Liz Everly's Blog, page 87
June 7, 2015
Take One Pill and Call Him Now: Are We Down with ‘Female Viagra’?
Dr. Feelgood says to call it flibanserin.
By Alexa Day
My book, Illicit Impulse, is built on a “what if.”
I’d learned about the bonding hormone, oxytocin, which operates in a woman’s brain to create feelings of attachment to her sex partners. That seemed like a massive biological screw job to me. What if a woman didn’t want to feel attachment to her partner? What if she just wanted him for the night or the weekend? What if she wanted to evaluate him solely on his performance between the sheets?
What if she could take a pill to prevent the oxytocin bond from forming?
Well, I’m no scientist. But as a writer, if I can’t make an oxytocin suppressant, I can sure as hell make one up. And in my glorious ego-driven world, I quietly hoped that someone would create the oxytocin suppressant for real and change the world of casual sex forever, and you know, a girl can dream.
Last week’s news that an advisory committee suggested FDA approval for a little pink pill nicknamed “the female Viagra” briefly encouraged me. Western medicine doesn’t have a great track record with regard to women’s sexuality, and I honestly think the FDA would be happier if women would just stop complaining about whatever problems trouble us in bed. So this should be great news, right?
I thought so at first. But now I’m not so sure.
Let’s start with that nickname. I will leave aside my issue with its being derivative — as if we can only understand this within the context of Viagra. Let’s also remember that Viagra is already for women: women have taken it for quite some time to address low sexual desire. My larger concern is that Viagra and flibanserin actually do two totally different things.
Viagra treats erectile dysfunction by addressing the the actual biological architecture of the erection. It treats blood flow to the penis. To my knowledge, Viagra isn’t really about sexual desire — it’s about the ability to act on sexual desire.
Flibanserin treats low sexual desire (hypoactive sexual desire disorder). Vast numbers of women are troubled by the fact that they don’t experience sexual desire as much as they used to — or at all. We have any number of alternatives to address the biological ability to act on sexual desire, some of which are more effective than others. This drug aims to restore desire itself, the intoxicating blend of power and hunger and anticipation, and it can only do so by working with the brain’s chemistry.
If you don’t want to wait on the FDA, there’s always Impulse. Sure, it’s still being tested, but it gets the job done.
I’m not a scientist. You would laugh at my nightmarish welter of research notes for Illicit Impulse. But my presumption is that adjusting neurochemistry to reconstruct desire is more complicated than reconstructing the ability to act on that desire. The FDA’s advisory committee seems to agree, but they’re okay to move ahead anyway.
I think I’m okay with that, too.
I’ve read about the medical professionals who, until now, had nothing to offer patients who lived with low sexual desire. I know that doctors will work with those women to prescribe the drug responsibly. Most importantly, I know that we can only find answers if we move forward.
So I’m cautiously optimistic about this new drug. I just wish the media would stop referring to it as ‘the female Viagra.’
Is this a giant step for womankind? Let us know what’s up (heyo?) in the comments.
And follow Lady Smut. We won’t let you down (ha ha, heyo!).
June 5, 2015
Sexy Saturday Round-Up
By Liz Everly and the Lady Smut Bloggers
Hello, Sexy! Pull up a chair, kick back, and get ready for your weekend with some fun, sexy, and interesting blog posts.
Enjoy!
From Liz:
Oh, Dr. Ruth!
15 Things Alpha Women Do Differently
Masturbation in marriage
How do Dutch kids learn about sex? Or high schoolers in the U.S.? A Global History of Sex Education reveals all.
Don’t try these at home – The most dangerous sex positions.
Even the pros can get it wrong. Porn stars share their Porn stars’ most embarrassing stories.
What it’s like to be transgender if you’re not Caitlyn Jenner.
Prom time! Here’s why one girl wore a paper dress.
Who are Japan’s beautiful Hafu?
Ad banned in UK because it featured an underweight model
And Kiersten Hallie Krum shared this article on FB this week: what it’s like for trans to experience male privilege for the first time.
