Review- Beyond Curious by Paisley Smith

Beyond Curious
by Paisley Smith
Jan 8, 2010
Contemporary/ bi- lesbian
Quickie- up to 15K--$2.49
Ebook- Ellora’s Cave

Buy it Ellora’s Cave

Annie’s dreading the piano lessons that her grandmother’s will demanded she take…until she meets her teacher, Emily. Far from the elderly cat lady Annie had envisioned, Emily is sexy, blonde and completely irresistible.

Emily has never been with a woman, but Annie attracts her in a way that no one else has. Despite Emily’s initial misgivings, it doesn’t take long for their relationship to move from teacher and student to something much more than either of them expected—something that might lead to the love of a lifetime.

Get your fans and cold showers ready ladies; Paisley Smith has done it again! This is one really hot story. Not only is this story as sexually delicious as deep fried ice cream, it’s also a beautiful love story. Somehow, Paisley Smith, as before, managed to write a well-rounded short story that from beginning to end left no gaps, lingering questions, and made me feel like these two women will only have eyes for each other forever.

Annie is a 29 year old student going for her veterinary degree. To honor her grandmother’s memory, the only family member who totally accepted her being a lesbian and loving her, she’s decided take the piano lessons her grandmother wished her to.

Annie’s dreading her first lesson and walks up to the old Victorian house thinking for sure the widow Granger is probably some old hag with a hundred cats, but finds herself lost for words and immediately smitten when she sees that her teacher is a woman not much older than herself and drop dead gorgeous.

Emily is a young widow whose husband came from a traditional, wealthy, influential family. She’s still grieving his death by cancer while trying to live up to the family name and reputation by doing all things proper. When she sees Annie for the first time, she finds herself strangely attracted to this unusual but appealing androgynous woman dressed like a man and starts to fantasize about what it would be like to be with a woman.

Over the next few weeks, at every lesson, Annie and Emily get it on in every which way possible both starting with the idea that this is just sex since Emily is not gay and Annie is taking off for school in a few weeks. What really happens is that both their hearts start to open and they have to decide to go for broke or not.

Wow, just wow. I just loved everything about this book. The first thing that got me was the atmosphere that Paisley set up in which the girls first meet. The old Victorian house in the middle of two frat houses, the ambience of old family money with a beautiful young widow. I kept picturing Emily as a Catherine Deneuve character, cool, distant, elegantly beautiful and yet vulnerably sensual. That piqued my interest straight away.

Then there’s Annie who knows what she wants, doesn’t care what people think and she dresses and looks androgynous. The contrast between the two women is very dynamic. Again, something very appealing to me.

Annie’s also a bit of a dom and an alpha. As the sexual relationship develops between her and Emily and she feels a mix of hesitancy and attraction from Emily she starts acting like this:

Brazenly, Annie’s eyes held hers as she stepped over the threshold and pushed the door closed behind her. “Take your panties off.”

At first, Emily thought she had not heard her correctly. “Pardon me?”

“Take ’em off,” Annie said, unsmiling.

Emily swallowed thickly. She gaped.

“I want you to teach my lesson without any panties on,” Annie said, and blithely moved toward the piano.

Damn but that is so hot. What’s really nice about the way this book is written is that it creates an interesting power dynamic in which the women don’t go the way of being egalitarian. Clearly Annie is in control of the sexual encounters but isn’t overbearing. She acts with just the right amount of assertiveness to keep the tension and excitement up, while still being soft enough that Emily feels OK to explore. And Emily is so turned on for the first time in her life that she gets off on it, doing things she never would have thought she’d ever do, totally in awe of discovering amazing sex for the first time.

This, of course, is a story about a lesbian and a woman who’s never been with a woman before, so there are some issues that come up for the characters about their intense attraction and budding love.

I thought the development of Emily’s feelings over the weeks is so beautifully done. She questions herself, if she’s really a lesbian, and what that would mean to her and her uptight in-laws if she openly has a relationship with Annie. And there are a few instances in which her immediate reaction to going public with their relationship is fear and resistance, which I thought only natural. But she also doesn’t deny herself what she really feels and I liked that.

Even though hurt at those flinch reactions of Emily, Annie always come back with an I love you and am not leaving attitude, which wakes Emily up making her realize how much she’s loved and wanted and how deeply she loves Annie. I totally love Annie’s energy here as her desire and frustration mounts:

“Goddammit,” Annie said and tossed her rolled-up piano book to the floor. She stalked across the carpet, hauled Emily against her and before Emily could utter a sound, Annie’s mouth claimed hers.

The best part of this story is that at its core, it’s a love story. Yes, it starts out with incredible sexual chemistry and the book has a fair amount of sex in it, but when the women start falling love it’s so clear and profound; I felt these two women really adore each other outside of the sexual realm.

Like the last two stories I’ve read of Paisley Smith’s, the pacing, character portrayals and general plot came together so smoothly. And of course, the sexual scenarios are so intense and juicy. For me, at this point, Paisley Smith can’t write fast enough. I want more!

Sex rating: Orgasmic- yes, there’s graphic sex, very light D/s, butt plugs but no anal sex, dildo. Mostly it’s vanilla sex though.

Grade: A-

Review- Windrow Garden by Janet McClellan

Windrow Garden
by Janet McClellan
1998
Contemporary/ Lesbian
45K- $5.95
Ebook version- ArtemisPress

Buy it OmniLit, Fictionwise, Amazon-Kindle/ paperback

As a bitter, January wind whips through Leavenworth County, Kansas, Sally Windrow prepares for another hectic year of farming on the five-acre spread that has been in her family for seventy-five years. Unfortunately, her hired hand and chief mechanic is seriously injured in an accident. Frantic because all the skilled labor in the area has already been hired at neighboring farms, Sally puts an ad in the local paper, hoping a good man will turn up.

To Sally's surprise, her ad is answered quickly... by a woman. Forced out of the Army by an anti-gay witchhunt, Master Sergeant Nicole Jaeger is a trained mechanic and at a crossroads in her life, trying to find a place to start over. New to the area, and with no ties to bind her, Nicole convinces Sally she will be a loyal and hard-working employee. As Sally and Nicole work side-by-side to make the farm and roadside restaurant successful, the women develop a strong and trusted friendship that soon blossoms into romance.

