♥♥♥♥♥♥: Sweet Confessions edited by Violet Blue

Sweet Confessions
Violet Blue et al.

Release Date: July 1st, 2011

Publisher: Cleis Press

Page Count: 188

Source: Complimentary copy provided by Naked Reader Book Club in exchange for an honest an unbiased review

speak your secret desire

In Sweet Confessions, Violet Blue showcases inspirational "you can do it, too" tales that are perfect bedtime reading for lovers. These outrageously sexy stories break the mold in literary excellence. The lust-inciting fantasies include spanking, exhibitionism, role-playing, three-ways and sensual adventures that will embolden real couples to reach new heights of passion. "Waisted," by Angela Caperton, is a Cinderella story of corset fetish sex, while Liv Olson's couple in "All Shaved Up" take turns daring each other to smooth down and go further. "The Female Gaze" by Rachel Kramer Bussel is a showstopper of sexual confession and romantic lust and risk, and Alison Tyler's nooner in "Counterpane" proves just how exciting the familiar can be when you fully unleash your fantasies. In Violet Blue's own words, "The stories I've chosen are explicit, well thought-out, cleverly crafted and arousing as hell. Trust me. I tried it all at home."

What Stephanie Thinks: Overall this was just an eh anthology for me. There are lots of fetishes I'm not fond of, and thus couldn't find myself enjoying. My 6 heart rating doesn't reflect my disfavor for the fetishes, but rather, my inability to really get into the stories because of this distaste. This isn't just about the topics either. I feel Violet Blue wasn't as careful in selecting stories for this one, because some of them were just boring. There are a few fantastic mind-blowing stories, yes, but also many mediocre, unmemorable ones too.

Because it has been highly requested when I've reviewed erotica anthologies in the past, I'll do brief summaries for each individual story and my takes on them as well:

'Smell As Sweet' by Heidi Champa — a kinky coworker sends the eager Liz demands for used panties right at the workplace. What he does with them, she doesn't want to know... or does she? Pretty amusing story. Well-written, hot in all the right places. Used-panty fetishists will enjoy this one more.

'Bad Influences' by Devyn Christopher — nnamed narrator takes advantage of her birthday festivities by claiming her man, Jason. Explicit story, more intense than sensual; features a conceptual gender shift, a sinfully-sodomized fantasy, as well as the dynamics of a stable, but still-flourishing relationship. Aggressive voice, what I call erotica for men. Not the best of this collection, but still good.

'Internet Café au Lay' by Kayar Silkenvoice — Kurt's horny lover seduces him at Seabiscuits, a very chique and very crowded internet café. I absolutely adored this story. The public sex setting is thrilling, and the straight couple realistic. Silkenvoice's voice is strong: flows smoothly and packs a punch.

'Silver Screen' by Portia Da Costa — Harry sends his cautious lover to a sleazy adult cinema to encounter him as a stranger. The two will not know each other, but they will have a rocking time in the seats of this porn theater while more action takes place onscreen. The thing is, in the dark, Harry just as might be an actual stranger to his girl... This was a hot read! If you like role-playing and the sex with strangers motif, you'll drool over this one.

'The Contender' by Jacqueline Applebee — a girl decides to trace her uncle's boxing roots to a boxing ring where sweaty, muscular boxers thrive. They sneer at her, but it's about time she show them her own fight... which just might turn into a private show. Typical porn storyline, but still liked it.

'Sacred Places' by Sophie Mouette — a couple embarks on a getaway, only to come across a monastery that they're so tempted to experiment in. The concept is fantastically holy and fantastically wrong, which is why I found this one exciting. Not my favorite of the book, though.

'Counterpane' by Alison Tyler — Lia and her sinfully British lover, Ry, make love in synch with an adult performance on television. Hot! Short and sweet, I love Tyler's voice, and her ability to bring characters to life.

'Waisted' by Angela Caperton — Kate and Graham explore their bedroom desires with the assistance of a tightly-wound corset. The eroticism of this discomfort, this pain, makes this story explosive.

'Underpants' by K. D. Grace — Dan and his lover explore the naughtiness and arousal of, no, not the sexy black thong, but the white cotton knickers. Fetish story for lingerie targeted toward innocent youngsters, or perhaps more mature women (dare we call them granny panties?).

'Red' by Piper Morgan — Bode and Amelia run away to the wilderness for the weekend to play out Bode's most precious fantasy: the wolf scene of Little Red Riding Hood. This was an erotic twist to the folk tale, really smooth and a good parallel.