From CMK:
Punk rocker Poly Styrene’s Day-Glo distopia
Women warriors who made their mark on history
June 4, 2015
Mad Max: The Awesomest Movie That Almost Was
by Madeline Iva
Call me an optimist. I say 1/2 a good movie is better than none. And Max Max is all kinds of half a good movie.*** Let me count the ways:
1) DESIGN DESIGN DESIGN: This movie’s best moments start and end with the look of the film. The franchise is not just about costumes anymore. Once upon a time we were sated by some 80’s white rocker desert costumes. Once upon a time a bladed boomerang and hockey glove on a little kid’s paw did it for us. One upon a time teddy bear effigies marching across desert sand and we cheered. Now the best oscar for Post-Apocalyptic Macho Motifs in a Futuristic Dustbowl Series goes to brilliant yet repellant details such as:
Bad guy Toothy Breathing Mask
Death head steering wheels
Hedgehog spike-y cars
Cancerous punk boy cannon fodder — who spray their teeth and lips silver just before going all jihad on their enemies…
Two-Muscle-Cars-Having-Sex-Car
Punks on a Stick
Massive Dust Storm O’ Death
Fire blazing guitar played by Red-Jammies-Guy dangling from the giant amp & big drums truck
Various nipple piercing/breast exploitation elements — the details of which I will not go into here, but needless to say all are all well thought out and thoroughly disgusting.
2) FABULOUS CHARACTERS SUCH AS:
FURIOSA — Charlize Theron is a one armed kick-ass warrior–which is better than none. Because Mad Max isn’t the reluctant warrior hero in this movie. Which still has me scratching my head. In fact, at some point Charlize Theron basically takes this movie and steals it. Then she tries to give it back, and they’re all like no-no-no-Ms. Theron, it’s yours, take it. Seriously.
NUX– because 1/2 a conflicted hero is better than none. Tom Hardy’s Mad Max spends part of the movie being insane and part of the movie trying to get a stupid mask off his face. It’s Nux, a big-eyed dying skinhead, and thwarted martyr bad guy, who ends up saving everyone’s bacon at just the right time. Played by Nicholas Hoult (yes, from Warm Bodies) with his friendly cancerous lumps that he calls his ‘mates’ he is raggedly endearing in a scarred way, and winds up with more of a character arc and big ending than the Tom Hardy, aka ‘our hero’.
3) A WEE TINY LOVE STORY– It’s just a wee tiny little lovestory between Red Headed Model Babe, aka Lisa Marie Presely’s daughter, and Nux—but it’s sweet in its own way. And it’s better than NO LOVE STORY AT ALLLLLLLLL BETWEEN FURIOSA AND MAX — something I’m still sulking over, because what else did they have to do in the whole second half of the film?
4) THE OBLIGATORY BREAK FROM ALL THE DUSTY BIG BAD BY SWITCHING TO MODEL BABES CAVORTING This moment in the movie contrasted with the entire rest of the film. Almost in the middle of a massive long car/truck/monster thingy with wheels chase, everything stops for a minute. A set of wispy Model Babes with a variety of hair colors, wearing torn strips of white sheets decide that this is the time to stop the truck, get out and get all wet in the middle of a big dusty desert with bad guys rolling towards them fast. (Rolling my eyes.) But after so much spiky hot man-deaths I gotta admit that their soft skin and big doe eyes, their big inflated baby lips and skinny legs are kinda refreshing. As another condescending gesture to feminism, each model babe is giving a ‘thing’ she contributes to the plot. Like “This model gets the plant seeds” and “this model counts the bullets” and “this is the model you think is so weak but really she tricks the bad guys in the end”. The models don’t have character arcs, per se, but it’s better than watching them sit around screaming in the back of the truck and needing to be saved for the entire film. (Shrugging).
Who is this guy?
4) BECAUSE 1/2 A TOM HARDY FILM IS BETTER THAN NONE
Tom, Tom, Tom. This is a big film for you. I gotta admit, the accent was not 100%. At first you sounded like Vin Diesel meets Mel Gibson, but about a 1/3 of the way through the film you just sounded…odd.
And I love Tom Hardy. He’s why I went to see the film — that and everyone raving about how good it was. But he wasn’t really in this film. I think he’s a real character actor who likes to go very deep into character, and probably feels he does his best acting when he’s being tortured. But there was no arc to his character. No change, no growth, no recovery, no redemption. Yeah, by the end he got his funky face mask off. By the end he was working with the women, and blah, blah, blah. He wasn’t really a great leader, he wasn’t a savior — he wasn’t even a total Road Warrior. That was Charlize Theron. So what was he? — Why was he even in the film? Still scratching my head over that.
