Tell Me...

can something be wonderful and disappointing at the same time? If you were to ask me that question, in reference to this box of prompts and dares, I'd have to say, most emphatically, YES!

I'd ordered I Dare You: 30 Sealed Seductions by Susie Bright as a Valentine's Day present for my husband. Most of the sex games of the same ilk - variations of truth or dare - tend to be pretty stupid (at least the ones I've peeked at). But I figured, hey, this is Susie Bright, should be good, right?

The box is a gorgeous red and black affair, tied closed with a black ribbon. No need for wrapping paper. Inside, 30 gorgeous little envelopes are nestled in black velveteen. Pretty damn sexy. And since they were sealed, there was no sneaking a look ahead of time.

So, let's set the scene. Candle-lit bedroom. Box of dark chocolate truffle-filled hearts. Long-married couple that aren't as comfortable talking about sex as having it (even though one of them writes erotica and loves to talk about sex). Bottle of champagne. Add a box of I Dare You cards, mix well.

After a glass, maybe two, we started playing. My husband, it being his gift, drew the first envelope. A lovely ecru, they're not exactly easy to open. Problem number one. We both thought that they should have used that magic sticky note glue so they wouldn't tear. That's just our practical side coming out.

The first card was an I Dare You card. It was a pretty cool one too - but totally impractical right then. Problem number two.  Many of the Dare cards are not easily done "on the spot." We're not about to order take out at 11:30pm when we just had an expensive dinner out. And now, having gone through the whole set, all but a few are ones that left us sort of puzzled. My husband said that most of the suggested activities did not seem like a turn on, and were "more weird" than erotic. And since it's supposed to be a dare it should "be a trust thing but also have a mutual payoff." Also, I felt that some of the dare cards required more thought than action, too easy to get sidetracked with the details.

The Tell Me cards were better, because they got conversations started. And let me tell you, I love talking about sex, but Mr. E and I just have not done that much talking. So, even though we've been married a long time, there is plenty we don't know about each other and our sexual thoughts and experiences, etc.

Now, a week and a half later, we've looked at all the cards. There are some Dare cards that we'll definitely come back to another time. And there are even some Tell Me cards that probably could be revisited. But all in all, that's it.

BUT… even though in some ways this box of card wasn't as mind-blowing as we'd have liked (well, okay, as I would have liked), it did get us talking. That was my purpose in getting them. And Mr. E did come up with a very good I Dare You all on his own that night. And the box gave us ideas. It occurred to me that we could each write our own I Dare You and Tell Me cards.

So, all in all, I'd say that getting these cards was money very well spent. I'm very glad I got them. Because since that night, we've been talking more. So, thank you Susie!

Note: This was damn hard to write (yes Danielle, this is the post I've been promising for more than a week). It's hard to explain why you really liked something that you were disappointed in. Plus I tend to always feel like I'm not nearly as eloquent with my explanations as I'd like to be. But now, at 52, I've decided that I'd rather "dare" something that I might not be good at instead of playing it safe.