Windrow Garden was an odd book for me. I don’t even know quite how to classify it or even describe it. It had its good points and did appeal to me in some strange way but I think the way it was written and presented might bore people who like a bit more action and character interaction.

The blurb is fairly accurate for this story, so onwards and upwards.

Right out of the gate, this story started out with a few pages of actual gardening techniques. I mean, it literally read like a Gardening for Dummies how to, giving explicit instructions for building a cold frame.

I feel this will be a matter of taste and or what turns you on whether or not this will bother you. Personally, gardening and everything around it is, for me, about as fun as getting a tooth pulled. I hate gardening actually, so I was kind of bored straight away. What kept me reading was the unusualness of starting a book or supposed romance with a step-by-step guide to gardening and wondering how it would proceed from there.

Just for reader edification, the author interwove pages of different gardening instructions and information throughout the book as what I supposed were metaphors or correlations for the actual process of the relationship growth between the two women. Surprisingly, sometimes I found them kind of interesting. Especially the section on pruning trees, since I know next to nothing about pruning and my rhododendrons need some major help. Mostly though, I skipped through them.

The next issue I had, and maybe you’ll all have noticed that I haven’t talked about the characters yet, is that this book is 90% telling. Where’s the dialogue you ask? MIA. I’d say about 1/5 of this whole book included dialogue and didn't happen until about a third of the way in. Ergo, I didn’t get intimate knowledge of either of the two women, what they are feeling inside, what they are thinking, or how their relationship affected them on a visceral level; it's all told.

This is supposedly a romance. Again, when there is no dialogue really, I’m just being told that a character feels this, and the other feels that. The actual romance part, the part that should have been the most important as far as development, got glossed over by telling the reader that they like each other. No action really, nothing except that they meet for private liaisons. For those of you who don’t like explicit sexual scenarios, you might like this book, since only one sexual encounter is expressed and in the vaguest of terms. There was just no real heat between these two women.

Ok, for the characters. What did come across about Nicole is that she’s one of these types of people who just goes along with the program. She likes the comfort, routine, rigidness, no need to think for oneself quality of the military and wanted to spend her whole life in it. However, she’s a lesbian. She knew she was a lesbian when she joined at 18 years of age, so there was never going to be the ability to have a long term romance with a woman.

The trouble with the character of Nicole is that while I really get off on a character like her in general, she spends her whole life having fuck buddies. It seems that she’s never really cared about anyone and came across as almost bragging that she loves them and leaves them. Not really a quality that I can warm up to in a character.

This would be fine if her growth, due to her love of Sally, would have been developed. But it’s not. She just seems to go from being a love’em and leave’em type to suddenly wanting a long-term deal with Sally without much internal reflection about that. Yes she does freak a little bit about the thought of a long-term deal, but I wanted to know how she got from point A to B in her being.

And Sally. I kind of liked Sally as a character, but understood her even less than Nicole. She was married and lost her husband, but there was an incident with a girl when in her teens. She’s a straight up person and good business woman and falls for Nicole. However, she was so easily influenced against Nicole and treats her like she’s never met her after they've fallen in love. What the hell? That was kind of flaky to me. Then without any explanation she’s suddenly coming to Nicole as if she hadn’t ignored her for a while. Missing information? You betcha.

There was also a plot to this story, which stood out more than the romance. Some bad guys trying to ruin Sally and so on. I think it was more interesting than the love story, but didn't have too much depth to it.

For those who dislike the stereotypical portrayal of gay haters, this story does have some of that. Realistic for sure, but I didn’t feel it went into that political area too much, which was a blessing. Still though, it was used as antagonistic foil for the women getting together.

I will admit though, that I get off on a style of writing that is very logical and precise, which is how the writing/ story telling felt in this story. Even with all the telling, there was something very smooth about Janet McClellan’s writing that turned me on. When there was dialogue, it was very nice and clean and real. Her how to’s were very easy to understand and kind of interesting if you like that. It did have the comfortable feeling of being a child while having an adult read to you, which I liked.

I would recommend this book to someone who wants to read something just out of the ordinary in presentation. Or someone who wants to read about lesbian women without the explicit sex or eroticism. Or, if you’re really into gardening.

Sex rating: Dry panties- no real sexual situations.

Grade: C+

Beyond Curious by Paisley Smith is out today!

Paisley Smith's Beyond Curious is out today- you can get it here.

The Blurb:

Annie’s dreading the piano lessons that her grandmother’s will demanded she take…until she meets her teacher, Emily. Far from the elderly cat lady Annie had envisioned, Emily is sexy, blonde and completely irresistible.

Emily has never been with a woman, but Annie attracts her in a way that no one else has. Despite Emily’s initial misgivings, it doesn’t take long for their relationship to move from teacher and student to something much more than either of them expected—something that might lead to the love of a lifetime.

Review- For the Love of Laura by Cassidy Ryan

For the Love of Laura
by Cassidy Ryan
2008
Contemporary/ Lesbian
10K+ words- $2.49
Ebook- Torquere Press

Buy it ARe, Fictionwise

Grace, from the popular Sip, What the Heart Wants, and Laura are in a loving and committed long-term relationship. As Laura’s thirtieth birthday approaches, her beloved god-mother Sarah arrives to help her celebrate. Grace is nervous about meeting the other most important woman in her lover’s life, but her concerns are quickly swept aside when she realizes that they have a lot in common -- not least of all, their love of Laura.

Unfortunately, Sarah brings with her a secret that will test the strength of Grace and Laura’s relationship. Grace finds herself placed in the impossible situation of having to keep that secret from Laura. Will Laura understand that Grace acted out of love, or will the magnitude of the lie tear them apart?

This is the second book of Cassidy Ryan’s that I’ve read and I really enjoy the way she writes. While this story wasn’t as satisfying to me as her other book, mainly due to subject mater, I was still happy with it because of the writing and characters.