This is the Tom we love.
But I haven’t lost faith in you Tom — this is just a stepping stone to much bigger things to come. However, I’d try to stick to more contemporary talk-y films if possible. Films where you can do what you do best–that sensual, tricksy, awesome, charming thing. You know what I mean?
HOW TO MAKE THE WHOLE FILM MUCH BETTER:
This whole movie was odd, frankly. Most reviewers are saying it’s a long car chase–but that’s what you expect out of a Mad Max movie. That’s not the problem. The problem is that like a souped up drag car that pulls into the pit half way through the race, this film simply ran out of gas. They literally race out into the dessert and then turn around and race right back.
Here’s my MUCH BETTER PLOT for Mad Max: Fury Road:
ACT ONE: Model babes in a moist, rocky Australian oasis are horny, but cancerous skinhead boys are useless for making babies. Model babes disport themselves in the water, and try girl-on-girl action with moderate to great success but still want babies. Occasionally in a fit of good will, they dispense water to the less sexy but thirsty below…One red head model babe does have a sweet little romance with a big-eyed dying skin-head named Nux who needs blood transfusions.
Along comes a half insane Tom Hardy from the dessert. Raving mad, even so, he is so hot that the Model babes must f*** him back into sanity.
ACT TWO: Lo! Bad guys in hedge hog spikey cars are a-comin’ after Tom and headed straight for the oasis. Tom wants to go back out there, but as the only viable sperm donor on the continent, he must be protected. The babes quickly send their best warrior Furiosa out into the dessert to deal with the bad guys.
ACT THREE: Furiosa with her cyborg arm and lithe cancer boys on pogo circus sticks, face off with bad guys. Furiosa uses many clever car chase/truck chase moves to finally kill icky bad guys. She subordinates the left over bad boys to her bitch-queen-goddess-grease-monkey-awesomeness. They ride back with her to the wet oasis, promising to give blood transfusions to Nux, and all excited to join this Model babe-led society. They are particularly excited about being potential sperm donors. Meanwhile, the guitar drum blazes flames, and the amp & drum truck beats out Furiosa’s praises all the way home…
Now *that’s* my idea of a great post-apocalyptic movie. Follow us at Lady Smut–we’ll lead you into clouds of post-apocalyptic utopian bliss!
***This is not a review: more a plaintive wail to the gods about why it wasn’t a better movie. Clearly, it’s intended for people who already saw the movie or are never gonna see it.
June 2, 2015
Looking Under The Hood And Becoming Cliterate
By If someone put a blank piece of paper in front of you and told you to draw a picture of a clitoris, could you do it? I’m not talking artistic ability here, but rather whether you actually know what it looks like enough to be able to come up with a reasonable facsimile. Yes? No? Kinda?
Conceptual artist Sophia Wallace maintains that lots of people – men and women alike – can not. And it’s because, she says, the clitoris has been long ignored throughout history. In fact, it’s only since 1998 that the true anatomical scope and size of the clitoris has been known to science. 1998? Really? Polio has been cured, man has landed on the moon, mapped the human genome, and wired the world, yet the one organ in the human body that soley exists for pleasure has gone largely ignored. Well, no longer! It’s high time, says Wallace, for the world to #getcliterate. This is what’s behind her art project, Cliteracy.
Hmmm. Sounds stimulating! But what exactly does being cliterate mean? According to sex therapist Ian Kerner, being cliterate is about understanding and respecting female sexuality. Wallace herself adds that it includes “the ability to navigate the clitoris, based on an understanding that is fundamental to the female orgasm.”
This all sounds like a fine idea to me. After all, in an ilclierate society, sexual partners fail miserably to give their partners the big O. A little education could go a long way. Frankly, I would strongly argue that romance novels, especially those veering toward the more sensual (just the way we like ’em at Lady Smut), are a Cliteracy lesson unto themselves. Lovemaking and sexual encounters sure as heck don’t leave the female high and dry without achieving satisfaction. And the descriptions are hot and detailed to let readers know exactly how the heroine gets happy.
