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 Customer Reviews
Non stop action, 14 Nov 2008
So many things happen in such a short space of time that there is no chance to be bored with this book. Everyone is still trying to assassinate Merry and her men, there are lots of cliff hanger moments and plenty of blood, but very little sex in this one.
I agree with some other reviewers that the rape is glossed over, but I think this is more to do with so much happening and Merry has not yet remembered it than being ignored by Hamilton.
The book left me itching to know what will happen in Los Angeles, will she ever be queen, how will the men who have spent little or no time outside faerie adapt to the human world, how will magic spread to the humans... I could go on and on with questions. All good books leave you with wanting more, and this one certainly left me waiting impatiently for the next Merry book.
poorly written., 09 Nov 2008
Laurell K Hamilton's books have been getting steadily worse for a long long time. I'm still reading in the hopes that she'll start to show some of what used to make her so enjoyable again. The early Anita Blake books were quite entertaining and when the Merry Gentry series started I really enjoyed the first few books too. Sadly things started to slide when the books lost all plot and descended into almost constant sex scenes that spanned the whole entire book. I enjoy sex in books but not to the exclusion of plot. This book can't be tarred with that reason for being bad however as the sex is kept to a minimum - well as minimum as LKH seems to be able to keep it these days anyway and there is a storyline of sorts.
To summarise the plot, the book starts directly after the events of A Lick of Frost (Meredith Gentry 6) with Merry in hospital after being raped by her Uncle Tarranis (Merry shows almost no signs of any trauma - very strange) then a plot to kill Merry's guards begins to unfurl and Merry calls up te wild hunt in revenge to go chassing after the plotters. And that's about it as far as plot goes, Merry reacting to all that the seelie and unseelie and the sluagh and the goblins can throw at her while gaining magical power ups from the Goddess. There is a plot, even if it's mostly the tying up of old threads and dealing with random people that get in her way.
The real problem I found was her repetitive and silly descriptions that read as if they had been lifted directly from one book to the next. On more than one occasion I laughed out loud they were so bad - it sort of spoils the mood of the story when the terrible prose distracts you from the plot. Everything is all sparkly and moonlight lit with detailed pointless descriptions of hair and clothes and rose petals raining from the sky.
I enjoyed the early Merry Gentry novels and I suppose that this book could have seen an end of the series as many of the loose ends from previous books have been tied off. Her father's killer has been unmasked and her enemies defeated for the most part. Unfortunately I don't think that this will be the case and more stories will be spun out with Merry doing more sparkly, magical, and wonderful things with new powers given conveniently by the Goddess just in time and with conversations that start in the middle of the action and just drag on and on to showcase Merry's wonderfullness. I think LKH need to take a break from writing for a while not churn out a Merry and an Anita book every year. She needs to go back and re-read all her books and rediscover her characters for herself and maybe things might improve. I'm still reading in hopes they do but i'm not sure how much longer I will be.
Swallowing tedium, 05 Nov 2008
For her last few books, Laurell K. Hamilton has been toning down the sexual content in favor of what can be loosely termed "plot."
Well, turns out there are far worse things than endless sparkly-magical sex scenes. After the shattering cliffhanger ending of the previous book, the seventh Merry Gentry book "Swallowing Darkness" promptly goes on a road tour of Faerie instead of sticking to an actual central plot. It feels like Hamilton has gone as far as she can, and is flailing around instead of getting out of the water.
In the aftermath of being raped by her uncle, Merry is recovering in the hospital... and despite all the moping about how doctors "can't undo the damage," she gets over the rape by cuddling her favorite boytoy.
After ordering her various fey boytoys not to attack Taranis, she receives a visit from her feisty brownie grandma. Unfortunately there's a malign influence warping Gran's thoughts -- with disastrous and fatal results for three people close to Merry. Enraged, she and Sholto summon the Wild Hunt and set out to destroy the conspirators.
But it turns out that the conspiracy goes far further than Merry expected -- and that certain Golden Court sidhe are trying to weed out the stronger boytoys. And of course, divine magical favors just rain down on Merry whenever she sneezes. To keep her entire harem (half of whom I've forgotten) safe, Merry decides to take drastic steps in the human world... but only finds a new conflict with her cousin Cel.
Having knocked up her heroine -- which is supposedly the series' goal -- Laurell K. Hamilton seems to be at a loss for what to do to keep the series going ahead. So we end up with a bunch of vaguely connected crises, punctuated by interludes of Sparkly Magic From Goddess-Merry, magic horsies and lots of sparkly magic roses. It's a little like being alternately choked with flowers and clubbed with a rock.
"Swallowing Darkness" does manage an impressive amount of plot, including the resolution of couple half-forgotten subplots -- and a surprising twist during Merry's stay in the sluagh. Unfortunately most of the plot is just Hamilton slapping in new random problems whenever things get too peaceful. Whoops, somebody's suddenly dying! Eek, a traitor! Yikes, a royal challenge from out of nowhere!
Nor does Hamilton's writing help, since she seems to be bored with her own story when she isn't trying to channel Patricia McKillip's lush prose. Her incredibly stilted, rambling dialogue ("We ride." "To save your Storm Lord." "To save the future of faerie"), repetition (everybody seems to have "moonlight skin") and awkward descriptions ("Gold like the metal of a piece of jewelry") hamper the story even further.
And as with all Hamilton's fairy novels, we get hot pale supernatural men who all worship the heroine, dumb blinkered mortals, lightweight Wiccan theology, Christian-bashing, oral sex worship, and lots of nasty and/or crazy women who simply can't measure up to the heroine. Yes, even a sweet li'l old grandma, who is reviled for daring to hold a grudge against her mother's murderer.
But the book's biggest weakness is Merry Gentry herself. She floats through the book in a cloud of Convenient Magical Powers and occasionally pauses to cold-bloodedly kill people. Everybody is awed by her even if she kills them -- and she declares herself to be a goddess as well. It gets rather nauseating to have a heroine who is such a blatant self-insert.
"Swallowing Darkness" has some shreds of good plot in there, but they're surrounded by jack-in-the-box disasters and a main storyline that is being stretched way too far. And it's not over yet....
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Customer Reviews
Non stop action, 14 Nov 2008
So many things happen in such a short space of time that there is no chance to be bored with this book. Everyone is still trying to assassinate Merry and her men, there are lots of cliff hanger moments and plenty of blood, but very little sex in this one.
I agree with some other reviewers that the rape is glossed over, but I think this is more to do with so much happening and Merry has not yet remembered it than being ignored by Hamilton.
The book left me itching to know what will happen in Los Angeles, will she ever be queen, how will the men who have spent little or no time outside faerie adapt to the human world, how will magic spread to the humans... I could go on and on with questions. All good books leave you with wanting more, and this one certainly left me waiting impatiently for the next Merry book.
poorly written., 09 Nov 2008
Laurell K Hamilton's books have been getting steadily worse for a long long time. I'm still reading in the hopes that she'll start to show some of what used to make her so enjoyable again. The early Anita Blake books were quite entertaining and when the Merry Gentry series started I really enjoyed the first few books too. Sadly things started to slide when the books lost all plot and descended into almost constant sex scenes that spanned the whole entire book. I enjoy sex in books but not to the exclusion of plot. This book can't be tarred with that reason for being bad however as the sex is kept to a minimum - well as minimum as LKH seems to be able to keep it these days anyway and there is a storyline of sorts.
To summarise the plot, the book starts directly after the events of A Lick of Frost (Meredith Gentry 6) with Merry in hospital after being raped by her Uncle Tarranis (Merry shows almost no signs of any trauma - very strange) then a plot to kill Merry's guards begins to unfurl and Merry calls up te wild hunt in revenge to go chassing after the plotters. And that's about it as far as plot goes, Merry reacting to all that the seelie and unseelie and the sluagh and the goblins can throw at her while gaining magical power ups from the Goddess. There is a plot, even if it's mostly the tying up of old threads and dealing with random people that get in her way.
The real problem I found was her repetitive and silly descriptions that read as if they had been lifted directly from one book to the next. On more than one occasion I laughed out loud they were so bad - it sort of spoils the mood of the story when the terrible prose distracts you from the plot. Everything is all sparkly and moonlight lit with detailed pointless descriptions of hair and clothes and rose petals raining from the sky.
I enjoyed the early Merry Gentry novels and I suppose that this book could have seen an end of the series as many of the loose ends from previous books have been tied off. Her father's killer has been unmasked and her enemies defeated for the most part. Unfortunately I don't think that this will be the case and more stories will be spun out with Merry doing more sparkly, magical, and wonderful things with new powers given conveniently by the Goddess just in time and with conversations that start in the middle of the action and just drag on and on to showcase Merry's wonderfullness. I think LKH need to take a break from writing for a while not churn out a Merry and an Anita book every year. She needs to go back and re-read all her books and rediscover her characters for herself and maybe things might improve. I'm still reading in hopes they do but i'm not sure how much longer I will be.
Swallowing tedium, 05 Nov 2008
For her last few books, Laurell K. Hamilton has been toning down the sexual content in favor of what can be loosely termed "plot."
Well, turns out there are far worse things than endless sparkly-magical sex scenes. After the shattering cliffhanger ending of the previous book, the seventh Merry Gentry book "Swallowing Darkness" promptly goes on a road tour of Faerie instead of sticking to an actual central plot. It feels like Hamilton has gone as far as she can, and is flailing around instead of getting out of the water.
In the aftermath of being raped by her uncle, Merry is recovering in the hospital... and despite all the moping about how doctors "can't undo the damage," she gets over the rape by cuddling her favorite boytoy.
After ordering her various fey boytoys not to attack Taranis, she receives a visit from her feisty brownie grandma. Unfortunately there's a malign influence warping Gran's thoughts -- with disastrous and fatal results for three people close to Merry. Enraged, she and Sholto summon the Wild Hunt and set out to destroy the conspirators.
