Red Velvet and Absinthe, edited by Mitzi Szereto. © 2011 Cleis Press. ISBN 9781573447164. Trade Paperback. Paranormal Erotic Romance. 225 pages.

FTC Disclosure: I was provided with a finished copy by the publishers.

Synopsis: Editor Mitzi Szereto’s sensual stories provide thrills and chills of telltale hearts, redolent with romance and danger. Red Velvet and Absinthe will carry you away, conjuring up the romantic spirit of classic Gothic fiction with a generous dose of eroticism.

Review: “The supernatural: Think vampires, werewolves, ghosts…eerie sounds in the night, impassioned whispers teasing at the depths of sleep…Think red velvet, flickering candles, love and lust with otherworldly partners who unleash passion and desire far beyond that inspired by simple mortals.” – excerpted from the back cover blurb

Let me just start off by saying that this anthology most definitely lives up to the above blurb. Next to Fairy Tale Lust, this has to be one of my fave anthologies from Cleis Press. I don’t believe I passed over one story in here (which I normally do in anthologies if one fails to grab my attention), but of course, I did have my favorites…  Read more

Teresa

Teresa (nom de plume: Torrance Sené) is a self-proclaimed geek, a Janeite, a lover of werewolves and bad-ass angels, an aspiring novelist and an avid book reader who freelances as a web designer. You can follow her on Twitter at @eireannoir.

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Fairy Tale Lust: Erotic Fantasies for Women, edited by Kristina Wright. © 2010 Cleis Press. ISBN 9781573443975. Trade Paperback. Erotic Fantasy. 256 pages. Source: finished copy furnished by the publishers.

Synopsis: Award-winning novelist and top erotica writer Kristina Wright goes over the river and through the woods to find the sexiest fairy tales ever written. Playfully seductive, supernaturally sensual, and darkly erotic, Fairy Tale Lust showcases clever twists to classic tales and introduces new stories inspired by the ever-popular genre.

Review: Reviewing anthologies is a hard job because it’s so difficult to give each contribution their proper spotlight, and Fairy Tale Lust is no different. Here we have 18 erotic encounters of a fantastical nature, each as amazing as the one before it, making my job as reviewer really tough. Therefore, I’m going to spotlight my top two picks in descending order (but trust me, every encounter is worth a read!).

“Big Bad Wolf” by Alana Noël Voth — I have a major jones for werewolves so immediately I knew this would make my top two, but it wasn’t until I began reading that it became #1. “Big Bad Wolf” is an excerpt from Alana’s forthcoming novel of the same name and centers around Dillon, a bar owner who has recently noticed that a white wolf has taken up residence on his property. Despite hearing stories of missing chickens and close encounters of the wolf and children, Dillon continues to care for the animal. The wolf even begins sleeping in his bed and one morning he awakes to a naked woman where the wolf had been…and titillating hotness ensues. Alana is a marvelous writer and I adore Dillon (which is not really a big surprise seeing as how he is based on Sam Merlotte from True Blood and I am a massive–massive!!!!–Sam Merlotte fangirl). This story left me desperately wanting the novel. I can haz it now? Read more

Teresa

Teresa (nom de plume: Torrance Sené) is a self-proclaimed geek, a Janeite, a lover of werewolves and bad-ass angels, an aspiring novelist and an avid book reader who freelances as a web designer. You can follow her on Twitter at @eireannoir.

More Posts - Website