Fuck Me Friday

In follow up to our threesome discussion/ rant yesterday, this Fuck Me Friday recommendation is in the same vein. Three-Way: Erotic Stories edited by Alison Tyler has a little something from everyone. These hot, surprising stories show the wide and varying ranges menage can take, and the collection features some of the best writers in the business, from Thomas S. Roche to Rachel Kramer Bussel to Saskia Walker. Not only showing alluring ways to have a threesome, it’s delivered with a polished prose that will arouse your mind as well as your body. Pick it up for some hot weekend reading, especially while we wait for Wrapped Around Your Finger Sept 9!!

The Romanov Sisters by Helen Rappaport - Review

Finished listening to //The Romanov Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nickolas and Alexandra // today. Wonderful book. Really paints the lives of the sisters and their relationships with one another with precise and heartbreaking accuracy. If your information about the last tsar of Russia and his family comes from the Disney version of Anastasia (as mine does), //The Romanov Sisters // by Helen Rappaport is a must-read. I promise there are no singing gargoyles (am I confusing this with //The Hunchback of Notre Dame? Oh well, whatever) and the bitter-sweet love of family in the eye of revolution and war will captivate even novel-loving fanatics.

This book reads as a beautiful tribute to these amazing young women and their family, taking into account their weaknesses and foibles, while painting a realistic picture of the last Russian tsar’s dynamic family. Readers should not expect a Disney story in these pages. For all the joy and light the family experienced, dark days haunted them in the form of illness, uprising, untimely deaths, political turmoil and misunderstanding between them and the Russian people. There are few happy endings here, as the First World War washes away the ordered and more civilized days of a previous century.

The one thing that I found puzzling was at the end where the family is taken out and shot. (I’m not counting that as a spoiler, folks, sorry.) Everything else is covered with such thoroughness, and this is treated almost as an afterthought. I read/ listened to the book because I was unfamiliar with the history of the Romanovs and wanted to learn more about them as well as the four sisters, so I’m unsure about why there would be such an omission. It could be due to lack of records and personal accounts, and that would be totally understandable. However, nothing as such is noted in the book, and I find that one of its few weak points. It drums the family out of the house to a cellar and then cuts to the account of a young man whose father came home and told him the family had been shot.

As I was listening to and not reading the book, I missed exactly who this boy or young man was, and as such it’s an awkward transition in an otherwise thorough and completely captivating narrative. Since the author wrote this following another work, //The Last Days of the Romanovs//, a more thorough explanation may be found there, but the missing pieces here makes the end of the book somewhat of a let-down after the thorough descriptions of earlier days. But readers should keep in mind that this is a very small portion of the book, maybe five minutes of the several hours of narrative, and that it should not be dismissed merely for this fact, unless you’re a reader strictly interested in the last day of the family.

Last things on this book, I HIGHLY recommend the audio version. The narrator, Xe Sands, is fucking awe-mazing to listen to through some thirteen hours of all things Romanov. Also, the narrative itself is very engaging, unlike some nonfiction. The prose is crisp and concise, even as the lives of the subject feel brittle and measured. The author does a wonderful job of sketching each member of the family so that as the revolution approaches you’ll find yourself anxious for them, or at least I did. The pacing of this book is especially remarkable; I found myself swept up in events, holding my breath through tense moments, and breathing a deep sigh of relief if the person in question escaped danger. That combined with the voice of the narrator made me eager to return to the world every day, even as the noose tightened around the fate line of the family. Definitely a must-read of the year, nonfiction with an engagement level akin to thriller fiction.

Dark Aemilia by Sally O'Reilly: Book Review

Took some time off over Fourth of July to spend some much-needed time away from the desk and with the Offspring and Spousal-Type Creature. While the STC spent most of his vacation from his mistress (aka the Army) watching Criminal Minds, I became engrossed with a wonderful new author. While she’s not erotica, there are erotic elements in her novel, and her prose is so rich that reading it makes you feel as though you’ve been stroked. I absolutely love encountering novels that affect me like this. It’s what keeps me reading.

Before giving you a run down and summary, here’s a quote:

“Once I am in Will’s bed I forget all my terror, and what we do now is like no other love-making that I have ever known, such is its silence and its slow tenderness. As we twist and rock together, I feel my mind fill with a profound sweetness, and I smile as I kiss him, locked closer, closer till we finish as one creature, still soundless, deeply bound.”

Sally O’Reilly has won a life-long reader in me with this book, titled Dark Aemilia: A Novel of Shakespeare’s Dark Lady. The story is about Aemilia Bassano, a contemporary of William Shakespeare, who began life as the illegitimate daughter of a court musician, became the mistress of Lord Hunsdon, then, upon becoming pregnant, was hastily married to Alfonso Lanyer. History, poetry, and magic combine in this tale to tell a hauntingly realistic story of the Bard, Elizabethan London, and Aemilia herself.

In general, I’m skeptical of historical fiction when it involves such a huge historical figure as Will Shakespeare. Put in the wrong hands the entire book can flop, hoping to hang on the notoriety of the figure alone, without taking time to construct their own version of the person in the context of the story. But O’Reilly does no such thing, and her rich language, so ripe that the book practically oozes on the table, engaging characters, and vivid descriptions continue to drift through my thoughts. This is one of those books that will enter into my personal literary canon, and I hope others enjoy it that much as well.

Have you read Sally O’Reilly? Have an opinion on using historical characters in fiction? I’d love to hear from you. Feel free to comment! When the “official” review is up, I’ll be sure to post a link.