But it turns out that the conspiracy goes far further than Merry expected -- and that certain Golden Court sidhe are trying to weed out the stronger boytoys. And of course, divine magical favors just rain down on Merry whenever she sneezes. To keep her entire harem (half of whom I've forgotten) safe, Merry decides to take drastic steps in the human world... but only finds a new conflict with her cousin Cel.
Having knocked up her heroine -- which is supposedly the series' goal -- Laurell K. Hamilton seems to be at a loss for what to do to keep the series going ahead. So we end up with a bunch of vaguely connected crises, punctuated by interludes of Sparkly Magic From Goddess-Merry, magic horsies and lots of sparkly magic roses. It's a little like being alternately choked with flowers and clubbed with a rock.
"Swallowing Darkness" does manage an impressive amount of plot, including the resolution of couple half-forgotten subplots -- and a surprising twist during Merry's stay in the sluagh. Unfortunately most of the plot is just Hamilton slapping in new random problems whenever things get too peaceful. Whoops, somebody's suddenly dying! Eek, a traitor! Yikes, a royal challenge from out of nowhere!
Nor does Hamilton's writing help, since she seems to be bored with her own story when she isn't trying to channel Patricia McKillip's lush prose. Her incredibly stilted, rambling dialogue ("We ride." "To save your Storm Lord." "To save the future of faerie"), repetition (everybody seems to have "moonlight skin") and awkward descriptions ("Gold like the metal of a piece of jewelry") hamper the story even further.
And as with all Hamilton's fairy novels, we get hot pale supernatural men who all worship the heroine, dumb blinkered mortals, lightweight Wiccan theology, Christian-bashing, oral sex worship, and lots of nasty and/or crazy women who simply can't measure up to the heroine. Yes, even a sweet li'l old grandma, who is reviled for daring to hold a grudge against her mother's murderer.
But the book's biggest weakness is Merry Gentry herself. She floats through the book in a cloud of Convenient Magical Powers and occasionally pauses to cold-bloodedly kill people. Everybody is awed by her even if she kills them -- and she declares herself to be a goddess as well. It gets rather nauseating to have a heroine who is such a blatant self-insert.
"Swallowing Darkness" has some shreds of good plot in there, but they're surrounded by jack-in-the-box disasters and a main storyline that is being stretched way too far. And it's not over yet....
Quickies: Bk. 1, 29 Aug 2008
A nice and quick read for those of a racier nature. There are several short stories to wet your appetite or anything else! Thoroughly enjoy this book.
ORGASMIC!, 22 Aug 2008
This book was my first venture into eroctic fiction, and for the price of this book I figured if I didnt like it - nothing was lost. However, I couldnt have been less disappointed! All the stories are based around a different fantasy - so everyone can have a favourite. I have to say mine is Doctors Orders. There were a couple that didnt "get me going" as it were, but thats not to say they wouldnt work for others.
The size of this book is great too - so slim, its very discreet and can easily be slipped into an overnight bag or suitcase - should the mood take you.
I was so impressed with this little gem of a book I have since bought volumes 2 & 3 and look forward to purchasing more. I would and have recommended it to friends.
Get Down On It, 22 Jun 2008
Great little book as are all the Black Lace series and this one doesn't disappoint. The stories are red hot and believable and will certainly get the pulse racing. Also well worth looking at is Quickies Bk. 2. And for the real connoisseur of the erotic, look at Suzie Van Aartman's '100 Percent Erotica' it oozes pure ecstasy.
Almost perfect!, 08 Mar 2008
This is the first time I've read one of the Black Lace Quickies series, but if this one is anything to go by, it won't be the last. The first in the series, this book contains six short stories all by different authors. There's the story of the young woman doing unspeakably naughty things at petrol stations; the seventeen year old boy that gets to live the ultimate teenage fantasy; a doctor/patient scenario; a horny air hostess; a brother/sister combo causing havoc on a passenger liner, and twins that swap places to have the adventure of their lives.
Out of the six stories, I was extremely impressed with five of them. I'm not going to point out which one I wasn't keen on as people's opinions vary, and I wouldn't say I disliked it, exactly, it just didn't get me fired up like the other ones did! There were incredibly kinky elements in here, for example; spanking, sex toys, incest, uniforms and domination... basically several of the main things that people fantasise about! So I think, all in all, this is a top notch book and there's something in here for everyone, providing you do like your stories that bit more kinky, which I do. Too vanilla and I get bored.
When you factor in a cracking price, which as always, is discounted on Amazon, and you've got yourself a winner here! So get this, and have yourself a night in with some sexy stories!
Quick and to the point!, 06 Dec 2007
Loved this quickie anthology! It's got everything a girl needs in order to...get fired up! The book itself isn't very long at all, but it's more than you need! Take a chance on it, along with Sex Scenes--Kim Corum, which is also just pure erotica. I recommend both.
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Customer Reviews
Non stop action, 14 Nov 2008
So many things happen in such a short space of time that there is no chance to be bored with this book. Everyone is still trying to assassinate Merry and her men, there are lots of cliff hanger moments and plenty of blood, but very little sex in this one.
I agree with some other reviewers that the rape is glossed over, but I think this is more to do with so much happening and Merry has not yet remembered it than being ignored by Hamilton.
The book left me itching to know what will happen in Los Angeles, will she ever be queen, how will the men who have spent little or no time outside faerie adapt to the human world, how will magic spread to the humans... I could go on and on with questions. All good books leave you with wanting more, and this one certainly left me waiting impatiently for the next Merry book.
poorly written., 09 Nov 2008
Laurell K Hamilton's books have been getting steadily worse for a long long time. I'm still reading in the hopes that she'll start to show some of what used to make her so enjoyable again. The early Anita Blake books were quite entertaining and when the Merry Gentry series started I really enjoyed the first few books too. Sadly things started to slide when the books lost all plot and descended into almost constant sex scenes that spanned the whole entire book. I enjoy sex in books but not to the exclusion of plot. This book can't be tarred with that reason for being bad however as the sex is kept to a minimum - well as minimum as LKH seems to be able to keep it these days anyway and there is a storyline of sorts.
To summarise the plot, the book starts directly after the events of A Lick of Frost (Meredith Gentry 6) with Merry in hospital after being raped by her Uncle Tarranis (Merry shows almost no signs of any trauma - very strange) then a plot to kill Merry's guards begins to unfurl and Merry calls up te wild hunt in revenge to go chassing after the plotters. And that's about it as far as plot goes, Merry reacting to all that the seelie and unseelie and the sluagh and the goblins can throw at her while gaining magical power ups from the Goddess. There is a plot, even if it's mostly the tying up of old threads and dealing with random people that get in her way.
The real problem I found was her repetitive and silly descriptions that read as if they had been lifted directly from one book to the next. On more than one occasion I laughed out loud they were so bad - it sort of spoils the mood of the story when the terrible prose distracts you from the plot. Everything is all sparkly and moonlight lit with detailed pointless descriptions of hair and clothes and rose petals raining from the sky.
I enjoyed the early Merry Gentry novels and I suppose that this book could have seen an end of the series as many of the loose ends from previous books have been tied off. Her father's killer has been unmasked and her enemies defeated for the most part. Unfortunately I don't think that this will be the case and more stories will be spun out with Merry doing more sparkly, magical, and wonderful things with new powers given conveniently by the Goddess just in time and with conversations that start in the middle of the action and just drag on and on to showcase Merry's wonderfullness. I think LKH need to take a break from writing for a while not churn out a Merry and an Anita book every year. She needs to go back and re-read all her books and rediscover her characters for herself and maybe things might improve. I'm still reading in hopes they do but i'm not sure how much longer I will be.
Swallowing tedium, 05 Nov 2008
For her last few books, Laurell K. Hamilton has been toning down the sexual content in favor of what can be loosely termed "plot."
Well, turns out there are far worse things than endless sparkly-magical sex scenes. After the shattering cliffhanger ending of the previous book, the seventh Merry Gentry book "Swallowing Darkness" promptly goes on a road tour of Faerie instead of sticking to an actual central plot. It feels like Hamilton has gone as far as she can, and is flailing around instead of getting out of the water.
In the aftermath of being raped by her uncle, Merry is recovering in the hospital... and despite all the moping about how doctors "can't undo the damage," she gets over the rape by cuddling her favorite boytoy.
After ordering her various fey boytoys not to attack Taranis, she receives a visit from her feisty brownie grandma. Unfortunately there's a malign influence warping Gran's thoughts -- with disastrous and fatal results for three people close to Merry. Enraged, she and Sholto summon the Wild Hunt and set out to destroy the conspirators.
But it turns out that the conspiracy goes far further than Merry expected -- and that certain Golden Court sidhe are trying to weed out the stronger boytoys. And of course, divine magical favors just rain down on Merry whenever she sneezes. To keep her entire harem (half of whom I've forgotten) safe, Merry decides to take drastic steps in the human world... but only finds a new conflict with her cousin Cel.
Having knocked up her heroine -- which is supposedly the series' goal -- Laurell K. Hamilton seems to be at a loss for what to do to keep the series going ahead. So we end up with a bunch of vaguely connected crises, punctuated by interludes of Sparkly Magic From Goddess-Merry, magic horsies and lots of sparkly magic roses. It's a little like being alternately choked with flowers and clubbed with a rock.
"Swallowing Darkness" does manage an impressive amount of plot, including the resolution of couple half-forgotten subplots -- and a surprising twist during Merry's stay in the sluagh. Unfortunately most of the plot is just Hamilton slapping in new random problems whenever things get too peaceful. Whoops, somebody's suddenly dying! Eek, a traitor! Yikes, a royal challenge from out of nowhere!
Nor does Hamilton's writing help, since she seems to be bored with her own story when she isn't trying to channel Patricia McKillip's lush prose. Her incredibly stilted, rambling dialogue ("We ride." "To save your Storm Lord." "To save the future of faerie"), repetition (everybody seems to have "moonlight skin") and awkward descriptions ("Gold like the metal of a piece of jewelry") hamper the story even further.
