I read erotica.
There, I said it. I’m not ashamed I read it. I do not hide it from my family. There is nothing lacking in my relationship(s) that compels me to read it. I just like it.
I like stories that promise—and deliver—highly sexually charged situations and play along with viable plots and resolution. I tend to gravitate more towards funny or realistic couple erotica. Stories whose characters mattress dance the entire book don’t do it for me. I won’t lie and say that I don’t want any sexual descriptions. I love to read about the bed play, the shower scenes, the car scenes, the....well, you get the point. I like lots of description, and the more descriptive the better. But I also need humor and an emotional connection with my literary friends.
I will admit that I don’t get into BSDM erotica too much. There are only a few out there that I feel don’t overstep the line between consensual and coercive. Plus, I am an alpha and about as non-submissive as you can get, so it’s hard for me to imagine wanting to be put into a position where you are basically bossed around all the time. I think this is why I work for myself. I have authority issues. :)
But this is not to say that I don’t feel they aren’t worth reading. The wonderful thing about erotica is there is a story out there for everyone. You just have to find your niche.
Megan Hart is one of my favorite erotica writers. She writes some of the most emotionally charged erotica I have ever read. She introduces us to flawed individuals and allows us to submerge ourselves into their lives in a way that I guarantee if you’re not crying at some point, then there is something wrong with you. She doesn’t offer any reassurances of a happy ending, either. That is the catalyst for me. In real life, relationships don’t stop with the words “The End.” They continue to evolve and change with each new situation. At the end of the story I am forced to use my imagination and wonder what happens to these two people that I have grown to love.
Two Megan Hart stories that break my heart each time I read them is Tempted and Naked:
Tempted is the story of Jamie, Anne, and Alex. Jamie and Anne are a happily married couple, but Anne knows her husband has secrets—secrets that elude her and make her feel like a intrusion in her marriage. Secrets surrounding his best friend Alex. Alex is every fantasy you can imagine. Beautiful and elegant, he is pure sex. When Jamie allows Alex to spend the summer with him and Anne, Anne thought it would be nothing more than a fun experimental summer. A way for her to connect with Jamie on an intimate level that had been eluding her. But Anne never could have imagined those hot sultry summer nights would bring about changes, and the ending results could shatter them all.
“I looked at the cards in my hand, the queen of hearts nestled between the king of clubs and the king of spades. No wonder she was smiling.”
Naked is Alex’s story. It comes almost a year after Tempted. Olivia sees Alex, and while she is unbelievable attracted to him, she knows he is nothing but trouble. Olivia was devastated when she caught her fiance with another man, so when she learns of Alex’s past, she has no desire to open that door again. But when Alex needs a place to stay, Olivia offers to rent him her spare apartment and soon they cross from neighbors to lovers.
It’s both enlightening and heartbreaking as we watch these two emotionally scarred people find common ground and connect together. What I really enjoyed about Naked is that Olivia doesn’t take Alex’s crap. Yes, he’s beautiful. Yes, he’s sex on a stick. But Olivia wants and demands more from him. Alex’s beauty and sexual appeal isn’t enough for her, and when she pushes him to stripping away all his layers she finds herself also laid bare.
“It’s okay to struggle to find our place in this world and the person who will take us for who and what we are. Sometimes we dress ourselves in layers that only get peeled away in the end, to leave us as we should be.”
Cara McKenna was the first author to take me way out of my comfort zone with her book Willing Victim. Consensual rape role play is a huge role in this erotic and volatile story. I am NOT a proponent of rape. But this story uses humor and realism to show a consensual lifestyle that I normally view as being humiliating and degrading to actually being acceptable in a safe and trusting environment.
Laurel is a waitress who has been coasting through life after receiving her engineering degree. After a life of being forced to be the adult to her mother, she wants....no, she needs...to be free to feel without any guilt. When she meets sexy hard core boxer Flynn, he introduces Laurel to things she’s never imagined—to the violent but exciting realm of the underground boxing circuit, to rough sex and even rougher role-playing, and to an attraction she craves even as it intimidates her. As Flynn invites her deeper into his world and his life, Laurel has to make a choice—let fear keep her holed up where it’s safe, or take a chance and fight for the man who makes her feel more alive than she’d dreamed possible.
“Listen, kiddo,” he said. “I’m a selfish prick, and I want to be the greatest fuck of your life and ruin you for every man who comes after me. “
Some of the funnest erotica I’ve read is written by Scarlett Parrish. A potty mouthed Scottish author whose stories are filled with wicked humor, outlandish characters, and some of the hottest sex scenes that make you squeeee and squirm without having you raise your brows ands saying, “What the....?”
Plus One is a scorching hot funny story about a young woman and an older man. Lydia needs a job, but her pink hair and tats often get her shown the exit quickly. When she applies for a Librarian position at a local university she meets Dr. Spencer Flynn when he runs in demanding a transcriptionist. Lydia’s a can-do girl and is soon helping Dr. Flynn do more then transcribe his papers. (wink-wink). But Lydia soon gets to feeling that the good Dr. is ashamed of her and when her attempts to hold his attraction backfires publicly, Lydia wonders if 1+1doesn’t really equal 0. Plus One is an erotic version of Bridget Jone’s Diary. Hilarious with just enough angst and turmoil to keep the story engaging.
“This is the last second,” he whispered, “that I will ever not have been inside you.”
The contemporary erotica award goes to Lauren Dane. If you have not read her Brown Sibling series, which are highly erotic and ever changing, you are missing out. Add on top of this all a suspenseful plot line, and you know what keeps me coming back for more.
My favorite in this series is Coming Undone. Brody Brown spent his life raising his brother and sister, and now his life is his own. He has his tattoo shop, his motorcycle and his family. He needs nothing more. When sexy ex ballerina Elise moves in next door, Brody sees a desirable woman that the term “friends with benes” was invented for. Elise moves to Seattle with her daughter after a traumatic marriage and has no desire for a relationship. What she and Brody find is a wild physical passion that soon demands they give more when Elise’s past raises it ugly head.
I love the laughter, passion, and emotional entanglements that occur in here. Watching these two discover the passion that lies within them is titillating and enhanced by the intriguing sub stories that flavor the storyline.
“Like I need to play on the Wii when you’re there willing to f*** me. Video games are what men invented to fill the sex void. Any man who chooses video games over sex deserves to live in his mother’s basement with his mint-condition, in box Star Wars figurines and his real doll.”
Those are my reasons for reading erotica. So please, tell me, why do you read erotica? What are your ’must haves’ and ’don’t go there’ requirements?
Tori Benson, Smexybooks and at Twitter.