'The Hotel' by Anika Ray — Adam and his lover pose as 'Jared' and 'Arianna' to fulfill their mutual fantasy: the meeting at a bar as strangers scene. The F Bar, in the hotel they 'meet for the first time' at, is the perfect bar setting, and the room above, an even better encounter. This one's pretty short but still sexy regardless!

'Underwear' by Kay Jaybee — Leah, a door-to-door lingerie saleswoman encounters a fierce and eager couple. She models for them, and even, uh... does a little more for them, and in the end, realizes she's met two extraordinary people that aren't just another hookup. Ménage (f/f/m) story that was on the longish side. Dragged on a bit. Still pretty clever in concept though, I love the underwear saleswoman role!

'All Shaved Up' by Liv Olson — Brad shows Millie the world of pubic shaving and trimming. Shaving fetishists? Anyone? I'll admit the image of a lover shaving your privates is kind of hot... but for an erotica story, it the hair and the shaving cream—it isn't attractive. Don't get me wrong, Olson writes with a fresh, contemporary style and offers an explosive sex scene, but this fetish isn't for me.

'New Day, New Life' by Andrea Dale — cute ménage story (f/f/m) involving Rachelle, her husband Mike, and an attractive, intelligent tour guide, Eliska. I liked the vacation scene (gorgeous Prague!).

'An Age Play' by Regina Kammer — hands down, my favorite story in this anthology! Jean's a renown romance author, and she and her husband, Mark often play out the fantasies (swash-buckling pirates and ripe virgin maidens galore!) in her novels. Lately, however, the two have been eyeing the younger generation—I mean, fresh-faced, naïve, and enthusiastic — what's not to love? When Jean goes to England on a research trip, she runs into a college student she knows from dance class, Eric, someone she's irrevocably been attracted to for years. With Mark's permission, she seduces him—he is legal now, after all!—and even teaches him a few lessons along the way. I love cougar stories, especially forbidden extramarital ones ;) Kammer has a brilliant style and her characters are really well-fleshed-out.

'Are You Sure?' by Alexander Liboiron — a couple tests the comfort zones of their sexual relationship via toys and ties. I liked the light BDSM and toys in this story, but it wasn't that great. Kind of bored me overall.

'Jenna's Gambit' by Jeremy Edwards — Eric and Jenna have an after-clubbing romp that's heavy on D/s. They're both urolagniacs. Can't say I've ever read erotica with golden showers before. Gross, but I'm open-minded to reading. It was a pretty good story aside from this fetish I just could never get into.

'The Female Gaze' by Rachel Kramer Bussel — Alex and Rory, who've been steady for a long time now, take risks in the bedroom by actualizing a long-desired yet oppressed fantasy of bringing another man into the bedroom. Great m/m/f ménage story, with Bussel's lyrical style and feisty characters.

Stephanie Loves: "He could've put on lipstick and a dress and panties, but she didn't want him as a girlie girl, but a girl like her: a tough girl turned liquid at the helm of a big strong man. She wanted him to know what it was like to submit so fully, so wondrously, that everything else disappeared." —from 'The Female Gaze'

Radical Rating: 6 hearts — Satisfying for a first read, but I'm not going back. ♥♥♥♥♥♥

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥: G Is for Games edited by Alison Tyler

G Is for Games (Erotic Alphabet #7)
Alison Tyler et al.

Release Date: July 28th, 2007

Publisher: Cleis

Page Count: 137

Source: Complimentary copy provided by Naked Reader Book Club in exchange for an honest and unbiased review (thank you!)

Feeling lucky?

Games of skill and games of chance are rife with sexual possibilities. The clever feint that lets your opponent think he's got the upper hand, the thrill of risking everything on a sudden, bold gambit, the visceral charge of raking in a pile of chips, and then, of course, there's something to be said for cheating...

From party games to devilish gambles, here are stories to get you in the mood to play.

There's a particular excitement in taking a gamble, a certain thrill in knowing that your every move will influence the unknown outcome of a game. Tyler's anthology in the Erotic Alphabet series maybe be petite and pocket-sized, but it definitely packs a powerful punch into its pages so small.

There's nothing unsophisticated about each of these short stories. They're shameless, yes, but they're also polished and provocative. The quality of the writing is wonderful, which I really appreciate (because typo-less erotica so hard to come across!), but that's what I've gotten used to with most Cleis Press and Alison Tyler books. The authors themselves are prolific; some of my favorite are included, including Cheyenne Blue and Rachel Kramer Bussel.