And as with all Hamilton's fairy novels, we get hot pale supernatural men who all worship the heroine, dumb blinkered mortals, lightweight Wiccan theology, Christian-bashing, oral sex worship, and lots of nasty and/or crazy women who simply can't measure up to the heroine. Yes, even a sweet li'l old grandma, who is reviled for daring to hold a grudge against her mother's murderer.
But the book's biggest weakness is Merry Gentry herself. She floats through the book in a cloud of Convenient Magical Powers and occasionally pauses to cold-bloodedly kill people. Everybody is awed by her even if she kills them -- and she declares herself to be a goddess as well. It gets rather nauseating to have a heroine who is such a blatant self-insert.
"Swallowing Darkness" has some shreds of good plot in there, but they're surrounded by jack-in-the-box disasters and a main storyline that is being stretched way too far. And it's not over yet....
Quickies: Bk. 1, 29 Aug 2008
A nice and quick read for those of a racier nature. There are several short stories to wet your appetite or anything else! Thoroughly enjoy this book.
ORGASMIC!, 22 Aug 2008
This book was my first venture into eroctic fiction, and for the price of this book I figured if I didnt like it - nothing was lost. However, I couldnt have been less disappointed! All the stories are based around a different fantasy - so everyone can have a favourite. I have to say mine is Doctors Orders. There were a couple that didnt "get me going" as it were, but thats not to say they wouldnt work for others.
The size of this book is great too - so slim, its very discreet and can easily be slipped into an overnight bag or suitcase - should the mood take you.
I was so impressed with this little gem of a book I have since bought volumes 2 & 3 and look forward to purchasing more. I would and have recommended it to friends.
Get Down On It, 22 Jun 2008
Great little book as are all the Black Lace series and this one doesn't disappoint. The stories are red hot and believable and will certainly get the pulse racing. Also well worth looking at is Quickies Bk. 2. And for the real connoisseur of the erotic, look at Suzie Van Aartman's '100 Percent Erotica' it oozes pure ecstasy.
Almost perfect!, 08 Mar 2008
This is the first time I've read one of the Black Lace Quickies series, but if this one is anything to go by, it won't be the last. The first in the series, this book contains six short stories all by different authors. There's the story of the young woman doing unspeakably naughty things at petrol stations; the seventeen year old boy that gets to live the ultimate teenage fantasy; a doctor/patient scenario; a horny air hostess; a brother/sister combo causing havoc on a passenger liner, and twins that swap places to have the adventure of their lives.
Out of the six stories, I was extremely impressed with five of them. I'm not going to point out which one I wasn't keen on as people's opinions vary, and I wouldn't say I disliked it, exactly, it just didn't get me fired up like the other ones did! There were incredibly kinky elements in here, for example; spanking, sex toys, incest, uniforms and domination... basically several of the main things that people fantasise about! So I think, all in all, this is a top notch book and there's something in here for everyone, providing you do like your stories that bit more kinky, which I do. Too vanilla and I get bored.
When you factor in a cracking price, which as always, is discounted on Amazon, and you've got yourself a winner here! So get this, and have yourself a night in with some sexy stories!
Quick and to the point!, 06 Dec 2007
Loved this quickie anthology! It's got everything a girl needs in order to...get fired up! The book itself isn't very long at all, but it's more than you need! Take a chance on it, along with Sex Scenes--Kim Corum, which is also just pure erotica. I recommend both.
Quick and good!!!, 07 Oct 2008
This volume of "quickies" was some of the best erotic reading I have done in a while. It was to the point, to put it mildly! Can't wait for vol. 3!! Another "quickie" erotic read I devoured and would recommend: Sex Scenes: Erotica Excerpts from the Novels of Kim Corum.
A Red Hot Little Book, 19 Mar 2008
Great stories that will really get you going. There's something for everyone here and the stories are really alive and intimately described. Share it with your partner and live the fantasies together. And at such a low price you cant go wrong. Great little book,get Bk.1 and do it again, and if you're really up for great erotica check out the very excellent 100 Percent Erotica by Suzie Van Aartman. Wow.
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Customer Reviews
Non stop action, 14 Nov 2008
So many things happen in such a short space of time that there is no chance to be bored with this book. Everyone is still trying to assassinate Merry and her men, there are lots of cliff hanger moments and plenty of blood, but very little sex in this one.
I agree with some other reviewers that the rape is glossed over, but I think this is more to do with so much happening and Merry has not yet remembered it than being ignored by Hamilton.
The book left me itching to know what will happen in Los Angeles, will she ever be queen, how will the men who have spent little or no time outside faerie adapt to the human world, how will magic spread to the humans... I could go on and on with questions. All good books leave you with wanting more, and this one certainly left me waiting impatiently for the next Merry book.
poorly written., 09 Nov 2008
Laurell K Hamilton's books have been getting steadily worse for a long long time. I'm still reading in the hopes that she'll start to show some of what used to make her so enjoyable again. The early Anita Blake books were quite entertaining and when the Merry Gentry series started I really enjoyed the first few books too. Sadly things started to slide when the books lost all plot and descended into almost constant sex scenes that spanned the whole entire book. I enjoy sex in books but not to the exclusion of plot. This book can't be tarred with that reason for being bad however as the sex is kept to a minimum - well as minimum as LKH seems to be able to keep it these days anyway and there is a storyline of sorts.
To summarise the plot, the book starts directly after the events of A Lick of Frost (Meredith Gentry 6) with Merry in hospital after being raped by her Uncle Tarranis (Merry shows almost no signs of any trauma - very strange) then a plot to kill Merry's guards begins to unfurl and Merry calls up te wild hunt in revenge to go chassing after the plotters. And that's about it as far as plot goes, Merry reacting to all that the seelie and unseelie and the sluagh and the goblins can throw at her while gaining magical power ups from the Goddess. There is a plot, even if it's mostly the tying up of old threads and dealing with random people that get in her way.
The real problem I found was her repetitive and silly descriptions that read as if they had been lifted directly from one book to the next. On more than one occasion I laughed out loud they were so bad - it sort of spoils the mood of the story when the terrible prose distracts you from the plot. Everything is all sparkly and moonlight lit with detailed pointless descriptions of hair and clothes and rose petals raining from the sky.
I enjoyed the early Merry Gentry novels and I suppose that this book could have seen an end of the series as many of the loose ends from previous books have been tied off. Her father's killer has been unmasked and her enemies defeated for the most part. Unfortunately I don't think that this will be the case and more stories will be spun out with Merry doing more sparkly, magical, and wonderful things with new powers given conveniently by the Goddess just in time and with conversations that start in the middle of the action and just drag on and on to showcase Merry's wonderfullness. I think LKH need to take a break from writing for a while not churn out a Merry and an Anita book every year. She needs to go back and re-read all her books and rediscover her characters for herself and maybe things might improve. I'm still reading in hopes they do but i'm not sure how much longer I will be.
Swallowing tedium, 05 Nov 2008
For her last few books, Laurell K. Hamilton has been toning down the sexual content in favor of what can be loosely termed "plot."
Well, turns out there are far worse things than endless sparkly-magical sex scenes. After the shattering cliffhanger ending of the previous book, the seventh Merry Gentry book "Swallowing Darkness" promptly goes on a road tour of Faerie instead of sticking to an actual central plot. It feels like Hamilton has gone as far as she can, and is flailing around instead of getting out of the water.
In the aftermath of being raped by her uncle, Merry is recovering in the hospital... and despite all the moping about how doctors "can't undo the damage," she gets over the rape by cuddling her favorite boytoy.
After ordering her various fey boytoys not to attack Taranis, she receives a visit from her feisty brownie grandma. Unfortunately there's a malign influence warping Gran's thoughts -- with disastrous and fatal results for three people close to Merry. Enraged, she and Sholto summon the Wild Hunt and set out to destroy the conspirators.
But it turns out that the conspiracy goes far further than Merry expected -- and that certain Golden Court sidhe are trying to weed out the stronger boytoys. And of course, divine magical favors just rain down on Merry whenever she sneezes. To keep her entire harem (half of whom I've forgotten) safe, Merry decides to take drastic steps in the human world... but only finds a new conflict with her cousin Cel.
Having knocked up her heroine -- which is supposedly the series' goal -- Laurell K. Hamilton seems to be at a loss for what to do to keep the series going ahead. So we end up with a bunch of vaguely connected crises, punctuated by interludes of Sparkly Magic From Goddess-Merry, magic horsies and lots of sparkly magic roses. It's a little like being alternately choked with flowers and clubbed with a rock.
"Swallowing Darkness" does manage an impressive amount of plot, including the resolution of couple half-forgotten subplots -- and a surprising twist during Merry's stay in the sluagh. Unfortunately most of the plot is just Hamilton slapping in new random problems whenever things get too peaceful. Whoops, somebody's suddenly dying! Eek, a traitor! Yikes, a royal challenge from out of nowhere!
Nor does Hamilton's writing help, since she seems to be bored with her own story when she isn't trying to channel Patricia McKillip's lush prose. Her incredibly stilted, rambling dialogue ("We ride." "To save your Storm Lord." "To save the future of faerie"), repetition (everybody seems to have "moonlight skin") and awkward descriptions ("Gold like the metal of a piece of jewelry") hamper the story even further.
And as with all Hamilton's fairy novels, we get hot pale supernatural men who all worship the heroine, dumb blinkered mortals, lightweight Wiccan theology, Christian-bashing, oral sex worship, and lots of nasty and/or crazy women who simply can't measure up to the heroine. Yes, even a sweet li'l old grandma, who is reviled for daring to hold a grudge against her mother's murderer.
But the book's biggest weakness is Merry Gentry herself. She floats through the book in a cloud of Convenient Magical Powers and occasionally pauses to cold-bloodedly kill people. Everybody is awed by her even if she kills them -- and she declares herself to be a goddess as well. It gets rather nauseating to have a heroine who is such a blatant self-insert.
