A review by crystalisreading
Best Women's Erotica of the Year Volume 4, by Alessandra Torre, Tamara Lush, Patricia Elzie, Megan Hart, Rebecca Chase, Alyssa Cole, Sofia Quintero, Jocelyn Dex, Madeline Moore, Calliope Bloom, R.M. Wood, Suleikha Snyder, Rachel Kramer Bussel, Eliza David, Regina Kammer, Louise Lagris, Rosie Beth Randall, Jo Henny Wolf, Sienna Saint-Cyr, Mica Kennedy, Tamsen Parker
4.0
Best Women's Erotica of the Year Volume 4, from 2018, is one of the best collections of erotica I've ever read. Rachel Kramer Bussel usually edits great collections, but this went above my expectations. Any anthology is going to have some stories that are better or worse than the rest, and some that are more to my taste than others. But in a volume as incredibly diverse in sexuality, gender, kink, body type, race/ ethnicity, religion, mental health, relationship dynamics, and age as the characters in these collected stories are, I found so much to enjoy, even in stories that weren't to my specific taste. They were steamy and tender and filthy and insightful and so respectful of their characters and so appreciative of their diversity. The official theme is outsiders and risks: "At a time when outsiders of many kinds are being ostracized, discriminated against, and shunned, I wanted to explore what being an outsider feels like on a deeply personal level. I always want the authors I publish to turn readers on, but this time, I also want to make you think." And they that's exactly what these stories did for me.
It's always difficult to review anthologies, so I've decided the best way to do them all justice is to include each story title and author with a brief summary, and sometimes with featured kinks and/or favorite quotations. This could entail *SPOILERS* and/or be more sexually explicit than you're expecting (and also be incredibly long), so please proceed accordingly.
*
*
*
*
*
Take the Shot by Micah Kennedy: Plus size Black divorcee professor participates in erotic BDSM photo shoot and later has sex in a van with her hot younger Latinx former TA. sweet and sexy and sometimes humorous. feautures a"shaggin wagon."
The Dressing Room by Alexandra Torre: Woman in a public dressing room masturbates to the sounds of another couple having sex in the neighboring dressing room, before rejoining her clueless husband. I didn't particularly care for this story.
Mark by Rosie Beth Randall: An NYC widow who is also a trauma survivor is in a BDSM relationship with a wealthy high protocol Dom. Sex toys. Power exchange. Luxury living.
O Captain! My Captain! by Calliope Bloom: Life-long female best friends who unknowingly have the hots for each other crash a costume party on a yacht with the boyfriend with whom one of the women is in an open relationship They end up in a threesome with him that is interrupted by the ship captain, a Domme who beats them and has sex involving all three.
The Jump by Rebecca Chase: A recent divorcee falls in lust at first sight with the man she almost hit with her car, who turns out to be her skydiving instructor. There's sex in the locker room after the jump. This is possibly a British setting, but not my favorite story.
On Display by Louise Lagrix: The second person present tense narration distracted me from an otherwise filthy dirty story of a kinky man and woman who found each other on Tinder and love trying new kinky things together. Involves public anal and oral sex at a BDSM club with a strap on and a stranger.
"They're all beautiful in their own way, hairy backs and cellulite and bony knees; they're irresistibly human, and, in the throes of their private desires, made incredibly real."
The Pick-Me-Up by Suleikha Snyder: Single Latina in Queens has a drunken hookup with a blue collar Irish regular patron from her regular local corner bar. Surprisingly tender story.
Belonging by Tamsen Parker: A devout Catholic bisexual Filipina without much sexual experience attends a BDSM club for the first time and meets an African American domme she's very attracted to. Involves a spanking session and is about finding one's place and acceptance in it.
"You know everyone had a first time, right?"
"It's blasphemous to say it's almost a religious experience, but that's as close as I can describe it. It's different, but the intensity is the same. It makes the colors of her brighter, so distinct that looking at her almost hurts my eyes, and the rest of the room fades away."
"You're clearly not a tourist looking to point at the freaks"
"I came here tonight because I wanted...I wanted to try. To see for real. To see if...if I'm right. Or if this whole time I've been a stranger to my own body. If there's a disconnect between fantasy and reality. If I've spent hours and hours agonizing over something that isn't even real."
"Like pieces I've been trying to fit together for my whole life have finally clicked into place."
With Honors by Sofia Quintero: Latina returning college student/ single mom with the hots for her single dad professor gets a backseat quickie with him in a train station parking lot.
Breathe by Patricia Elzie: Bisexual Black domme meets red headed submissive for a first session...with tickling. Felt a little silly, and yet managed to be sweet and sexy.
Aftershock by Jo Henny Wolf: German woman searches for her Mexican boyfriend in the aftermath of an earthquake in Mexico that happened enroute to visit him. Features 'glad we're both alive' sex, but I somehow felt a little uncomfortable with something about this story. Something about a white woman causing extra work during a crisis and centering her own needs while surrounded by city-wide death and loss and destruction on a massive scale. Just kinda gross.
Her Invisible Prison by Jocelyn Dex: An agoraphobic fifty-something woman's birthday treat for stretching her limits outdoors is an in-person erotic encounter with the man who she has been talking to and flirting with online for months. Cupcakes are involved.
The Invitation by Regina Kammer: This is historical fiction with a wealthy British widow who lusts after a handsome younger artist. Not my favorite, and didn't feel very believable. There's also reference to decor with Persian rugs and opulent brocades and porcelain vase as "exotic", which may have been period-appropriate, but seemed unnecessary.
Words with Benefits by Tamara Lush: Forgot to write down a summary, but this quotation I saved seems pretty evocative on its own.
"To any passerby, we looked like a refined older couple. Inside, I churned with giddy, burning anticipation of skin on skin raw f*cking."
Essential Qualities by Alyssa Cole: This is a romance between a Black female inventor who is possibly on the spectrum and the gorgeous sentient AI/ robot she created. The story addresses societal prejudices against relationships between different groups--in this case, between human and AI, but it also seemed like a commentary on real-life hostility to miscegenation. The dynamics of creator and creation still kinda made this story off-putting for me.
"What does it mean to be both creator and lover?"
"Though I'd built him with my own two hands, he was his own person, learning and growing and evolving. Not a human--definitely not that. But a person."
Eight Seconds by Madeline Moore: A female bull rider and a rodeo clown with previous history f*ck in a hospital after both are injured on the job. Ouch. Bonus points for a female bull rider, though, I guess?
Seven Sweets and Seven Sours by Megan Hart: Amish queer tragic erotic romance with a trans man who is about to leave the community and his married woman lover. This is firmly PA Dutch, not just Amish, and a really thought provoking Amish romance that felt more real and thought-provoking than most of the wholesome "bonnet rippers" I've tried to read in the past. (As an aside, it mentions that the stereotypical "seven sweets and seven sours" at PA Dutch meals was invented as a tourism element and has only since been incorporated by the Amish community. I grew up in a conservative PA Dutch community and had no idea about that.)
"My father scolds that I'm not womanly, and that's the truth. I am not a woman, even if I wear the dress and grown my hair long and do the baking and washing, even if I have managed to learn, sometimes, to bow my head the way the woman should. I have never been a woman."
"It was rumspringa then, our time to run "wild" and we'd been drinking from a bottle of cheap vodka someone else's older brother had bought in town. We'd stumbled home to share her sagging bed in the smallest room, covering our giggles with our hands, imagining her parents would not hear us or know what we'd been doing. They'd turned a blind eye to the alcohol. They would not have done the same to what we'd done together in that bed."
"My body wants to move and thrust in time with what I'm doing to her with my mouth and fingers. In my mind, with her, I am complete down there instead of feeling as though this emptiness inside me is echoed by my real and literal opening."
BabyDoll by Sienna Saint-Cyr: Involves tender but steamy BDSM daddy/ baby doll kink with an older male and a younger female that also serves as a coping mechanism for her PTSD, anxiety, depression, and OCD from previous trauma, including childhood religious trauma. Religious trauma isn't something I often find addressed in books, much less romances. One of my favorite stories in the collection.
"Too many relationships had failed because she hadn't communicated her mental state or her need to be cared for early enough on."
"Negotiated what they wanted out of a Daddy/ Baby doll relationship, discussed her mental health and medications, explained their desires with kink, and set limits on what they'd take part in."
"Daddies help their baby dolls grow and heal. Self harm is against my rules. I will punish you if I catch you doing this again. Do you understand?"
"This was exactly like the one she'd been forced to burn, the one she'd cried over--been called a demon child over."
"Months of phone calls, therapy sessions, and getting to know each other had taken place."
"The burn of Daddy's slaps was washing away her guilt, self-loathing, and self-hatred. ... tears rolled from her eyes like she'd never cried before, but these weren't sad tears. They were joyful pleasurable tears. Tears of love and relief....filled her with all the goodness that came with being his baby doll, being submissive, being put in her place."
"You are my baby doll. I will continue to take care of you.' He squeezed her tighter. 'But you will grow, heal, and be my good girl, won't you?"
Beautiful Dirty Wonderful by R. M. Wood: Middle aged married woman gets the gang bang she always fantasized about, with the full support of her husband.
