Review- Sapphistocated by Alessia Brio, Jolie du Pre, Beth Wylde & Yeva Wiest

Sapphistocated
by Alessia Brio, Jolie du Pre, Beth Wylde & Yeva Wiest
February 2009
Contemporary/ Lesbian/ erotica
Novel- 61K
Anthology
Ebook

Buy it Phaze- $6 Amazon

Four rising stars of women's erotica come together in this sometimes funny, sometimes heartwarming, and totally engaging collection of stories about women who love women.

Double Decker by Alessia Brio: Tess is determined to win the big Karaoke contest at the Double Decker bar, and the heart of the woman organizing it. Will her evening end on a high note?

I Know What I Want by Jolie du Pre: Allie is an up and coming model who catches the eye of a wealthy, dominating woman. While the attentions and money from "special" modeling sessions are nice, Allie wants more...but how much is enough?

Better With Age by Beth Wylde: After nearly twenty years, Olivia runs into her first love, Aleesha. While time seems to fade as they reunite, Olivia isn't sure passion could possibly have survived. It takes a surprising discovery at home to convince her to find out for certain if she's gotten better with age.

Drawn by Yeva Wiest: Manga artist Sydney loves 'em thin and leaves 'em shortly afterward, so why is she obsessing over the big, beautiful daughter of her publisher? As her Yuri artwork torments her and friends advise her, Sydney struggles with these new feelings and learns that where love and passion are concerned, she doesn't have to draw the line at any particular size.

I’ve read a few anthologies now from Alessia Brio and to date, I haven’t been disappointed. There are always some very interesting and unique stories in them and Sapphistocated is no different. In this book, four authors whose names I’ve come to recognize as well known in f/f, lesbian romance and erotica, but not had the chance to read yet, are represented and it was a great chance to get a taste of each author’s writing.

What I liked with this book was the variety in stories. Each had a different flavor and ranged from very sweet, with characters who are soft and real, to gritty, in your face type characters who learn something about themselves. All the stories were well written and definitely grabbed my attention.

Double Decker by Alessia Brio- Tess is a very confident woman. She has her days, but then she has her SOL days, sex on legs days in which everything just falls into place. She’s participating in a karaoke contest in which the prize is a weekend trip to a resort and she really wants to win. It’s a quarterly contest held in a dyke bar, the Double Decker, and she knows she has a good chance to win. And she’s lucky because it just also happens to be an SOL day for her as well. She always manages to find someone to go home with after these karaoke contests, but on this night there is only one woman she wants. But that woman has no idea what Tess feels.

This story is one in which the over confident person get a little comeuppance. Tess as a character came across at very arrogant. She knows she’s hot and she’s sure she’s the best singer. She’s also very confident that she can seduce anyone in the audience to get who she wants when she wants. I had mixed feelings about her. She’s not someone I would normally like and the fact that she goes on and on and on about how great she is through most of the story got a bit tedious.

I wished there would have been more interactions with the woman she does want and less of the build up of Tess’ ego. I wanted more tension created between them. But Tess does get knocked down a few pegs when the one woman she does want seems to blow her off. Tess does then recognize that she got too cocky and that’s what turned the story around for me. Plus, there’s hawt sex. I’m shallow like that, what can I say. B+

I Know What I Want- Jolie du Pre- Allie is working as a waitress in a sucky job, but she’s gorgeous enough to eke out a small living modeling on the side, which is what she’d rather do. One day a friend of a photographer calls Allie and tells her she has a modeling job for her and will pay her 2k per hour to be a centerpiece at her party, but she needs to interview her first.

Vivian, the woman who hires her, is an older and very wealthy woman who comes onto Allie sexually but cuts Allie off before really doing anything. Allie is very intrigued by her and wants to be with her. Vivian then plays this game with her of making Allie feel that she is interested and yet blowing her off all the time, controlling the relationship totally. Even after they have sex and Vivian says she loves Allie, she never quite gives Allie the satisfaction that she will really be with her.

