Back for Seconds

by J.L. Logosz, Vera Valentine

When your family leaves you to clean up after a busy holiday dinner, you decide to nip future It’s-my-turn squabbles in the bud by quietly breaking the wishbone yourself. When a private joke brings your desires to life, the kitchen gets a lot hotter - Trent, Sam, Carter, Pierce and….Gregg, you guess...are the dirty dishes here to satisfy needs that go well beyond that pile of -actual- dirty dishes in the sink.

Back for Seconds: A Reverse Harem Feast is a 8,959 word stimulating short story about the power of leftovers and bringing together strangers for some close and -extremely- personal fun. This tale is written for adults, and intended for 18+ audiences only. It involves explicit group activity, mild mm scenes, and consensual humiliation of a side dish that, let’s all be honest here, kind of deserves it.

Genres: Holiday, Romance, Novella, Erotica, Why Choose, Fantasy, Paranormal Romance

30 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 23, 2021

Reviews

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Did I just read a novella about Thanksgiving leftovers that turned into hot menz who railed our heroine on the dining room table and then cleaned the kitchen? Why yes I did. I will be taking no more questions at this time. ;)

[Sonia · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 I-want-the-mess-to-clean-itself stars

If cleaning gets done this way, then I doubt people would ever complain about housework 🤣

Now… this was a FEAST 👀.

I don’t regret this at all 🤷🏻‍♀️
*insert chocolate cake eating gif from Matilda*

So, this was different. It’s written in SECOND person POV… it’s done in a way, I assume, so the reader can insert herself into all the… ahem… 🔥action🔥

And full of action this was 🥵

Oh Lawd… it’s basically just 🔥💦💦💦💦🔥🥵 and then 🔥🥵😅💦👈🏻👌🏻✌🏻🔥from beginning to end 🤣.

It’s short enough to squeeze in between chores while prepping for thanksgiving (in my case, between cleaning/folding/organizing) while at the same time long enough to get our attention 😅.

So, the heroine (or the reader 🤣) is left to do all the cleanup after thanksgiving (😑 I feel this), when she decides to pull the wishbone; one side will be for boots, the other for the mess to clean itself.

Guess which side she pulled? 👀

Lo and behold, 5 men show up to help her clean up allllll the thanksgiving mess, while they make a huuuuge mess themselves 💦👀

Let’s just say, the heroine takes a very satisfying, full nap after all of this 🤣

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE 🫶

⚠️safety squad⚠️
-no cheating/owd/omd
-sharing (it’s RH)/MM
-anal play/food play (is that a thing? lol)
-no condoms (it’s basically a dream… so no need for them)
-the reader/heroine doesn’t need an HEA since it was a satisfying dream and way to clean up after thanksgiving lol

[Lori R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

WELL.
That was…different.
And unique and filthy and perfect with the Thanksgiving holiday being only a few days away. The second person POV took a little getting used to, but this very short story was still enjoyable for me. I’ll never look at Thanksgiving food the same way again.

p.s. I’m keeping the wishbone for myself this year.

[Mei ☽︎]

Honestly, this could've been much weirder, but I guess with it only 30 pages, things needed to go FAST. 😂 6 pages in, there's spicy action and it's basically nonstop. There were a couple funny lines, but not as weird as some other reads I've read. Also had a splash of some nice kink: degradation for one of the MMCs who really liked it. It's also written in second person, as a head's up if that's something you either want or want to avoid.

[Kimbot the Destroyer · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's just erotica about leftovers that turn into men and bang you on the table. And by "you" I mean that it is written in second person. I did not need or want the self insert fanfic vibe.

[Kelly (AndKellyReads) · Rating 4 out of 5]

what a holiday novella

Absolutely insane and I’ll never look at green bean casserole the same way again, but holy moly did I love it. It knew exactly what it was: an erotic little novella perfect to celebrate Thanksgiving. And I adored that.

Read this if you are incredibly intrigued by how stuffing and pumpkin pie would be as lovers while also hiding from doing dishes after a Turkey day dinner. What a freakin treat this little read was.

[Miss Murphy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Narración en segunda persona... No mi ciela. Pero punto extra porque limpiaron la cocina

[Molly · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.75⭐️

Everyone is so creative

[Amanda Berrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

thoroughly hilarious

I never in my craziest dreams would’ve imagined this book. Vera truly is insanely and disturbingly creative. The three stars are not reflective of the book. I truly don’t think I could accurately rate a book this wild. I just rated it 3 stars since it was a neutral rating. A very thanksgiving themed novella for sure. It is only 30 pages long so I don’t think there’s a way to describe it without just telling the whole story. A one sentence summary would be: woman breaks wishbone and wishes for someone to clean her house and her and that leads to the thanksgiving leftovers shifting into men. This was such a funny read

[Izzy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just giggled my way through this ridiculousness

[a seductive cactus · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 "that table will never be the same" stars
Trope: is RH fuckfest a trope?