"Swallowing Darkness" has some shreds of good plot in there, but they're surrounded by jack-in-the-box disasters and a main storyline that is being stretched way too far. And it's not over yet....
Quickies: Bk. 1, 29 Aug 2008
A nice and quick read for those of a racier nature. There are several short stories to wet your appetite or anything else! Thoroughly enjoy this book.
ORGASMIC!, 22 Aug 2008
This book was my first venture into eroctic fiction, and for the price of this book I figured if I didnt like it - nothing was lost. However, I couldnt have been less disappointed! All the stories are based around a different fantasy - so everyone can have a favourite. I have to say mine is Doctors Orders. There were a couple that didnt "get me going" as it were, but thats not to say they wouldnt work for others.
The size of this book is great too - so slim, its very discreet and can easily be slipped into an overnight bag or suitcase - should the mood take you.
I was so impressed with this little gem of a book I have since bought volumes 2 & 3 and look forward to purchasing more. I would and have recommended it to friends.
Get Down On It, 22 Jun 2008
Great little book as are all the Black Lace series and this one doesn't disappoint. The stories are red hot and believable and will certainly get the pulse racing. Also well worth looking at is Quickies Bk. 2. And for the real connoisseur of the erotic, look at Suzie Van Aartman's '100 Percent Erotica' it oozes pure ecstasy.
Almost perfect!, 08 Mar 2008
This is the first time I've read one of the Black Lace Quickies series, but if this one is anything to go by, it won't be the last. The first in the series, this book contains six short stories all by different authors. There's the story of the young woman doing unspeakably naughty things at petrol stations; the seventeen year old boy that gets to live the ultimate teenage fantasy; a doctor/patient scenario; a horny air hostess; a brother/sister combo causing havoc on a passenger liner, and twins that swap places to have the adventure of their lives.
Out of the six stories, I was extremely impressed with five of them. I'm not going to point out which one I wasn't keen on as people's opinions vary, and I wouldn't say I disliked it, exactly, it just didn't get me fired up like the other ones did! There were incredibly kinky elements in here, for example; spanking, sex toys, incest, uniforms and domination... basically several of the main things that people fantasise about! So I think, all in all, this is a top notch book and there's something in here for everyone, providing you do like your stories that bit more kinky, which I do. Too vanilla and I get bored.
When you factor in a cracking price, which as always, is discounted on Amazon, and you've got yourself a winner here! So get this, and have yourself a night in with some sexy stories!
Quick and to the point!, 06 Dec 2007
Loved this quickie anthology! It's got everything a girl needs in order to...get fired up! The book itself isn't very long at all, but it's more than you need! Take a chance on it, along with Sex Scenes--Kim Corum, which is also just pure erotica. I recommend both.
Quick and good!!!, 07 Oct 2008
This volume of "quickies" was some of the best erotic reading I have done in a while. It was to the point, to put it mildly! Can't wait for vol. 3!! Another "quickie" erotic read I devoured and would recommend: Sex Scenes: Erotica Excerpts from the Novels of Kim Corum.
A Red Hot Little Book, 19 Mar 2008
Great stories that will really get you going. There's something for everyone here and the stories are really alive and intimately described. Share it with your partner and live the fantasies together. And at such a low price you cant go wrong. Great little book,get Bk.1 and do it again, and if you're really up for great erotica check out the very excellent 100 Percent Erotica by Suzie Van Aartman. Wow.
Essential Erotic Reading , 29 Mar 2008
There is a lot of good erotica in the short story genre at the moment and this is one of the best. Red hot stories that are believable and imaginative, the characters are beautiful and are doing things we all do, or would like to do. I also enjoyed the 2007 edition, thats well worth a look. And my own personal favourite, the classic '100 Percent Erotica' by Suzie Van Aartman, you'll need to change your underwear after reading that.
Loads of good material. , 27 Dec 2007
This is a very good anthology of erotica. I've always read these compliations by Ms. Blue, but over the years have slacked off. I got back on track with this one and was delighted by the stories within. I also liked "Sex Scenes"--Kim Corum and would recommend it as well.
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100 Percent Erotica
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Customer Reviews
Non stop action, 14 Nov 2008
So many things happen in such a short space of time that there is no chance to be bored with this book. Everyone is still trying to assassinate Merry and her men, there are lots of cliff hanger moments and plenty of blood, but very little sex in this one.
I agree with some other reviewers that the rape is glossed over, but I think this is more to do with so much happening and Merry has not yet remembered it than being ignored by Hamilton.
The book left me itching to know what will happen in Los Angeles, will she ever be queen, how will the men who have spent little or no time outside faerie adapt to the human world, how will magic spread to the humans... I could go on and on with questions. All good books leave you with wanting more, and this one certainly left me waiting impatiently for the next Merry book.
poorly written., 09 Nov 2008
Laurell K Hamilton's books have been getting steadily worse for a long long time. I'm still reading in the hopes that she'll start to show some of what used to make her so enjoyable again. The early Anita Blake books were quite entertaining and when the Merry Gentry series started I really enjoyed the first few books too. Sadly things started to slide when the books lost all plot and descended into almost constant sex scenes that spanned the whole entire book. I enjoy sex in books but not to the exclusion of plot. This book can't be tarred with that reason for being bad however as the sex is kept to a minimum - well as minimum as LKH seems to be able to keep it these days anyway and there is a storyline of sorts.
To summarise the plot, the book starts directly after the events of A Lick of Frost (Meredith Gentry 6) with Merry in hospital after being raped by her Uncle Tarranis (Merry shows almost no signs of any trauma - very strange) then a plot to kill Merry's guards begins to unfurl and Merry calls up te wild hunt in revenge to go chassing after the plotters. And that's about it as far as plot goes, Merry reacting to all that the seelie and unseelie and the sluagh and the goblins can throw at her while gaining magical power ups from the Goddess. There is a plot, even if it's mostly the tying up of old threads and dealing with random people that get in her way.
The real problem I found was her repetitive and silly descriptions that read as if they had been lifted directly from one book to the next. On more than one occasion I laughed out loud they were so bad - it sort of spoils the mood of the story when the terrible prose distracts you from the plot. Everything is all sparkly and moonlight lit with detailed pointless descriptions of hair and clothes and rose petals raining from the sky.
I enjoyed the early Merry Gentry novels and I suppose that this book could have seen an end of the series as many of the loose ends from previous books have been tied off. Her father's killer has been unmasked and her enemies defeated for the most part. Unfortunately I don't think that this will be the case and more stories will be spun out with Merry doing more sparkly, magical, and wonderful things with new powers given conveniently by the Goddess just in time and with conversations that start in the middle of the action and just drag on and on to showcase Merry's wonderfullness. I think LKH need to take a break from writing for a while not churn out a Merry and an Anita book every year. She needs to go back and re-read all her books and rediscover her characters for herself and maybe things might improve. I'm still reading in hopes they do but i'm not sure how much longer I will be.
Swallowing tedium, 05 Nov 2008
For her last few books, Laurell K. Hamilton has been toning down the sexual content in favor of what can be loosely termed "plot."
Well, turns out there are far worse things than endless sparkly-magical sex scenes. After the shattering cliffhanger ending of the previous book, the seventh Merry Gentry book "Swallowing Darkness" promptly goes on a road tour of Faerie instead of sticking to an actual central plot. It feels like Hamilton has gone as far as she can, and is flailing around instead of getting out of the water.
In the aftermath of being raped by her uncle, Merry is recovering in the hospital... and despite all the moping about how doctors "can't undo the damage," she gets over the rape by cuddling her favorite boytoy.
After ordering her various fey boytoys not to attack Taranis, she receives a visit from her feisty brownie grandma. Unfortunately there's a malign influence warping Gran's thoughts -- with disastrous and fatal results for three people close to Merry. Enraged, she and Sholto summon the Wild Hunt and set out to destroy the conspirators.
But it turns out that the conspiracy goes far further than Merry expected -- and that certain Golden Court sidhe are trying to weed out the stronger boytoys. And of course, divine magical favors just rain down on Merry whenever she sneezes. To keep her entire harem (half of whom I've forgotten) safe, Merry decides to take drastic steps in the human world... but only finds a new conflict with her cousin Cel.
Having knocked up her heroine -- which is supposedly the series' goal -- Laurell K. Hamilton seems to be at a loss for what to do to keep the series going ahead. So we end up with a bunch of vaguely connected crises, punctuated by interludes of Sparkly Magic From Goddess-Merry, magic horsies and lots of sparkly magic roses. It's a little like being alternately choked with flowers and clubbed with a rock.
"Swallowing Darkness" does manage an impressive amount of plot, including the resolution of couple half-forgotten subplots -- and a surprising twist during Merry's stay in the sluagh. Unfortunately most of the plot is just Hamilton slapping in new random problems whenever things get too peaceful. Whoops, somebody's suddenly dying! Eek, a traitor! Yikes, a royal challenge from out of nowhere!
Nor does Hamilton's writing help, since she seems to be bored with her own story when she isn't trying to channel Patricia McKillip's lush prose. Her incredibly stilted, rambling dialogue ("We ride." "To save your Storm Lord." "To save the future of faerie"), repetition (everybody seems to have "moonlight skin") and awkward descriptions ("Gold like the metal of a piece of jewelry") hamper the story even further.
And as with all Hamilton's fairy novels, we get hot pale supernatural men who all worship the heroine, dumb blinkered mortals, lightweight Wiccan theology, Christian-bashing, oral sex worship, and lots of nasty and/or crazy women who simply can't measure up to the heroine. Yes, even a sweet li'l old grandma, who is reviled for daring to hold a grudge against her mother's murderer.
