Red Velvet and Absinthe edited by Mitzi Szereto

Red Velvet and Absinthe edited by Mitzi Szereto

Release Date: September 6th, 2011

Publisher: Cleis Press

Page Count: 220

Source: Complimentary copy provided by Naked Reader Book Club in exchange for an honest an unbiased review

Explore Your Dark Desires

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. 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.

A lusty lady, ravaged, seeks comfort in the arms of her maidservent in Giselle Renarde's rapacious "Milady's Bath," while bondage and desire enslave a wolf girl to her master in "Snowlight, Moonlight" by Rose de Fer. Janine Ashbless's "Cover Him with Darkness" is an exquisite tale of secret love between an imprisoned fallen angel and the girl he seduces. Editor Mitzi Szereto's vampire romance "The Blood Moon Kiss" is sexy Southern Gothic at its finest.

What Stephanie Thinks: I cannot stress how much I love the paranormal genre, let alone the paranormal erotic genre. Szereto's collection features paranormal crossovers involving wolves, vampires, and bloodlust, and it was all of spicy and hot, as it was compelling and engaging.


Stories: Some of the best stories I've read. The fantasy element of paranormal beings or circumstances make them all the more exciting. As with most Cleis anthologies, each of the stories are very different from the others, so you don't have to worry about getting bored after the first few; Red Velvet and Absinthe makes you want to read every story in the book!


Writing quality: Certainly doesn't disappoint, perfect typography and grammar. Overall very well-written; I couldn't have done better with editing and structure.


Complaints: Really none at all *grin* erotica is my favorite genre once again.

Stories I liked: Favorite is 'Bitter and Intoxicating' by Sharon Bidwell, by far! Hot hot hot!

Stephanie Loves: "♥"

Radical Rating: 5 stars

Foreign Affairs edited by Mitzi Szereto

Foreign Affairs edited by Mitzi Szereto

Release Date: August 3rd, 2004

Publisher: Cleis Press

Page Count: 260

Source: Complimentary copy provided by Naked Reader Book Club in exchange for an honest an unbiased review

Sexual delight awaits you in every port of call

Escape the mundane. Fill your senses with the sights, sounds, and aromas of faraway places, the perfume counters of Dubai and the hidden waterfalls of St. Lucia, a café overlooking the beach on Tenerlife, and a men's bathhouse on a back street in Brussels. These are stories of lush, ripe sex. In Linda Jaivin's "Peking Duck," a photographer eludes her watchful interpreter to tumble with a circus acrobat at the Old Summer Palace in Beijing. In Donna George Storey's "Ukiyo," an overworked professor tours the red light district of Kyoto, attracting unexpected pleasures. And Holly Farris's magical "Continental Breakfast" puts a twist on the second honeymoon, when a woman staying at an auberge in Brittany finds that the cook and gardener can read her desire better than her neglectful husband. Foreign Affairs presents luminous erotica with the subtle, sexy undercurrent of unfamiliar waters.

What Stephanie Thinks: The thrill of sexual endeavors in unfamiliar — and potentially risky — settings, makes Foreign Affairs a great, adrenaline-pumping read. Some of the stories are blander than others, but for the most part, they are fast-paced, well-written, and guiltily pleasuring.


Stories: There's nothing particularly special about this collection. While the stories are all different and have great exposition/characterization, they're all just contemporary settings. I don't think there were many themes like BDSM (though, there were maybe one or two stories with them) so it made the whole collection a little less exciting. I however did love the smoothness of the quality of the writing, which goes for Szereto's editing skills.


Writing quality: Szereto is one of my favorite Cleis editors to date: her skills are flawless, and it comes across through her writing and editing. Each of these stories are skillfully crafted, which gives as much credit to all the authors as it does to the editor herself.


Complaints: I don't think I felt this collection THAT much. The "escape" sounded luxurious, but in effect, it wasn't all too great. Some of the stories fall flat (i.e. they go for sensual, rather than sexy, so I found them a bit boring).

Stories I liked: 'So the Cold Night' by Cheyenne Blue and 'The Sex Critic' by Diane LeBow are my favorites!

Stephanie Loves: "♥"

Radical Rating: 4 stars