Hill was one of the first and is certainly one of the most successful erotic romance authors to use BDSM to construct both the identities of her main characters and the trajectory of their romance narratives. Prior to Hill's groundbreaking Nature of Desire series, almost all erotic romance that depicted BDSM positively showed BDSM only as a series of sexual practices, not as an identity; indeed, prior to Hill's positive depiction of polysexuality, a happy ending and BDSM identity were rarely allowed to coexist. (49)