But the book's biggest weakness is Merry Gentry herself. She floats through the book in a cloud of Convenient Magical Powers and occasionally pauses to cold-bloodedly kill people. Everybody is awed by her even if she kills them -- and she declares herself to be a goddess as well. It gets rather nauseating to have a heroine who is such a blatant self-insert.
"Swallowing Darkness" has some shreds of good plot in there, but they're surrounded by jack-in-the-box disasters and a main storyline that is being stretched way too far. And it's not over yet....
Quickies: Bk. 1, 29 Aug 2008
A nice and quick read for those of a racier nature. There are several short stories to wet your appetite or anything else! Thoroughly enjoy this book.
ORGASMIC!, 22 Aug 2008
This book was my first venture into eroctic fiction, and for the price of this book I figured if I didnt like it - nothing was lost. However, I couldnt have been less disappointed! All the stories are based around a different fantasy - so everyone can have a favourite. I have to say mine is Doctors Orders. There were a couple that didnt "get me going" as it were, but thats not to say they wouldnt work for others.
The size of this book is great too - so slim, its very discreet and can easily be slipped into an overnight bag or suitcase - should the mood take you.
I was so impressed with this little gem of a book I have since bought volumes 2 & 3 and look forward to purchasing more. I would and have recommended it to friends.
Get Down On It, 22 Jun 2008
Great little book as are all the Black Lace series and this one doesn't disappoint. The stories are red hot and believable and will certainly get the pulse racing. Also well worth looking at is Quickies Bk. 2. And for the real connoisseur of the erotic, look at Suzie Van Aartman's '100 Percent Erotica' it oozes pure ecstasy.
Almost perfect!, 08 Mar 2008
This is the first time I've read one of the Black Lace Quickies series, but if this one is anything to go by, it won't be the last. The first in the series, this book contains six short stories all by different authors. There's the story of the young woman doing unspeakably naughty things at petrol stations; the seventeen year old boy that gets to live the ultimate teenage fantasy; a doctor/patient scenario; a horny air hostess; a brother/sister combo causing havoc on a passenger liner, and twins that swap places to have the adventure of their lives.
Out of the six stories, I was extremely impressed with five of them. I'm not going to point out which one I wasn't keen on as people's opinions vary, and I wouldn't say I disliked it, exactly, it just didn't get me fired up like the other ones did! There were incredibly kinky elements in here, for example; spanking, sex toys, incest, uniforms and domination... basically several of the main things that people fantasise about! So I think, all in all, this is a top notch book and there's something in here for everyone, providing you do like your stories that bit more kinky, which I do. Too vanilla and I get bored.
When you factor in a cracking price, which as always, is discounted on Amazon, and you've got yourself a winner here! So get this, and have yourself a night in with some sexy stories!
Quick and to the point!, 06 Dec 2007
Loved this quickie anthology! It's got everything a girl needs in order to...get fired up! The book itself isn't very long at all, but it's more than you need! Take a chance on it, along with Sex Scenes--Kim Corum, which is also just pure erotica. I recommend both.
Quick and good!!!, 07 Oct 2008
This volume of "quickies" was some of the best erotic reading I have done in a while. It was to the point, to put it mildly! Can't wait for vol. 3!! Another "quickie" erotic read I devoured and would recommend: Sex Scenes: Erotica Excerpts from the Novels of Kim Corum.
A Red Hot Little Book, 19 Mar 2008
Great stories that will really get you going. There's something for everyone here and the stories are really alive and intimately described. Share it with your partner and live the fantasies together. And at such a low price you cant go wrong. Great little book,get Bk.1 and do it again, and if you're really up for great erotica check out the very excellent 100 Percent Erotica by Suzie Van Aartman. Wow.
Essential Erotic Reading , 29 Mar 2008
There is a lot of good erotica in the short story genre at the moment and this is one of the best. Red hot stories that are believable and imaginative, the characters are beautiful and are doing things we all do, or would like to do. I also enjoyed the 2007 edition, thats well worth a look. And my own personal favourite, the classic '100 Percent Erotica' by Suzie Van Aartman, you'll need to change your underwear after reading that.
Loads of good material. , 27 Dec 2007
This is a very good anthology of erotica. I've always read these compliations by Ms. Blue, but over the years have slacked off. I got back on track with this one and was delighted by the stories within. I also liked "Sex Scenes"--Kim Corum and would recommend it as well.
Better Than Viagra, 22 Jun 2008
I have read a lot of erotica in my time and I have to say that this is the best ever. It has a different feel to it than the other books. Whereas a lot of them seem cold and restrained, this book goes all the way so to speak. But having said that it isnt crude in any way, but it does deliver the passion. Also what is unusual is that the stories are obviously all by the same author, rather than a collection of stories by a number of authors. Inevitably there are certain passages that you think to yourself that you've heard before, but that is only a minor critisism because on the whole the book is excellent. The stories have a cosiness to them and the people come across as real people and this makes it more erotic because it could be you in the story. This is felt more so because they are of different ages and different shapes and the shape of some of them is, shall we say, super-human, but very believable. Not only that, but the writing is such that you feel part of the story, you can feel it and enjoy it. I'd like to go further but I feel I would be censored. So yes this is a very erotic book and it will certainly stir the passion within.
Best erotic book ever, 23 Jul 2007
This is a very good book,true to life short stories. can imagine myself in simular situations. its better than watching a porn your imagination can run wild. i would definately recommend buying this particular read if you like abit of sauce in your life.
Repetitive after a while, 01 Jul 2007
The book starts off good, in fact all the stories are not that bad but the only problem I found is that other than the obvious fact of her name being on the cover you can tell the stories are written by the same author because the more you read through the stories in the book you can almost predict what her description is going to say.
She seems to have a limited imagination when it comes to describing something. For example if the character in the story is an older woman you can be sure she will say "I still look good/have a tight body for a woman my age" and so forth.
Ok it's not a book thats supposed to change the world so yes, the stories are ok and not a bad read if you can get past the fact towards the end of the book you will be predicting the next lines for yourself quite easily.
ULTIMATE EROTICA, 13 Mar 2007
An incredible book and very aptly titled, in my opinion, the way the love making is described in such intimate and erotic detail is truly amazing, its almost as if you are watching from two feet away. I can honestly say that I've read nothing quite like this before. It's so natural and believable and the characters are ordinary people of different ages, shapes and personalities, people you meet at work or in the street and I think that is what makes it so erotic. The stories themselves as well as being extremely erotic are very believable. There is just enough storyline that builds up to the climax (pardon the pun) to make you feel part of the story. All the characters are sexual artists and a lot of them are incredibly well endowed, they really take you through a masterpiece of erotic pleasure. O.K. the writing style is not in the category of great literature, but then if I wanted literary or grammatical excellence I'd be reading Bernard Shaw, Shakespeare or Percival. And anyway I've always found that red blooded men are turned on by the use of bad grammar when things are getting steamy. There is even the odd spelling mistake, but hey, so what. So unless you are a member of an anonymous group of spelling and grammar fetishists, (my word what kinky stories they must have to tell) the book is fine. I look forward to reading more by this lady in the future.
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Ultimate Burlesque
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Customer Reviews
Non stop action, 14 Nov 2008
So many things happen in such a short space of time that there is no chance to be bored with this book. Everyone is still trying to assassinate Merry and her men, there are lots of cliff hanger moments and plenty of blood, but very little sex in this one.
I agree with some other reviewers that the rape is glossed over, but I think this is more to do with so much happening and Merry has not yet remembered it than being ignored by Hamilton.
The book left me itching to know what will happen in Los Angeles, will she ever be queen, how will the men who have spent little or no time outside faerie adapt to the human world, how will magic spread to the humans... I could go on and on with questions. All good books leave you with wanting more, and this one certainly left me waiting impatiently for the next Merry book.
poorly written., 09 Nov 2008
Laurell K Hamilton's books have been getting steadily worse for a long long time. I'm still reading in the hopes that she'll start to show some of what used to make her so enjoyable again. The early Anita Blake books were quite entertaining and when the Merry Gentry series started I really enjoyed the first few books too. Sadly things started to slide when the books lost all plot and descended into almost constant sex scenes that spanned the whole entire book. I enjoy sex in books but not to the exclusion of plot. This book can't be tarred with that reason for being bad however as the sex is kept to a minimum - well as minimum as LKH seems to be able to keep it these days anyway and there is a storyline of sorts.
To summarise the plot, the book starts directly after the events of A Lick of Frost (Meredith Gentry 6) with Merry in hospital after being raped by her Uncle Tarranis (Merry shows almost no signs of any trauma - very strange) then a plot to kill Merry's guards begins to unfurl and Merry calls up te wild hunt in revenge to go chassing after the plotters. And that's about it as far as plot goes, Merry reacting to all that the seelie and unseelie and the sluagh and the goblins can throw at her while gaining magical power ups from the Goddess. There is a plot, even if it's mostly the tying up of old threads and dealing with random people that get in her way.
The real problem I found was her repetitive and silly descriptions that read as if they had been lifted directly from one book to the next. On more than one occasion I laughed out loud they were so bad - it sort of spoils the mood of the story when the terrible prose distracts you from the plot. Everything is all sparkly and moonlight lit with detailed pointless descriptions of hair and clothes and rose petals raining from the sky.
I enjoyed the early Merry Gentry novels and I suppose that this book could have seen an end of the series as many of the loose ends from previous books have been tied off. Her father's killer has been unmasked and her enemies defeated for the most part. Unfortunately I don't think that this will be the case and more stories will be spun out with Merry doing more sparkly, magical, and wonderful things with new powers given conveniently by the Goddess just in time and with conversations that start in the middle of the action and just drag on and on to showcase Merry's wonderfullness. I think LKH need to take a break from writing for a while not churn out a Merry and an Anita book every year. She needs to go back and re-read all her books and rediscover her characters for herself and maybe things might improve. I'm still reading in hopes they do but i'm not sure how much longer I will be.