Of course, as a writer of erotic romance, one real Cliteracy problem myself and fellow writers face is looking for synonyms for the clitoris. I mean, you can use the word itself and its shortened version, clit, but the hotness factor is doused like a wildfire if the word is overused. Writers have come up with euphemisms like pearl or button or bud and, while those might work, they’re not particular sexy or sensual. And don’t even get me started on bean or pea. It’s not a veggie tray.
Jenny Block, author of O Wow: Discovering your ultimate orgasm, says we need to “start introducing the clitoris at dinner parties.” Um, well. A huge swath of the country still shudders in horror at an exposed breast on TV, so casually talking about the clitoris at dinner sounds ambitious. I get her point, although methinks that conversation may be a little … awkward. But hey, maybe I’m being invited to the wrong dinner parties.
Sophia Wallace’s Cliteracy art project brings together art, textiles, and photography to rid the world of ilcliteracy. Interestingly enough, she suspected – and received – backlash, but her effort also produced a groundswell of endorsement. People have begun talking about the clitoris. And as far as I’m concerned, there’s just nothing wrong with that.
What do you think? Is Cliteracy a topic of discussion in your house? Should it be? Sound off in the comments below. And when you’re done, hop on over to Goodreads and sign up to win one of four copies of The Lady Smut Book of Dark Desires. We’ll be giving them away next month.
The Romance Writer’s Secret
It is a truth universally acknowledged that romance writers are not romantic.
Wait! Is that a lie? Oh, I don’t know! I’ll admit that I was thinking about the portrayals of romance writers often by writers in other genres. Not manly men writers who think all women who write romance are frivolous, empty-headed and unrealistic — like a lot of the crime guys I know who are comfortable suburbanite dads who write about killing sprees, gritty drug dealers and serial murders which are totally realistic in their lives.
I’m reading Barbara Pym on a whim because I realised despite binging on her books when I first discovered her back in the 90s, I had not read Less Than Angels which is about academics, so perfect for me. And I’ve been mostly reading very dark crime stuff, so change of pace. Though Pym is often compared to Austen for all the good reasons, as Salley Vickers points out in the introduction, she really has a lot more in common with Kingsley Amis, particularly in this novel.
Pym has a dry humour that builds through characters. She skewers people so deftly they seldom feel the barb. “Academic toilers,” one character asserts, “do not understand the art of being fashionably late.” Indeed, “the hands of the library clock were barely pointing to six when a mass of people seemed almost to hurl through the door.” It adds to the amusement that the academics are all anthropologists studying ‘primitive’ cultures, while Pym studies theirs.
The best character of course is the romance and ‘women’s magazines’ writer, Catherine Oliphant. A lot of the story comes from her perspective and she’s so odd and funny (and often unappreciated by others especially men, who find her somewhat scandalous because she says what she thinks). Pym’s perspective is equally direct: “There are few experiences more boring and painful for a woman than an evening spent in the company of one man when she is longing to be with another.”
Catherine finds people react oddly to her being a writer: “‘So you write? Stories, Deirdre told us.’ Her tone was a little uncertain for she had never met a writer before. She had heard that either they hated you to mention their profession or were offended if you didn’t.” But she’s no more confident in talking about her work, as Pym tells us, “adopting the rather derogatory tone behind which writers sometimes hide from the scorn and mockery of the world.”
But she makes a living at it — in contrast to the starving students and shabby genteel poverty of the faculty. Catherine offers outrageous opinions to suburban folks, who in their typically British way are reluctant to admit to being appalled. “Yes, of course women do think the worst of each other,” Catherine tells one ‘uncomfortable’ woman, “perhaps because only they can know what they are capable of.” She lives an unconventional life and though it is not without heartache, she’s also more realistic and thus adventurous.
The young student Deirdre, in contrast, falls head over heels and only gradually begins to realise the difficulty of real love — and disappointments. “Women so often find themselves examining a man’s books, trying to find something intelligent to say about them, and even at nineteen Deirdre was beginning to get her share of it.”
Pym isn’t exactly romance, although there is a lot of jockeying for romance in her books. They are laugh out loud funny at the most unexpected moments. But she has a deep understanding and love for romance and romantic tendencies. Her characters quote poems by Donne, Barrett and Shelley, and she refers to Austen’s Anne Elliot and even quotes her words about how women do not have the luxury of forgetting so quickly, then briskly informs us of the character, “Elaine was not much of a reader…which was just as well, even if she missed the consolation and pain of coming upon her feelings expressed for her in such moving words.”