Totally bonkers read- but an enjoyable novella. Five guys (who are human manifestations of Thanksgiving foods) have their way with the FMC who is supposed to be cleaning up. Some mm action, FMC has a being used kink / some praise kink. One of the MMC is clearly a sub with a service/humiliation kink (the green beans of course)

[Romantically Inclined Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely bonkers but totally entertaining. And weirdly very hot. Doesn't pretend to be anything other than hilarious erotica & that's why it was so good. I laughed a lot but will admit it brought the spice.

Recommend for a silly, spicy read to distract from family drama & after dinner clean up.

[Meagan Grauel · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's only a 30 pages novella ... how weird could it possibly be? The answer is that it could be weird as hell. So strap in!

The POV is interesting in this one. It's almost written in a third person, past tense kind of voice, where the author is the main character, but voicing it as if they're watching their story from above.
Anyway - the main character is alone in the house, having volunteered to clean up after Thanksgiving dinner while the rest of the family went to the movies. While cleaning up the meal, the main character (who hasn't been identified as either male or female at this point) finds the wish bone, and instead of waiting for their younger cousins to fight over who gets to break it, breaks it themselves. And when the wish bone is broken, Trent and four other hot AF guys (Sam, Carter, Pierce, & Gregg) pop into existence and say that your wish is their command. So the wishbone is a magical genie-esque type lamp object?
Apparently, fulfilling the FMC's commands mean that some of the guys are in charge of cleaning up the kitchen and leftover food, while two of the guys take care of her needs - which includes eating her out on the dining room table. Seems unsanitary to me, but do your thing I guess. (It's not even her table! It's her aunts house and she's getting down and dirty on her table) Three of the guys finish up in the kitchen quickly it would seem and join in on the action pretty much immediately. The only sane one in the group of guys, Gregg, points out that fucking on a table might scratch the finish, but they call him by the wrong name, and tell him to go and do the dishes. Which is super rude if you ask me; he's just pointing out that there are likely way better surfaces to get their juices all over. Blegh.
While Trent starts to eat the FMC out, he literally says, "gobble gobble" before starting. I get that this is a Thanksgiving themed novella, but that seemed a lot cringe.
Apparently, safe sex with genie men isn't a priority, because this FMC lets them raw dog her and she sucks a lot of dick and lets them run a train on her without asking ANY questions. More to that point, she didn't even really ask any questions before getting down and dirty with all of them. Who knows what they could have??! There's also a lot of internal comparison to her ex-boyfriend during these scenarios.
Not only are these guys all over the FMC and taking turns with her, they're also into each other. They choose to start getting it on with each other while they're lowkey on top of the FMC.
Now, even though they're magical wish men, they still take consent very seriously. They have interesting timing to make sure that consent is clear (like mid fuck while sucking a dick, with two guys on top of her to take the time to make sure fingering her ass is okay with her) but I'll take it over no consent any day. In order to make sure there's proper lube involved, they make Gregg take a break from washing the dishes to bring them properly slippery. He offers up soap and butter first - can you imagine an ass full of butter? Yikes. Fortunately the orgy in the other room requests olive oil. And honestly, the lube is commendable. Proper anal prep is important, and I'm glad to see it had a place in this Thanksgiving novella.
Poor, neglected Gregg has been half watching since he was ordered to bring the olive oil, and clearly, he's turned on. After finishing up his blow job, Carter heads over to Gregg to do something about it. Apparently Gregg is super into degradation though and seems to get off on negative words being thrown at him and being blown off. They make him kneel in the corner while the rest of the guys are given tasks to pleasure the FMC. After the next guy has sex with the FMC, they have Gregg come and clean the FMC up and he jerks off while he does it. Seriously, loves being degraded, because they continue to mock him while he does that. No kink shaming, it just seems mean.
After all the orgasms and being screwed by multiple magic men, the FMC is admittedly tired and has fuzzy thoughts of being cleaned up and changed, and then put down on the couch for a nap. When she wakes up, she thinks that what just happened must have been a dream and she still hasn't cleaned up the kitchen; but when she goes to look, the kitchen is gleaming and spotless, looking almost like it's been professionally cleaned. And the leftovers are neatly packed away into the fridge.
But here's the kicker ... the author hints that the guys from her magical fantasy escapade ARE ACTUALLY THE LEFTOVERS. So ... the FMC broke the wishbone and 5 different leftovers were transformed into hunky guys (and obviously the green bean casserole is Gregg) who screwed her six ways to Sunday and cleaned her kitchen and then transformed back after their fun was had. Can you imagine eating those leftovers after that??!

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was ridiculous and bananas in the best way—Thanksgiving leftovers transform into men who clean the kitchen and take care of the mc, because "you" wished for it on the wishbone. (The detail about wrecking the wishbone to avoid fights between the children was such a perfect little detail. 100% have done this.) Really fun way to spend a half hour.

Second person POV was a little off-putting at first because it's so unusual for this type of story, but it worked after a while.

[Gia Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

We’re back with another chaotic book.

In Australia, we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving but if we did, I’d be disappointed if my food didn’t magically turn into four men at the end of the night and clean up every dish in the house while also ravishing my body.

That’s exactly what this book is - and it was great.

There was this moment-

“Gobble gobble.” He stage-whispered against you before diving in again, enthusiastically lapping at your core.

So… do with that as you will.

