Tabou, Book 1 by Suzanne Stroh

Publisher:           Publish Green

This will be short and sweet.  I was sent this book to review, so at least I didn’t spend money on it.  I got about half way through the book and had to stop.  I should say here that I never stop reading a book.  I always push through to the end to try and find something redeeming about it, but this book makes absolutely no sense at all.   The confusion starts with a prologue that is incomprehensible. I read the blurb that is listed on Amazon and kept looking for that story, but had not gotten to it by the time I gave up.  The characters’ conversations make no sense most of the time.  The events jump around and there are constant references to things that have nothing to do with the scene.  There are references to people from the past and comments as if the characters were there, but also living in the present.  Since the events were seventy years apart and the characters are much younger than that, it doesn’t seem likely.  The main characters seem to meet at a party where everyone has assumed a different persona and are intrigued by each other.  From then on the relationships between the different characters becomes nothing but more confusing.

Save yourself some money and don’t buy this one.

Red Light by JD Glass

Publisher:             Bold Strokes Books


If you like romance rough and raw, Red Light by J.D. Glass is the book for you.

Victoria Scotts, AKA Tori, is training to be an EMT in New York City and looking for some direction in her life. She is surrounded by loyal friends and a supportive family, including her cousin Nina, a famous music star, but Tori struggles to establish a relationship with the right woman. One relationship ends in betrayal and leaves her open to a series of meaningless flings until she meets the frightening and bewitching Trace Cayden. Tori and Trace have tremendous passion between them and both like their sex rough; perhaps too rough because Tori is left with bloody markings on her body after each session. Nina and her partner Samantha, who have taken Tori into their home, fear for her safety, not only on the streets of New York after she receives her EMT license, but from this woman she seems to be infatuated with.

Everyone is relieved when Tori finally establishes herself in a partnership with Jean Scanlon, a medic she worked with who is able to show Tori the love she so desperately wants. Tori's job still has a dangerous aspect to it, but Jean and her large friendly family appear to provide her with the warm and comforting stability that she has been searching for. There will be a final encounter with Trace however that has the potential to destroy the life that Tori has found. The test will be to see if her love for Jean is strong enough to save her from the fate that Trace intends for her.
 
The most interesting part of this book is when Tori works in the field as an EMT. It gives an insight into the training required of these people and the situations they find themselves in. There is a harrowing scene that shows how dangerous life can be even for those who are trying to help other people. 

Bold Strokes Books labels this book a romance, but it might fit more appropriately in the erotica category. Tori's language is as rough as her sex practices and she appears to show little discrimination in her partners. She's young, she's free and, if the other woman is hot, why not? This alone will appeal to some readers. There are certainly plenty of places in the book that will raise your breathing and heart rates.

Otherwise, it's a rather mundane story of a woman moving through her life and trying to get things in the proper order, except for those encounters with Trace. And the reader should wonder why Tori keeps going back to her. One episode of coming home bloody and marked would be enough for most people.

The oddest aspect is the very last chapter. The tale is finished, everything has been resolved and suddenly this chapter is inserted that twists the story in a way that was never implied anywhere in the book. There is no need for this chapter and it serves no purpose other than to promote questions for which the reader can't get any answers. There hasn't been a book with as perplexing an ending since John Fowles released The French Lieutenant's Woman with two endings and told the readers to pick the one they liked. Some readers will enjoy Red Light for various reasons, but be ready to be puzzled at the end.

Crave: Tales of Lust, Love and Longing by Catherine Lundoff

Publisher:                 Lethe


Crave: Tales of Lust, Love and Longing is a collection of fifteen short stories of erotic encounters. They span different periods in history and cover a variety of topics. The reader will learn about new uses for strawberries and chocolate sauce, the joys of multiple simultaneous partners or anonymous sex and the prowess of women warriors. There are also cautionary tales about the dangers of sexual addiction, imaginary lovers and straight women who want to experiment.

There are a few stories that stand out from the rest. For those who like the supernatural, "Leader of the Pack" is about werewolves and the ties that bind one of the pack to the ultimate alpha female. Suspense lovers will enjoy "The Old Spies Club," where old Cold War enemies get to test all of their skills one more time. "Medusa's Touch" takes science fiction to a place where sensory suits have given a whole new meaning to personal relationships. "Wage Slave" deals with sex in the work place and "Heart's Thief" is the story of a thief who ends up stealing more than she planned on.

This is a book dedicated to erotica. If the reader isn't interested in sex in all of its manifestations, including "kink," the book will have limited appeal. Like any anthology, the stories aren't uniform in quality. Some are well written and really don't need the sex scenes to make them interesting. Others obviously only exist to showcase various sexual activities and would have been as effective simply describing those actions and not worrying with trying to wrap stories around them. At some points the stories verge on being boring, but the well written ones are sprinkled in at appropriate intervals to counteract the effect. For readers who need a shot of adrenaline or who enjoy reading about sex, sex, and more sex, this is definitely the book. Those who are looking for more depth to their stories may want to keep looking.

Attractions of the Heart by Cheri Crystal

Publisher:            loveyoudivine.com

This is Cheri Crystal's first published book and it won an award for Lesbian Erotica Anthology at the Golden Crown Literary Society awards ceremony in 2010.  People who like this genre should enjoy this book.

Attractions of the Heart is a series of short stories, some of which have appeared before in other places.  Each one starts with a front page photograph that could be a book cover and that sets up the topic of that story.  Erotica is what it is.  The characters have sex while fishing, in an airplane, with friends, in trucks, using sex toys and so forth.  There isn't much character development and no plot lines that tie the stories together, but that's not what the book is intended for.

The writing is aimed at an average level, but it gets the idea across and leaves nothing to the imagination.  There is humor in many of the stories and some romance.  For those who are looking for a quick shot to the libido, this book will serve the purpose well.  If you're looking for a book that develops a plot thoroughly along with the characters, then buy a novel.