The blurb is pretty much just about what this book is about, so I’ll go from there.

For the Love of Laura is basically about a brief time period in the relationship between Laura and Grace. They’re already an established couple, so this isn’t a budding love story really. It’s more about the testing of Grace and Laura’s relationship from an outside force.

Right from the beginning, although it’s not shared until further in the book, I guessed what’s going on and I wasn’t sure I wanted to go there. I kept reading with some trepidation because it’s not a subject matter or plot device that floats my boat really. There is a happy, although poignant, ending in case anyone is starting to wonder at this point, so no worries there.

The one thing that did save this for me is that this is a short story so things aren’t too developed. Or more to the point, not talked to death enough to break your heart. I know I gripe like hell about short stories that aren’t developed. However, in this case, due to what could be a downer plot device, I was happy that Cassidy Ryan stuck mainly with the positive side of it for the characters, leaving out details that might have disturbed me.

What is clear is that both Grace and Laura really love each other and although Grace is forced to make a lose-lose decision that could jeopardize them as a couple, she does so and faces the consequences. The situation that is going on this book, and what Grace is asked to do, made me think a lot about what I’d do in the same situation. So this is a story in which some deep thought might occur for the reader.

As in In My Skin, I had the same feeling of deep intimacy with the characters; they are very comfortable in their own skins and with each other. I find there’s something really pleasurable and comforting about reading or hanging out with characters that I could be good friends with. Cassidy Ryan does have a way of writing that is very easy and pleasing and for this I kept reading even knowing where the story was going and not really wanting to go there.

For the Love of Laura is ultimately a sweet story about love and being there for a partner through thick and thin. And I actually liked that it’s not one of the more common plot foils to love in a contemporary since lately all the contemps I’ve been reading have been sexual run-ons with no focused plot. And speaking of contemporaries, this book was just the right length for that to keep it interesting and on track without superfluous sex or long, drawn out emo discussions.

Sex rating: Wet panties- semi graphic sexual scenarios, mostly vanilla.

Grade: B

I'm a lazy bum- and the G-spot

Well, my holiday has come and gone and I had a whole month to read until my eyeballs fell out, and yet, I effed around online or did other crazy things like organize and file last year's paper trail and other sundry non urgent important stuffs. And to be honest, I just can't do much of anything when the Mr. is home. He's been off almost all that time as well, so not much gets done. That said, I thought I'd do a post about an interesting article that's been buzzed about on Twitter about a new study that proclaims that the famous G-spot is a myth.

The article here



That's right. First we are given that special spot, which was so nice since it's supposedly the only way we can get pleasure out of sex without any clitoral stimulation. And we've all been there, where we've been with that one dude who was clueless or didn't give a damn about helping us get off. So now, just like that, it's taken away and it doesn't exist.

Several things:

1. They did this study by questionnaire. Seriously? "They asked 1,804 women aged between 23 and 83 filled in questionnaires. All were pairs of identical or non-identical twins."

2. One of the authors of that study is a man. Nuff said.

3. The other author is a woman who "'said she was concerned that women who feared they lacked a G-spot were suffering from feelings of 'inadequacy or underachievement'."

"'It is rather irresponsible to claim the existence of an entity that has never been proven and pressurise women – and men too.'"

So basically, because not all women have been lucky enough to have a man willing to go looking for that sweet spot, lets say it doesn't exist so we don't give other women complexes. That's a good reason to say it's NOT THERE, right?




What do you all say?

Personally, I think there is a G-spot. Telling you all how I know is a bit TMI, but it was quite by accident that it happened and it was amazing. Not more amazing than clitoral stimulation with vaginal sex or simply clitoral stimulation, or umm.. oral sex, but just a different, extremely pleasurable feeling.

I think even with finding the G-spot, it's still hard to have an orgasm without clitoral stimulation. So why do these researchers feel the need to make women and men feel better about not finding it? It's not like women are missing out on some uber orgasmic state or anything if it's not found. What's the big deal really? Maybe what they really should be researching is what stimulating that G-spot actually feels like. I think there's a huge expectation around that stimulating it can send a woman to that ultimate nirvana, which I don't think is the case.

I do think though, that women are all built differently and maybe someone's spot is not in the same place or in another area. Actually, I think many women can find their own G-spot since I think it's located just inside the first part of the vagina and feels rough, like with ridges. It's just easier and nicer if someone else is doing the research on you. *g*

I agree with another Proff, a woman, who pointed out that she "found G-spots in a study of 400 women, and described the new British study as 'flawed'.

If you really want to study G-spots, get in there and feel around. If women let researchers put sensors in their ho-ha's to gauge arousal during testing for sexual issues, why not let researchers, or their partners in there in a scientific situation to really test this instead of asking women if their partner's have found it.

This other professor also "said it did not look at lesbians and failed to take into account the prowess of different men." heh.

What I have to wonder is, why do women and men feel so pressured or inadequate if they cannot find that spot? What's wrong with just how nice it feels to have something inside the vagina plus clitoral stimulation and communing with your partner? What's so bad about just that? And that's easy to do. I think you have to be a total idiot or completely ignorant not to find the clitoris or know that it needs a little loving during sex to see stars.

I also wonder what lesbians or women who've been with women and are willing to take the time to find what feels good on a partner and knows exactly what another women feels, have to say about this?

Review- Thirteen Hours by Meghan O'Brien

Thirteen Hours
by Meghan O’Brien
April 22, 2008
Contemporary/ lesbian/ erotic romance
288 pgs. $12.-$16

Buy it Bold Strokes Books, Amazon, OmniLit

Can you fall in love in thirteen hours?

It's her birthday but lonely workaholic Dana Watts is at the office late, drafting a proposal. The very last interruption she expects comes in the form of the most beautiful breasts she has ever seen. These belong to an incredibly hot woman, who is standing in front of her, stripping to music.

Laurel Stanley performs strip-o-grams to pay her way through school. She has never encountered a more ungrateful recipient than Dana. The uptight project manager makes it clear that she is furious to be distracted from her work by the "gift" a colleague sent and equally appalled by Laurel's occupation.

