Three firefighters ready for anything. One woman ready for everyone. The perfect set-up for a hot game between friends—and it’s New York Times bestselling author Maya Banks at her incendiary best.Zoe Michaels may be in a committed relationship with her boyfriend, Chase , but there’s no lack of heat between her and her other two roommates, Brody and Tate . After all, the three guys are all firefighters . Then one night, Chase reveals his number one for Zoe to perform an everything-goes striptease in front of his buddies . A turn-on for them means a turn-on for him. And for Zoe? It proves to be even more, and it opens the door for a secret desire all her own to come true. Includes a preview of Maya’s new novel Echoes at Dawn.Previously published in Four Play
Maya Banks is the #1 New York Times, #1 USA Today and international bestselling author of over 50 novels. A wife and mother of three, she lives in Texas.
This is a typical Maya Banks story in that it starts out hot, but eventually I'm cringing at what poor Zoe is going through. I was hoping at the very least that the guys bought her a gallon of cranberry juice and maybe one of those donut pillows to sit on for a few days.
And when they decided to make it a permanent arrangement, I couldn't help but think that in a couple of months Zoe was going to look like a cowboy who's spent 30 years on the back of a horse.
After some less than successful erotic romance, I picked up Pillow Talk. Originally published as part of the Four Play anthology, it has now been released separately by Penguin as an eSpecial. While Ms. Banks' books don't always work super well for me, I find her a reliable read, particularly in the erotic department and this was no exception. Zoe and Chase are a couple and share a house with Brody and Tate. The 3 men work together as firefighters and Zoe is an ER nurse. During some sexy post (and mid) coital discussions, Chase and Zoe discover each other's fantasies. Zoe gives Chase the birthday present of a lifetime and afterwards, Chase reciprocates with some group sex involving his most trusted friends. As an erotic story it works very well. It's pretty darn sexy and there is definite connection between all the characters (although, sadly no m/m action). As a romance, it was a little less successful for me. The story ends with the foursome deciding to pursue a permanent menage but the main interest in that for me is the mechanics of it beyond the sex - how do they manage the jealousy (if there is any)? how do they each get time with Zoe? How does Zoe not feel overwhelmed and exhausted? How do each of the guys feel, in the longer term, about having to share Zoe three ways? How does Brody and Tate feel in that Chase has had the longer relationship? Is there a "primacy" to Chase and Zoe's relationship? If not, how does Chase feel about that? There wasn't time in a novella for those issues to be developed, but I'd love to read a book like that which dealt with those issues. As an erotic palate cleanser, it delivered the reliable sexy read I was after.
There is plenty of sex in this one. And for some of it, i was starting to wonder if there was enough plot glue to hold this together. It felt thin and the story was a mere vehicle the writer was using to describe a series of sex fantasies. The drama part came around later in the book. I thought it was okay overall. I think i wanted more plot and less sexual exploitation. Good not great for me.
This was inexplicably hot. Be prepared for steamy & wild fantasies.
Stories where the fmc is already dating one of the men before the other guys are introduced into the dynamic is typically too angsty for me and not my cuppa tea, however Maya Banks wrote it well. 🔥🔥
I would’ve loved for this to be a full length novel to get to know all the guys personalities more.
This actually started off pretty decent, considering the whole book is written in third person (I HATE third person povs so badly). It’s a well known fact that I’m a sucker for all things smut, reverse harem and firefighters so this definitely could’ve been the perfect read for me…but it wasn’t.
It was sooo prolonged and sitting at only 180 something pages I normally could’ve finished this in about an hour yet it literally took forever to read which made me start to dislike it even more.
I did like the idea of all the characters trying to define their “relationship” and figure out how it was going to work. But the third person POV really threw me off. I also just realized that this was written back in 2012, 12 years ago, so big props to the author for writing some pretty decent smut :)
Zoe Michaels lives with her boyfriend, Chase Hilliard, and their two best friends, Brody McNamara and Tate Winslow. Zoe and Chase have an extraordinary sex life and often shared their most sensual sexual fantasies at night. After Zoe creates one of Chase's fantasies for his birthday, he decides to reciprocate with a fantasy involving additional men. He involves Brody and Chase in the adventure.
The title of the anthology is appropriate for this story as it involves the relationship between the Zoe, Chase and their two roommates. It goes well beyond a menage scenario as they continue to explore other fantasies. Chase and Zoe are completely uninhibited but the relationships begin to strain after a while.
It's well written and the complexity of the characters make it interesting beyond the sexual exploits. This is as sexually explicit a story as I've ever read so take that as a warning if that makes you uncomfortable. The emotional strains placed on each of them will surprise you and draw you into the story. It is well done.
