sscs's review
4.0
I do love a smutty story. This short-story collection is a mix of good smut, really good smut and ok smut. Which is which is a matter of taste. Props to Raven Kaldera for really nailing the fairy-tale feel in a story that as far as I know was completely original.
ckcombsdotcom's review
4.0
So, you want happily every after? Or maybe you’ll just go for a happy ending…
Once upon a time, in a dungeon far, far away the kinkiest writers in the land were summoned to pervert beloved fairy tales with tales of dominance, submission, bondage and surrender. In these stories twisted princesses take control of submissive princes, witches play with power and fairy tales come to life in our homes and dungeons…
In Leather Ever After, celebrated queer author Sassafras Lowrey brings together some of the most beloved leather writers in an enchanting collection published by Ravenous Romance with a foreword by Laura Antoniou! Leather Ever After is Learn more about about Leather Ever After at www.LeatherEverAfter.wordpress.com and to get more information about Sassafras and hir work visit www.SassafrasLowrey.com
I should disclose right now that I submitted a story for this anthology, but it did not make the cut. Hopefully, that will explain the bitterness infused throughout this review.
Just kidding. I really love the way this turned out. I was intrigued from the first call for submissions about this idea, cherished and well-known fairy tales turned on their heads by a bunch of perverts… what could be more cool than that?
Out of eighteen tales, there were only a few that didn’t do much for me, but most were wonderful, surprising, hot and enjoyable. Here are my favorites:
Each Step for Him by Lee Harrington is a new twist on the original Little Mermaid story. I was hooked right away by the sexiness, the chivalry, the honor and service. This is a story I wanted so much to step right into.
The Mistress and the Pea by Cynthia Hamilton is excellent. Well written, great imagery, very sexy and a really fun twist on the original story.
Good Witch by Ali Oh. My second favorite, so hot. Wonderfully imaginative story about witches good and bad. Reading this will have you looking at fairy tales in a whole new way. I’ll definitely go back for more of this hot, sexy story.
Snow Fight by Rob Rosen made me laugh out loud. Not good, you think? Oh, I disagree. I love cleverness and humor in erotica and this story delivered. Also, serious sexy hotness.
Cinderfella by Sossity Chiricuzio. A very familiar story, told with a delightful, gender-bending twist. This is another tale I wouldn’t mind falling into, cleaning up the ashes never looked so good.
Lady Leporine by Mollena Williams. This one made me laugh in a whole other way. Not sure which fairy tale this is based on, but the Lady is my new favorite super hero. Wonderfully well written with loads of gorgeous detail and the kind of ending we all hope for… scary powerful female top gets the boy. Wait, you don’t all hope for that? Ahhh.. too bad.
The collection is rounded out by The Little Bootblack by Sassafras Lowrey. This is the sweet, cherry on the top contribution to finish up the collection, complete with a happy ending.
The Scoop: Leather Ever After, an Anthology of Kinky Fairy Tales, edited by Sassafras Lowrey, forward by Laura Antoniou, published through Ravenous Romance, is available through Amazon, in print and Kindle versions ($12.99/$5.79).
The Verdict: buy it
Once upon a time, in a dungeon far, far away the kinkiest writers in the land were summoned to pervert beloved fairy tales with tales of dominance, submission, bondage and surrender. In these stories twisted princesses take control of submissive princes, witches play with power and fairy tales come to life in our homes and dungeons…
In Leather Ever After, celebrated queer author Sassafras Lowrey brings together some of the most beloved leather writers in an enchanting collection published by Ravenous Romance with a foreword by Laura Antoniou! Leather Ever After is Learn more about about Leather Ever After at www.LeatherEverAfter.wordpress.com and to get more information about Sassafras and hir work visit www.SassafrasLowrey.com
I should disclose right now that I submitted a story for this anthology, but it did not make the cut. Hopefully, that will explain the bitterness infused throughout this review.
Just kidding. I really love the way this turned out. I was intrigued from the first call for submissions about this idea, cherished and well-known fairy tales turned on their heads by a bunch of perverts… what could be more cool than that?
