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A review by amandaglowgetter
Secret Sex: An Anthology by Russell Smith
Did not finish book.
The premise of this book is what drew me in: what if literary fiction authors could write sex scenes without their names attached? Freed from the potential judgment and taboo by the promise of anonymity, the authors experiment with content, tone, and form.
I think that someone who is a fan of short story collections and interested in this premise would really enjoy this book. I read a lot of smutty romance novels, and ultimately, I DNF'd this because I struggled to really get invested in these stories with so little character development/plot attached. I want to stress that I think this is a 'me' issue rather than a 'the book' issue.
As other reviewers have noted, it's a bit of a mixed bag, and I enjoyed some stories more than others. Generally speaking, I preferred the ones with more experimental formats – for example, the one comprised entirely of text messages – to the more traditional short stories.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me a copy of the book for review.
I think that someone who is a fan of short story collections and interested in this premise would really enjoy this book. I read a lot of smutty romance novels, and ultimately, I DNF'd this because I struggled to really get invested in these stories with so little character development/plot attached. I want to stress that I think this is a 'me' issue rather than a 'the book' issue.
As other reviewers have noted, it's a bit of a mixed bag, and I enjoyed some stories more than others. Generally speaking, I preferred the ones with more experimental formats – for example, the one comprised entirely of text messages – to the more traditional short stories.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me a copy of the book for review.