The stories each are different, in that they feature different thrilling situations or different seductive games. It's never just a round of strip poker or Spin the Bottle in G Is for Games; it's everything from Twister (think about it... just THINK about it!) to mind games to sports (both spectator and athletic) to oh yeah, a very complicated, yet very delicious round of Seven Minutes in Heaven ;) You won't get bored with the variety in this collection of naughty mishaps... mishaps that end up being sinfully, sinfully good.

I have to say this is a new favorite on my erotica shelf because of how tempting it is in its simplest form. There's nothing over-the-top about this book, nothing unnecessary, so it's elegant in the most extraordinary way. I could get used to this kind of thing, the poshness and the cream. I definitely am going to look into the other letters in this hot alphabet.

Stephanie Loves: "Now she lifted her powder-blue skirt, eased it over the tops of her thigh-highs, and wondered just whose game this was. His gaze flickered to her legs. Locked there. His hand tightened around his wineglass. Heady stuff to keep a man's eyes on you like that. To keep his eyes there—the top man at the top agency in the country. Her breathing quickened. She liked the rush of this. She liked these wicked rules."

Radical Rating: 9 hearts: Loved it! This book has a spot on my favorites shelf. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥: Playing With Fire edited by Alison Tyler

Playing With Fire
Alison Tyler et al.

Release Date: April 7th, 2009

Publisher: Cleis

Page Count: 162

Source: Complimentary copy provided by Naked Reader Book Club in exchange for an honest and unbiased review (thank you!)

Some Like It Hot

Bestselling erotica editor Alison Tyler pushes the limits of sex, lust, and the imagination to new heights in Playing With Fire, her incendiary new collection of erotic stories. In "Scorched", Janine Ashbless shares a three-way with two hot men and one lucky woman, while Thomas S. Roche's rollicking "Hot off the Press" revels in sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll. In Tyler's own words, "Be it a flick of a BiC or the glowing embers of a bonfire, these stories will stoke anyone's fire."

Is it just me, or is it burning in this room? I may be perverse, and I may be rotten, because taboo erotica certainly ignites my fire. You're probably wondering what exactly "taboo" is. It has nothing to do with fire, although the blurb may suggest it to be so. Rather, it's the fantasies we all have, just don't have the balls to admit: adultery, ménage, sex with a stranger, you name it.

I'm assuredly not saying adultery and having sex with a stranger is okay (I'm indifferent to ménage; never tried it, never plan to), but I've got to admit there's a bit of a thrill out of reading about those topics. It's so forbidden, so titillating, so risqué.

When it comes down to erotica involving cheating on a partner, the last thing you'd expect is for it to be arousing. But each and every one of us has had their extramarital fancies. Whether it be having an affair, or hooking up with someone that isn't your other, there's something so sexy about engaging in something so off limits, something so taboo. The majority of the stories in Playing With Fire involve having an affair behind a partner's back, or even more unconventionally, having an affair with the partner involved. This is where the threesomes and ménage come in. The excitement of having an affair isn't about loving someone you're not supposed to; the excitement comes out of knowing you can love someone else without getting caught—or in the case of some of the stories, getting caught and dealing with the repercussions to follow.

If you are so high in morality, you hate flawed story lines with cheating spouses and naughty ingenues, this book may not be right for you. I'm not saying there's something wrong with you, since everyone is entitled to their own values, but this book isn't just erotica; it's taboo erotica. The stories are edgy and raw, crude without leaving out any of the nit & grit. I was surprised there isn't any harsh BDSM in this anthology, because that's what I thought it would consist of, at first. I'm fine with that though, because I don't enjoy much of the whipping and beating anyway.

Bottom line, I think this is my favorite erotica anthology so far. The stories contain more than just sex. All of the authors capably incorporate romance, intense emotion, and satisfying twists to their plots to ensure each story to be a lip-biting, teeth-clenching romp of a good read. Devour Playing With Fire in the bedroom with a lover for an unexpectedly sensational tingle, or read it alone when you've got the entire night to please yourself. Either way, beware: you just might burst into flames.

Stephanie Loves: "He notices. We've noticed each other all day, with the kind of noticing that happens in the eyes and the mouth and the body. The kind off noticing that is only noticed by the people doing it. Or so we'd like to believe. Now, we drift toward each other around the bonfire, pretending this is not a predestined course. Pretending this orbit does not end in collision." — from Shanna Germain's "White Heat, White Light". Hot hot hot! All the stories have smoke curling from the pages like that!

