All Other Things

by Charlotte Stein

Bea’s husband Tommy is the sweetest, most gorgeous guy she’s ever met. There’s just one problem—he doesn’t seem to want to have sex with her. Or at least, he shows no interest in the kind of sex she’s craving. Kinky, torrid, passion-filled sex, of the sort a too-handsome and too-fascinating colleague at her workplace is offering.

Kieran is everything that Tommy’s not—dark to his light, triple caramel swirl to Tommy’s vanilla. But Bea will not be tempted. Or at least, she thinks she won’t. Until she discovers Tommy and Kieran have been IMing each other for some time—and they haven’t been talking about innocent things.

They’ve been talking about her, and more importantly, they’ve been talking about what they’d like to do to her. Together. And once Tommy’s buttons have been pushed and Kieran’s been let off his leash, anything seems possible…

Genres: Erotica, Menage, Romance, Contemporary, Erotic Romance, Contemporary Romance, M M F

100 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 21, 2011

About the author

Charlotte Stein is the RT and DABWAHA nominated author of over fifty short stories, novellas and novels. When not writing deeply emotional and intensely sexy books, she can be found eating jelly turtles, watching terrible sitcoms and occasionally lusting after hunks. For more on Charlotte, visit: www.charlottestein.net

Reviews

[Cara McKenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easily one of the top five hottest novellas I've ever read.

[Moi · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. i bought this after seeing it very highly rated on the Goodreads page of one of my favorite authors, Cara McKenna. the novella is a fairly well-written and provocative story toying with the notion of polyamory, but the ending was too rushed, the emotional payoff not credible enough, for me to rate it highly. the author needed to lay the groundwork much more carefully for the major emotional and psychological shift between certain characters at the end. as it was, she told us but didn't show.

SORT OF FUN: one of the three main characters, kieran, reminded me a lot of mckenna's deliciously twisted character ian from Skin Games, only stein's kieran wasn't sufficiently fleshed out and so in the end came off as a sort of seedy man'whore who would have stunk of stale unfiltered cigarettes. he could have been so much more. same with the novella.

[Petra Grayson · Rating 4 out of 5]

My intention had been to read a couple pages of this book just as a teaser before I went to bed. Instead I was up for the next 2+ hours because I just couldn't leave this story. I would liken this book to one of those artsy photos with the haze around the edges. The middle of the picture is awesome, but you don't see much of anything outside the middle. You don't find out too much about the characters' motivations, their jobs, their personalities or even much of their looks outside the bounds of the scenario their involved in. But I don't mind. The growth of the characters is so well written and it's fun to live in fantasyland for a little while. Bea is married to Tommy and loves him but is also attracted to Kieran. She wouldn't do anything about that but then she finds out that Tommy is uncomfortable having sex with her and fantasizes about Kieran being involved. Kieran helps both of them to overcome their shame and go after what they want. But what will happen to Kieran when he's gotten Tommy and Bea to open up? This wasn't my favorite Charlotte Stein book but it was still awesome and I'm sure I'll read it again.

[Madeline Iva · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been trying to read everything out there by Charlotte Stein and this book did not disappoint. Stein writes repression so well. And once she's hooked me with intelligent, sensitive, articulate characters who yearn and long and just can't go there, she's so adept at bringing in a really likeable but utterly pervy, filthy-minded hot guy who makes all the magic happen.

I whiffled right through this book and enjoyed it to the last drop.

[Sunshiny Me · Rating 3 out of 5]

well, that was utterly filthy. nice.

[fulano]

rep: queer polyamorous heroes

This was pretty good! I would change some lines but not as bad as I was expecting.

[Kelster · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charlotte Stein's books appeal to me in the filthiest of ways. All Other Things was such a hot read. I had no idea that this kink would appeal to me until I discovered Charlotte Stein. This is the second book I've read by her,Control was the first, where there is a secondary character that infiltrates a couple's relationship and then controls/directs them together sexually. Sooooo hot!

I also really liked Kieran and the emotion and feelings that dictated his actions. That was an unexpected bonus and it gave the book more depth and more meaning.

[Rain · Rating 5 out of 5]

**4.5** Holy hotness, this was intense!!!

This story isn’t run-of-the-mill erotica. I honestly don’t know how to describe it, but I loved every second I spent reading it. I wish this had been a full-length story, I wanted to know so much more about these characters. Highly recommended for fans of Cara McKenna, both she and Charlotte Stein write some of my favorite character-driven erotica. Real characters, real conversations, and real depth of emotions. The steam is SMOKIN HOT.

[Mmeguillotine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mercy, mercy, mercy.

“I’m not selfless. I’ve led a criminal, selfish life. Not sure I’ve ever cared about anyone.” She watched him put his cigarette to his lips. It looked damp and forlorn, the way she felt, suddenly. “So it came as quite a shock to me to realize that when you love someone, it comes above all other things. All the other little pieces of your life. You just want them to be happy."

Kieran.

I wish that Charlotte Stein wrote full length books, because I would have wanted EVERYTHING about Kieran.

[Amy Cousins · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have owned this book for four months. I have read it at least ten times. So hot. The shame, the sexy, the people trying so hard not to say what they want. And then the sweet, right at the end. Gah. I love Charlotte Stein. Yet another U.K. author who is only saved from my stalkerish tendencies by wisely living across a giant, fricking ocean.

