance genre when I was honestly about to hang up my handcuffs was to be able to concentrate on the developing of an intense relationship, rather than filling pages with a series of sex scenes linked by a flimsy story line.
    Secondly, there have been remarks about the single point of view which leads to a certain amount of internal 'dialogue' (I think they mean monologue). Perhaps I'll explore dual points of view in another novel, to open it up. I don't think I can do that now, having completed two out of three solely from Serena's angle. The questioning and observations of Serena as she goes about her new life with Gustav also leads some commentators to find this a slow burn, rather than a romp. I do relish language and have enjoyed indulging in the freedom to write as I want. So for 'slow' others have read 'lush prose'.
    My Avon Ladies have tried to forward me some 'wonderful' reviews, but spookily I can't download them. What can that mean, I wonder?

Here are some of the good ones:

'I really loved the book - it was different - but good different.. I can't wait for book 2 - the cliffhanger really left me hanging! I want to know what happens with Serena and Gustav!' B J's Book Blog

'I really loved it. Primula Bond knows how to write interesting, engaging and fascinating relationships.' Northern Lass

'I felt the story was quite well written and it took me a day to read as I romped through it and didn't want to put it down.' Goodreads.

And here is what anyone not rooting for me looks like: