Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Enthralled by Jennifer August

http://amzn.to/w9Gjtp

story: 5/5
Erotica: 5/5

Imagine that you have given up men for good and are cursed to be horny as hell once a month, and two hunky guys show up willing to take care of your spell! That's the setup in this well-crafted novelette that has a strong heroine willing to do whatever it takes to rid herself of her curse. Two adonis alpha males are sent to break the spell by having 50 orgasms with Fi McGantry in one night, and this is only the first half of the book!

The cupid-like "Enhancers" are professional studs with a good heart, intent on dispelling Fi's insatiable appetite for sex, by applying their sexual techniques to her as she barely keeps up with their boundless energy. The reader will be over the edge of their bed by the time the undaunted trio reaches the final orgasm. But wait, there's more! Somehow the boys break from their professional detachment of doing their job and take a liking to Fi. The Gods send them back to take care of their affairs.  Up until then, the sex was vanilla but now the heavy stuff begins.

The trio's first menage the guys is a steamy scene of light BDSM . Sweet, innocent Fi, watches two men making love and becomes aroused. The boys then carefully test Fi's limits as they draw her into their world of SM.  The men become more attracted to Fi as she continues to play with them.  They bring  her into a rousing romantic threeway in the end.

Fi is an inadvertant victim of a spell. In a different setting, these guys would be escorts out to service an incredibly horny lady, who show her the subterranean world of m/m, menage and bdsm. Since Fi is cursed, these "angels" are here to heal her emotional wound of separation from a cheating husband and make things right! Readers who have scruples about over-the-top erotica, may at least accept it in the story's paranormal setting.


The story is told from the point of view of the heroine, whose naive character seems plausible.The men's story is paranormal fantasy but not spooky (i.e. they are "good" spirits, not vampires). The reader can learn of Fi's personality, but  only read a magazine-model description ("perfect tan, washboard abs") of Kade and Alec. Somehow Fi   enthusiastically accepts the boys proposition to join their BDSM-themed menage. The plot was simple and a little too thinly developed, but then this is an erotic novelette. The erotic sex was described well enough to give the reader a feel of what a menage with two guys would be like. The sex scenes were direct and consistent with the plot and character development

Despite the limitations due to the length of the story, this is one of the best written ones.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Pet Shop by K. D. Grace

http://www.amazon.com/Pet-Shop-KD-Grace/dp/190800679X/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1326221669&sr=1-3

Story: 3/5
Erotica: 5/5

The Pet Shop is a story of one woman's adventure into a private club for human pets. Stella's boss assigns her to visit the club. She becomes infatuated in Tonio, an over-the-top pet, who ravages her. She later meets Vincent, a wealthy businessman,  who is also vying for her affection. Eventually she realizes that the two are different aspects of the same person, one civilized and the other depraved.

The story is twenty odd chapters of over-the-top sex, sex, sex! Numerous themes are explored including bizarre pet-play, dubious non-consensual bdsm, M/M, F/F, menage and group sex. Each chapter is a "blow-by-blow" description of sexual encounters between the principal and support characters in a fantasy setting of an elaborate playground for the wealthy.

Throughout the story Stella is incredulous about all the manipulation of the thinly-disguised characters as she is made into a pet, pursued by Tonio and  eventually dumped by Vincent. Stella stumbles into the underworld with only a flashlight. We learn of events only from her naive perceptions and how slow she is to put the pieces of the puzzle together, as she is subjected to numerous encounters of tantalizing sexual perversity.

At times I wish Stella would get a clue but then the sexual escapade would be over. Eventually she becomes enlightened and this serves for a turning point of the story which I won't give away here.

This is a book that is either highly praised for its "inventive" hot sex or  is condemned for the tawdriness (mostly the character's "whoring" ). The story is about an innocent woman's seduction into an underworld that is run by and for the ultra-wealthy for an environmental cause. Readers will have to suspend moral judgement of the characters and enjoy the erotica for what it is. I was unable to get a picture of what the main characters were like as they are only superficially described. The plot seems to only serve as a theme to introduce increasingly varied and depraved sexual encounters. At times I had wished the author would simply state what the characters did in a particular encounter instead of a detailed description of the sex. If you can "slog" through the endless sex scenes in the beginning you will be rewarded by one of the more passionately described encounters near the end.

This book is more like a movie or television script. Although K. D. Grace articulates the sex scenes, the plot is a bit like a soap-opera with a HEA ending. Fans of erotica will appreciate the ability to "jump in" to the story from almost any chapter as they will figure out the running plot quickly.

If you have an open mind to a world of depraved sexuality, you will find Pet Shop most rewarding.