After Dana is rude and insulting, and insists on escorting Laurel from the building, the two women take an elevator ride that changes everything. Stuck with each other for thirteen long hours after the elevator breaks down, they discover how wrong first impressions can be and how right two strangers can feel together.

Can everything change in less than a day? Dana and Laurel set out to discover if their passionate elevator encounter can mean more in this fast-paced, erotic story of lust, loneliness, fantasy, and desire.

Yeah, umm bottom line… this is an excellent story for one handed reading. I’ve been coveting this book for a long time and finally broke down and bought it. I liked the premise from the blurb and that part delivered.

It's not totally sex though, there's also an intense romance involved with all the “I love you’s” you want and promises of a committed future. However, Thirteen Hours is mainly the story of the sexual relationship between two very compatible women in that area. For what it is, it’s a fun, light read that skirted the edges of becoming tongue-in- cheek sexual romp but didn’t quite get into that territory.

The first part of this book was great. Uptight Dana, a workaholic who hasn’t had a date in years and only had sex once in her life, gets a strip-o-gram as a birthday present from her male co-worker friend. Oh she gets good and pissed as this strange, but gorgeous woman who’s mostly naked sits in her lap, her perfect breasts calling out to Dana. Of course she immediately pegs this woman as a slutty whore who doesn’t have two brains cells to rub together to have a decent, respectable job and she tries to shuffle her out of the building.

Laurel is that cliché of the good person stripper who dances to put herself through college. Of course she has a brain and not only just a brain, but a really smart brain since she’s just about done with her schooling to be a Veterinary Dr. She’s shocked at Dana’s reaction since she assumed that whoever paid for her to dance would have only sent her to a woman who likes women, since she only dances privately for women.

They get trapped in the elevator for, yes, thirteen hours and as they open up to each other they find both their judgments of each other are all wrong.

This part of the book was great. Laurel and Dana, being bored after a while, start playing truth or dare and some interesting things come out about each that tells a deeper story. Dana admits for the first time ever in her life and to herself that yes, she has been attracted to women, although she’s only been with one man.

And Laurel tells of her sad tale of her father walking out while her mother was dying. Their conversations and banter at that point are witty, a bit sarcastic and touching, which kept it interesting. Of course, as the night progresses and Dana becomes more comfortable with the knowledge that, yes, she does like women and yes, she is attracted to Laurel, things get really steamy.

After they get out of the elevator, they proceed then for the rest of the book to pretty much have non-stop sex. Some of it’s very amusing and lighthearted, which did keep me interested and kind of turned on. Both open up emotionally and I really did feel that they trust each other enough to go to some places that Laurel has fantasized about sexually as one of those fantasies is being submissive.

Anyone who reads my reviews knows I’m not that hot on the whole BDSM thing, but this particular fantasy was written in a really fun, and frankly, freaking hot way. There’s lots of spanking and ordering around, but it’s done in non serious way, more as role play, which I really liked. They go on to fulfill other fantasies as the story progresses with just minor outside story lines going on.

This is the downside of this book for me though. After a while, there’s really nothing going on except for a few minor glitches like a mini fight they have after moving in, to carry this story outside of the incredible sexual connection they have. There are some moments in between the sex in which they discuss how to proceed and suss out what each feels, not wanting to push but at the same time wanting each other really badly. Fortunately, this didn’t go the way of yak, yak, yak lets talk about our feelings all the time as some of these stories are wont to do, but it gave some brief intermissions from the sex.

I really don’t know much about either character other than what they’re like in bed and what they like in bed. There’s no story or plot going on, even though the author seemed to be trying hard to make this a romance. It is a romance, but developed strictly through the characters having sex with all their cooing and I love you’s and so on repeated over and over to let us know they love each other deeply.

I think Meghan O’Brien has great talent as a writer and she wrote this at a young age, so maybe her next books are more developed. The writing itself is very nice and the sex, damn, but she can write really erotic sexual scenarios. By the end though, I was totally bored with yet another sex scene and I walked away from this book thinking that I need to read a fantasy or some other sub genre besides contemporary because really, where could this story go to keep it interesting? I was craving something, anything outside of the sex to spark my interest or care about these two.

Still though, if you’re really in the mood for something hot and steamy that’s not too serious or gets into too much drama, Thirteen Hours will hit the spot. It’s also got a variety of sexual scenarios in it to satisfy anyone on some level and the love story part is kind of sweet and very prominent.

Sex rating: Orgasmic- many, many very hot, graphic sexual scenarios. Spanking, light D/s play, anal penetration with a strap on.

Grade: For the actual writing B+, for being a bit boring or even lack of story after a while, C

Review- Je Me Rends by Kai Lu

Je Me Rends
by Kai Lu
Sept. 1, 2009
Contemporary/ f/f-bi
15K- $3.99
Ebook

Buy it eXtasy books, ARe/OmniLit, Fictionwise

Young, beautiful and jaded, Julia's world revolves around school, work, and a desire to matter in a city where honesty is a myth and illusions can still hurt. But when a seemingly pointless college project unites her with Collette, an alluring French student she had always admired from afar, Julia begins to wonder if love really can happen in Hollywood--a hope Collette might share, if only both would surrender.

OK, umm… yowza! This book was so sexually hot that I had to put it down a few times to umm… collect myself. It also had a unique feel to it, one that I haven’t read in contemporary. I really enjoyed it, even if it did have some problems.

Both Julia and Collette are students in the same English Lit class and although they sit next to each other, they’ve never really talked. When a project requires a partner, Collette speaks up and offers to be partners with Julia, who breathes a sigh of relief since her only other option is to work with the class dick head who thinks he’s a stud.

Julia goes over to Collette’s place to start working on the project the next night. Being strangers, they naturally start talking to get to know each other a bit and find out they have a lot in common. While they are sharing and really opening up, they each start noticing little things like a hand on the knee, arms touching, an awkward glance and they find themselves gravitating to each other like two magnets until the first kiss…

Whew! I have to say, the build up to that first kiss was slow and deeply nuanced, with seemingly normal, insignificant details suddenly becoming magnified, building up the sexual tension. I really liked that as I do think so many stories these days get straight to business without that. When the girls do realize what’s going on, they don’t hold anything back and it’s very intense.

