Fairy Tale Lust [Paperback]

Funny how marketers seem to have decided that in order to sell a book of erotica, it has to have "for women" in its title. Well I'm a guy, and I not only read this book, but I thought it was pretty good. Does that mean my guy-card is going to be revoked? Anyway, this is a collection of 18 erotic "fairy tale" stories. Some are retellings of classic fairy tales, others merely evocative of the fairy tale genre. Some take place in a contemporary setting, others not. Some begin with "Once upon a time" or "Once there was...", others not. Some use quasi-olde-tyme language, others not. Some are quite well written, others not.

The quality of these tales varies widely, from the plain awful to the remarkably good. I'd say the majority of them are nice little appetizer-sized helpings of cleverness, charm, humor (or melancholy) and sexiness. A few soar above that modest level of success, and a few fall short of it.

"The Obedient Wife" by Delilah Devlin: One of those modestly successful stories. Nicely written, clever and sexy.
"How the Little Mermaid Got Her Tail Back" by Andrea Dale: Rather rambling and unfocused, and while it may seem odd to say this of a story that's a retold fairy tale, its believability is ruined by a glaring hole in the description of a central scene.
"Ducking" by Craig Sorensen: A well-intentioned retelling of The Ugly Duckling, wherein the protagonist comes to realize that she's suffering from a distorted self-image, and in fact is a Total Hottie. Rather unsophisticated writing compared to the better stories in this book, and what are those references to ninjas doing in here?
"Three Times" by Justine Elyot: Charming and funny, with a Happily Ever After lesbian marriage ending.
"Ellie and the Shoemaker" by Louisa Harte: Not bad, but is often awkward and unrealistic in its depiction of the characters' behavior and motivations.
"The Pub Owner's Daughter" by Alegra Verde: Rather clumsily, even ineptly, written. "a thin fellow with almond eyes from the East was chosen." (Yes, but which direction did his nose come from?)
"Sleep Tight" by Janine Ashbless: Probably began its life as a neat little five-page story. Unfortunately someone put it on a rack and brutally stretched it out to eleven pages.
"Her Hair is a Net, Woven" by Shanna Germain: A delightful, mysterious, poetic piece that, from the title onward, uses language exquisately. I only wish I could have figured out what the dang story was.
"Mind your Peas and Qs" by Allison Wonderland: A painfully unfunny, painfully stupid attempt at humor. Filled with lines like "Father chuckles, his eyes crinkling, his pupils twinkling." Ha. Ha. [Barf]
"In the Dark Woods" by Kristina Wright: The best written, most intelligent of the stories in the volume, and coincidentally also the sexiest. Truly a finely crafted story, superficially about an artist having an affair with a married man. Written by Kristina Wright, the editor of this book. Too bad the only other piece of writing that turns up in an Amazon search for this author looks like just an ordinary romance novel.
"Gildi and the Unwieldy, Ineffectual Committee of Bears" by Jeremy Edwards: A clever story with a funny fairy tale connection, reasonably well written and quite sexy.
"Frosted Glass" by Aurelia T. Evans: A lovely, melancholy story about the loss of love. "[The Snow Queen] told me that I could have warmth and die, or I could freeze and cease to live."
"Gingerbread Man" by Carol Hassler: A very nice story, sort of a ghost story with a cinnamon-flavored twist.
"All in a Day's Work" by Saskia Walker: A nice little piece about a magical dominatrix. Well done, but the magical element is quite superfluous to the story.
"Big Bad Wolf" by Alana Noël Voth: Distractingly written in the present tense and a little amateurish. "The wolf regards him beneath the awning in his boxer shorts..." Funny, I would have expected a wolf to wear briefs.
"The Kiss" by Michelle Augello-Page: Written in a highly stylized manner that I found pretentious and off-putting. Others might find it artistic or some such.
"The Return": By Charlotte Stein. A close second for my choice as best story in the book. Wonderfully artistic writing, beautifully evocative in its renditions of mood, emotions and steamy sex. Unfortunately the last few paragraphs puncture the mysterious, magical mood of the story by providing a prosaic (and hugely unlikely) explanation.
"The Stone Room" by A.D.R. Forte: In a fantastical setting, a man finds bliss at the receiving end of a BDSM relationship. "She kept his heart fast, bound with brambles that made him bleed and sigh." Nicely done.

Fairy Tale Lust is an anthology of short erotic and semi paranormal stories. I had high expectations for this book because I really enjoy books by Angela Knight and thought this book would have stories with a similar style. (But I discovered that Angela Knight does not have a story in this book and only writes the forward.) Warning: Even if you like your books a little racy I must repeat these shorts are NOT for the 'vanilla' romance reader.

As mentioned earlier, these stories are not what I expected. Most of the stories are set in modern times and loosely have a sort of fairy tale twist. I thought the stories would be based on common fairy tales set more in a `fantasy' world. (I think, Enchanted: Erotic Bedtime Stories For Women by Nancy Madore did a better job of fairy tale erotic romances) Because of this I felt the shorts were not as interesting as I thought they could be especially since the stories were very short stories and therefore the plots are not very complex.

I think if you are looking for vignettes that are kinky (shocking and titillating) and for the most part set in modern times, then you will enjoy this book. But if you expect stories that really follow a fairy tale theme and have more a plot this book may disappoint. (Although there are a few which do such as a Beauty and the Beast type story by Delilah Devlin.) Because I like the emotional connection between 2 characters and these shorts were brief. I couldn't get into the stories as much as I hoped. But if you are just looking for some inventive and erotic sex stories that are quick `flings' then this book will satisfy.

I selected this book, because I love reading fairy tales and exploring the subtext of folklore. I also adore good erotica. Lastly, I love short story anthologies! This seemed like an ideal selection for me.

I'm always amazed by people who speak of fairy tales as if they're innocuous, innocent, all that's pure about childhood. Even the most sanitized versions are about all that we desire and fear. There's darkness there in them there woods, and there's sexuality too. If there wasn't, no one would covet the title of fairest in the land, or worry that a younger female would be inheriting the title. There's a tale, not covered in the book, about a princess who ran away from home, because her father had told his wife on her deathbed that he would only wed a woman as beautiful as she - and their daughter fit the bill. To paraphrase Buffy, in that story the subtext rapidly became text. Because these themes are there, have always been there, these tales are naturals for retelling and bringing forward that which is only barely hidden.

I really enjoyed this book, and would highly recommend it to friends. I know I'll be discussing it with a few people. While a few stories didn't work for me, I found the majority of them to be well-worth the time spent reading them.

I like my erotica intelligent and thought-provoking and some, if not all, of these stories met that expectation for me. I don't need to find every story arousing, but I hope to be engaged either physically or intellectually. Therefore, if you're looking for just erotica, my faves might not be yours. I've commented on all the stories, but in order to keep the review crisp, will place the full list of impressions in the actual comment section. I will say there are some standout stories for me, particularly Sleep Tight by Janine Ashbless, Her Hair is a Net, Woven by Shanna Germain, and Frosted Glass by Aurelia T. Evans

I'm giving this 5 stars, not because every story is perfect, but that - if you like this concept - there should be at least a few perfect stories for every reader, and several more very enjoyable ones, and that's my definition of an ideal, well-edited collection. Dominance, submission, heat, cold, fantasy and reality, all come together - no pun intended - in this collection.

(Please see comments section for impressions of specific stories.)