When Allie gets a call from a major fashion magazine that wants her to be their main model, she goes to NY and although Vivian has said she would come, she doesn’t. In the meantime, Allie gets with the assistant of the magazine editor and they fall in love. Then Vivian shows up.

I have to be honest; the end of this story was very abrupt and a bit disappointing. While I got that this is about Allie deciding what she wants, I felt that the stronger part of the story, or lets say the part that was the most developed and had the more interesting dynamics, petered out.

Vivian is such a delicious, mysterious character. She in total control of that relationship with Allie and had some really interesting Domme characteristics that made her exciting. She’s very cool and yet, very patient with Allie as Allie tries to figure out what the deal is with Vivian. Yes, Vivian is very manipulative, but the cool mystique around her made her the most compelling character in this story.

The beginning of the story is all about Allie and Vivian, but then it shifts to Allie and the assistant. Allie is just your normal type girl with no real outstanding qualities who’s enthralled with Vivian and wants her, but also gets really pissed off with being dicked around. She has a more normal, realistic relationship with the assistant, but is unfinished with Vivian. When Vivian comes back into town, she calls Allie acting like nothing is bad between them and Allie blows her off. Then it just ends. What? Wait… don’t stop.

Personally, as a reader, the focus of this story was on the wrong person, it should have been on Vivian who was the more complex character. What makes her tick, why she’s acting like she is, does she really love Allie or is it a game… so much about her I wanted to know. Not so much about Allie. And the D/s elements that were hinted at, but never really developed, were also way more intriguing than the story between Allie and the assistant.

So I’d have to say that on quite a few levels this was a really cool story, but there was disappointment in the ending, which left me wanting a lot more. B+

Better with Age by Beth Wylde- Olivia is a woman heading into middle age and alone. She has a grown daughter who’s in college and is coming home for a night for her birthday before going back. Olivia is lonely, suffering from empty nest syndrome, but gets by keeping busy with her job.

Aleesha is also an older woman who hasn’t really found that person with whom she can really love and settle down with. She’s come back to her home town and bought a small bakery and is just living life… that is until quite by coincidence, Olivia shows up to pay for a cake she ordered for her daughter’s birthday.

Olivia and Aleesha were lovers in high school until Olivia’s mom caught them together and forced Olivia to drop Aleesha or she and her father would cut all ties with her. Being young and naïve, she let go of Aleesha. Now meeting Aleesha after all these years, the sparks fly again between them and they find that they cannot resist each other.

Oh what a totally sweet story this is. I loved, loved it! Beth Wylde really captured that feeling between the characters of a love that never dies and that feeling of coming home and rightness that happens when you find and are in the presence your soul mate. Neither one of these women have found a person who could replace the other or give them what they had together and they get immediately that after all those years that they still feel the same with each other.

I also thought their fears and vulnerabilities about their much older bodies being desirable to the other to be very touching as well. Olivia and Aleesha are just two characters that are so easy to relate to and it’s a nicely written, very satisfying story. And it's always nice to read a story about two older characters who find love. A-

Drawn by Yeva Wiest- Sydney is a cartoon artist who gets a little too involved in her characters, is definitely a butch who has very specific tastes in what she likes in a woman’s looks, and… she’s a player. She hasn’t had any nookie for a while and while creating a character, she creates the perfect woman but with two heads that can be swapped. One head is for the character’s nice personality and the other for the evil one. When Sydney goes in to see her boss to show her the new character and story, she likes what she sees in Beth, her boss’ assistant. Beth is tall and willowy and just Sydney’s type. She asks Beth out and Beth agrees.

But wait… who also shows up in the office is Alice, the boss’ daughter. She’s round and voluptuous, has huge breasts and heavy thighs and Sydney has an immediate reaction against her thinking Alice is too fat for her. And yet, there’s something about Alice that Sydney finds herself attracted to. The next day when Sydney goes to meet Beth for a date, Alice just happens to be in the hall of the apartment building since she lives in a nearby apartment and again, Sydney finds against herself that she feels this intense attraction to Alice.