Pym may not be romantic, but she loves romance.
If you love romance on the sexy side, be sure to follow Lady Smut — and don’t forget to enter to win Dark Desires!
June 1, 2015
Austinland: Best Summer Movie Evah!
J.J.Field as Mr. Nobley, a disapproving, cold gentleman–or is he?
by Madeline Iva
Heigh-ho! Filling in for Kiersten Hallie Krum today while she’s off on va-ca (sorta).
It’s officially summer! — And with summer comes great summer reads and summer movies.
I’ll be giving you the fa-shizzle on Mad Max this Thursday here at Lady Smut, and we’re having a LadySmut summer reads give away at the beginning of July. Meanwhile, I wanted to talk to you about a great summer movie to load up into the old DVD player.
We’re talking AUSTINLAND! I’ve mentioned it once before, in a post on my love for all things historical HERE — but the movie didn’t really get it’s full due.
The premise is that a Jane Austen obsessed super-fan goes off on a pricey vaca to England where she will be immersed in Austenland. The guests dress in period costume, conform to period manners, and be subjected to all kinds of cheesy/tacky over-the-top a-historic touristy behavior from the other daffy ‘guests’ and even daffier staff. Here’s a preview:
Bret McKenzie always delivers the comedy.
Several things to note:
1) It didn’t get good reviews. Why? People are crazy, is all I can say. This is one of the best rom-coms EVAHHHHHHHH!
2) J.J. Field is a find — where’s he been all my life?
3) The real reason I wanted to see this movie is Bret MacKenzie from FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS–and he’s hilarious in this film.
4) You’d think they’re mocking us folk who are regency obsessed. Oh, they are. But if you delve deeper, you’ll see that at its heart this movie is about *true* romantic regency values. TALLYHO!
5) The soundtrack is fabulous–the credits are a riot. The costumes are glorious. The acting is great. The sets is full of campy stuffed lambs, pheasants, and deer–but also provide the English glorious that we crave.
Really–it’s a film in which you get to have your cake and eat it too. Originally it was a book. Go watch it/buy it or Austenland:%20A Novel
READ IT right now!
Austenland
Click to buy
And follow us at LadySmut.com where we’ll romance you right out of your pantaloons.
May 31, 2015
Hey, What’s Your Number?
But did I carry the one?
(This image was made by Loadmaster (David R. Tribble).)
By Alexa Day
In yesterday’s Sexy Saturday Round-Up, my colleague Elizabeth Shore provided a link to a sexual history calculator. It’s over on Slate, and it collects your age, your gender (I know, I rolled my eyes here, too, but it’s necessary), and the number of people you’ve slept with. You plug this information in, and after a brief pause, during which the calculator wants to reassure you that this is supposed to be fun for you, you get a chart that compares your info with that of other people in your age group.
Simply put, the calculator is here to tell you — just for fun! — whether you’ve slept with more people or fewer people than the rest of your demographic.
So, just for fun, I plugged in my info, and just for fun, I got back the entirely expected response that I’ve slept with more people than most women in my age group.
This is not a surprise to me.
For one thing, I’m unmarried, so I’m still counting. That number is going to keep rising. I don’t think it will continue to rise as quickly as it did when the younger Alexa had fewer things to occupy her time, but who knows for sure?
For another thing, I’m convinced that a lot of women lie about The Number. I understand in large part why this happens, but I have so little patience for that. Seriously, if we’re going to stop slut-shaming, we need to start by treating ourselves better, don’t we? I don’t know if men lie about The Number or have the same reasons for lying as women do, but I am aware that they are not being shamed for having higher Numbers in the same way as we are. No doubt this is why we have to plug our gender into the calculator.
In any event, I was more troubled by my initial inability to account for everyone on The List. You know, the one that generates The Number. I stared at it after I plugged it into that little box and asked myself, “Is that right?” And then I went back into the dusty and neglected archive that is my long-term memory and tried to name names. Then I became hungry (this took about 45 seconds) and decided to go with the number I had.
It’s probably right. I think. But I pledged to spend the rest of the day really trying to think about this. After all, I should probably know with some level of certainty what The Number is, right? And isn’t it kind of sad not to be able to put a name with each and every face in my sexual history? Shouldn’t I be troubled with the ease with which I forgot someone who was, if only for a few hours, part of my life?