"in room three Danny is waiting with a group of guys preparing to fuck me."
"He was used to this: me coming to him in the middle of the night with my anxiety-ridden questions."
Overall these stories were often insightful and emotional, heartfelt and romantic, in ways I did not expect in a collection of erotica, even women's erotica, and I absolutely appreciated them for that. Yes, the stories are smoking hot--but they are also often beautiful and touching and sweet among all that filthy dirty action. If you enjoy erotica, especially if you appreciate diversity and enjoy erotica featuring realistic characters with realistic lives and bodies and relationships and issues and struggles, I highly recommend this collection.
Thank you to #NetGalley and Cleis Press for allowing me to read this advanced readers edition of #BestWomensErotica for free. This is my honest opinion.
It's always difficult to review anthologies, so I've decided the best way to do them all justice is to include each story title and author with a brief summary, and sometimes with featured kinks and/or favorite quotations. This could entail *SPOILERS* and/or be more sexually explicit than you're expecting (and also be incredibly long), so please proceed accordingly.
*
*
*
*
*
Spoiler
Take the Shot by Micah Kennedy: Plus size Black divorcee professor participates in erotic BDSM photo shoot and later has sex in a van with her hot younger Latinx former TA. sweet and sexy and sometimes humorous. feautures a"shaggin wagon."
The Dressing Room by Alexandra Torre: Woman in a public dressing room masturbates to the sounds of another couple having sex in the neighboring dressing room, before rejoining her clueless husband. I didn't particularly care for this story.
Mark by Rosie Beth Randall: An NYC widow who is also a trauma survivor is in a BDSM relationship with a wealthy high protocol Dom. Sex toys. Power exchange. Luxury living.
O Captain! My Captain! by Calliope Bloom: Life-long female best friends who unknowingly have the hots for each other crash a costume party on a yacht with the boyfriend with whom one of the women is in an open relationship They end up in a threesome with him that is interrupted by the ship captain, a Domme who beats them and has sex involving all three.
The Jump by Rebecca Chase: A recent divorcee falls in lust at first sight with the man she almost hit with her car, who turns out to be her skydiving instructor. There's sex in the locker room after the jump. This is possibly a British setting, but not my favorite story.
On Display by Louise Lagrix: The second person present tense narration distracted me from an otherwise filthy dirty story of a kinky man and woman who found each other on Tinder and love trying new kinky things together. Involves public anal and oral sex at a BDSM club with a strap on and a stranger.
"They're all beautiful in their own way, hairy backs and cellulite and bony knees; they're irresistibly human, and, in the throes of their private desires, made incredibly real."
The Pick-Me-Up by Suleikha Snyder: Single Latina in Queens has a drunken hookup with a blue collar Irish regular patron from her regular local corner bar. Surprisingly tender story.
Belonging by Tamsen Parker: A devout Catholic bisexual Filipina without much sexual experience attends a BDSM club for the first time and meets an African American domme she's very attracted to. Involves a spanking session and is about finding one's place and acceptance in it.
"You know everyone had a first time, right?"
"It's blasphemous to say it's almost a religious experience, but that's as close as I can describe it. It's different, but the intensity is the same. It makes the colors of her brighter, so distinct that looking at her almost hurts my eyes, and the rest of the room fades away."
"You're clearly not a tourist looking to point at the freaks"
"I came here tonight because I wanted...I wanted to try. To see for real. To see if...if I'm right. Or if this whole time I've been a stranger to my own body. If there's a disconnect between fantasy and reality. If I've spent hours and hours agonizing over something that isn't even real."
"Like pieces I've been trying to fit together for my whole life have finally clicked into place."
With Honors by Sofia Quintero: Latina returning college student/ single mom with the hots for her single dad professor gets a backseat quickie with him in a train station parking lot.
Breathe by Patricia Elzie: Bisexual Black domme meets red headed submissive for a first session...with tickling. Felt a little silly, and yet managed to be sweet and sexy.
Aftershock by Jo Henny Wolf: German woman searches for her Mexican boyfriend in the aftermath of an earthquake in Mexico that happened enroute to visit him. Features 'glad we're both alive' sex, but I somehow felt a little uncomfortable with something about this story. Something about a white woman causing extra work during a crisis and centering her own needs while surrounded by city-wide death and loss and destruction on a massive scale. Just kinda gross.
Her Invisible Prison by Jocelyn Dex: An agoraphobic fifty-something woman's birthday treat for stretching her limits outdoors is an in-person erotic encounter with the man who she has been talking to and flirting with online for months. Cupcakes are involved.
