Sunday, February 5, 2012

Review- Happy Endings by Marlene Sexton


Happy Endings
By Marlene Sexton
Dec. 20, 2011
Lesbian/f-f/Paranormal/Erotica
9.8K words
Publisher- Red Heels Press (self-published)


Emma needed to get away from Boston and her on again, off again girlfriend/editor Haya to work on her book. She found a quaint inn near the sea in Connecticut. The innkeeper Gladys is a sweet woman and Emma instantly likes her. Apparently, a young couple, the Finnegans, are staying at the inn also, but they are rarely around.

Emma begins having vivid, sexual dreams and then one night a woman comes to her darkened room. She thinks it might be Gladys but then a younger woman, Beth, joins her in bed. The women make love and it's some of the best sex of Emma's life. She assumes Beth is the elusive Mrs. Finnegan, but when she meets the real Mrs. Finnegan the next morning, she finds out it wasn't. Now Emma is wondering who the strange woman really is. The answer is almost to strange to believe.

If this story doesn't leave you horny and in tears, your better check your pulse!

This is a new to me author. I bought this book during ARe’s ½ ebook bucks back sale. There’s no way I’d buy a 10K book for $2.99 without a deal unless I loved the author’s work. I have mixed feelings about this story. There were some things about it that I found off or lacking, but other parts of it I really liked.

The main thing that didn’t work for me was that I found the writing to be amateurish and repetitive in parts. I got the feeling the author was adding words unnecessarily to make a higher word count and or that it wasn’t edited very well.

One example:

“You must be Emma!” the middle-aged woman exclaimed. “We were getting worried about you with all the ice on the roads. I’m Gladys McGillicuddy and this is my husband Oscar,” she said as she pointed to the thin but hardy looking man just emerging from the inn.

“Hi, I’m Emma. I’m not used to driving, especially on icy roads at night. I went really, really slow.”

They already know and assume she’s Emma and said so, so introducing herself on top of that is weird.

This is a short story, only 23 pgs., so there’s not too much to it. It’s not a romance, but more about a short erotic interlude in Emma’s life that helps her get out of a rut she’s in. Between the quiet folksiness of Gladys and her short stay at the country B&B, and the unexpected paranormal elements, Emma manages to get her writing mojo back. The title is Happy Endings and I guess for several characters that’s what happened in their own way.

The “Beth” part of the story, outside of the actual sex, felt a bit unfocused. It’s treated as if Beth was waiting for Emma in particular but there’s no background for that. Why Emma in particular? The author kind of goes there but then goes the direction of it’s only because Emma happens, coincidentally, to be a single lesbian who showed up as a guest after so much time for why Beth comes around.

The best parts are the dream like, ethereal erotic moments between Emma and Beth. The sex is nicely and sensually written even if not overly graphic.

To be honest, and I’m sure the author will not like this, but the best part of Happy Endings can be read in the excerpt on All Romance Ebooks. Or a good part of it. There’s more of course, but for the cost, and other issues I’m not sure it’s worth it. Or you can download the first 50% of the book on Smashwords to see if it’s a book you might like.

I wouldn’t say this book is totally not worth it, it was generally an OK read. I still have a pulse. But if you’re into paranormal sexual scenarios or want a short quickie that’s hot sexually, then you might like Happy Endings.

Heat level-  3-4- Vanilla sex with some minor anal play.

Grade- It was OK

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