Out of eighteen tales, there were only a few that didn’t do much for me, but most were wonderful, surprising, hot and enjoyable. Here are my favorites:
Each Step for Him by Lee Harrington is a new twist on the original Little Mermaid story. I was hooked right away by the sexiness, the chivalry, the honor and service. This is a story I wanted so much to step right into.
The Mistress and the Pea by Cynthia Hamilton is excellent. Well written, great imagery, very sexy and a really fun twist on the original story.
Good Witch by Ali Oh. My second favorite, so hot. Wonderfully imaginative story about witches good and bad. Reading this will have you looking at fairy tales in a whole new way. I’ll definitely go back for more of this hot, sexy story.
Snow Fight by Rob Rosen made me laugh out loud. Not good, you think? Oh, I disagree. I love cleverness and humor in erotica and this story delivered. Also, serious sexy hotness.
Cinderfella by Sossity Chiricuzio. A very familiar story, told with a delightful, gender-bending twist. This is another tale I wouldn’t mind falling into, cleaning up the ashes never looked so good.
Lady Leporine by Mollena Williams. This one made me laugh in a whole other way. Not sure which fairy tale this is based on, but the Lady is my new favorite super hero. Wonderfully well written with loads of gorgeous detail and the kind of ending we all hope for… scary powerful female top gets the boy. Wait, you don’t all hope for that? Ahhh.. too bad.
The collection is rounded out by The Little Bootblack by Sassafras Lowrey. This is the sweet, cherry on the top contribution to finish up the collection, complete with a happy ending.
The Scoop: Leather Ever After, an Anthology of Kinky Fairy Tales, edited by Sassafras Lowrey, forward by Laura Antoniou, published through Ravenous Romance, is available through Amazon, in print and Kindle versions ($12.99/$5.79).
The Verdict: buy it
apostrophen's review
4.0
I read this for my April review for Erotica Revealed.
I love the retelling and re-imagination of old tales, and I think I’ve mentioned here at least once that I adore it when someone can take something that’s been pushed almost to the edge of total saturation and turn it sideways. I also love – via this gig at Erotica Revealed – how I get to so often find anthologies that I never would have bumped into otherwise, and likely wouldn’t have picked up for one reason or another (most centrally that in the world of erotica, so often you don’t know what’s out there, let alone where to get it and which title might be worthy of a gamble). I have read so many things in the months – wait, are we at years yet? – I’ve been on board that I likely would have put aside as “not my kink.”
Leather Ever After hits all those points, dead center. These are not the tales that the Brothers Grimm gathered, but they bear resemblance enough to the original stories that you’ll find yourself grinning at where the authors send the characters you’re used to imagining in far more innocent surroundings.
When I say these retellings turn a tale sideways, I mean the stories like “Each Step For Him,” by Lee Harrington, which begins where the Little Mermaid ends, giving her a brother, and envisioning a version of the story where this young merman falls hard for a leather man and faces a similar trail: what must be given up to live on land with the man he loves? The clever twist to the “every step the pain of a thousand knives” and the ultimate scene of the tale left me grinning and tantalized with a view of a community I don’t know well.
I also mean “Hair Like Gold,” by Nalu Kalani, where Rapunzel’s beautiful hair is used to bind and tease, and whose freedom can only be bought through release of a different kind. Cynthia Hamilton likewise takes a staple and kinks it up with “The Mistress and the Pea,” wherein it’s the Prince who is seeking some discomfort, and what happens on the top of the huge pile of mattresses is an exchange of power and submission.
The anthology itself has common fairy tales retold – Goldilocks, Little Red Riding Hood – alongside some others that are less obvious or less often seen in these types of collections. D.L. King’s revision of “The Seven Swan Princes” was fantastic – nettles have never been used to build such tension, and the trails to restore her beauty at the hands of her goth prince all but cracked aloud. The almost tangential retelling of the Frog Prince in Karen Taylor’s “Iron Henry” is another favourite – cleverly set up, and executed with a rich style. And the gender fluidity of “Cinderfella” – which also has my favourite ending of the whole collection – has put Sossity Chiricuzio dead center on my radar.
