Review- Swap by Jenesi Ash

Swap
by Jenesi Ash
Sept. 2008
Erotica
Novel- trade 279 pgs.

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Meet the friends:

Free spirited Jamie is not one to be tied down—unless it’s in the bedroom.

Caleb is Jamie’s sexually adventurous lover who has no desire to domesticate her.

Mia is Jamie’s naive friend whose sexual fulfillment has depended solely on her first and only lover.

Aidan thinks he knows what Mia wants. That’s because he’s the only man she’s ever gone to, to get it.

This weekend, four best friends at the crossroads of their relationships have decided to do something different. But as sexual partners shift, Jamie, Caleb, Mia, and Aidan will discover more about themselves and each other than they ever imagined.

Jamie and Mia have been friends for a long time and have shared a house together. Jamie, who’s the wild one sexually, has become attracted to Mia and rather than ruin her friendship by telling Mia, she decides it’s time to leave. She’s also been hanging out with Caleb, who’s been her best sexual partner yet, willing to do anything with her. But since she’s not the type to stick with one person, she’s planning on leaving him behind as well.

Mia has been in a long relationship with Aidan and has reached a point where she wishes to live out some fantasies that she can’t have because she likes being a submissive to Aidan and won’t do anything sexually without his permission or unless he specifically says to.

Jamie, who is a controller in sex, feels that Mia needs to get out from under the thumb of Aidan and go for what she wants sexually, so she offers a free for all swapping weekend her last few days there, which Mia agrees to only if she has permission from Aidan. Aidan and Caleb talk about it and all agree to it having their own fantasies that they want to explore.

In the process, all four learn something about themselves and what they really desire as each person steps outside of their comfort zone at times to help fulfill the others’ fantasies.

Whew! Get the fan and the ice cubes out because if you’re going to read this you’ll need them. If you’re not into erotica, then this book is not for you. It’s literally 279 pgs. of non-stop sex. Steamy, juicy, hot, raunchy sex of every kind and person combo and to be honest, it's so much fun and well written.

If you need some romance with your sex this is also not quite the book for you either. But I will say that even with all the sex, Jenesi Ash did manage to develop the characters and let us know about their psychological make up and motivations, which is partly what kept me interested. And although not a true romance, I’ll say that all parties end up in a satisfying HFN.

Sexually, just about everything represented here including some minor BDSM. I loved that for this weekend everyone is willing to let go of all of their inhibitions and judgments, all trusting each other to let go and explore. There was also the feeling that no-one would be pushed or forced to do something outside their comfort zone and I liked that, even though personal issues do come up. Those things do get discussed though, and were not just blown over for the sex, which I thought was good. What was particularly fun was power struggle that came up for both Aidan and Jamie who are both dominant alphas.

The only thing that kept this book from being an A for me is that some of the characters’ reasons for participating in particular situations and the power plays going on got a bit muddled at times. While all stayed in character for the most part, there were times when they seemed confused about what they wanted or felt.

At any rate, I read, have read, a lot of erotica and for the amount of sex in this book, the fact that not once does it ever get boring is a pretty amazing feat for an author and I commend Jenesi Ash on this point. She managed to constantly infuse character motivation and feeling into each sex scene so it wasn’t like reading a non-stop unemotional sexual scene. And she was very creative with the sexual situations. There are sexual scenarios in here that I've never read before.

Sex rating: Orgasmic— Virtual smorgasbord: f/f, f/f/m, strap-on use anal male, f/m/f, voyeurism, very light BDSM.

For those who want to know about the f/f portion, I did feel a bit frustrated because the sexual tension between Jamie and Mia kept growing through the book, but I was never quite satisfied.

In the beginning the girls do have a light sexual encounter in which Mia is shocked to find herself turned on and it was a hot scene, but not complete. During the book we are constantly being titillated with small moments here and there of them touching and what they feel about that as both start really wanting each other.

When they finally do get a chance to be together, at the end, it’s a bit anti climatic; like they weren’t allowed to really just be together without some interference from the guys even though at that point both were really hot for it.

However, the f/f that is in here is very yummy. These two women really love each other even if not in-love with each other and you can feel that they are really OK with being together. Still though, for the reader who likes to read both men and women together this is a really good read.

Grade: B+