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Best Women's Erotica 2014
Best Women’s Erotica 2014 delivers risky, romantic, and heart-pounding thrills. Joyful, daring, and authentic, these steamy stories revel in erotic adventure, from the sparks between strangers to the knowing caresses of long-time lovers. These stories are not merely erotic, but filled with strong characters and clever narratives showing how sexual experience is different for everyone. This anthology is a glorious celebration of the finest and friskiest female erotic fiction today. Carefully curated by sex guru Violet Blue, these stories celebrate the sensations of falling in lust and the electrifying thrills of sexual passion. What this award-winning editor does best is add a twist of spice and the unexpected; she reads hundreds of stories to come up with the very best of the year, just for your reading pleasure. So, lie back and enjoy the ride.
199 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2013
58 people are currently reading
323 people want to read
About the author
Violet Blue
111 books269 followersViolet Blue has authored and edited over 40 books, including five (Bronze, Silver and Gold) IPPY award-winners, some of which are now in eight translations. Violet was a guest on the Oprah Winfrey Show, when Ms. Winfrey featured Violet's book on women and pornography (11/17/09). That book is also excerpted and featured on Oprah Winfrey's website, as well as in O, The Oprah Magazine.
Violet owns and operates Digita Publications (digitapub.com), an indie digital publisher of e-books and audio books. Rather than a royalty system, Digita books share all sales with the authors fairly and transparently, featuring books in both DRM-free versions and for Kindle on Amazon.
Her online sexuality blog, Tiny Nibbles, is one of the Internet's longest-running sex blogs, and has won many accolades and awards. For her day job, Ms. Blue is a journalist on hacking, crime, cybersecurity, privacy, and at-risk populations for outlets ranging from Engadget to CNET, and occasionally outlets like CBS News, CNN and O the Oprah Magazine.
Violet owns and operates Digita Publications (digitapub.com), an indie digital publisher of e-books and audio books. Rather than a royalty system, Digita books share all sales with the authors fairly and transparently, featuring books in both DRM-free versions and for Kindle on Amazon.
Her online sexuality blog, Tiny Nibbles, is one of the Internet's longest-running sex blogs, and has won many accolades and awards. For her day job, Ms. Blue is a journalist on hacking, crime, cybersecurity, privacy, and at-risk populations for outlets ranging from Engadget to CNET, and occasionally outlets like CBS News, CNN and O the Oprah Magazine.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
December 29, 2013
What makes an erotic story memorable? You know the stories I mean, the ones that stick with you long after the book is closed (or your ereader is turned off). The stories that you recall days or weeks later with a frisson of arousal or a glint of joy, even when you can't quite summon the title or the author's name. What is it about those haunting, persistent tales?
For me, it takes something special. An original and surprising premise. Unusually intense, believably evoked emotion. An atmospheric environment that mirrors and amplifies the nature of the characters or the events. Or particularly creative and skilled use of language, the sort of consummate craft that triggers delight, admiration and envy, quite independent of the story content.
It's not the sex. Let's face it, even in real life, the thrills of physical stimulation and release, no matter how exquisite or overpowering, fade quickly from memory. What stays are the psychological, affective and spiritual aspects of the experience – the sense of connection or of transgression – the bittersweet knowledge that pleasure is always fleeting – the terrifying flare of understanding as you discover truths you'd always hidden, even from yourself. The stories that manage to capture these complexities and consequences of sex are the ones I'm most likely to appreciate when I read them, and to recall later.
The latest volume in the Best Women's Erotica series includes a few of those stories.
Please don't misunderstand me. Every tale in this collection is well-written and at least moderately hot. If you're looking for two or three hours of stimulation, I recommend this book highly. Both Ms. Blue and Cleis Press are known for producing high quality anthologies. (The explicitly labeled “Uncorrected Proof” I received had far fewer errors than many of the published ebooks I've had inflicted on me lately.) But for the most part, I found these stories to be mere diversions, tales of fantasies fulfilled that may well get you off, but which won't hang around tickling your imagination later.
Which tales will I remember from this book? Certainly I'd have to include Lucy Debussy's unusual “Mary Lou”, which features a woman masquerading as a man and working as a stoker on a steamer. I found the gender-bending premise as well as the unabashed sensualism of this story delightful, even if it strained the bounds of plausibility a bit.