Alice gets that Sydney has judged her straight away as too fat and keeps cool with Sydney even though both of them are aware of some kind of attraction going on. After a while it becomes too much for Sydney when she finds herself thinking of Alice non-stop and getting all up in that soft, round, womanly body and she finds any excuse to meet with her.

First, all around, this was a very quirky story, which had a bizarre fantasy element going on with it. Sydney’s drawing, Kisha, messes with Sydney all the time, demanding her attention and doing awful spiteful things. Sydney also has sex with her. It’s written in an odd way so that I never quite knew what’s going on with that. It’s obvious that when Kisha is involved that it’s Sydney’s imagination and maybe even the two parts of herself being expressed, but it’s written as Kisha literally doing those things, so that part is a bit strange. Ultimately, I didn’t really get the point of that, why it was even there really.

What I really got off on in this story is how Yeva Wiest has Sydney all flustered about suddenly being attracted to a woman who is so not her usual taste and who changes the usual dynamic of her being butch who loves femmes. And Ok, I liked that she falls for a fat chick and that it’s Alice’s curves and fullness that turns her on. I just like stories in which a character finds themselves acting out of character and being totally turned on by that.

Then there was the weird night Sydney had with Beth. Truly, this story went into bizarro land a few times and it was very entertaining, like being in a lesbian erotica story written by Seinfeld. B+

Sapphistocated was a general, all around good read and I’m glad that I finally got a chance to read a few stories from some authors I’ve been meaning to get to. It’s definitely a nice collection of distinctly different stories, but all ending on a good note. And the sex in all of these stories was deliciously written and sizzling as well.

Sex rating: Orgasmic- very erotic and steamy f/f, some minor anal, strap on. Mostly vanilla.

Grade: B+

Review- Coming Together: Special Memorial Edition: Colleen Thomas by Alessia Brio

Coming Together: An Erotic Cocktail
Special Memorial Edition: Colleen Thomas
Edited by Alessia Brio
July 31, 2006
Anthology/ Lesbian/ bisexual
Novel length

Buy it Amazon, Fictionwise (ebook)

A collection of lesbian erotica by the late Colleen Thomas, edited by EPPIE Award-winning author, Alessia Brio. Each short story is introduced by one of Colleen's peers. Proceeds from the sale of this edition of Coming Together will be donated to the Kaplan Family Hospice Residence in her memory.

This volume of the Coming Together series is a nice eclectic mix of lesbian erotic stories. While a few are strictly lesbian stories, there are a few first timer or coming out stories as well, which I enjoyed. The flavor of each story is so different and unique and I found them all to be nicely written and highly erotic. I think Alessia Brio did a great job in putting together this anthology, which offers so much. I've never read anything by Colleen Thomas, so this is a nice intro to her work.

A Separate Peace- I really enjoyed this story a lot. It was very different. Sarah is working for the US gov. as a spy in Israel in search of a most wanted Palestinian terrorist known as the Jackal. She is captured during a bombing by some Palestinians and wakes up tied up in a room, with a woman, Ablaa, talking to her. To Sarah’s surprise Ablaa just happens to be the Jackal. This woman is very intense with her, talking to her about how the US gov is the real terrorist and goes on to describe the horrendous life she’s had to lead, while at the same time she seduces Sarah sexually. Sarah starts to see that all is not so black and white. The Jackal lets Sarah escape and it’s years later…

What I enjoyed about this story is that it’s a story about how people can connect on a very basic human level regardless of beliefs and ideological differences. These two women are very sweet and intense together and I really got off on that. (A)

The Run- This was a very interesting sci-fi story about a woman who is a “runner,” a person who is basically a hired body guard/ assassin. Margo is a huge, formidable woman and one of the best runners out there. She’s hired by a cosmetic company to be a body guard for the head of the company, a woman with a hit out on her. Margo brings in another woman who is a computer geek to take care of the tech side of what’s needed. This woman, Lana, is very attracted to Margo, and Margo, while having some attractions for women, has never been with a woman. As they work together, they both explore each other sexually as well. What I liked here is that both are sexually inexperienced with women and it was very hot and kind of innocent how they get together.