Radical Rating: 10 hearts: I'm speechless; this book is an extraordinarily amazingly wonderfully fantastically marvelous masterpiece. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥: Carrie's Story by Molly Weatherfield

Carrie's Story
Molly Weatherfield

Release Date: July 26th, 2002

Publisher: Cleis

Page Count: 220

Source: Complimentary copy provided by Naked Reader Book Club in exchange for an honest and unbiased review (thank you!)

"I had been Jonathan's slave for about a year when he told me he wanted to sell me at an auction. I wasn't in any condition to respond when he told me this..."

So begins Carrie's tale of uncompromising sexual adventure. Imagine Story of O starring a Berkeley PhD in comparative lit (who moonlights as a bike messenger) with a penchant for irony, self-analysis, and anal sex. Set in San Francisco and the Napa valley, Carrie's Story takes the reader on a sexually explicit journey into a netherworld of slave auctions, training regimes, and human "ponies" preening for dressage competitions.

The first thing I want to tell you is that your impressions of this book are nothing what it actually is like. The cover is haunting, and the blurb rather raunchy, but even as a novel encompassing the infamous human slave auction, or even further, human pony camps, Carrie's Story is more than a work of erotica, more than literary pornography; it is truly a work of art.

I'd never read an BDSM novel before, and quite frankly, I'd never wanted to. But being a Naked Reader Book Club member, I decided I would have to face my discomforts, and give Carrie's Story, one of the monthly selections, a chance. Sometimes, you discover the best things in life by taking the highest of risks. And in this case, that's exactly what happened.

I'm not saying I love S/m now. No. The thought of it still makes me a little queasy. But this book has brought me into a whole new world of literature, one that I find myself craving. BDSM—bondage and discipline, dominance and submission, and sadism and masochism—is a taboo subject of nature itself. Flogs, chains, gags, and leather aren't even the extremest of it in this neo-Victorian novel. Think ponies. Human ponies. Think bridles and reigns on human bodies, think whips and saddles on human flesh. Think tails, attachable only through a plug through the anus, and think of modern slavery. All very frightening concepts that I have been introduced to, and am no longer disgusted with. Don't get me wrong. Carrie's Story doesn't downplay anything, oh no. You get the rawest of humiliation, the ugliest of flaws, and the most painful of experiences. You also get unblemished emotions, ranging from homeliness, to loss, to desire, and a love story that is so untraditional in doctrine, that it makes you want to be a part of it.

Jonathan is every literature geek's dream. Handsome, obscure, slightly older. And Carrie is just the right girl to fall for him. Little does she know what she's in for... well, aside from the fact that he asks her to be his slave within hours of acquainting. "Meet me at 3 pm," he says, handing her a folded note with an address. Obviously, Carrie won't take up on his offer; he is a stranger, after all. Miraculously, she does, though. And so begins their long, but surreptitiously short-lived relationship.

The horrors of being beaten as a sexual fetish have always dawned on me. I've never found it arousing, or even amusing in the least. Carrie's Story hasn't changed that in me, but I still admit many of the sex scenes are mind-blowing. The fact that one could love the person who beats and whips them until bruises brandish, and permanent welts form, is beyond my perception. Molly Weatherfield however, does an extraordinary job convincing me.

A question arises while reading this novel: How is the fine line between two lovers and a slave and a master determined? I always thought it would be difference in inclination of emotions, but after reading Carrie's Story, I've learned that the way you as a woman, feel about your lover, is not too distant from the way you as a slave, feel about your master. And that is the message Carrie tries to bear.

Stephanie Loves: Jonathan's parting letter to Carrie that made me cry:
"Dear Carrie,
You will continue brave and beautiful, I know. In a year, you'll be much more so than you are now. I sold you at this auction because I wanted to see if I—and you—could pull it off. But I also did it because if I hadn't done it, I would have wanted to call the whole game off and see if we could become friends. Or lovers. Or something. Go to the movies and see if we liked the same ones. I still want to and this is both surprising and disturbing ...
Salut, J."

Radical Rating: 9 hearts: Loved it! This book has a spot on my favorites shelf. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Update—March 2013

Nearly two years in this original review's wake, I've revisited the newly reissued 2012 edition of Carrie's Story, which can be found here. Enjoy!