Ummmmm...total hotness! This was a sexy little 3 novella book (which read like one continuous story) about three best girlfriends and the friendly wager they make to spice up their hum-drum lives. Each of the women has a particular sexual fantasy and the bet is on to see which woman fulfills her fantasy first. I was a little concerned when I started reading because there is a bit of a BDSM theme about this book, and I was wondering just how far Anne Rainey was going to go. Luckily (for me) since I'm not much for BDSM books, especially when there's pain or humiliation involved, this book turned out to be "BDSM-lite"--a few light swats/spanking on the rear, the use of a blindfold, some handcuffs, a bit of domination and submission ("Put your hands above your head, sub"), some female domination and male submission (nothing too kinky), and the wearing of some snaps-in-the-crotch leather pants... but no whipping, no pain, no humiliation, and no sex toys. Everything was consensual and "I'll stop when you want me to or if you don't like it" which gave it a more romantic feeling if that makes sense.
In Secret Desires, Lydia's an overworked, underappreciated paralegal whose sexy, demanding boss (Dane) and his two handsome partners (Mac and Trent) keep her way too busy. Lydia's secret fantasy is to have "no strings, no names" sex with a stranger. Best friend Roni takes repressed former Catholic school girl Lydia waaay out of her comfort zone to one of her favorite hangouts, a BDSM club called "Kinks". Certainly Lydia can find an anonymous stranger there who would be willing to fulfill her fantasy, right? But what happens when the three leather-hood-wearing owners of the club approach her with their own fantasy? Will Lydia take the "there's-something- familiar-about-them" owners up on their proposition?
This was one red-hot menage story...whew! The hero is a Dom, looking for a sub, and Lydia certainly fills the bill. I can't say too much more without giving away some spoilers but let's just say that Lydia won't go unappreciated at work anymore!
In Turn Me On, psychologist Roni desires a real man. She's fed up with men who are just out to impress her or are after her money. She'd like to try out a blue collar man for once and see if her love life improves. When Roni has trouble with a computer that keeps freezing up on her, she calls a computer specialist to fix it. When over 6 feet of muscular hotness (Jake) shows up at her door, wearing a T-shirt reading J.C.'s Computer Repair. We'll Have Your Hard Drive Purring In No Time Roni wonders if this hunk would be willing to fulfill her fantasy.
Equally hot. Confident career-woman Roni likes to think of herself as a dominitrix (that's why she hangs out at Kinks) but Jake teaches her a thing or two about liking submission and surrendering control. This one had a bit of a backstory for Jake (he was a widower) and a conflict near the end of the story that hurt Jake's feelings, so it wasn't all fun and games. But I liked it. I thought Roni and Jake both were what each other needed.
And finally Tasty Treats. Jeanette is a shy coffee shop owner with a curvaceous figure and and bit of a hang-up about her backside. For the past six months she's been lusting after a sexy, dark, motorcycle riding guy who comes in for coffee every day, but she can't get up the nerve to speak to him. After telling her girlfriends about her fantasy of having her way with her biker man, she knows it's now or never if she wants to win the bet. But who could predict that biker man (Hunter) has also been lusting after Jeanette and her curvy posterior for the past 6 months? Now he's going to make his move on the shy beauty...
This one might have been my favorite, even though we don't learn too much backstory about our biker man. But he was just aggressive enough to push all of Jeanette's buttons and liberate her sexy side without scaring her off. He did sort of have an obsession with Jeanette's butt that I found both laughable yet endearing. And what he did with Jeanette's double chocolate brownies...whew!
So, if you're looking for some light, fast paced erotic reading, with some very likable characters, and you have the ability to suspend disbelief (because c'mon, these relationships move verry fast) I think you'll enjoy this one. Anne Rainey sprinkles in some very sexy dialogue that will get your motor running, and you'll be hot to find out if all three girlfriends find the men of their dreams. One of the better erotic anthologies I've read in a while--4 1/2 stars.