The sci-fi part of the story was very intricate and kind of riveting on its own as well. Many interesting concepts were introduced. (A-)

Just Like That- this is a purely erotic fantasy and not really my cuppa due to the “doing it for men” part of the story, but the sex was pretty hot. A woman is in a bar and notices three woman hanging together and dancing, one having a camera. She chats with one of them and it turns out they run a website showing real life girl-on-girl action to whoever pays to watch. What they do is try to find a regular, non pro, woman who wants to have sex on camera.

First, this woman has never had sex with a woman nor does she want to, but the girls convince her to go along and the smexing with the camera rolling starts straight away in the car. That’s all. All three women do her on film and she gets off on it. (B)

Latin I and Latin II- Oh I totally loved this story. It’s a story of revenge, but done in a way that the recipients of the revenge learn something about themselves and how horrid they were acting. Mandy is a high school student who is ridiculed on a regular basis because she’s out as a lesbian. One of her teachers routinely picks on her for no reason and the “cool” girls not only mess with her but push others to ride her as well. She gets a hold of a book of spells and goes to a well known empty, haunted house and does a spell to conjure up a malevolent spirit to help her get revenge.

This was so deliciously hot. Mandy’s nasty teacher just happens to be a preacher’s wife who thinks sex is just for procreation. Mandy puts a spell on her having her do all kinds of things, completely controlling her, making her want sex with Mandy only. Then she seduces the mean girl and does the same. What I thought was interesting in these two stories is that while Mandy is getting her revenge she’s never cruel and those women, while hating that they are having sex with Mandy, also come to really want it. Great story. (A-)

Quality of Life- This was a strange story. Another sci-fi/ futuristic story about a satellite prison in space where gays and lesbians are sent because they are an abomination to the current society. This was a total downer with a lot of social statement about how gays and lesbians are treated and the prejudice they have to deal with. Basically this prison is purposely destroyed by the powers that be locking out air, with a few survivors left, but not for long. There isn’t any sex in this story, which was OK, but the ending is just kind of rough. Like I said, downer. But it was uniquely written. (C+)

Picture Perfect- Oh yeah, this was such a hot story. And it’s a May/Dec, teacher/student story, which I get off on. Dana is a student in University who keeps taking Dr. Helen Smith’s classes because she’s attracted to her. Dana is a newbie at being with women, so she gets constant advice from her butch friend who is sleeping with everyone, including a few professors. For a paper Dana has to do for Dr. Smith’s class, she goes to get some books for her topic and one book she needs hasn’t been taken out for 20 years, so its in a special room. In this book she finds a pin-up semi nudie photo of a woman from the 40’s and becomes obsessed with finding out who it is. When she finds out that Dr. Smith was the last person to take out the book, things get interesting.

This is a very engrossing story with a bit of a mystery involved and a sweet coming together of two women sexually. I liked that Helen is 45 and has as much or little experience as Dana who is in her early 20’s. So the sex is more exploratory in nature than experienced seduction, which I enjoyed. (A-)

Football Widow- this is a story about a woman who marries her high school sweetheart, but after they had split up and she had a lesbian affair with a Haitian professor at her college. She’s been married now for 10 years and is basically ignored by her husband during the whole football season. At a kickoff party that she and her husband have, a lesbian co-worker of her husband seduces her. She realizes how much she’s missed being with women and this woman turns her on totally.

This is a typical neglected housewife story, which kind of made it OK for me that she has sex with this other woman. What I didn’t like is how aggressive the lesbian is. She’s definitely the butch one and comes on very strong and pushy with the housewife. But I think in this case lesbians who like the butch/femme dynamics will like this story.