This is a gay for you story from both sides. Although by the third or fourth time they are getting each other off, both decide that they’ve never had such a deep experience with any man. They’ve had boyfriends, but never thought about a woman sexually before this moment. Both also acknowledge that they don’t really understand why they are attracted to each other since they are women, and yet, the heat between them is such that they cannot stop, nor do they want to.

I liked that there was no big drama around that. They are so in the moment, not judging what’s happening, but going with it. This story did have a nice feel to it and it evoked feelings of those moments when you wake up not expecting anything out of the ordinary to happen and then bam, something so completely different than what you’ve ever imagined happens that changes your life forever. I also liked the insular feeling this story had, like these two girls were in a private, erotic world of their own in which they didn’t think about anything else but pleasuring each other and it was deeply intimate.

Another positive for me was that it had an exotic and timeless feel about it. The way the women talk to each other and the way it was written in bits didn’t feel contemporary, but of another era. Maybe before the 50’s or even earlier. I rather liked that as it added a certain amount of innocence to the whole thing and again, like they are in their own little world. Or maybe it’s because Collette is French and doesn’t act typically American. Whatever it was, I liked the feel of it.

This story was not without issues though. While those things mentioned above gave me an overall feeling that I loved this book, I did notice some things in the writing that were a bit distracting.

First are the POV changes. Mostly this is written in third person and we are privy to both Julia and Collette’s thoughts. Then there’s a kind of third, non existent person/story teller who waxes poetic, giving the reader more insight into the characters thoughts, but from the outside. It pulled me out of scenes a few times.

The language used got a bit over the top poetic or over flowery at times as well, with the two girls getting philosophical and dreamy at points. I didn’t mind that so much, but there were a few times that I did roll my eyes. And that dreaded word that I hate so much in m/f, “mine,” was used. It’s a first for me to read “you're mine” in an f/f story, which is usually expressed by an alpha male. I’m just tired of its overuse to portray a fated connection. But to be honest, these two women were so hot for each other that it did feel primal enough that “mine” could be used.

The last thing that got to me was the amount of orgasms these two have and the overuse of language expressing copious amounts of love juice. They go from 0-60 in no time and have non-stop sex all night having so many orgasms, with dripping, gushing juice that I lost count. But to be honest though, the overall effect was so damn hot for me that I really didn’t care how unrealistic that was or the “oozing” verbiage, which usually kind of grosses me out. Heh.

Je Me Rends was a surprisingly good find for me. I was hoping for something different when I chose it and it did come through for me on that level. I’d love to read another of this author’s work, but cannot find out anything about her/him. This seems to be the only book. I have to recommend this book for anyone who’s looking for something a bit different in feel that includes intense sexual passion.

Sex rating: Orgasmic. OMG, this was one of the hottest f/f stories I’ve read. Just in your face, gritty, but totally soft, female and poetic. Very graphically written vanilla f/f sex.

Grade: A- for the passion it evoked, C+ for the funky writing in bits.

Review- Where Angels Dare to Tread by Leigh Ellwood

Where Angels Dare to Tread
by Leigh Ellwood
2009
Contemporary/ f/f- bi
6.8K words- $1.29
Ebook

Buy it DLP Books, Are/OmniLit

October’s Black Rose Festival comes to Dareville, along with a sexy party Carole Douglas can’t wait to attend. While she hopes to catch more than a few interested looks with her skimpy angel costume, meeting the enchanting Bella Reeve has her ready to turn in her halo. Will the town’s first Vamp Ball bring her love at first “bite”?

You all know how I’ve been bitching about really short books that suck brain cells for a ridiculous price? Well, I’ve been having a streak of really good short stories lately and just know something bad is going to happen. Having no choice really due to the fact that f/f is so rare to find and when I do, it’s usually a short story, I still keep risking it. I also feel that since I decided to do a blog to let others who like f/f know what’s out there and do some reviews, I do accept that it’s sort of my job to take it for the team often.

Where Angels Dare to Tread defies the usual and gives me hope that my bad experiences aren't the norm, but just bad luck.This story is such a fun, hot little ditty that I’m still enjoying the good vibrations after the fact.

The blurb kind of implies that this might be a paranormal, but it’s not. Apparently, and I did not know this when I bought the book, the town of Dareville is the setting of series of books by Leigh Ellwood. This is just one little stand alone story that takes place there and one doesn’t need to know the history to get what’s going on.

In this book, the town is celebrating a festival called Black Rose, which they created way back when a woman named Rose Smith was considered a witch during colonial times. Apparently, they all believed that animals and crops would die if she passed by. But instead of killing her, they let her leave town and everything turned back to normal. So they keep celebrating it every year to keep the town vibrant. And it usually happens around Halloween, which adds to the spooky ambiance of it all and gives a gothy backdrop for this story.

Carole is young, single and is looking forward to the main costume Vamp Ball, hoping to hook up with someone for a hot sexual tryst. During the day though, while manning a booth in the fair, she meets a beautiful women who captures her attention. Carole is basically straight, but has kissed her girlfriends often in bars doing the chick on chick thing to attract guys, but has never really thought about being really sexual with a girl.

Meeting Bella is making her think twice about that though, and she can’t stop thinking about her all day. While getting ready, she feels nervous, hoping to meet up with Bella at the ball, which of course is what happens.

Carole is such a fun character. Easy and light, she’s up for anything. But at the same time, it’s clear that she feels out of place in the ball, not knowing many people, which I thought a bit odd since she grew up there. All she wanted to do was find Bella and hang out with her, which in a way I liked because it made Carole seems less ditzy whorish then she could have come across if she were the belle of the ball. It’s clear she’s not normally a player, and maybe even a homebody, even if she does flirt with other girls to get guys.