[Brooke Coughlin]

I’m not going to bother to review this😂😭 Me and @bookswithkeke did a buddy read after seeing the hilarious content being posted on it. We couldn’t take it seriously after the turkey man said gobble gobble lmao! I will forever be suspicious of my thanksgiving dinner now thank you for that!😂🫶

[Megmund · Rating 4 out of 5]

Justice for Green Bean Casserole that man (dish?) deserves the world

[Laura Dalton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will never look at green bean casserole the same way again 😲
Don't think too hard, just read. Nope! Stop it right now...just read.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a great way to start Thanksgiving 😂

[Taylor Mills · Rating 4 out of 5]

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

[Aubrey McGaugh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Do you hate your family? Especially during the holidays when you HAVE to spend time with them? Don’t worry! Scrub the dishes and angrily break a wishbone. Multiple strange (sexy?) men will appear to help clean AND dirty you.
GOBBLE GOBBLE. #JusticeforGregg

[Kerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

100% Amanda’s fault. Fun and a little funny. I was thrown off by using you/your instead of a character name/pronouns tho, so only 3 stars.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Makes me wish my Thanksgiving leftovers would come to life and *help* me out. Loved this story!

[Jerni C · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this as a joke but MY GOD THE PUNS!! MMMMMF or turkey/cranberry/stuffing/green bean casserole/pumpkin pie/ F if we’re being more specific here. I have 0 regrets. It’s 30 pages of raunchy food puns and sexual exploits I was cracking up I loved it. I highlighted my favorite bits this was honestly too good.

[Manava · Rating 2 out of 5]

poor Gregg

[justinejustreads · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oof, that was a snooze. Went into this expecting crazy, but it didn't deliver. 2nd person tense mommy p0rn is what this is. The leftovers just turn into boring human men with boring dicks. And they smell herby. Also, if you do read this, don't use olive oil for anal lube. That isn't going to go down well. Vera should have wrote that in the beginning of the book.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gobble gobble

[Sam Walters · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️ “Delightfully ridiculous, but flawed”

Back for Seconds by J.L. Logosz is exactly the kind of novella that leans hard into its absurd premise—and most of the time, it’s entertaining for it. The idea that leftovers turn into men who help (and ahem help) you clean up after Thanksgiving is audacious, risqué, and bold. It’s the kind of “don’t think too much, just enjoy” fantasy ride that works best when you lean into the silliness.

What worked for me:
• The creativity is undeniable. It isn’t easy to take such a ridiculous concept and make it feel cohesive (or at least internally consistent), but Logosz leans into the weirdness and owns it.
• The tone and humor are fun in bursts. The puns, the holiday references, the self-awareness—all of these moments make you grin or chuckle, which is often what this type of novella is aiming for.
• It’s short and spicy. At ~30 pages, it doesn’t overstay its welcome, and the pacing keeps things moving. For readers looking for a quick, steamy escape, it hits the mark.

What left me lukewarm:
• The second-person point of view was jarring. It’s not a POV I read often, and in this context it sometimes felt distancing rather than immersive. I found myself pulled out of the moment a few times.
• Some of the erotic content feels mechanically inserted. Because it’s such a short piece, some scenes rush by without much buildup or emotional weight. It leans heavily on the novelty factor, and in a few spots that novelty just isn’t enough to sustain immersion.
• There’s no real depth or resolution. I didn’t expect a full novel’s character arcs, but even so, there’s little in the way of reflection or lasting stakes. Once the fantasy is played out, there’s no lingering impact beyond the gag itself.

Verdict:

If you go in expecting something wild, playful, and purely for entertainment, Back for Seconds delivers on its promise. It’s not a masterpiece of character or plot, but what it is—a cheeky, zany erotic fantasy about magical leftovers—makes it fun in small doses. I’m giving it 3 stars: enjoyed the ride, but wouldn’t rank it among my long-term favorites.

[Kimberly Hall · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story was so much fun. I saw a short ten second video about this book and I couldn't stop myself from looking it up. I had previously read a few other stories by Vera Valentine and had a blast, so when I saw this was a short read I could get through in less than an hour... I dived in. The only thing I knew going in was that this was a RH situation and it involved Thanksgiving leftovers being the men. It was enough to get me hooked. I just HAD to know how this played out.
Was this a completely original story that changed my life? Nope. Was it an absolute blast that had me giggling uncontrollably? Yes, so much yes! Don't read this for any other reason than the pure insane joy of reading just for fun. I think sometimes readers forget we started reading for the fun of it and this is the perfect reminder for anyone who enjoys a bit (so much) smut and spice in their books.

[Booklover Judy Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 STARS
This is a laugh out loud short written in second person from the heroine's POV. This reverse harem story is based on the premise that a wish brings the leftovers alive in human form to meet the heroine's needs after a large Thanksgiving family dinner. There is irony, puns, and certainly laughs in this erotic short. It was a quick, steamy, funny read without an actual HEA, but I thought it was creative and clever. The one thing that could have made it better, in my opinion, within its length, would have been to have written it in first person instead of second. As a POV I rarely read, it felt awkward and weird. Overall, I admire the creativity involved in this story. It made me laugh.