Swallowing tedium, 05 Nov 2008
For her last few books, Laurell K. Hamilton has been toning down the sexual content in favor of what can be loosely termed "plot."
Well, turns out there are far worse things than endless sparkly-magical sex scenes. After the shattering cliffhanger ending of the previous book, the seventh Merry Gentry book "Swallowing Darkness" promptly goes on a road tour of Faerie instead of sticking to an actual central plot. It feels like Hamilton has gone as far as she can, and is flailing around instead of getting out of the water.
In the aftermath of being raped by her uncle, Merry is recovering in the hospital... and despite all the moping about how doctors "can't undo the damage," she gets over the rape by cuddling her favorite boytoy.
After ordering her various fey boytoys not to attack Taranis, she receives a visit from her feisty brownie grandma. Unfortunately there's a malign influence warping Gran's thoughts -- with disastrous and fatal results for three people close to Merry. Enraged, she and Sholto summon the Wild Hunt and set out to destroy the conspirators.
But it turns out that the conspiracy goes far further than Merry expected -- and that certain Golden Court sidhe are trying to weed out the stronger boytoys. And of course, divine magical favors just rain down on Merry whenever she sneezes. To keep her entire harem (half of whom I've forgotten) safe, Merry decides to take drastic steps in the human world... but only finds a new conflict with her cousin Cel.
Having knocked up her heroine -- which is supposedly the series' goal -- Laurell K. Hamilton seems to be at a loss for what to do to keep the series going ahead. So we end up with a bunch of vaguely connected crises, punctuated by interludes of Sparkly Magic From Goddess-Merry, magic horsies and lots of sparkly magic roses. It's a little like being alternately choked with flowers and clubbed with a rock.
"Swallowing Darkness" does manage an impressive amount of plot, including the resolution of couple half-forgotten subplots -- and a surprising twist during Merry's stay in the sluagh. Unfortunately most of the plot is just Hamilton slapping in new random problems whenever things get too peaceful. Whoops, somebody's suddenly dying! Eek, a traitor! Yikes, a royal challenge from out of nowhere!
Nor does Hamilton's writing help, since she seems to be bored with her own story when she isn't trying to channel Patricia McKillip's lush prose. Her incredibly stilted, rambling dialogue ("We ride." "To save your Storm Lord." "To save the future of faerie"), repetition (everybody seems to have "moonlight skin") and awkward descriptions ("Gold like the metal of a piece of jewelry") hamper the story even further.
And as with all Hamilton's fairy novels, we get hot pale supernatural men who all worship the heroine, dumb blinkered mortals, lightweight Wiccan theology, Christian-bashing, oral sex worship, and lots of nasty and/or crazy women who simply can't measure up to the heroine. Yes, even a sweet li'l old grandma, who is reviled for daring to hold a grudge against her mother's murderer.
But the book's biggest weakness is Merry Gentry herself. She floats through the book in a cloud of Convenient Magical Powers and occasionally pauses to cold-bloodedly kill people. Everybody is awed by her even if she kills them -- and she declares herself to be a goddess as well. It gets rather nauseating to have a heroine who is such a blatant self-insert.
"Swallowing Darkness" has some shreds of good plot in there, but they're surrounded by jack-in-the-box disasters and a main storyline that is being stretched way too far. And it's not over yet....
Quickies: Bk. 1, 29 Aug 2008
A nice and quick read for those of a racier nature. There are several short stories to wet your appetite or anything else! Thoroughly enjoy this book.
ORGASMIC!, 22 Aug 2008
This book was my first venture into eroctic fiction, and for the price of this book I figured if I didnt like it - nothing was lost. However, I couldnt have been less disappointed! All the stories are based around a different fantasy - so everyone can have a favourite. I have to say mine is Doctors Orders. There were a couple that didnt "get me going" as it were, but thats not to say they wouldnt work for others.
The size of this book is great too - so slim, its very discreet and can easily be slipped into an overnight bag or suitcase - should the mood take you.
I was so impressed with this little gem of a book I have since bought volumes 2 & 3 and look forward to purchasing more. I would and have recommended it to friends.
Get Down On It, 22 Jun 2008
Great little book as are all the Black Lace series and this one doesn't disappoint. The stories are red hot and believable and will certainly get the pulse racing. Also well worth looking at is Quickies Bk. 2. And for the real connoisseur of the erotic, look at Suzie Van Aartman's '100 Percent Erotica' it oozes pure ecstasy.
Almost perfect!, 08 Mar 2008
This is the first time I've read one of the Black Lace Quickies series, but if this one is anything to go by, it won't be the last. The first in the series, this book contains six short stories all by different authors. There's the story of the young woman doing unspeakably naughty things at petrol stations; the seventeen year old boy that gets to live the ultimate teenage fantasy; a doctor/patient scenario; a horny air hostess; a brother/sister combo causing havoc on a passenger liner, and twins that swap places to have the adventure of their lives.
Out of the six stories, I was extremely impressed with five of them. I'm not going to point out which one I wasn't keen on as people's opinions vary, and I wouldn't say I disliked it, exactly, it just didn't get me fired up like the other ones did! There were incredibly kinky elements in here, for example; spanking, sex toys, incest, uniforms and domination... basically several of the main things that people fantasise about! So I think, all in all, this is a top notch book and there's something in here for everyone, providing you do like your stories that bit more kinky, which I do. Too vanilla and I get bored.
When you factor in a cracking price, which as always, is discounted on Amazon, and you've got yourself a winner here! So get this, and have yourself a night in with some sexy stories!
Quick and to the point!, 06 Dec 2007
Loved this quickie anthology! It's got everything a girl needs in order to...get fired up! The book itself isn't very long at all, but it's more than you need! Take a chance on it, along with Sex Scenes--Kim Corum, which is also just pure erotica. I recommend both.
Quick and good!!!, 07 Oct 2008
This volume of "quickies" was some of the best erotic reading I have done in a while. It was to the point, to put it mildly! Can't wait for vol. 3!! Another "quickie" erotic read I devoured and would recommend: Sex Scenes: Erotica Excerpts from the Novels of Kim Corum.
A Red Hot Little Book, 19 Mar 2008
Great stories that will really get you going. There's something for everyone here and the stories are really alive and intimately described. Share it with your partner and live the fantasies together. And at such a low price you cant go wrong. Great little book,get Bk.1 and do it again, and if you're really up for great erotica check out the very excellent 100 Percent Erotica by Suzie Van Aartman. Wow.
Essential Erotic Reading , 29 Mar 2008
There is a lot of good erotica in the short story genre at the moment and this is one of the best. Red hot stories that are believable and imaginative, the characters are beautiful and are doing things we all do, or would like to do. I also enjoyed the 2007 edition, thats well worth a look. And my own personal favourite, the classic '100 Percent Erotica' by Suzie Van Aartman, you'll need to change your underwear after reading that.
Loads of good material. , 27 Dec 2007
This is a very good anthology of erotica. I've always read these compliations by Ms. Blue, but over the years have slacked off. I got back on track with this one and was delighted by the stories within. I also liked "Sex Scenes"--Kim Corum and would recommend it as well.
Better Than Viagra, 22 Jun 2008
I have read a lot of erotica in my time and I have to say that this is the best ever. It has a different feel to it than the other books. Whereas a lot of them seem cold and restrained, this book goes all the way so to speak. But having said that it isnt crude in any way, but it does deliver the passion. Also what is unusual is that the stories are obviously all by the same author, rather than a collection of stories by a number of authors. Inevitably there are certain passages that you think to yourself that you've heard before, but that is only a minor critisism because on the whole the book is excellent. The stories have a cosiness to them and the people come across as real people and this makes it more erotic because it could be you in the story. This is felt more so because they are of different ages and different shapes and the shape of some of them is, shall we say, super-human, but very believable. Not only that, but the writing is such that you feel part of the story, you can feel it and enjoy it. I'd like to go further but I feel I would be censored. So yes this is a very erotic book and it will certainly stir the passion within.
Best erotic book ever, 23 Jul 2007
This is a very good book,true to life short stories. can imagine myself in simular situations. its better than watching a porn your imagination can run wild. i would definately recommend buying this particular read if you like abit of sauce in your life.
Repetitive after a while, 01 Jul 2007
The book starts off good, in fact all the stories are not that bad but the only problem I found is that other than the obvious fact of her name being on the cover you can tell the stories are written by the same author because the more you read through the stories in the book you can almost predict what her description is going to say.
She seems to have a limited imagination when it comes to describing something. For example if the character in the story is an older woman you can be sure she will say "I still look good/have a tight body for a woman my age" and so forth.
Ok it's not a book thats supposed to change the world so yes, the stories are ok and not a bad read if you can get past the fact towards the end of the book you will be predicting the next lines for yourself quite easily.
ULTIMATE EROTICA, 13 Mar 2007
An incredible book and very aptly titled, in my opinion, the way the love making is described in such intimate and erotic detail is truly amazing, its almost as if you are watching from two feet away. I can honestly say that I've read nothing quite like this before. It's so natural and believable and the characters are ordinary people of different ages, shapes and personalities, people you meet at work or in the street and I think that is what makes it so erotic. The stories themselves as well as being extremely erotic are very believable. There is just enough storyline that builds up to the climax (pardon the pun) to make you feel part of the story. All the characters are sexual artists and a lot of them are incredibly well endowed, they really take you through a masterpiece of erotic pleasure. O.K. the writing style is not in the category of great literature, but then if I wanted literary or grammatical excellence I'd be reading Bernard Shaw, Shakespeare or Percival. And anyway I've always found that red blooded men are turned on by the use of bad grammar when things are getting steamy. There is even the odd spelling mistake, but hey, so what. So unless you are a member of an anonymous group of spelling and grammar fetishists, (my word what kinky stories they must have to tell) the book is fine. I look forward to reading more by this lady in the future.
Great stories. , 19 Nov 2008
This anthology features some of the hottest writers in erotica today and the quailty is tops. I liked all of the stories, though some were a little hotter than others. I really found no complaints with it at all. I also liked and would recommend Eager to Please.