Well, now I’m not so sure.
Once you get past personal health concerns, so that you know exactly who to call in the event of unpleasantness, I’m not sure there’s a need to know exactly how many people you’ve slept with. It would certainly be nice to know, but is it truly necessary? The consideration of one’s sexual history as a whole is probably deserving of more consideration.
How many did you regret?
How many taught you something?
How many did you love?
Smaller numbers, perhaps, but more important subsets.
I will probably still try to reconstruct The List so that I can verify The Number. On the one hand, the memory defect bothers me, and on the other, I feel driven to have an accurate number. But in the meantime, I’m okay with having a highlight reel until I can create a director’s cut.
As long as there’s plenty of hot, buttery popcorn.
Follow Lady Smut. We’ve been around.
May 29, 2015
Sexy Saturday Round-Up
By Liz Everly and the Lady Smut Bloggers
Hello, Sexy! Welcome to your Sat-ur-day! Check out these sexy, fun, and sometimes, strange reads we’ve found for you. Enjoy!
From Liz:
A sex toy blog.
A new take on the rape fantasy book?
The circed and the uncirced, Penis, that is.
From Elizabeth:
How does your sexual history stack up compared with others? A little or a lot? Use this handy dandy calculator to find out.
If you think you’re a good speller, check out the word list that this year’s Scripps Spelling Bee co-champions had to conquer. Scherenschnitte? Really?
The pros and cons of a remote-controlled panty vibrator.
Got plans this weekend? Can them! Instead, get thee to a TV (or your laptop, or tablet). These flix are leaving Netflix for-evah as of June 1. Start the binge watch!
From Madeline:
Everything you need to know about female viagra.
From CMK:
1920s Erotic Postcards (fairly tame)
Enter the Lady Smut Book of Dark Desires giveaway!
Kinky Bank Robbers and Other Finds at the RT Booklovers Convention
Greetings! I’ve recently returned from book paradise, also known as The Romance Times’ Booklovers Convention. Attendees get to meet and fangirl (or boy) all over their favorite authors, stock up on new book releases (they give you a rolling bag), and meet hundreds of other readers who get as excited as you over a shirtless guy on a book cover. And where else can you talk—actually talk—to the likes of Lexi Blake or Cherise Sinclair or Sylvia Day or [insert favorite romance author]?
RT is a reader’s heaven.
So, what’s next in the world of erotica and erotic romance? Literary agent Miriam Kriss (Irene Goodman Agency) believes we have yet to “peak” in the erotic romance market. During that panel, it was suggested Fifty Shades was just at the beginning of a trend for more explicit sexual romance. Yay for us. That means more scintillating tales to come.
Expect to see more stories of ordinary people set in the ordinary world. Lovers of billionaire romance, never fear. Tales of the super-rich are still hot. Therefore, they will be written. But we heard the millennial generation (which is frickin’ huge, by the way), wants more “real life.”
Of course, they also want more of the young adult paranormal and magical realism they grew up with, like the Harry Potter series and Twilight. Only with sex. Yeah, Harry and Ginny getting it on. (You were either turned on by that last sentence or completely squicked out.) The readers in their mid-twenties and younger want what they grew up with – plus some ordinary people thrown in – doing the Big Deed.
We also might finally see the end of cheesy covers. Oh, who am I kidding? Someone will always put out a Fabio-look alike ripping off a corset. I was still glad to hear much discussion about the quality of book covers—and how they’re going to grow hotter but classier.
Truth is, at RT, you can’t get away from sizzling book covers. They are plastered on every conceivable space in the hotel. I give you . . . one of the hotel’s elevator doors. With nipple-age!
As for lovers of the male/male (M/M) genre, hang on to your panties. The LGBT sessions were standing room only at RT. I couldn’t stand in a coffee shop line without hearing someone talk about M/M, specifically. During a panel with Sylvia Day, Liliana Hart, Julie Ann Walker, Jill Shalvis, and Jennifer Probst, one attendee asked if they had planned on writing (more) M/M stories. The hundred or so audience members bounced in their seats in anticipation to the answer. Most of the author panelists reported that, yes, a M/M story was in their writing future. Unimpressed by vague answers, the woman asked, by when? When told it could be a year or more, the audience engaged in distinct pouting.
