Review- Kaydee and the Tramp by Titania Ladley

Kaydee and the Tramp
by Titania Ladley
Sept. 1, 2010
Contemporary/ Lesbian- bisexual/f/f
29K
Ebook- Ellora’s Cave

Buy it EC

“Show me how a woman makes love to a woman.”Hearing that from any hetero female is normally a deal breaker. But when lesbian Kaydee Truman is propositioned with those words by her longtime secret crush—her best friend’s widowed stepmom—temptation takes a front seat to propriety. Savanah Kirtright exudes irresistible sex appeal, and her many past experiences lie solely with men. Savanah’s unexpected enthusiasm to learn how to please a woman proves to be more than Kaydee can resist.

Which turns out to be the worst mistake of her life. But how can such an agonizing slip-up feel so damn right? Neither Kaydee nor Savanah have the answer. All they know is, one sultry summer day by the lake leaves Kaydee and her new lover to make choices that will forever change their lives.

I have to be honest, I probably wouldn’t have gotten this book based on the blurb if it wasn’t a f/f book. The same in a m/f would be a turn off. A best friend has an affair with a step- mom or dad? Or vice versa? There’s an immediate ick factor that comes up without reading the story. I’m thinking rich, bored, bitchy cougar who’s a calculated user and who seduces a younger person. However, as there are very little f/f out there I did take a chance on this on.

I had also heard that this is erotica with non-stop sex basically, which is fine. I don’t mind reading non-stop sex once in a while. Surprisingly, though, this turned out to be a sweet and loving story, which moved it up quite a few notches in my overall feelings about it.

Kaydee and Melanie have been best friends since childhood. They are both in their mid 20’s now and Melanie has just gotten married and is off on her honeymoon. Kaydee is a lesbian and she’s been lusting after Melanie’s step-mom, Savanah, who is young-ish and hot. Admittedly, Melanie’s father has robbed the cradle a bit. But Savanah has been a faithful and loving wife until his death. Although she and Melanie have not been the best of buds, they do treat each other as family.

Savanah has been with men only, but has had desires and crushes on women since she was a teenager. Having been brought up in a situation in which she couldn’t disgrace her family by having affairs with women, she’s suppressed her same sex yearnings. But now she’s older, has stayed out of the spotlight and she’s a young widower. She’s also very attracted to Kaydee and decides to ask Kaydee to initiate her into the world of loving a woman in the carnal sense.

Of course, Kaydee can’t believe her luck! This hot woman whom she’s been lusting after wants her to teach her about sex with a woman. There’s a huge hitch in the whole thing though, Savanah is Melanie’s step-mom and the whole thing is just awkward and wrong, which both Kaydee and Savanah feel.

Since this story starts out with a lot of sex, I’ll start there too. I knew this book was going to be a lot of sex, so I expected it. And there is a lot of sex. Really hot, spicy sex. But I give kudos to Ms Ladley for coming up with a variety of ways of expressing sex acts and bits without getting redundant. In fact, after a while I was enjoying more to see what word she’d come up with to express the same sex act several times. So on that level, it was enjoyable. I admit, after a while I get bored with the constant sex and start looking at it in different ways to stay entertained. Kaydee and Savanah do just about everything possible so it was very creative.

What mainly got me in this story though was how much heart was infused even with it being erotica. It’s clear that both Savanah and Kaydee have major hots for each other. But I think it’s hard in such a short story to manage some stronger emotional content out of that. Sex to show how much someone feels for someone else doesn’t go over well with me, I need other factors and Ms Ladley managed that for me. There’s an emotional ache between Kaydee and Savanah that gets strongly expressed.

What I liked also about this story is that it’s the first time I’ve read a f/f in which a curious woman who’s had same sex attractions decides to find someone to teach her for her first experience. Stories with curious women are usually about a straight woman who’s been clueless until a bi or lesbian seduces her or she suddenly finds herself attracted to a woman.

In this story, it’s nice that a character sets out to experience with a woman in a true way and not just as an experiment. Although, Savanah does say some stupid things, comparing what’s it’s like to have sex with a real penis vs. a fake one with a woman. This sets Kaydee off, as it should. She’s up for teaching Savanah, but not into being compared with a man. This was a strange thing to me, but it brought in some conflict and a leaping point to interact outside of the actual sex.

Melanie does enter the picture in all of this and what happened with her and how Kaydee and Savanah react moved both of them up in my eyes since it showed they were willing to be respectful to someone they cared about at their own expense.

Personally, I liked the characters. Both Kaydee and Savanah are interesting and I think this story could have really popped if there were more character development. I would have liked to hang out a bit more with them outside of the bedroom. But for what it is, it’s still a satisfying read.

I recommend this book if you’re looking for a light on characterization and plot but full on hot sex with a feel good HEA short story.

Heat level- 5- graphically written sex, lots of it, strap-on, shower sex, outdoor sex.

Grade: B