Then there's “Her Forest, Her Rules”, by Laila Blake. The heroine in this tale is a member of a club that enacts fantasy scenarios each weekend, rather like the Society for Creative Anachronism. In the midst of the forest where her group normally plays, Amy – or Amariel, as she calls herself, when acting her chosen part as an elf-woman – is taken captive by a guy with a sword, a man she's never seen before. Their banter and their connection are just delicious, a reminder that role-playing frequently reveals much about our true selves. The setting, tone and characters of this tale are all enchanting.
Another favorite was Sommer Marsden's “Gentleman's Valet”, a BDSM tale involving a married or at least long-associated couple. Looked at in one sense, there's nothing very remarkable about this story. I've read dozens of scenes with the same elements – paddles, alligator clips, and a viciously hard fuck. What distinguishes it, in my mind, is the portrayal of the dominant's emotions. D/s stories frequently focus on the sub – her fears, her paradoxical desires, her satisfaction. Ms. Marsden's story reminds the reader that Doms are in it for their own satisfaction as well as for that of their subs – and that the sweetest experience a Dom can offer his submissive is the knowledge that she has pleased him.
In the gorgeous writing category, my top pick goes to Rose de Fer's “Nyotaimori”. I'm quite certain I've read at least one story with same premise: a woman bound upon a table and used as a presentation platter for food – in this case, sushi. (It's possible that I'm thinking of this exact tale, although it's not listed in the credits for previously published work.) However, this author brings the scene to life with in painstaking and mouth-watering sensory detail.
------
My eyes betray nothing but gratitude for his offering as he places the tiny soft egg against my lips. With only the slightest movement I part them just enough to taste the salty juice with the tip of my tongue. It is heavenly. I close my eyes as I slowly draw the egg inside my mouth, bursting it with my teeth. It's only one little taste, one tiny bit of flavor, but it makes me sigh with pleasure. It mingles with the delicious scents all around me. The fish, the ginger, wasabi and soy sauce, his wife's perfume.... I feel myself growing even damper against the flask of sake, and I clench my inner muscles to intensify the sensation.
------
Reading this story, I was reminded of my first taste of sushi, after a lover had described it to me as “an orgasm of the palate”. I also loved the pan-sexual quality of this tale, the way eroticism seeps into every sensation and desire expands to encompass every act and every gender.
Speaking of gender, I want to mention Nikki Adams' story “Chrysalis”, which chronicles an encounter between a high-achieving, domineering lesbian lawyer and a sexy, feminine pre-op transsexual. I found this story intriguing, although a bit overwritten. One doesn't encounter trans characters very often in Cleis' female-focused collections. The story is memorable because of its differences, not to mention the way the experience shatters the main character's self-confidence.
Finally, I loved Alison Tyler's “Close Shave”. Ms. Tyler's tales are always a guilty pleasure for me. More than any other story in the book, this one – where a cheeky girl wanders into a barber shop and demands that the studly young barber shave her pussy – pushed my personal buttons. Having recently reviewed Ms. Tyler's erotic memoir Dark Secret Love, I saw new depths in this barely-disguised fantasy, echoes of actual events and real people who made a difference in her life.
Rereading this review, I see that I've mentioned six standout stories. Out of a total of seventeen, I guess that's actually pretty impressive. Every anthology has stronger and weaker contributions. Every reader will resonate with different tales, depending on her own preferences and kinks. Not every story in this collection will stay around to haunt you. But I'd be surprised if you didn't find at least one or two that will.
For me, it takes something special. An original and surprising premise. Unusually intense, believably evoked emotion. An atmospheric environment that mirrors and amplifies the nature of the characters or the events. Or particularly creative and skilled use of language, the sort of consummate craft that triggers delight, admiration and envy, quite independent of the story content.
It's not the sex. Let's face it, even in real life, the thrills of physical stimulation and release, no matter how exquisite or overpowering, fade quickly from memory. What stays are the psychological, affective and spiritual aspects of the experience – the sense of connection or of transgression – the bittersweet knowledge that pleasure is always fleeting – the terrifying flare of understanding as you discover truths you'd always hidden, even from yourself. The stories that manage to capture these complexities and consequences of sex are the ones I'm most likely to appreciate when I read them, and to recall later.