The Invitation by Regina Kammer: This is historical fiction with a wealthy British widow who lusts after a handsome younger artist. Not my favorite, and didn't feel very believable. There's also reference to decor with Persian rugs and opulent brocades and porcelain vase as "exotic", which may have been period-appropriate, but seemed unnecessary.
Words with Benefits by Tamara Lush: Forgot to write down a summary, but this quotation I saved seems pretty evocative on its own.
"To any passerby, we looked like a refined older couple. Inside, I churned with giddy, burning anticipation of skin on skin raw f*cking."
Essential Qualities by Alyssa Cole: This is a romance between a Black female inventor who is possibly on the spectrum and the gorgeous sentient AI/ robot she created. The story addresses societal prejudices against relationships between different groups--in this case, between human and AI, but it also seemed like a commentary on real-life hostility to miscegenation. The dynamics of creator and creation still kinda made this story off-putting for me.
"What does it mean to be both creator and lover?"
"Though I'd built him with my own two hands, he was his own person, learning and growing and evolving. Not a human--definitely not that. But a person."
Eight Seconds by Madeline Moore: A female bull rider and a rodeo clown with previous history f*ck in a hospital after both are injured on the job. Ouch. Bonus points for a female bull rider, though, I guess?
Seven Sweets and Seven Sours by Megan Hart: Amish queer tragic erotic romance with a trans man who is about to leave the community and his married woman lover. This is firmly PA Dutch, not just Amish, and a really thought provoking Amish romance that felt more real and thought-provoking than most of the wholesome "bonnet rippers" I've tried to read in the past. (As an aside, it mentions that the stereotypical "seven sweets and seven sours" at PA Dutch meals was invented as a tourism element and has only since been incorporated by the Amish community. I grew up in a conservative PA Dutch community and had no idea about that.)
"My father scolds that I'm not womanly, and that's the truth. I am not a woman, even if I wear the dress and grown my hair long and do the baking and washing, even if I have managed to learn, sometimes, to bow my head the way the woman should. I have never been a woman."
"It was rumspringa then, our time to run "wild" and we'd been drinking from a bottle of cheap vodka someone else's older brother had bought in town. We'd stumbled home to share her sagging bed in the smallest room, covering our giggles with our hands, imagining her parents would not hear us or know what we'd been doing. They'd turned a blind eye to the alcohol. They would not have done the same to what we'd done together in that bed."
"My body wants to move and thrust in time with what I'm doing to her with my mouth and fingers. In my mind, with her, I am complete down there instead of feeling as though this emptiness inside me is echoed by my real and literal opening."
BabyDoll by Sienna Saint-Cyr: Involves tender but steamy BDSM daddy/ baby doll kink with an older male and a younger female that also serves as a coping mechanism for her PTSD, anxiety, depression, and OCD from previous trauma, including childhood religious trauma. Religious trauma isn't something I often find addressed in books, much less romances. One of my favorite stories in the collection.
"Too many relationships had failed because she hadn't communicated her mental state or her need to be cared for early enough on."
"Negotiated what they wanted out of a Daddy/ Baby doll relationship, discussed her mental health and medications, explained their desires with kink, and set limits on what they'd take part in."
"Daddies help their baby dolls grow and heal. Self harm is against my rules. I will punish you if I catch you doing this again. Do you understand?"
"This was exactly like the one she'd been forced to burn, the one she'd cried over--been called a demon child over."
"Months of phone calls, therapy sessions, and getting to know each other had taken place."
"The burn of Daddy's slaps was washing away her guilt, self-loathing, and self-hatred. ... tears rolled from her eyes like she'd never cried before, but these weren't sad tears. They were joyful pleasurable tears. Tears of love and relief....filled her with all the goodness that came with being his baby doll, being submissive, being put in her place."
"You are my baby doll. I will continue to take care of you.' He squeezed her tighter. 'But you will grow, heal, and be my good girl, won't you?"
Beautiful Dirty Wonderful by R. M. Wood: Middle aged married woman gets the gang bang she always fantasized about, with the full support of her husband.
"in room three Danny is waiting with a group of guys preparing to fuck me."
"He was used to this: me coming to him in the middle of the night with my anxiety-ridden questions."
Overall these stories were often insightful and emotional, heartfelt and romantic, in ways I did not expect in a collection of erotica, even women's erotica, and I absolutely appreciated them for that. Yes, the stories are smoking hot--but they are also often beautiful and touching and sweet among all that filthy dirty action. If you enjoy erotica, especially if you appreciate diversity and enjoy erotica featuring realistic characters with realistic lives and bodies and relationships and issues and struggles, I highly recommend this collection.
Thank you to #NetGalley and Cleis Press for allowing me to read this advanced readers edition of #BestWomensErotica for free. This is my honest opinion.