An author friend, who also attended RT, says no one does M/M like Kindle Alexander. I have yet to read her, but my friend swears by her stories. She also reports Riley Hart, L.A. Witt, Laura Harner, Alexa Land, and Ella Frank are must-reads in this genre.
Speaking of recommendations, below are three books I simply had to read after seeing their covers everywhere at RT. My three new “finds:”
At the Giant Book Fair, I rushed to Kresley Cole’s table to buy The Master after staring at the cover on the elevator every day. Kresley Cole is an insta-buy for me but she outdid herself with this book. The plot has heroine Catarina Marin on the run from a scary ex – until she gets involved with billionaire Russian politician and Mafiya boss, Maksimilian Sevastya. It’s off-the-charts hot. I want a Russian now.
How could anyone resist a title like Taken Hostage by the Kinky Bank Robbers? I’m only a little way into heroine Melinda’s adventures, but I expect all those bad boy fantasies to be satisfied by book’s end. Annika Martin also writes laugh-out-loud dialogue to go with the hot sex, which makes this book doubly fun. Who says erotica and romance has to be so serious, anyway?
I read Beth Kery’s brand-spanking-new, Glimmer, during the Convention. As with every Beth Kery novel, just when I thought I had the plot figured out, bam! Plot twist. This book also is hotness incarnate, but a little more sophisticated than most. This author is another one-click buy for me. But I’m especially impressed with this new series she’s started.
Oh, and a bonus read…Spurred (Studs in Spurs) by Cat Johnson. I haven’t read the book (yet). But I did stare at her covers on the elevator banks every day. Anyone who puts that much male nipple action out there deserves an honorable mention at the very least. Bring on the ranch hands!
The RT Booklovers Convention is in Las Vegas next year. Who’s going with me? (Bring an extra suitcase.)
May 28, 2015
A Hand in the Bush: The Art of Vaginal Fisting
by Madeline Iva
I went to Chicago over Memorial Day Weekend. Lurv Chicago! Down in Andersonville, a Swedish/Persian neighborhood I enjoyed falafel with fesenjan – a pomegranate walnut sauce. (I almost died with pleasure.) I was out with my friend–who dragged me over to this tiny sex store she’s been dying to check out for months.
Well *that* was fun! So many dildos, so little time!
Whether you like alien style penetration,
For some folks, it’s not fun unless it looks like it came from another planet.
or prefer the more ‘natural’ look,
or the Betty White discount dildos bucket — you’ll be a happy camper in this shop.
The pic of Betty White kills me!
It’s such a small store, but has so much to offer. Not just the more pricey items like lingerie, paddles, ropes, a sling set, but also some icy-cooling balm for the nipples call Nip Zip. Siam Circus 2 Pack Sensuva Nip Zip Ice Cube Chilling Cooling Nipple Balm Chocolate Mint
(I’ve also heard sucking on a spearmint life saver before oral can make for a low-cost tingling-cooling experience as well.)
Finally –I saw this fascinating little book:A Hand in the Bush: The Fine Art of Vaginal Fisting
Slack jawed, I looked closer. While the title couldn’t be better–the black glove made me squicky with curiosity — (???) Yet I thought the book worth mentioning. Apparently vaginal fisting is not just for queer folk anymore. Here’s what Goodreads says:
Vaginal fisting – the intimate, potent sexual act of gradually inserting the entire hand into the vagina is an increasingly popular form of sexplay among lesbians, bisexuals and heterosexuals alike. Now, for the first time, an experienced fister and fistee explains in detail how to fist with the greatest possible safety and pleasure. Extensively illustrated, this long-awaited guide by Deborah Addington has been approved by three fisting-positive physicians and by many experienced practitioners. Also includes an eye-opening section of anecdotes and poetry by fisting-lovers, plus an extensive resource guide. A must-have “handbook” for the sexually explorative! (bold quotes my own.)
THREE fisting-positive physicians! Well — you can’t beat that, can ya? ; >
So, if you’re looking for something new and fun to try when it’s summer time and the living is easy, check out this book and check out that cooling balm. Think twice, though, before googling images for the term vaginal fisting. (Just sayin’.)
Stay cool — and follow us this summer at LadySmut.com for a little afternoon delight. Have you signed up for our Goodreads anthology giveaway? You can right HERE.