I also didn’t like that the lesbian woman in this case is thinking about making this affair long-term not by breaking up the marriage, but having the affair on the side without the husband’s knowledge. Not my thing that kind of idea really. Still though, the sex in this story is very steamy. (B)

The Last Goodbye Fuck- This is another kind of sad story. Two lesbians are having their last goodbye sex, which is very intense and lasts for hours. This is because one works on a fishing boat and goes out to sea for months at a time. What I liked about this story is that the women are so different. The butch one is big, fleshy and hairy, while the other one is tiny and thin. They both really love each other and really only have each other as both families have cut them off for being lesbians. The little details are what made this story for me. They are poor and make do with so little and it had a good feeling for me in that, like two people working against the odds. The sex is amazing in this story, but then ending really sucks. I guess that’s what you get when it’s not romance but erotica. (B+)

As a book of lesbian erotica, I think this collection is well done and offers a lot. But what I really enjoyed is that it’s also got many different kinds of sexual scenarios, something for everyone and especially something for those of us who like to read stories that are more interesting for the bi curious reader.

Sex rating: Orgasmic- f/f, ménage, strap-ons, anal,

Grade: B+

Review- Fine Flickering Hungers by Alessia Brio

Fine Flickering Hungers
By Alessia Brio
Feb. 2007
Erotica/ Straight/GBLT
Category
Anthology
E-book
194 pgs. pdf-$6.00

Buy it Phaze, Amazon, Fictionwise

A finalist in the first annual Fruity Awards, and 2007 EPPIE Finalist for Best Erotica, "fine flickering hungers" is a collection of eight erotic short stories with accompanying poetry. Sexual scenarios vary from hetero- to mono- to homosexual to group, with the only common thread being that they seldom (if ever) take place in a bed.

Fine Flickering Hungers is a nice eclectic mix of short stories that contains many juicy and highly erotic fantasies. There’s a bit of something for everyone in here. However, what I mainly loved was the fair amount of girl-on-girl content, especially of the “first time experience” nature. Outside of that, I enjoyed each story for what it was.

This book also includes very short poems between each story, which I thought was an interesting touch and liked most of them. And I say that as someone who is not really into poetry.

The only negative I felt about this book was that some of the stories ended a bit too abruptly for me. And one in particular got me all worked up with no where to go. None of the characters are fulfilled in that story, but I’ll talk about that later.

A little blurb about each story:

Wetter Has Never Been Better: This was one of the best stories in this book. It’s about a young advertising woman who goes to Costa Rica to get some inspiration for an ad campaign for the Costa Rican tourist office, which wants people to come during the rainy season. While there, she ends up in all kinds of sexual situations as when it rains, everyone becomes horny. I just loved the whole concept of it and that a natural element, especially rain, causes everyone to get hot and bothered. m/f, m/f/f, f/f.

Topping Love: This story included some of the characters from Wetter Has Never Been Better, but went off in a different direction. This is about a sex expert/therapist who has become asexual and has really intellectualized sex. He allows his wife to get her needs taken care of with others and she goes with both men and women. When his brother, wife, and her best friend get together for an evening, it’s all talk, talk. The therapist decides to make pizzas having everyone put toppings on according to meanings he has put to those toppings. It boils down to an analogy of pizza toppings with what we desire in a mate/ relationship.

This story was a bit confusing to me and it was very philosophical with lots of discussing and proselytizing about the nature of love and sex. There was no actual sex in this story though. Meh, it wasn’t my cuppa, but others might like this one.

It’s All About Customer Service: Oh, I liked this one. A woman calls a furnace repair man to fix her furnace and you can guess what happens. This one is a nice little hot erotic fantasy. Doing it with the repair guy? Yumm… m/f

Jake: This is about a woman who has to leave her lover to go on a business trip, but worries about him because he seemed ill when she left. She rushes home, all tense, worried and excited to finally have sex with him again, only to find him lying in the same position. OK, seriously, this was hilarious. Very different and creative, although there was no real sex in this story, just implied sex. f/?