The latest volume in the Best Women's Erotica series includes a few of those stories.
Please don't misunderstand me. Every tale in this collection is well-written and at least moderately hot. If you're looking for two or three hours of stimulation, I recommend this book highly. Both Ms. Blue and Cleis Press are known for producing high quality anthologies. (The explicitly labeled “Uncorrected Proof” I received had far fewer errors than many of the published ebooks I've had inflicted on me lately.) But for the most part, I found these stories to be mere diversions, tales of fantasies fulfilled that may well get you off, but which won't hang around tickling your imagination later.
Which tales will I remember from this book? Certainly I'd have to include Lucy Debussy's unusual “Mary Lou”, which features a woman masquerading as a man and working as a stoker on a steamer. I found the gender-bending premise as well as the unabashed sensualism of this story delightful, even if it strained the bounds of plausibility a bit.
Then there's “Her Forest, Her Rules”, by Laila Blake. The heroine in this tale is a member of a club that enacts fantasy scenarios each weekend, rather like the Society for Creative Anachronism. In the midst of the forest where her group normally plays, Amy – or Amariel, as she calls herself, when acting her chosen part as an elf-woman – is taken captive by a guy with a sword, a man she's never seen before. Their banter and their connection are just delicious, a reminder that role-playing frequently reveals much about our true selves. The setting, tone and characters of this tale are all enchanting.
Another favorite was Sommer Marsden's “Gentleman's Valet”, a BDSM tale involving a married or at least long-associated couple. Looked at in one sense, there's nothing very remarkable about this story. I've read dozens of scenes with the same elements – paddles, alligator clips, and a viciously hard fuck. What distinguishes it, in my mind, is the portrayal of the dominant's emotions. D/s stories frequently focus on the sub – her fears, her paradoxical desires, her satisfaction. Ms. Marsden's story reminds the reader that Doms are in it for their own satisfaction as well as for that of their subs – and that the sweetest experience a Dom can offer his submissive is the knowledge that she has pleased him.
In the gorgeous writing category, my top pick goes to Rose de Fer's “Nyotaimori”. I'm quite certain I've read at least one story with same premise: a woman bound upon a table and used as a presentation platter for food – in this case, sushi. (It's possible that I'm thinking of this exact tale, although it's not listed in the credits for previously published work.) However, this author brings the scene to life with in painstaking and mouth-watering sensory detail.
------
My eyes betray nothing but gratitude for his offering as he places the tiny soft egg against my lips. With only the slightest movement I part them just enough to taste the salty juice with the tip of my tongue. It is heavenly. I close my eyes as I slowly draw the egg inside my mouth, bursting it with my teeth. It's only one little taste, one tiny bit of flavor, but it makes me sigh with pleasure. It mingles with the delicious scents all around me. The fish, the ginger, wasabi and soy sauce, his wife's perfume.... I feel myself growing even damper against the flask of sake, and I clench my inner muscles to intensify the sensation.
------
Reading this story, I was reminded of my first taste of sushi, after a lover had described it to me as “an orgasm of the palate”. I also loved the pan-sexual quality of this tale, the way eroticism seeps into every sensation and desire expands to encompass every act and every gender.
Speaking of gender, I want to mention Nikki Adams' story “Chrysalis”, which chronicles an encounter between a high-achieving, domineering lesbian lawyer and a sexy, feminine pre-op transsexual. I found this story intriguing, although a bit overwritten. One doesn't encounter trans characters very often in Cleis' female-focused collections. The story is memorable because of its differences, not to mention the way the experience shatters the main character's self-confidence.
Finally, I loved Alison Tyler's “Close Shave”. Ms. Tyler's tales are always a guilty pleasure for me. More than any other story in the book, this one – where a cheeky girl wanders into a barber shop and demands that the studly young barber shave her pussy – pushed my personal buttons. Having recently reviewed Ms. Tyler's erotic memoir Dark Secret Love, I saw new depths in this barely-disguised fantasy, echoes of actual events and real people who made a difference in her life.