Note that characters from Seducing Simon appear in this story.
I knew going in that this was taboo.. but I think I bit off more than I could chew with this one.
Don't get me wrong.. The sex? It was smoking hot!!!! But they get a bit carried away in fantasy land and personally.. I eventually cringed coz Zoe's vajayjay took some serious beatings... after some of the scenes I was amazed that she could even walk!!! LoL
Here’s a personal, first-person style review, written as if it’s your own voice: Pillow Talk by Maya Banks felt bold, daring, and completely unfiltered. It’s one of those books that doesn’t ease you in it pulls you straight into desire, fantasy, and curiosity without apology. From the very beginning, the story makes it clear that this isn’t about slow romance or gentle emotions; it’s about want, exploration, and crossing lines you never thought you would. What stood out to me most was how fearless the book is. Zoe’s character embodies curiosity and confidence in a way that feels both empowering and unsettling. There’s something fascinating about watching a woman question her limits and then choose, consciously, to step beyond them. The story doesn’t judge her it simply lets her want what she wants, and that honesty is refreshing. That said, this book is driven far more by heat than by emotional depth. The connections are intense, but they’re physical first, emotional second. I found myself less invested in where the characters would end up and more caught up in the moment-to-moment tension and indulgence. It reads like a fantasy you slip into briefly rather than a love story you carry with you. Pillow Talk isn’t soft or sentimental, and it doesn’t try to be. It’s provocative, unapologetic, and meant to be felt rather than analyzed. When I finished it, I didn’t feel changed but I did feel entertained, intrigued, and slightly breathless. It’s the kind of book you read when you want to escape rules, expectations, and restraint, even if only for a few pages.
The truth is that I am interested in this type of erotic stories but what I cannot understand is that a woman's fantasies are so macho and some misogynistic ways of thinking. It is assumed that if it is a book written by a woman for other women, I don't think that those types of fantasies that Zoe has can be part of the feminine thought in general and in several sexual scenes one could speak of doubtful consent. Not to mention that if a man really loves a woman, let her be used as if she were an inflatable doll (even if it is what she wants). I would have liked them to deepen the relationship between the 4 of them. How their friendship began, when Zoe began dating Chase. When she began to feel things for them and vice versa. How will the relationship work in the future. It leaves a lot of things that could have enriched the plot instead of just erotic fantasies and sex with some drama.
Definitely not for me. This was basically entirely sex and it was not particularly romantic. This was a multiple partner story and it is such a weird dynamic. It was just a little bizarre that the relationship goes from 2 people to 4 people within the course of the story. The starting characters are already “in love” but the main guy says that he loves the heroine because she never pushes him to take her and their relationship seriously. Basically just totally sex with absolutely no romance. I did not really care about the story and I could not connect with the characters or understand their reasoning throughout the story.
2.5 I don't think I really like reverse harem or maybe it's that I need to read them occasionally. Because I had just read one before this and it was just too much. It took a quick turn at the end although, you could tell chemistry was there. Their fantasies were odd, like it was all about them being with other people instead of with each other. Watching your partner with someone else doesn't seem that fun to me. But it they were imagining the roommates, I guess it makes sense?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
There's lots of sex in this book. Zoe and Chase are in a committed relationship, but Zoe's fantasies soon include Brody and Tate. They start off with a bang when she performs a striptease for the firefighters that are friends of Chase. And it gets wild from there.
Zoe and Chase love each other but the times with his and her roommates just gets more involved from there. I must say that Zoe is definitely a sexual being.
Esto si que fue raro jsjajas, primero leí una parte aleatoria para ver qué onda ay termine enganchadome , fue la primera vez que leí algo de este estilo y creooo que no lo volvería a leer por un tiempo jaja , fue todo muy bizarro si se podría decir de esa manera akasja Está bueno para reírse un poco de todo lo que sucede pero nada más jasjja En fin estuvo bueno
3.75 stars Looking for smut and little plot? This is just the book for you. With a friends to lovers added into the mix, I enjoyed it more because there was more chemistry and love between the characters.
I am a Maya Banks fan, many of her books I have read more than once. This book is written very differently, so much so I almost wonder if someone was writing for her, it certainly was not up to her usual standards. I was/am quite disappointed.
this is not RH, more like RFOAM aka "rape fantasy of a man" (it's unbelievable that a woman wrote it and descriebed it as the "fantasy" of the woman's...the whole book actually seems to be more of a dark, twisted "fantasy" of a male). It's really disturbing and nausating...