PURITY - Skyler Mason

 Oh my gosh this was awful. 

 A young woman was raised in a religious, purity culture. But she is just realizing that she really wants to have sex and that Jesus won't hate her if she does. She wants Cole Walker - who has been her friend for as long as she can remember - to be the one to take her virginity. But she's been super religious all her life and he can't believe she really wants to have sex. Meanwhile, her friends promise to take her out to get drunk so she can pick up some hot guy.

Over and over again I couldn't shake the feeling that the author was just venting about her own upbringing. She really hits the reader over the head with the character thinking out loud or telling anyone who'd listen, that you can be religious and have sex. It got so annoying.

I cannot believe this has almost 17,000  ratings on goodreads! I didn't find anything here other than a Mary Sue.

2 Guilty Pleasure stars 

TEMPTED BY A VAMPIRE - Susan Griscom

 This was decent but underwhelming paranormal romance.

Cian DeMaro and his brothers are musicians who play some of the better clubs in the Bay Area. They are also vampires. But they are vampires with a conscience and don't hunt to kill. At the moment their lives seem content - they play music at night and drink just enough blood to stay alive. Cian never thought he was missing something until he met Magdalena De la Rosa.

Of course the feelings are mutual and all they want is to have savage sex with each other. But when she learns that he's actually a vampire she is ... (check one: X revolted and wants nothing more to do with him; X more turned on than ever). If she can convince him to turn her into a vampire they could be together forever!

Every part of this- the writing, the romance, the sex - just starts to get good and then it relapses before it can get to a climax. It got frustrating and made it boring.

Like many books of this type, it's written in 1st person but it alternates between her POV and then his POV.  Cian's point of view really didn't work for me at all.

3-1/2 Guilty Pleasure stars (rounded down) 

ACQUIRING BESS - Dolly Sinclaire

 This is a very short erotica story set in the U.S. wild west.  A woman is preparing to set up her own group of saloon girls and treats a wealthy, local man to what will be in store, to establish some good will and to help spread the word.

I wasn't expecting too much from this, especially given how short the book is, but I really liked this. For something so short, the characters (two of them at least) were really well defined and the sex was really well written.

I'm a convert ... I'll be looking for more books by author Dolly Sinclaire - especially any more in the 'Bonanza Saloon Girls' series.

4-1/2 stars 

CARRIE'S GAP YEAR PART 1: THAILAND - Lucy Xane

 Carrie is a young co-ed on her gap year from uni and she's exploring.  Exploring countries. Exploring sex. She's down for anything and tries everything.

This is pure porn with a very simple concept (gap year) to get our leading character from one place to another to meet new people.

It's pretty amazing how everyone she meets (her age, male and female) are all as open sexually as she is.  She tends to observe other people having sex (no one seems to mind) and then when they notice her they invite her to join. That's the basic concept.

As porn, this was pretty good, though it got to be a little too much of the same thing after a bit.  This could actually be a shorter book (I know - it's already pretty short) so that there's not so much repetition.

Also, I know it's a cultural thing, but as a U.S. reader, the word "knickers" is not very sexy. Carrie (or others) is constantly taking off her knickers. You could just as well say she's taking off her granny panties - it sounds so UNsexy.

Would I read others in the series? Yes. Am I anxious to buy them all? No.

4 Guilty Pleasure stars 

THE BIKE SHOP - Kristin Lance

Sage runs his father's bike shop. Jay is torn because he's completely infatuated with his partner, Sage, but hates the small Colorado community he lives in. Lily is on vacation in Colorado and can't believe how hot the guys in the bike shop are. They happen to find Lily equally attractive.  Turn up the heat ... the three will get together in different combinations, alone, together, and with a few others.

I got this mostly based on the author's general reputation and book ratings, but I found this to be fairly boring.  I really didn't need to spend so much time on angst. I don't care how hot Jay was - he was annoying.

Sex scenes were pretty typical to this kind of erotica, but I just didn't get into it.

2  Guilty Pleasure stars
 

ENTWINED: JANE IN THE JUNGLE - Colette Gale

Victorian woman Jane Clemons is on a mission to find her lover, Jonathan, who disappeared three years prior. She, her father, and one of Jonathan's most trusted friends, set off to Madagascar where Jonathan was last known to be. Here, Jane becomes entranced with the lush beauty of the jungle. It's so different from the crowded city. But little does she know that a wild jungle man is equally entranced by her.

The 'friend' tries to force himself on Jane but she manages to rebuff his advances. How will the wild man respond? 

This 'Tarzan'-like erotic short was really enjoyable.  I liked that I could identify the setting from my Tarzan reading days. And while it wasn't billed as a Tarzan story, the connection was clear. And yet author Colette Gale didn't change things to fit this story. It was as if we were reading Tarzan but from Jane's point of view and uncensored.

There are ten books in the 'Jane' series and I'm definitely keen to read them all.

4 Guilty Pleasure stars
 

BEACH DAY FOR THREE - Grace Beaumont

Liv has booked a cruise for her and her husband, Sam. They meet a sexy man, Noah, who not only is fantastic in bed with Liv, but he and Sam find each other attractive as well. This is a MMF fantasy in which everyone pleases everyone. A day at a port should have them so busy they just go back to their rooms and fall asleep, but instead it just gets them even more horny for each other.

This was a really generic erotic short. What I mean by that is that it's moderately well written with some fun, hot sex, but there's really nothing deep here. This just a short piece to maybe get you off.

I always find it amusing to read a story in which a straight male decides that another man is sexy and they want to suck each other (or more).  At least this book wasn't about cuckolding the husband.

Fine, but not outstanding erotica.

3-1/2 Guilty Pleasure stars