This story is mainly written from Carole’s POV even though it’s not first person. We never get into the head of any other character really, so there’s not much about Bella other than that she comes across as a self confident women who’s a friend of the drummer in the band that played at the Ball. I have no idea if she’s a lesbian, or fools around with women here and there, what she does, anything about her past, where she lives normally, and yet, she’s a very, warm, friendly, likeable woman. She takes the lead in initiating the sexual encounter between her and Carole, which suggests that she’s experienced, but I kind of got off on her sexual ambiguity and lack of clear defining of who she is.

This story really is nothing more than a day in the life of these two women and one sexual encounter but the writing is so clean and crisp and was such a pleasure to read. In such a short space, I got just enough about these women to see that they do click. And the one sexual encounter is really juicy. They really go for it with each other.

Of course there’s no HEA here being as it’s more of short fantasy, but Carole does want to keep going with Bella and Bella seems to want that as well, so it’s left off as a HFN even if their future is not much more than carrying on some more at Carole's place when the book left off.

All in all, Where Angels Dare to Tread is a very satisfying little quickie that felt complete in itself. It’s a definite recommend from me if you want something short and sweet to hit the spot between those longer affairs.

Sex rating: Orgasmic- very steamy vanilla f/f.

Grade: A-

Review- Southern Rose by Mary Winter

Southern Rose
by Mary Winter
Nov. 2009
Historical (civil war)/ f/f-bi
35k words-Novella- $3.50
ebook

Buy it Pink Petal Books, OmniLit

When Agnes' husband is killed in action during the Civil War, she's forced to reveal not only her sham marriage, but also her past and her feelings for her housemate Rose.

Rose is not the shy Southern flower Agnes believes her to be. She has to show Agnes how to act like a "proper" window, and the true extent of her feelings.

Southern Rose is a sweet period story with some seriously hot loving going on.

It’s civil war times and Agnes, whose husband is fighting in the war, has taken in recently widowed Rose as a housemate. Both settle into life sharing the house while going about their daily jobs and life. Agnes is a seamstress and Rose is a teacher. Slowly though, both start feeling an attraction to each other and do have a brief sexual encounter. Social propriety, fear of what the other might think, and the fact that Agnes is still married, keep them from actually going for it, though.

As time goes on, they keep having mini sexual encounters but don’t really openly acknowledge their feelings to each other until one day when Agnes gets the message that her husband has died in the war. It would seem that both are home free to express their love at that point, but that throws an even bigger kink into the works. See, Agnes has been harboring a secret about her unsavory past and struggles with wanting to be really honest about who she is, and keeping up the “proper” life she has managed to finally create for herself.

I thought this is a light, easy story about two women who both have had prior experiences with women but who’ve loved men as well. Rose experimented sexually with, and loved her best friend growing up. And Agnes had many experiences in her former life. Both are a bit vulnerable, but find they have more in common than they thought.

Although not too deeply developed or characterized because we don’t really get much on where each woman is coming from except for snippets of their past, both Rose and Agnes are still compelling characters.

Rose really loved her husband who died, but not in the war. She also lost her only child and still grieves deeply for both of them.

Agnes is a tough, open, forward thinking woman who’s made her own way and run her own business. Her arrangement with her husband was just an arrangement for both to get on in society since she’s not been a “lady.” She also has her own money to buy property, but needed a man to make it all legal for her to use, and he was into men. Not exactly proper ways of being back then, so it was a nice deal for both.

The sexual encounters between Agnes and Rose were really hawt. I mean really hawt, even though there was some coolness shown by both women after the first few encounters. They’re not too graphically written, but you can feel these two really want each other and it’s nicely written.

The only negative thing was that something was missing for me in the emotional area. I kept trying to figure out what it was because it’s very subtle. I think it’s that I didn’t feel a real, deep, intimacy between the women. Yes, you can feel that they love each other and they have a great sexual connection, but that sweet part of falling in love with little intimate moments that happen outside of sex, were missing for me.

It felt more like had these two women not been thrown together by circumstance, it could have been any other woman that each might have fallen for. I really wanted to feel that Rose had to have Agnes because she was Agnes, and that for Agnes, Rose was THE one and only. It’s a very difficult thing for me to define, but I did wish more moments of them connecting on an emotional level outside of sex as a lead up to their finally being able to be together.

Purely on a technical level, I think there were more than a few times where the protagonists names were switched making some scenes a bit confusing. Other than that the writing is very smooth and nice.

Still though, I really liked Southern Rose and definitely recommend it. It is a sweet story of love between two women without too many hitches in it to foil them.

Sex rating: Orgasmic- wow, really steamy, but sweet f/f sex. Double headed dildo use. (civil war time wood dildos).

Grade B+

Review- In the Eyes of Love by Sheri Livingston

In the Eyes of Love
by Sheri Livingston
June, 2006
Contemporary/ Lesbian
60K- $5.99

Buy it Loose-Id, Fictionwise, ARebooks

When Morgan’s lover leaves her after nine years, betrayal drives her deep into work and denial. She’s not looking for anyone else, because she’ll never forget Dawn.

Shane is an artist, content in her world of line and form. Though lonely, she blames herself for the death of her ex and can’t see past her guilt.

Morgan’s job at the magazine brings her and Shane together. The attraction is undeniable, the passion explosive.

Now that Morgan’s found someone else, Dawn desperately wants her back. She uses every dirty trick, pulls every sexual string, and Morgan takes her back. But she can’t stop thinking about Shane…

First, the blurb is a bit off. Morgan, after years of being clueless that she’s been with a narcissistic bitch, walks out on her long time partner after she discovers for the first time that she’s been cheated on. Dawn didn’t leave Morgan, but stalks her constantly trying to win her back.

It’s been a year since Morgan told Dawn to go to hell, but she still cannot let go of her and walks around with a sad face thinking about Dawn all the time. Her friends who all love her, hover around her and intercede often trying to protect her from Dawn, but she keeps going back.

Morgan works for a popular magazine and has been trying to get an interview with Shane, a well known artist who keeps blowing her off for some reason. Shane did go to meet Morgan, but seeing Morgan from behind and the sadness in her eyes through the glass reflection, ran fearing the intense attraction she felt. Shane’s got her own big ole sad past that’s unresolved and feeling this kind of attraction again is something she’d rather avoid.