[Tabatha · Rating 4 out of 5]

That was one insanely hot read! The excessive amounts of inner monolog detracted a bit from the story, but overall it was a very steamy read that I enjoyed immensely.

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

A different take on the usual m/f/m ménage, with a cuckholding twist. Well done, as Ms. Stein’s writing inevitably is. I wasn’t sure how it was all going to unfold, and really enjoyed that.

Bought from kobo

[AgainWithTheBooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was pretty damn perfect. Short enough that we didn't need to deal with any stupid conflicts, long enough for me to actually give a damn what happened to them. And yeah, of course I wanted more, but I'm also kinda glad it ended when/how it did.

Great quick super hot read.

[Nanette · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was really surprised by how much i like this book. My experience with erotica has been Anais Nin (lovely) and ann rice's book (bored me). This was altogether something different and very well done.

[Eya · Rating 2 out of 5]

Surprisingly good for the topic it delivers.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Realistic menage erotic romance.

[Emmi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Steamy and wonderful.

[Jamie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Why does hot menage have to include so much casual homophobia??? And toxic relationship dynamics?? Why is miscommunication the norm? Whyyyyyyyyyyyyy D:

[Christy Nook · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing felt awkward

[Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

The only frustrating thing about this book was I wish it were incredibly longer

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I follow Charlotte Stein on Twitter so I know she's a good writer. And she is. This is a steamy story, yes, but it's more about emotions and relationships than sex. There is a depth to all three protagonists that sets this book on the very good shelf.

[Elisabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short, hot, and surprisingly good character development for such a short novella.

[Karla C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Listen this was very hot, and I cackled and snorted a bunch. It was a very good time.

[Essie · Rating 4 out of 5]

chefs kisses 💋💋

[Jordanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

[Nisha-Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

God, I loved this so much. Right from the very first bit that instantly hooked me in ... to the very heartbreaking situation of our heroine ... to the utter insanely hot messy wonderful situation that escalated with such fabulous efficacy.

I did love how different Bea was, the uncertainty of her coupled with the unshakeable love with the very real voracity of her libido. Admittedly I found the husband, Tommy, quite uninspiring in his goodness and his reticence even though I adore male subs and the beta hero. But without a doubt, Kieran utterly captivated me from the word go. And he only got more and more thrilling and delicious. Again, there was that absolutely marvellous character development of our heroine, only a much wider arc compared to Make Me. Here it was marvellous to see how Bea went from uncertain to anguished to furious to turned on to completely and utterly secure in her sexual and emotional desires. That ending made me want to hug her, hug him, jump around and scream a little with joy.

Also some utterly fantastically funny bits ... Her elbows.. Along with some unfortunate choice of words that made me wince on more than one occasion but again, I can always forgive that when the rest of the writing is so deft and sincere. What was really frustrating and kept fraying my full engagement was the fucked up formatting in the early part of the story with the chat bits. I'm not sure why that happened, maybe I did convert it and that's why? But urgh.

Otherwise, perfection.

[Romancing the Book · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reviewed By~EmmaRae
Review Copy Provided By~EmmaRae

Once again I think it's 20 pages too short, but I loved this novella. Almost five stars, but not quite. This story will set fire to your ereader in all the right ways. The characters are a little off sometimes…which is why I want the 20 more pages. I wanted to see more of Tommy and Bea's motivations, and Kieran was a little off balance. But who cares! This book did get into the heads of the characters and I loved it. Tommy is adorable. Kieran is sex on legs. Bea is caught in the middle. Pay attention to the graphic sex warning, because this one is down and dirty. Tommy, Kieran and Bea make the perfect trio, and I was so disappointed when it ended.

Favorite Quote: When he was being silent and not replying, just shrugging his shoulder to all her questions: “Again with the shrug. She could have killed his left shoulder.” I thought it was funny. :)

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love how in Stein's books, it's all about the sex AND all about the emotions that sex (or wanting it) brings: shame, hope, fear, want. And how good Stein is with her first-person narrators, allowing them to dig into the nitty gritty of those emotions in all their messy, ugly, and beautiful glory. A menage book this time, with a female narrator who is worried because her manly new husband doesn't seem to want to have sex with her all that often, a worry that she ends up confiding to a fellow co-worker, who, it turns out, has more to do with her husband's lack of sex drive than she could ever have imagined. Only fault is the resolution, which comes far too fast to be all that believable. Would have liked to have seen a slower build-up to it.

[Beate · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book took absolutely forever to take off, and it didn't get to a proper menage until the very end. Bea and Tommy were a little on the boring side, even when having nookie. And the chemistry between them wasn't the best.

However when you throw Kieran into the mix, he had great chemistry with Tommy and with Bea. And only when he was there with them did things heat up properly. The act of menage itself though was rather...disappointing.

An OK read. Loved the fact that the book took place in UK, and the usage of the word "arse" - somehow seems less crude than the americanized "ass".

[Max Sebastian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this one a little on the short side, but so very hot with an exciting build-up as the interrelationship between the three is set up and the characters explore forbidden desires and challenge their comfort zones. As usual, Charlotte Stein brings her highly readable style and develops great suspense as her protagonist attempts to work out the men she's so drawn to. Very enjoyable - I was left craving more, but would definitely recommend it, particularly for those who enjoy the anticipation in a threesome tale, rather than just the full on menage part.