And I should mention when I say that it’s anthologies like this that expose me to stories I would have put aside as “not my kink” in the past, I definitely picture “House of Sweets.” – “House of Sweets” has needle play – something that would frankly send me racing from a room in double time. And yet even when faced with something that leaves me personally ready to bolt, Miss Lola Sunshine keeps an erotic edge humming, and every dimple of flesh at the tip of a sharp needle is a moment of pain and pleasure wrapped into one package of torment that still tantalizes. It’s no small thing to accomplish keeping a reader interested when he’s cringing. I can imagine fans of needle play would salivate here.
That’s my overall impression, actually: there will be something in here for everyone, and for those of you with edgier tastes, I think you’ll be even more pleased. Leather, bondage, rubber, the aforementioned needle play, whipping, shoe worship, knife play... The range is quite wide. It’s a rare collection that dares to step a bit further away from the gamut of what could be called mainstream kink (if that’s even a classification I can beg you to consider), but Leather Ever After takes that risk and successfully spins straw into gold.
I love the retelling and re-imagination of old tales, and I think I’ve mentioned here at least once that I adore it when someone can take something that’s been pushed almost to the edge of total saturation and turn it sideways. I also love – via this gig at Erotica Revealed – how I get to so often find anthologies that I never would have bumped into otherwise, and likely wouldn’t have picked up for one reason or another (most centrally that in the world of erotica, so often you don’t know what’s out there, let alone where to get it and which title might be worthy of a gamble). I have read so many things in the months – wait, are we at years yet? – I’ve been on board that I likely would have put aside as “not my kink.”
Leather Ever After hits all those points, dead center. These are not the tales that the Brothers Grimm gathered, but they bear resemblance enough to the original stories that you’ll find yourself grinning at where the authors send the characters you’re used to imagining in far more innocent surroundings.
When I say these retellings turn a tale sideways, I mean the stories like “Each Step For Him,” by Lee Harrington, which begins where the Little Mermaid ends, giving her a brother, and envisioning a version of the story where this young merman falls hard for a leather man and faces a similar trail: what must be given up to live on land with the man he loves? The clever twist to the “every step the pain of a thousand knives” and the ultimate scene of the tale left me grinning and tantalized with a view of a community I don’t know well.
I also mean “Hair Like Gold,” by Nalu Kalani, where Rapunzel’s beautiful hair is used to bind and tease, and whose freedom can only be bought through release of a different kind. Cynthia Hamilton likewise takes a staple and kinks it up with “The Mistress and the Pea,” wherein it’s the Prince who is seeking some discomfort, and what happens on the top of the huge pile of mattresses is an exchange of power and submission.
The anthology itself has common fairy tales retold – Goldilocks, Little Red Riding Hood – alongside some others that are less obvious or less often seen in these types of collections. D.L. King’s revision of “The Seven Swan Princes” was fantastic – nettles have never been used to build such tension, and the trails to restore her beauty at the hands of her goth prince all but cracked aloud. The almost tangential retelling of the Frog Prince in Karen Taylor’s “Iron Henry” is another favourite – cleverly set up, and executed with a rich style. And the gender fluidity of “Cinderfella” – which also has my favourite ending of the whole collection – has put Sossity Chiricuzio dead center on my radar.
And I should mention when I say that it’s anthologies like this that expose me to stories I would have put aside as “not my kink” in the past, I definitely picture “House of Sweets.” – “House of Sweets” has needle play – something that would frankly send me racing from a room in double time. And yet even when faced with something that leaves me personally ready to bolt, Miss Lola Sunshine keeps an erotic edge humming, and every dimple of flesh at the tip of a sharp needle is a moment of pain and pleasure wrapped into one package of torment that still tantalizes. It’s no small thing to accomplish keeping a reader interested when he’s cringing. I can imagine fans of needle play would salivate here.
That’s my overall impression, actually: there will be something in here for everyone, and for those of you with edgier tastes, I think you’ll be even more pleased. Leather, bondage, rubber, the aforementioned needle play, whipping, shoe worship, knife play... The range is quite wide. It’s a rare collection that dares to step a bit further away from the gamut of what could be called mainstream kink (if that’s even a classification I can beg you to consider), but Leather Ever After takes that risk and successfully spins straw into gold.
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