Dawn, who’s basically a sociopath, has been with Morgan since high school and is obsessed with her. But Dawn comes on to and sleeps with anything that is female and is alive because she can and just to be nasty. She feels that she has a right to do as she pleases, while keeping Morgan all to herself. So she does what any person like that would do, she stalks and harasses and preys on Morgan’s feelings and inability to let go, constantly.

Ok, I have a lot of mixed feelings about this story. Obviously I’m doing a review so I did find it compelling enough to finish it, but it did push a few of my buttons. It’s one of those things that I’ve come to know in many lesbian stories as estrogen overload. It seemed like one long emo fest, with a few bright spots of budding love.

This story started out great. I really liked Morgan. She comes across as tough and savvy in her work even if after one year she cannot stop thinking about Dawn. And in the beginning Shane is also a very interesting character. She came across as a powerful eccentric type who had a lot of intrigue about her. After Shane and Morgan meet though, which is fairly early on, it kind of goes in fits and starts from there.

Morgan spends most of the story pining after Dawn and Shane intermittently. She’s trying to break away from Dawn while opening up to Shane, going back and forth and back and forth. I seriously felt that she deserved Dawn after a while. Why would you keep feeling something so strongly for someone and even consider going back after being cheated on for ten years? 10 YEARS! Not to mention the whole creepy, controlling, stalker thing going on.

And then there’s Shane’s super secret past. Through most of the beginning of the book there are just hints of some painful experience. We soon find out though, that Shane has been blaming herself for what happened with her last partner, who by the way, was no better than Dawn. Shane's still carrying a torch and blame for what happened to her ex, putting her on a pedestal as if the ex was any kind of a decent person herself. Her ex cheated on her all the time and cruelly told Shane what a loser she is and to deal with it or get lost.

What’s with all this love and pining over people who basically are/ were a shit and didn’t/don’t know the first thing about love? Instead of coming across as damaged and sympathetic, both Shane and Morgan came across as pathetic after a while.

Morgan and Shane’s way of relating was often also very frustrating. Shane comes on to Morgan straight away after they meet and Morgan is very attracted. They have one beautiful night of really hot sex, both opening up to each other emotionally and all seems great. But then Shane goes all iceberg on Morgan’s ass right after, which throws Morgan back into Dawns arms. Why? Shane does this several times; blows hot and cold. She loves Morgan, but feels that Morgan will hurt her by going back to Dawn, so she cruelly blows her off time and again only to keep perpetuating her fears about Morgan going back to Dawn.

Neither one of them will openly express what’s really going on, but constantly hint to each other that there’s reason for each of them to fear loving each other. They are both feeling insecure about each other. But instead of trying to alleviate the other’s fears, they hold back from saying what’s going on. *Headdesk*

I really have a hard time with the big misunderstanding trope that could easily be dealt with by opening the mouth and talking a little bit. I get that it’s an author’s way to keep up some tension, but for me that frustrates more than keeps me interested.

I know this looks like I hated this book, but that’s not true. A lot of it did annoy me, however, there were some really good moments in this book that did keep me turning the pages.

Those times when Morgan and Shane were in alignment and flowing together were very nicely written. Very loving and sexually hot. And it was clear that both really want and love each other. That’s what kept me reading this story. There were just enough of those moments that it did give me a better overall impression than other specifics that bothered me.

If you like the kind of story about a lot of emotional love drama then I think In the Eyes of Love will be a satisfying read. I wish there would have been more of Morgan and Shane and their budding relationship with less of the negative angsty drama, but this story still worked for me on some level.

Sex rating: orgasmic- f/f, mostly vanilla, some minor anal play. It was pretty juicy vanilla though.

Grade: B for technically being nicely written, C for the story itself.

Review- Birthday Girl by Paisley Smith

Birthday Girl
by Paisley Smith
November 2009
Contemporary/ erotica/ f/f/m ménage
Length- quickie (up to 15K) $2.49
Ebook

Buy it Ellora’s Cave

It’s Gemma’s thirty-second birthday. She’s not surprised when her gorgeous husband Nate whips out the blindfold and orders her to bend over for a birthday spanking. What does surprise her is that Nate has enlisted the help of a friend. Another woman!

Lindsey is a sexy Bohemian artist who has starred in Gemma’s fantasies for a long while. She doesn’t know what will happen beyond this single night of scorching sex play, but for now, Gemma fully intends to enjoy every new touch, taste, sight and sound her “birthday gift” has to offer.

It was just by chance that I came across this author and book. I have a GLBT promo blog on my reader and saw that a post was written wondering about straight women liking f/f stories or not. It was a lead in to promo this book Birthday Girl. I went and read the freebie story of Ms. Smith’s offered at Ellora’s Cave and totally loved it as you can see from my earlier post. I then downloaded Birthday Girl and again, I was so not disappointed. In fact, I read it all just before going to sleep, which never happens; I’m usually falling asleep after a reading a few pages of a book.

Like First Taste, this story is sexually, steamy hot. Also like First Taste, within a short amount of space, Paisley Smith managed to convey how much these characters love and respect each other. Again, I was left with a warm and fuzzy feeling that these characters will be together for a long time even though seriously, this was one long string of sex scenes/scenarios with very little plot or characterization.

The set up is very simple. It’s Gemma’s birthday and her husband Nate, whom she’s madly and totally in love with, gives her the gift of woman in her bed for a threesome. Nate has known all about Gemma’s fantasies and desires for a woman here and there and that she’s particularly liked Lindsey, a woman who frequents Nate’s Pizza restaurant and has become a friend to both of them.

Nate found out that Lindsey, who came in alone often, was more into women and that she’d just finished a long-term relationship. Lindsey confessed to him that she’s had a girl crush on Gemma for a long time. So it’s the perfect scenario.

What was so delicious here is that Gemma, who’s had inklings that’s she’s bisexual having had experimented in college, was not completely aware of her bisexuality until she gets with Lindsey and loves it so much. I thought this was written rather nicely. She’s a bit confused about her feelings but only because she really loves Nate and how can she love both Nate and Lindsey? And is it cheating to want Lindsey when she adores Nate so much?