Sexy, sensational and selfless. Buy your copy now!, 15 Oct 2008
There are so many things right with this book it's difficult to know where to begin. For starters, it's an erotic book. Secondly, it's for charity. And thirdly, it's packed full of incredibly well-known writers. Fantastic.
Ultimate Burlesque is the brainchild of the fabulous Emily Dubberley. Her mum was diagnosed with cancer (and is now, thankfully, in remission), and in a very unique way of saying thank you to the cancer charities, Emily decided to release a book of which proceeds would go to Macmillan Cancer Research. And here it is. Along with good friend Alyson Fixter, Ultimate Burlesque was put together. It features big names such as: Alison Tyler, Katie Fforde, Portia Da Costa, Jeremy Edwards, Sarah Berry, Maxim Jakubowski, Kristina Lloyd, Mark Farley and Mat Fraser; as well as a story from the lovely editors. There are 30 excellent stories in this book, all themed around, yes, you've guessed it - burlesque.
Sexy ladies in corsets and stockings doing their thing - very erotic indeed. And what makes it better is the fact that there are so many stories from different authors that no two are the same, or even similar. They vary wildly and are all extremely naughty! I think the very nature of the book may make it more likely that men would enjoy the book too, as it isn't just based on female fantasies. There are female authors in here writing from a male perspective, and vice versa. It makes for incredibly interesting reading, and had me feeling frisky on several occasions!
If I haven't given you enough reasons yet to buy the book - then I don't know what else to say! It's full of wonderful stories from wonderful writers, and is for a good cause! 'Nuff said.
Fabulous! Erotic, sexy and throughly entertaining, 01 Oct 2008
Ultimate Submission (Xcite Selections) (Xcite Selections) (Xcite Selections)Ultimate Sex (Xcite Selections) (Xcite Selections) (Xcite Selections) (Xcite Selections)Ultimate Sins (Xcite Selections) (Xcite Selections) (Xcite Selections)
A wonderful new edition to the Ultimate range with all the stories having a burlesque theme. There is real variety in the stories, plenty of cinched waists, corsets, feathers, frills and seriously erotic sex scenes!
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Story of O
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Customer Reviews
Non stop action, 14 Nov 2008
So many things happen in such a short space of time that there is no chance to be bored with this book. Everyone is still trying to assassinate Merry and her men, there are lots of cliff hanger moments and plenty of blood, but very little sex in this one.
I agree with some other reviewers that the rape is glossed over, but I think this is more to do with so much happening and Merry has not yet remembered it than being ignored by Hamilton.
The book left me itching to know what will happen in Los Angeles, will she ever be queen, how will the men who have spent little or no time outside faerie adapt to the human world, how will magic spread to the humans... I could go on and on with questions. All good books leave you with wanting more, and this one certainly left me waiting impatiently for the next Merry book.
poorly written., 09 Nov 2008
Laurell K Hamilton's books have been getting steadily worse for a long long time. I'm still reading in the hopes that she'll start to show some of what used to make her so enjoyable again. The early Anita Blake books were quite entertaining and when the Merry Gentry series started I really enjoyed the first few books too. Sadly things started to slide when the books lost all plot and descended into almost constant sex scenes that spanned the whole entire book. I enjoy sex in books but not to the exclusion of plot. This book can't be tarred with that reason for being bad however as the sex is kept to a minimum - well as minimum as LKH seems to be able to keep it these days anyway and there is a storyline of sorts.
To summarise the plot, the book starts directly after the events of A Lick of Frost (Meredith Gentry 6) with Merry in hospital after being raped by her Uncle Tarranis (Merry shows almost no signs of any trauma - very strange) then a plot to kill Merry's guards begins to unfurl and Merry calls up te wild hunt in revenge to go chassing after the plotters. And that's about it as far as plot goes, Merry reacting to all that the seelie and unseelie and the sluagh and the goblins can throw at her while gaining magical power ups from the Goddess. There is a plot, even if it's mostly the tying up of old threads and dealing with random people that get in her way.
The real problem I found was her repetitive and silly descriptions that read as if they had been lifted directly from one book to the next. On more than one occasion I laughed out loud they were so bad - it sort of spoils the mood of the story when the terrible prose distracts you from the plot. Everything is all sparkly and moonlight lit with detailed pointless descriptions of hair and clothes and rose petals raining from the sky.
I enjoyed the early Merry Gentry novels and I suppose that this book could have seen an end of the series as many of the loose ends from previous books have been tied off. Her father's killer has been unmasked and her enemies defeated for the most part. Unfortunately I don't think that this will be the case and more stories will be spun out with Merry doing more sparkly, magical, and wonderful things with new powers given conveniently by the Goddess just in time and with conversations that start in the middle of the action and just drag on and on to showcase Merry's wonderfullness. I think LKH need to take a break from writing for a while not churn out a Merry and an Anita book every year. She needs to go back and re-read all her books and rediscover her characters for herself and maybe things might improve. I'm still reading in hopes they do but i'm not sure how much longer I will be.
Swallowing tedium, 05 Nov 2008
For her last few books, Laurell K. Hamilton has been toning down the sexual content in favor of what can be loosely termed "plot."
Well, turns out there are far worse things than endless sparkly-magical sex scenes. After the shattering cliffhanger ending of the previous book, the seventh Merry Gentry book "Swallowing Darkness" promptly goes on a road tour of Faerie instead of sticking to an actual central plot. It feels like Hamilton has gone as far as she can, and is flailing around instead of getting out of the water.
In the aftermath of being raped by her uncle, Merry is recovering in the hospital... and despite all the moping about how doctors "can't undo the damage," she gets over the rape by cuddling her favorite boytoy.
After ordering her various fey boytoys not to attack Taranis, she receives a visit from her feisty brownie grandma. Unfortunately there's a malign influence warping Gran's thoughts -- with disastrous and fatal results for three people close to Merry. Enraged, she and Sholto summon the Wild Hunt and set out to destroy the conspirators.
But it turns out that the conspiracy goes far further than Merry expected -- and that certain Golden Court sidhe are trying to weed out the stronger boytoys. And of course, divine magical favors just rain down on Merry whenever she sneezes. To keep her entire harem (half of whom I've forgotten) safe, Merry decides to take drastic steps in the human world... but only finds a new conflict with her cousin Cel.
Having knocked up her heroine -- which is supposedly the series' goal -- Laurell K. Hamilton seems to be at a loss for what to do to keep the series going ahead. So we end up with a bunch of vaguely connected crises, punctuated by interludes of Sparkly Magic From Goddess-Merry, magic horsies and lots of sparkly magic roses. It's a little like being alternately choked with flowers and clubbed with a rock.
"Swallowing Darkness" does manage an impressive amount of plot, including the resolution of couple half-forgotten subplots -- and a surprising twist during Merry's stay in the sluagh. Unfortunately most of the plot is just Hamilton slapping in new random problems whenever things get too peaceful. Whoops, somebody's suddenly dying! Eek, a traitor! Yikes, a royal challenge from out of nowhere!
Nor does Hamilton's writing help, since she seems to be bored with her own story when she isn't trying to channel Patricia McKillip's lush prose. Her incredibly stilted, rambling dialogue ("We ride." "To save your Storm Lord." "To save the future of faerie"), repetition (everybody seems to have "moonlight skin") and awkward descriptions ("Gold like the metal of a piece of jewelry") hamper the story even further.
And as with all Hamilton's fairy novels, we get hot pale supernatural men who all worship the heroine, dumb blinkered mortals, lightweight Wiccan theology, Christian-bashing, oral sex worship, and lots of nasty and/or crazy women who simply can't measure up to the heroine. Yes, even a sweet li'l old grandma, who is reviled for daring to hold a grudge against her mother's murderer.
But the book's biggest weakness is Merry Gentry herself. She floats through the book in a cloud of Convenient Magical Powers and occasionally pauses to cold-bloodedly kill people. Everybody is awed by her even if she kills them -- and she declares herself to be a goddess as well. It gets rather nauseating to have a heroine who is such a blatant self-insert.
"Swallowing Darkness" has some shreds of good plot in there, but they're surrounded by jack-in-the-box disasters and a main storyline that is being stretched way too far. And it's not over yet....
Quickies: Bk. 1, 29 Aug 2008
A nice and quick read for those of a racier nature. There are several short stories to wet your appetite or anything else! Thoroughly enjoy this book.
ORGASMIC!, 22 Aug 2008
This book was my first venture into eroctic fiction, and for the price of this book I figured if I didnt like it - nothing was lost. However, I couldnt have been less disappointed! All the stories are based around a different fantasy - so everyone can have a favourite. I have to say mine is Doctors Orders. There were a couple that didnt "get me going" as it were, but thats not to say they wouldnt work for others.
The size of this book is great too - so slim, its very discreet and can easily be slipped into an overnight bag or suitcase - should the mood take you.
I was so impressed with this little gem of a book I have since bought volumes 2 & 3 and look forward to purchasing more. I would and have recommended it to friends.
Get Down On It, 22 Jun 2008
Great little book as are all the Black Lace series and this one doesn't disappoint. The stories are red hot and believable and will certainly get the pulse racing. Also well worth looking at is Quickies Bk. 2. And for the real connoisseur of the erotic, look at Suzie Van Aartman's '100 Percent Erotica' it oozes pure ecstasy.
Almost perfect!, 08 Mar 2008
This is the first time I've read one of the Black Lace Quickies series, but if this one is anything to go by, it won't be the last. The first in the series, this book contains six short stories all by different authors. There's the story of the young woman doing unspeakably naughty things at petrol stations; the seventeen year old boy that gets to live the ultimate teenage fantasy; a doctor/patient scenario; a horny air hostess; a brother/sister combo causing havoc on a passenger liner, and twins that swap places to have the adventure of their lives.