Rereading this review, I see that I've mentioned six standout stories. Out of a total of seventeen, I guess that's actually pretty impressive. Every anthology has stronger and weaker contributions. Every reader will resonate with different tales, depending on her own preferences and kinks. Not every story in this collection will stay around to haunt you. But I'd be surprised if you didn't find at least one or two that will.
February 27, 2014
Squirming while curled up in bed with nothing on, reading a dirty little book of sultry surprises—that's what I want when it comes to erotica. Chewing on the perfect word or phrase or image until it melts in my mouth and gets branded forever in my brain—that's what I want when it comes to literature.
And what do I get when the two come together? A very good excuse to stay in bed for the night all alone. Wide awake.
What do women want when it comes to sex? Fantasies? Erotica? According to Best Women's Erotica series editor, Violet Blue, women want thrills and satisfaction in the form of “high-quality porn woven into their high-quality fiction.”
For Blue this amounts to choosing submissions for this annual anthology that set out to “turn us on and get us off” with the help of explicit erotica. The requirements? The stories must be superbly written with plenty of hardcore sex.
Out of the seventeen stories that make up Best Women's Erotica 2014, I would say only a handful did not rise to these high standards. Among those that did whet my appetite as a reader (and a woman) did so by being the kind of literature that lingers, churns up desires, makes me dream, causes me to ponder, and surprises me.
The story that stuck with me the most is Elizabeth Coldwell's “In Threes.” Naughty characters delight me. Naughty female characters who are direct, confident, and creative delight me even more. Oh how I wish the words--“Good. That gives you fifteen minutes to cancel whatever plans you had for tonight . . . .”--fly out of my own mouth one day as I cook up a tryst with my lover and a sexy stranger. Until then, I'll need to live vicariously with Coldwell's delightfully deviant creations.
When it comes to setting a book down so I can lean my head back, eyes closed with my hand rubbing lightly between the folds of tingling, juicy skin, the story “Marylou” by Lucy Debussy does the trick. It's the combination of the rough seamen featured in the story and the matter-of-fact story telling that do it for me. Marylou knows what she wants and will wait patiently until the object of her affection comes to her. In the meantime, readers get a taste of life on the sea (and seaports) that leads to longing for some salty sea breeze and rough sailor hands up and down goose bumped flesh.
Much like “Marylou,” a lot of the appeal for “Nyotaimori” by Rose De Fer is the desire to learn a culture I've never experienced first hand. While the overtly erotic play with pain and chopsticks doesn't tap into my personal kinds of kink, the life of a woman trained to be the perfect serving dish excites me. I put down the story wanting to know the lives of these table-bound women, their training, and their desires. It is the longing for more back story that leaves me panting and wet. How I would love to be a patron at such an enticing restaurant!
Being an erotic writer myself, another kind of lust that comes to mind is finding a story I wish I had written myself. “Out in the Open” by Oleander Plume is the story in this collection that makes my writer mouth water. Sassy, playful, and devilishly nasty—the blog writing premise for this tale would be a ton of fun to try as an experiment. I long for such tasty blogging/writing ideas of my own.
And then there is that kind of yearning that comes when you wish you were living the life of characters found in a book or story. Alison Tyler takes me there with “Close Shave.” Getting up the nerve to follow an obsession through, finding out you were wrong (but that the alternative is even better than your fantasies), and being erotically punished for your audacity—that's the life this girl would LOVE to live herself. Today. Tomorrow. Always.
Other stories deserving mention include: “The Cake,” “Monsoon Season,” and “Her Forest, Her Rules.” Each has twists and turns that leave me sighing with relief (or repulsion—but that's a relief in its own way too, now isn't it?). A couple of the other stories had moments of sharp, interesting prose that stopped me in my tracks. Only a few made me glad they were short stories and, therefore, easily digestible despite not being my particular taste.
Blue did a great job mixing up the kinks and the types of coupling (or tripling, or more) with a wide assortment of characters. Because readers come to erotica with their own batch of preferences for what gets them off, you will probably find it here in this thin volume.
And what do I get when the two come together? A very good excuse to stay in bed for the night all alone. Wide awake.