Being with Lindsey though, has stirred up hidden feelings for her and as the two days progress with lots and lots of sex, she and Lindsey do share what they feel, neither one wanting to let go and just have this be their one and only time.

Lindsey has been with men before but they just didn’t do it for her like women did. So she’s pretty clear that in this little threesome that it’s mainly Gemma she wants. And yet, these three seem so cozy, so open and loving that I was left with the impression that they could all work out an arrangement that would keep everyone happy. Even this was written very well. Lindsey wants Gemma and although she’s not so hot on being sexual with Nate, she does like him and is very open to working something out to be with Gemma.

Nate is just a sweet guy in the background of this story. The main focus is on the two women, both sexually and emotionally, although Nate is part of a lot of the sexual scenarios, which was totally hot. But it’s mostly about Gemma and Lindsey both getting something inside of themselves deeply fulfilled by being together. It came across as all so natural. What I liked about it also was that Nate is honest that he loves seeing his wife being sexual with a woman and thinks he’s gotten lucky, but it never came across as ever for his pleasure. It was clear all along that this was for Gemma only.

There was only one niggling little problem I had with this book, but it was so minor really. I felt that at times Gemma’s self reflecting about her sexual past to Lindsey and to herself did come across more as the author doing some self reflecting. The way it was written felt more like a real post that someone would write, rather than a character thinking to themselves. This did pull me a little out of the story because it was a bit more telling than expressing. However, truly this was so minor to the whole of the story.

And just a minor warning, Paisley Smith’s prose is a bit gritty and graphic at times. I absolutely loved it, but it will be a matter of taste.

I feel that if you’re looking for a hawt quickie that’s a lot about the sex, but even more so about hot sex with characters connecting emotionally, then Birthday Girl is a juicy, yummy read.

Sex rating: Orgasmic- f/f, f/f/m, minor anal play. I will warn some that there is some serious spanking in this book with very minor BDSM play. I’m not so hot on spanking, which is why I wasn’t that quick to jump on this book before I read First Taste. That said, it didn’t come across as heavy in the BDSM area, but more light and playful. Bottom line, if I could be OK with it, it wasn’t that intense or a turn off, but will satisfy for someone who likes that sort of thing.

Grade: B+++ Definitely a short story worth the money to me.

Review- Dreaming of Harmony by Jade Buchanan

Dreaming of Harmony
by Jade Buchanan
2008
Contemporary/ Lesbian/Erotica
6K words- $2.49
Ebook

Buy it Changeling Press, All Romance ebooks

When Erin opened the paper she never expected to see her obituary staring back at her. Is this some idea of a cosmic joke? She’s especially unsettled when the deceased woman, who happens to share her name and birthday, starts lecturing her in her dreams. Erin knows she needs to take a few chances, but she doesn’t know how to do the one thing she’s avoided for months… seduce the girl next door. Lucky for her, fate is about to step in.

Like the last Jade Buchanan book I read, Boardroom, this is a very, very short quickie. For what it is, Dreaming of Harmony is a cute, sexy read.

Erin watches her neighbor, Harmony, through the window. She’s been fantasizing about her for a while, but has no idea if Harmony swings with women. She’s only seen Harmony with men, so she doesn’t really hope for anything. Besides, in Erin’s mind, she and Harmony are so different. Harmony is a high powered business mover and shaker who dresses classy and elegantly, while Erin is just a lowly librarian whose personal style is more hippy casual.

Enter the ghost of a recently passed woman with the same name and birth date, albeit 50 years before, as Erin and things get a bit interesting. She’s got Erin’s name and was also a lesbian, but one who spurned her female lover back in the day to fit into society. She’s come to teach Erin something important.

I liked this story. I thought it’s kind of sweet with a fun premise to it. However, there really isn’t too much to say since this was such a short story, but I’ll try.

This story is basically about a dream come true for Erin. That’s rather a double meaning because the only sexual interaction between the women has the feel of a dream to it, seems to be a dream, and yet, is maybe not a dream. It’s kind of left ambiguous from the author whether or not Harmony and Erin are actually together even though Harmony says it’s not a dream. I was still wondering after I finished the story though. At any rate, it’s a steamy sexual encounter for both.

Again though, as I’ve come to find in stories under 10k, there’s a lot missing. In this case there’s no prior interaction between Erin and Harmony except for one scene in which they have a friendly chat and Erin picks up a subtle curiosity coming from Harmony for the first time since they’ve known each other. The next thing you know, a ghost shows up and shortly after, Erin and Harmony are getting it on. Erin has no idea how she’s in bed with Harmony, only that she fell asleep and it’s all happening.

The only information available on each character are some brief descriptors of the way they dress and their occupations to tell us what they’re about. So there’s not much to know where these characters are coming from. While it’s clear that Erin is a lesbian because she’s dreaming about Harmony from the get go, even in the end, I wasn’t so sure about Harmony.

The ghost aspect to this little story was kind of cute and interesting. There was an implication though that some ghost voodoo/help was responsible for Harmony and Erin getting together, which was both unique and a bummer for me.

Maybe I just read it wrong and maybe Harmony was a lesbian or bi all along and the magik was more to help them skip the whole uncomfortable and insecure part of getting together. To be fair, in an m/f I would not have bat an eye at a little help from some paranormal aspect to get a romance going. When it comes to f/f though, I like to know that there’s no question that the sexually ambiguous character really wants the lesbian or bi character out of their own, real, desire.

At any rate, I do like Jade Buchanan’s style of writing and I do think she managed to tell a fairly complete fantasy in such a short space that left me feeling good. I think though, for myself, I’m done with these little short stories that I usually feel a bit frustrated with because they’re nicely written, with interesting characters, but carry no depth or richness to them because of the lack of length. What’s the point really?

If you’re looking for a yummy, hawt little quickie then Dreaming of Harmony is the perfect read.

Sex rating: Wet panties: one short sex scene. F/F vanilla.

Grade: B