Starred review from January 1, 2016
This 20th anniversary edition of the series soars with 17 powerful f/f offerings that stand out from the crowd. Edited by Green, the anthology entails plenty of sexy first-time hookups, peppered with established couples and their raunchy routines. Rose de Fer's "Dust" packs poetic grit and sensuality into lonely Alice's otherworldly encounter with a beautiful hitchhiking stranger, while young couple Jesse and Asher explore their voracious sexual appetites and Jesse's nascent dominant side in Sinclair Sexsmith's piping hot "Luscious and Wild." Other highlights include Jean Roberta's eccentric "Tears from Heaven," in which Dr. Athena Chalkdust lavishes young submissive protege Didrick Bent with pain and pleasure after an incident of animal neglect. In "Mirror, Mirror," Frankie Grayson's protagonist finds dormant carnal pleasures awoken by the voyeuristic tendencies of her alluring look-alike. D.L. King doesn't disappoint with "Hot Blood," a sexy supernatural vignette in which gruff mechanic Van spots a potential packmate in a gorgeous redhead whose car breaks down, while Anna Watson's playful "Easy" recounts a woman with a unique "talent" for finding an electric current in even the slightest of sensations, culminating in her orgasmic experience during a drag king performance. VERDICT The powerful stories range widely in content, kink, plot, and pairings but are uniform in their high quality and ability to craft engaging erotic tales with few words.
Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
January 8, 2018
In this satisfyingly sexy collection, Green (Witches, Princesses, and Women at Arms) brings together 18 stories of lesbian love and lust, which range from sweet and seductive to down and dirty. There’s a predominantly playful feel to these tales. Heather Day’s “Super” finds an artist and a writer connecting in a comic book store. In A.D. Song’s “Six Dates,” a new couple, both Korean-American, attempt to postpone kissing until the sixth date. Nanisi Barrett D’Arnuk’s “The Sale of Two Titties” features witty banter, a bar, and some clever pre-sex negotiations. Former friends reconnect in PW reviewer Victoria Janssen’s “Cinema Fantastique” and longtime friends finally give in to desire in M. Birds’s “Fine Lines.” The stories are mostly set in the here and now, but a few outliers sneak in, including Amanda Rodriguez’s superheroic “Origins” and Cara Patterson’s Prohibition-era hardboiled “Prove It on Me.” The diverse protagonists have a wide range of ages, numerous kinks (including shaving and BDSM), and relationships of all kinds, from new lovers to lifelong companions. This is a delightful smorgasbord of lesbian lust and love.