I read a lot of books, from mainstream romances to kinky erotica. There's nothing like the written word to set your mind on fire and your body blazing. If you haven't read any of these, you might want to check them out.
Mainstream Romance
My sister recommended the Eclipse Bay series to me written by Jayne Ann Krentz: Eclipse Bay, Dawn in Eclipse Bay, Summer in Eclipse Bay. I normally prefer to read this author when she's writing historical romance under the name Amanda Quick, but these were wonderful. It is so easy to get caught up in the characters and what they are feeling. The author's writing style sweeps you up and away. While it is mainstream romance, this series offers an escape from the worries of the world and you don't have to hide the book away.
Stephanie Laurens has a remarkable talent for description that makes me shiver. Again, she is considered a mainstream romance author, but she writes some very steamy stuff:
"He craved her. Craved the taste of her, the feel of her bare skin, the scent of her aroused and abandoned. Like an addict she drew him, and he simply had to have her.
That was why he held her bent over the open ledger on his desk, her bare bottom and the backs of her thighs riding against him as he filled her, the fine skin covering her hip, hot silk beneath his hand, her pebbled nipple hard as stone between his fingers as he sank his rigid staff into the hot haven between her thighs, as he sank deeply into her body and claimed it anew..." p. 174 What Price Love?
I've been trying to collect the entire series about the Cynster Clan. There is something compelling about the chemistry between her very masculine, dominant male characters and her capable, intelligent heroines. So far, I've read Devil's Bride, What Price love, Temptation and Surrender,Where the Heart Leads,On A Wicked Dawn and The Taste of Innocence. She never disappoints me.
Erotic or Paranormal Romance
I also discovered author Maya Banks this summer. She writes "erotic romance" for several different publishers. Over the summer, I read Colters' Woman, a story about three brothers in search of one wife (yes, one woman for three men). As far fetched as it sounds, it was an enjoyable read, full of steamy menage-a-quatre sex.
Sweet Persuasion, also by Maya Banks was a different sort of story about a woman's journey into a submissive relationship with a dominant man. While it is certainly a romance, it gives some insight into the emotional turmoil surrounding the heroine's choice to explore submission. There's a sweetness to the story that I found heart warming.
Maya continues with the same cast of characters, though focusing more on different ones in Sweet Seduction. Once again, she weaves romance into one woman's exploration of her kinky side.
Samhain Publishing puts out collections of short stories under the title Red Hot Summer and since one of the four featured authors was Maya Banks, I picked it up. The stories are short enough to read in one sitting, so they make great bed time reading. They'll either provoke some very interesting dreams or you may find yourself choosing to relieve your tension before you call it a night. Lots of hot sex and some menage-a-trois too.
Demon Fire by Emma Holly was a different sort of story, involving non-human species and an unusal love triangle. There is a crossing of boundaries or a breaking of taboos theme in this story. Because it involves other species at other times, it becomes easier for the reader to accept; however, it got me thinking about the boundaries I'm pushing these days, which is why I guess it grabbed me the way it did. There is some sexual violence in this story as the villains are very, well, vile. But if you can stomach those parts, the ecstasy and tenderness in other parts of the story will make up for it.
I love a good vampire story especially one full of romance and steamy sex. These vampire heros usually hale from a different era, and are full of old world charm, confidence, nobility and of course virility. Diane Whiteside's Bond of Blood does not disappoint - it offers a larger than life hero, an accessible, likeable heroine, an entertaining plot and lots of lust. Again, it is a mainstream book, published under "paranormal romance".
I'd seen people online "talking" about Anne Rice's erotic writings. I thumbed through Beauty at the bookstore, but it just didn't pull me in. Instead, I opted to try her Exit to Eden. It was my sole disappointment of the summer. While the plot was little far-fetched, I like paranormal romance, so I can deal with far-fetched. But at one point, I almost had the feeling that she didn't know how to resolve the conflicts that she had set up. Now some writers may like to torment their readers by stirring stuff up and leaving some of it unresolved. That is their perogative as a writer. I don't know about you, but I read for entertainment and enjoyment, not to be tormented or upset. Frankly, I have enough stuff going on in my life and don't need additional aggravation. Sorry Anne, but I felt let down by this one.
Desire Me Only by Thea Devine was a different sort of erotic romance. It was generally darker than much of what I'd read over the summer, but intensely erotic.
"He needed no invitation. There was no gentle probing, no easing his way into her. With one mighty thrust, he rammed himself into her. And she was ready, she was wet, she was poised for that ineffable moment of penetration and the instantaneous stormy connection of their bodies.
This, this, this - she loved, she wanted the ferocious violence of his possession. He took her against the wall, against the wind, against his will, even.
But she wanted it. It took nothing at all to stimulate that aching suppressed need in her. That was the scariest thing: it was right at the surface, all the sensuality, all the carnal appetite for everything she had ever experienced before..."
See what I mean? Darker, but extremely erotic.
Also check recent blog posts for info on two more titles. In April 2011: A Witch's Beauty by Joey W. Hill and Roses and Chains by Delphine Dryden.
I know I take great comfort sometimes in a good book. I like to be moved when I read. Since I am exploring my sexuality, it is natural to me to be drawn to books that describe the experiences of others. I look to see bits of my own story embedded in their's. There is an odd sort of validation that one gets this way, but some days, that's the only validation available. And they are entertaining, so why not kick back and enjoy a little. Yes?