What do women want when it comes to sex? Fantasies? Erotica? According to Best Women's Erotica series editor, Violet Blue, women want thrills and satisfaction in the form of “high-quality porn woven into their high-quality fiction.”
For Blue this amounts to choosing submissions for this annual anthology that set out to “turn us on and get us off” with the help of explicit erotica. The requirements? The stories must be superbly written with plenty of hardcore sex.
Out of the seventeen stories that make up Best Women's Erotica 2014, I would say only a handful did not rise to these high standards. Among those that did whet my appetite as a reader (and a woman) did so by being the kind of literature that lingers, churns up desires, makes me dream, causes me to ponder, and surprises me.
The story that stuck with me the most is Elizabeth Coldwell's “In Threes.” Naughty characters delight me. Naughty female characters who are direct, confident, and creative delight me even more. Oh how I wish the words--“Good. That gives you fifteen minutes to cancel whatever plans you had for tonight . . . .”--fly out of my own mouth one day as I cook up a tryst with my lover and a sexy stranger. Until then, I'll need to live vicariously with Coldwell's delightfully deviant creations.
When it comes to setting a book down so I can lean my head back, eyes closed with my hand rubbing lightly between the folds of tingling, juicy skin, the story “Marylou” by Lucy Debussy does the trick. It's the combination of the rough seamen featured in the story and the matter-of-fact story telling that do it for me. Marylou knows what she wants and will wait patiently until the object of her affection comes to her. In the meantime, readers get a taste of life on the sea (and seaports) that leads to longing for some salty sea breeze and rough sailor hands up and down goose bumped flesh.
Much like “Marylou,” a lot of the appeal for “Nyotaimori” by Rose De Fer is the desire to learn a culture I've never experienced first hand. While the overtly erotic play with pain and chopsticks doesn't tap into my personal kinds of kink, the life of a woman trained to be the perfect serving dish excites me. I put down the story wanting to know the lives of these table-bound women, their training, and their desires. It is the longing for more back story that leaves me panting and wet. How I would love to be a patron at such an enticing restaurant!
Being an erotic writer myself, another kind of lust that comes to mind is finding a story I wish I had written myself. “Out in the Open” by Oleander Plume is the story in this collection that makes my writer mouth water. Sassy, playful, and devilishly nasty—the blog writing premise for this tale would be a ton of fun to try as an experiment. I long for such tasty blogging/writing ideas of my own.
And then there is that kind of yearning that comes when you wish you were living the life of characters found in a book or story. Alison Tyler takes me there with “Close Shave.” Getting up the nerve to follow an obsession through, finding out you were wrong (but that the alternative is even better than your fantasies), and being erotically punished for your audacity—that's the life this girl would LOVE to live herself. Today. Tomorrow. Always.
Other stories deserving mention include: “The Cake,” “Monsoon Season,” and “Her Forest, Her Rules.” Each has twists and turns that leave me sighing with relief (or repulsion—but that's a relief in its own way too, now isn't it?). A couple of the other stories had moments of sharp, interesting prose that stopped me in my tracks. Only a few made me glad they were short stories and, therefore, easily digestible despite not being my particular taste.
Blue did a great job mixing up the kinks and the types of coupling (or tripling, or more) with a wide assortment of characters. Because readers come to erotica with their own batch of preferences for what gets them off, you will probably find it here in this thin volume.
Read
September 14, 2014This was a really good, diverse collection of erotica. It opens with a series of stories by newer authors who have introduced a lot of excitement to the genre. Oleander Plume, Tamsin Flowers, Jade A. Waters and Laila Blake all demonstrate why they deserve to be rising stars. As a gamer, I had particular love for Blake's "Her Forest, Her Rules," which is set at a larp (Live-action role playing game). Other standout stories for me were Ingrid Luna's odd and delightful "The Cake," Valerie Alexander's devastatingly passionate "Monsoon Season," and Alison Tyler's "Close Shave," which combined interesting BDSM with an exploration of how we choose the partners that we do. I've also got to point out Laura Antoniou's "Blame Spartacus"--the main character's fetish for gladiators is unusual, brutal and thrilling. A collection worth reading from start to finish.
January 4, 2014
Overall review:
Good mainstream-lust anthology. Worth owning.