Listen to Me: This is a first person story of a woman seducing another in a single night. It had the feeling of two strangers who’ve agreed to try it and there was a slight bit of BDSM feeling to it. I loved this story and thought it really steamy right up until it ended abruptly. Both characters are getting worked up; the D is leading by bringing the s to the brink many times and stopping, and then, THE END. No orgasmic finish, nothing. Just a third party male is suddenly at the door. So, this one was incredibly frustrating for me. Alessia, please, at least let the characters get off if they’ve gotten all steamed up. Other than that, this was one really hot story. f/f

Timeless: OK, this story went right over my head. It’s about a couple, in a hotel room, who aren’t supposed to be together, or they’re together illicitly? I don’t know really. Somehow they are from another time and there’s a sword involved. Seriously, this one was too poetic for my plain old brain and I just didn’t get it. Once again though, others out there might find it very intriguing. No graphic sex in this one either. m/f

The Second Person: A story written in, you guessed it, the second person. This one was really hot. A guy on a business trip jerks off all over the place in his hotel room thinking about a woman who is also at the meetings. She kind of likes him though, especially after he defends her against the office a-hole. Just by chance, ahem, they’re both going to the airport after the last meeting. So they go together stopping at her house along the way, where she shows just how much she likes him. This was very juicy and erotic and the second person writing didn’t bother me at all. m/f.

Ghouls Just Want to Have Fun: A short, cute story of a woman who hates Halloween, but gets seduced by a ghost on Halloween night. Mostly she’s ordered to masturbate by it. A very nice, very hot story. f/ghost

Hallowing Eve: Two girl friends spend a weekend in a cabin and get it on with each other for the first time. This is a very spicy, first time girl-girl experience and it was nicely and realistically written. f/f

Under Cover Angel: A female detective hired by a woman to catch her husband in the act, finds out the woman is the real cheat and she meets with the husband. This is an interesting fantasy, however, it was written a bit oddly. I was a bit distracted by how quickly the husband is into the detective, but that’s fantasy for ya. Still, it was an interesting story. m/f

It’s Just Sex: This was one very salacious and slightly humours story. A priest is tired of hearing boring confessions day in and day out and hires a company specializing in fulfilling sexual fantasies to have someone come in and confess something really hot and juicy. And he gets his money’s worth. I love the whole irreverence in this story and there’s an unexpected twist at the end. The poem- Surrogate Sin, just before this story is hilarious. Very creative and entertaining. M, f, mutual masturbation.

Memento: is a very short story that is a continuation or epilogue of It’s Just Sex. The good Father is brought a memento of his fantasy in the form of a high heel with a message written on it. Meh, it’s not really a story actually. So I can’t comment on it as such. If you have a shoe fetish though, this little ditty might get you going. m/shoe.

Boiling Point: Oh this one was hot, hot, hot. Two girl friends, both married, have been sexually fantasizing about each other for a long time but have never talked about it. It comes to a head when they disagree on the outcome of a movie. The friend who mainly does the following and not leading in the relationship, decides to take matters into her own hands and finally pushes the envelope, forcing the other friend to acknowledge her feelings. The other friend is very reluctant though and fights her desires even though they have a really hot time together and the story is left at that. Nice, graphic and highly erotic girl-on-girl sex in this story. f/f

Say it With a Strap-On: This is a continuation of Boiling Point. The girls haven’t really been speaking to each other since that one night and the one who initiated the whole thing is just wracked with pain over not being able to be with the other one. When the reluctant one calls her up for an evening together, things come further to a head in their relationship. Once again, very nicely written and there’s a satisfying HFN outcome. The angst and feelings that would come up in such a situation were very nicely and realistically written and again, there was some very steamy sex. These last two stories were my favorites. f/f- strap-on use.

While Alessia Brio’s style of writing seemed to fluctuate between very gritty and poetic, which kind of distracted me at times, I really enjoyed how she portrayed many of her characters and most of the stories/ fantasies were very creative, different and engaging.

Sex Grade: Orgasmic. toys, strap-on, f/f, m/f, m/f/f, hint of m/m, masturbation.

Grade: between B+and A-