Out of the six stories, I was extremely impressed with five of them. I'm not going to point out which one I wasn't keen on as people's opinions vary, and I wouldn't say I disliked it, exactly, it just didn't get me fired up like the other ones did! There were incredibly kinky elements in here, for example; spanking, sex toys, incest, uniforms and domination... basically several of the main things that people fantasise about! So I think, all in all, this is a top notch book and there's something in here for everyone, providing you do like your stories that bit more kinky, which I do. Too vanilla and I get bored.
When you factor in a cracking price, which as always, is discounted on Amazon, and you've got yourself a winner here! So get this, and have yourself a night in with some sexy stories!
Quick and to the point!, 06 Dec 2007
Loved this quickie anthology! It's got everything a girl needs in order to...get fired up! The book itself isn't very long at all, but it's more than you need! Take a chance on it, along with Sex Scenes--Kim Corum, which is also just pure erotica. I recommend both.
Quick and good!!!, 07 Oct 2008
This volume of "quickies" was some of the best erotic reading I have done in a while. It was to the point, to put it mildly! Can't wait for vol. 3!! Another "quickie" erotic read I devoured and would recommend: Sex Scenes: Erotica Excerpts from the Novels of Kim Corum.
A Red Hot Little Book, 19 Mar 2008
Great stories that will really get you going. There's something for everyone here and the stories are really alive and intimately described. Share it with your partner and live the fantasies together. And at such a low price you cant go wrong. Great little book,get Bk.1 and do it again, and if you're really up for great erotica check out the very excellent 100 Percent Erotica by Suzie Van Aartman. Wow.
Essential Erotic Reading , 29 Mar 2008
There is a lot of good erotica in the short story genre at the moment and this is one of the best. Red hot stories that are believable and imaginative, the characters are beautiful and are doing things we all do, or would like to do. I also enjoyed the 2007 edition, thats well worth a look. And my own personal favourite, the classic '100 Percent Erotica' by Suzie Van Aartman, you'll need to change your underwear after reading that.
Loads of good material. , 27 Dec 2007
This is a very good anthology of erotica. I've always read these compliations by Ms. Blue, but over the years have slacked off. I got back on track with this one and was delighted by the stories within. I also liked "Sex Scenes"--Kim Corum and would recommend it as well.
Better Than Viagra, 22 Jun 2008
I have read a lot of erotica in my time and I have to say that this is the best ever. It has a different feel to it than the other books. Whereas a lot of them seem cold and restrained, this book goes all the way so to speak. But having said that it isnt crude in any way, but it does deliver the passion. Also what is unusual is that the stories are obviously all by the same author, rather than a collection of stories by a number of authors. Inevitably there are certain passages that you think to yourself that you've heard before, but that is only a minor critisism because on the whole the book is excellent. The stories have a cosiness to them and the people come across as real people and this makes it more erotic because it could be you in the story. This is felt more so because they are of different ages and different shapes and the shape of some of them is, shall we say, super-human, but very believable. Not only that, but the writing is such that you feel part of the story, you can feel it and enjoy it. I'd like to go further but I feel I would be censored. So yes this is a very erotic book and it will certainly stir the passion within.
Best erotic book ever, 23 Jul 2007
This is a very good book,true to life short stories. can imagine myself in simular situations. its better than watching a porn your imagination can run wild. i would definately recommend buying this particular read if you like abit of sauce in your life.
Repetitive after a while, 01 Jul 2007
The book starts off good, in fact all the stories are not that bad but the only problem I found is that other than the obvious fact of her name being on the cover you can tell the stories are written by the same author because the more you read through the stories in the book you can almost predict what her description is going to say.
She seems to have a limited imagination when it comes to describing something. For example if the character in the story is an older woman you can be sure she will say "I still look good/have a tight body for a woman my age" and so forth.
Ok it's not a book thats supposed to change the world so yes, the stories are ok and not a bad read if you can get past the fact towards the end of the book you will be predicting the next lines for yourself quite easily.
ULTIMATE EROTICA, 13 Mar 2007
An incredible book and very aptly titled, in my opinion, the way the love making is described in such intimate and erotic detail is truly amazing, its almost as if you are watching from two feet away. I can honestly say that I've read nothing quite like this before. It's so natural and believable and the characters are ordinary people of different ages, shapes and personalities, people you meet at work or in the street and I think that is what makes it so erotic. The stories themselves as well as being extremely erotic are very believable. There is just enough storyline that builds up to the climax (pardon the pun) to make you feel part of the story. All the characters are sexual artists and a lot of them are incredibly well endowed, they really take you through a masterpiece of erotic pleasure. O.K. the writing style is not in the category of great literature, but then if I wanted literary or grammatical excellence I'd be reading Bernard Shaw, Shakespeare or Percival. And anyway I've always found that red blooded men are turned on by the use of bad grammar when things are getting steamy. There is even the odd spelling mistake, but hey, so what. So unless you are a member of an anonymous group of spelling and grammar fetishists, (my word what kinky stories they must have to tell) the book is fine. I look forward to reading more by this lady in the future.
Great stories. , 19 Nov 2008
This anthology features some of the hottest writers in erotica today and the quailty is tops. I liked all of the stories, though some were a little hotter than others. I really found no complaints with it at all. I also liked and would recommend Eager to Please.
Sexy, sensational and selfless. Buy your copy now!, 15 Oct 2008
There are so many things right with this book it's difficult to know where to begin. For starters, it's an erotic book. Secondly, it's for charity. And thirdly, it's packed full of incredibly well-known writers. Fantastic.
Ultimate Burlesque is the brainchild of the fabulous Emily Dubberley. Her mum was diagnosed with cancer (and is now, thankfully, in remission), and in a very unique way of saying thank you to the cancer charities, Emily decided to release a book of which proceeds would go to Macmillan Cancer Research. And here it is. Along with good friend Alyson Fixter, Ultimate Burlesque was put together. It features big names such as: Alison Tyler, Katie Fforde, Portia Da Costa, Jeremy Edwards, Sarah Berry, Maxim Jakubowski, Kristina Lloyd, Mark Farley and Mat Fraser; as well as a story from the lovely editors. There are 30 excellent stories in this book, all themed around, yes, you've guessed it - burlesque.
Sexy ladies in corsets and stockings doing their thing - very erotic indeed. And what makes it better is the fact that there are so many stories from different authors that no two are the same, or even similar. They vary wildly and are all extremely naughty! I think the very nature of the book may make it more likely that men would enjoy the book too, as it isn't just based on female fantasies. There are female authors in here writing from a male perspective, and vice versa. It makes for incredibly interesting reading, and had me feeling frisky on several occasions!
If I haven't given you enough reasons yet to buy the book - then I don't know what else to say! It's full of wonderful stories from wonderful writers, and is for a good cause! 'Nuff said.
Fabulous! Erotic, sexy and throughly entertaining, 01 Oct 2008
Ultimate Submission (Xcite Selections) (Xcite Selections) (Xcite Selections)Ultimate Sex (Xcite Selections) (Xcite Selections) (Xcite Selections) (Xcite Selections)Ultimate Sins (Xcite Selections) (Xcite Selections) (Xcite Selections)
A wonderful new edition to the Ultimate range with all the stories having a burlesque theme. There is real variety in the stories, plenty of cinched waists, corsets, feathers, frills and seriously erotic sex scenes!
Beautiful, powerful and sensual classic, 03 Nov 2008
Having read other readers' reviews (which I enjoy doing), it appears that this book has a very mixed bag reception. You either love it or hate it. I'm with the former camp. The book was beautifully written, tasteful and elaborative in its description and representation of the needs of a woman to totally and unconditionally submit. I also like the ancilliary characters of Jacqueline and Nathalie, two sisters who have differences of opinion to O's self-expression, in that one gets it and the other does not. It is a serious read that is indeed not for those who are easily shocked. Indeed, it must have been quite an eye opener when it was a contemporary piece of erotic literature. It covers not only flagellation and bondage, but also other genres of BDSM, such as piercings, corsetry and scarification. For those rated between 1 and 3 stars, and found the story hard to follow, I would advise to read it again. I have read it twice and although I enjoyed the first outing, the second trip brought a more clarified and indepth understanding.
An erotic masterpiece, 12 Dec 2007
I don't know what I could possibly add to any discussion of this erotic masterpiece, so I'm happy just to contribute my voice to the chorus of praise. Miss Reage's "love letter" is as potent now as it ever was. Please give us more strong, self-assured women like Pauline Reage, Belle de Jour and Niki Flynn!
Could not put it down, 05 Sep 2007
This is a book which I had often heard of but never really come accross. Afer starting the book i found i could not put it down as it is just so entertaining. At first you think what on earth? Why is this woman allowing her lover to treat her like this? As soon as you carry on reading it soon becomes obvious just how complex this character is. As a fan of all gothic like books this is the best one by far. Sometimes the language can get a bit confusing as it is not that clear but you soon become accustomed to this and really become engaged with the story.
Outdated Much?, 08 Feb 2007
Don't get me wrong, I found this book compelling and could hardly put it down. Although the way it is written is impossible to read and follow the plot. You will find yourself in one place and time and within a sentance something completly different is going on in an entirely different setting.
I agree it's a must read for anyone with a bit of kink inside them but make sure you give it your full attention or you will struggle!
good read, 22 Jun 2006
Telling the story of a woman who is so in love with her lover that she is willing to endure pain and humiliation, "The Story of O" is not for the faint hearted, or in fact the weak stomached.
After reading this book and wanting someone elses opinion on it, i have passed it on to my friends. All 4 of them that a passed it too, have been unable to read it, claiming it too be 'sick' and 'disgusting'. In fact, so many people who read this book, miss the point of it entirely, or don't read far enough to understand the beauty of the story.
My only let down about it was that, even written decades ago, it still feels like a book written with a sequal in mind. And don't even get me started on the paragraph containing the "Alternate Endi | | |