Dirty, Happy Relationship Reflection and Review

How Relationships Are Like Writing Book Reviews

For all that I write a lot of book reviews, they never get any easier. They will remain a mainstay in my writing, which will mean a weekly(ish) stint of me crashing around the kitchen, mumbling to myself about trite language. (Mine, not always the authors.) Oh sure, some reviews write themselves, but often I agonize for days about what to write, what angle to approach the review from, the right tone, the word choice, the word count, just everything. But generally by the time I wrestle around with everything in my head, I have a good handle on it and know exactly what I want to say when I sit down to write, how I stand in relation to the material, and the tone I want to hit.

Relationships are like book reviews because generally if there’s something I’m trying to figure out about my relationship, I treat it like a review. I analyze it, look at it from my perspective, from what I know of his perspective, compare the two, note the similarities and differences, maybe ask a question for clarification, (or check what other reviewers have said about my relationship on Amazon…), and finally get the wording and tone right if my partner and I need to have a discussion.

It sounds a lot more involved than it is.

The bottom line is that I think before I mouth off; make sure I know what I’m talking about. I don’t write checks my ass can’t cash. Sticks and stones may break your bones, but words are something you can’t unsay. It’s good to be careful with words, and not say anything in the heat of the moment you’ll want to unsay later. Just like trashing someone’s book, once the trash is out there, there’s no taking it back. Put out words, and reviews, you won’t mind encountering ten years from now. That’s just my thoughts. After all, it’s called constructive criticism for a reason.

Dirty, Happy Book Reviews: Exposed by Alison Tyler

I’ve lauded and applauded Alison Tyler’s books Dark, Secret Love and The Delicious Torment on this blog and other places, so for other readers who enjoyed these books, here’s another in the same vein, only as an anthology. Exposed is a collection of shorts, ranging through Ms. Tyler’s career, and we can see where she began to combine fiction, memoir, and meta, all to delightful effect. There’s a good deal of being coy, of playing the flirt, of shining light on human nature, in this collection and it’s a wonderful reading experience. Whether you want to get off on characters doing the dirty or the precise and beautiful use of language, there’s much in this compilation to get you breathing heavier.

Felice Newman says it best in her introduction to this book. And that is the quote I shall leave you good readers with:

"Alison Tyler is one of my favorite erotic authors. Simply put, she makes me hot. Her stories ring true. They are accessible, well crafted, and full of surprises. Each one is as fresh as the Ivory soap-scrubbed girls whose randy enthusiasm fuels their plots. And did I mention they’re hot?"

Dirty, Happy Book Reviews: The Catch Up

Ever have one of those weeks where it seems like every time you almost get ahead, something happens and knocks you off your horse? That’s what last week felt like with writing. (I blame my roommate/ significant other and the season four premier of Game of Thrones.) Every time I almost got somewhere, I lost it again. So getting back up on the horse and trying it again today.

In the spirit of catching up, here's a three for review deal, which catch us up for last week. I’m going to work through these fairly quickly, because honestly the best way to experience these anthos is to read them, not listen to me go on about the brilliant little gems that add to the erotica cannon.

First off, a book that continues to resonate with me is Twice the Pleasure: Bisexual Women’s Erotica, edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel.

What I Like About It:

It’s surprising array of bisexual situations. This is not a book limited to threesomes, but one that seeks to explore the spectrum of female sexuality. Because, at least in my opinion, that’s one of the best parts about being female, this opportunity to experience an extremely diverse range of sexuality.

What I Don’t Like:

That it ends. :)
  
 
Duty and Desire: Military Erotic Romance ed. Kristina Wright

What I Like About It:

It takes a special kind of erotic romance to appeal to me as a reader. Some collections verge too far toward sweet romance for my taste, and (this is strictly a personal reader preference) I often think that saccharine-sweet romance isn’t realistic. What I love about Kristina Wright’s selections is that they hit that perfect mark, right between too sweet and just right. There’s always a range of emotion in the stories she selects and it makes a very satisfying collection. This antho, again, has some stories that stick in my mind. “Sergeant Rae” by Sacchi Green, “Fighting for Fresno” by Ericka Hiatt, and “Shattered” by Shanna Germain are the first ones to come to mind. It’s a powerful collection that I return to time and time again.

What I Don’t Like:

Again, that it ends.


The Mammoth Book of Best New Erotica: Vol. 9 ed. Maxim Jakubowski

What I Like About It:

Any time you pick up a Maxim Jakubowski anthology, you’re getting something wild, something unusual and sensual and literary. I love that these stories are mostly unusual, often quirky, and typically unforgettable. The range of stories is amazing, and they aren’t limited to happy endings. It’s a great blend of the literary and the erotic. The story from this collection that I will never forget is “2.04 a.m., Our Hostess’ Second-Floor Walk-In” by Savannah Lee. All the Mammoth Book of series are available on Amazon and look like fantastic deals.

What I Don’t Like:

Sometimes the stories range to a little too literary, and I’m not sure what happened. Takes me back to reading for sophomore college English, “I know I’m supposed to be blown away by this, and I am, but I don’t have any idea WTF just happened.” This could also just be me not paying enough attention?


So that wraps up the antho reviews. There are a TON more out there, but these are simply my immediate favorites, with stories I go to over and over again for inspiration. Other anthos I love: Exposed by Alison Tyler, Red Hot Erotica ed. Alison Tyler, and Girls Getting Off published by Xcite... Looks like I might need to devote another week to anthos here someday soon. And I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention both Shameless Behavior and Dirty Little Numbers ed. Lana Fox… definitely will be revisiting the anthology department!