Standout stories:
1.) "Her Forest, Her Rules" - Laila Blake: Fun, fantasy elf sex play work. Well-written.
2.) "In Threes" - Elizabeth Coldwell: Mood-effective threesome piece.
3.) "Punishing Desmedona" - Catherine Paulssen: Two actors engage in theatrical spank sex. Well-written.
4.) "Monsoon Season" - Valerie Alexander: Romantic intense couple push their carnal boundaries. Good read.
5.) "Gentlemen's Valet" - Sommer Marsden: Fun read about a "torture device" and a loving couple.
6.) "Chrysalis" - Nikki Adams: Business-like lust gives way to something else for an office worker. Well-written.
7.) "Chattel" - Errica Liekos: A married couple evolves sexually. Good piece.
8.) "Revealing" - Ruby Ryder: A woman gets her dream guy. Well-written.
Good mainstream-lust anthology. Worth owning.
Standout stories:
1.) "Her Forest, Her Rules" - Laila Blake: Fun, fantasy elf sex play work. Well-written.
2.) "In Threes" - Elizabeth Coldwell: Mood-effective threesome piece.
3.) "Punishing Desmedona" - Catherine Paulssen: Two actors engage in theatrical spank sex. Well-written.
4.) "Monsoon Season" - Valerie Alexander: Romantic intense couple push their carnal boundaries. Good read.
5.) "Gentlemen's Valet" - Sommer Marsden: Fun read about a "torture device" and a loving couple.
6.) "Chrysalis" - Nikki Adams: Business-like lust gives way to something else for an office worker. Well-written.
7.) "Chattel" - Errica Liekos: A married couple evolves sexually. Good piece.
8.) "Revealing" - Ruby Ryder: A woman gets her dream guy. Well-written.
August 29, 2017
nowhere near as hard to put down as 2013's edition... kinda limp a little too often... not enough staying power... OK, i'll stop the lame and not funny review... a few amazingly sexy tales, a few good ones, some were just so-so, and a few were awful and not remotely erotic for me... probably something for everyone, but i expect Violet Blue to do supremely sexy, outlandishly erotic, ravishingly sensual, and this one wasn't all that close... kinda like a magazine with bra and panty ads when you're used to Penthouse (not that i enjoy Penthouse, and some of those bra ads... whew!), just expecting more...
January 1, 2018
Since domination/submission isn't a favorite of mine, I found this collection disappointing.
March 27, 2014
Another excellent collection from Violet Blue offers up 17 thought provoking and extremely well-written erotic stories, and really only a couple among the line-up that didn’t quite spark for me.
Though there’s a fair amount of variety in the types of story presented here, there’s a strong sense of conflict throughout, which always makes for good erotic stories, and the frequent inclusion of some form of power play fits with this, though offering some great twists along the way.
I particularly enjoyed stories by Alison Tyler, Ericca Liekos, Nikki Adams, Catherine Paulssen and Laila Blake — stylish, sizzling stuff.
Though there’s a fair amount of variety in the types of story presented here, there’s a strong sense of conflict throughout, which always makes for good erotic stories, and the frequent inclusion of some form of power play fits with this, though offering some great twists along the way.
I particularly enjoyed stories by Alison Tyler, Ericca Liekos, Nikki Adams, Catherine Paulssen and Laila Blake — stylish, sizzling stuff.
July 3, 2014
There are a couple really good stories in here, but not enough to make up for the ones that are dull and just plain not really sexy. Also wasn't super impressed by the writing. If it's not your cup of tea sex-wise, at least the writing should be good! Mostly, though, these stories just don't have enough sexy details to really interest me. I thought this was a problem only with lesbian erotica, but apparently not.
"Reality TV" by Alyssa Turner and "Gentleman's Valet" by Sommer Marsden are the exceptions. Turner's story is also bi! And really hot.
"Reality TV" by Alyssa Turner and "Gentleman's Valet" by Sommer Marsden are the exceptions. Turner's story is also bi! And really hot.
June 24, 2014
If you don't like stories that focus on BDSM and kinky sex, do not read this book. These stories just aren't for me. The only story that I found interesting was "Marylou" by Lucy Debussy. I failed to read reviews before I purchased this book and I won't ever do that again. A total waste of my time.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews