Best Women's Erotica 2015

by Violet Blue (Editor), Malin James (Contributor), Rachel Woe (Contributor)

Women and desire are the focus of this lust-filled literary exploration.

Violet Blue has her finger on the pulse of sex and culture today and is an in-demand sexpert sought after by the likes of Dan Savage, Forbes Magazine, Oprah Winfrey and everyone in between. There is no one more in tune with what women want and, especially, what female readers want.

Love, romance, and risk run rampant in this volume, expertly curated by Violet Blue, and she leaves no holds barred in stories that will steam up your reading glasses.

From first time encounters to break-up sex, couples rekindling their spark and long-time partners engaging in game-changing experimentation, Best Women's Erotica 2015 guarantees the best erotica for women of the year (if not the decade).

Contents:
The ghostwriter / Valerie Alexander --
Roxanne / Tasmin Flowers --
Click-Click-Click / Annabeth Leong --
Star fucker / Malin James --
The art treacher / Rachel Woe --
Gwendolyn and Mario go to Philadelphia / Gwendolyn Kansen --
Accidental transmission / Beatrix Ellroy --
Groped / Lana Fox --
Postcards from Paris / Giselle Renarde --
Magic tricks / Sue Lenèe Cix --
The kissing party / Rachel Kramer Bussel --
A not-so-subtle spice / Alison Tyler --
Tryst of fate / Lydia Hill --
Triplet trouble / JT Louder --
The unrequited orgasm / Dani Bauter --
The dancer / Evey Brett --
More light / Laila Blake --
The seven ravens / Ariel Graham.

Genres: Erotica, Anthologies, Short Stories

222 pages, Paperback

First published December 16, 2014

About the author

Violet Blue has authored and edited over 40 books, including five (Bronze, Silver and Gold) IPPY award-winners, some of which are now in eight translations. Violet was a guest on the Oprah Winfrey Show, when Ms. Winfrey featured Violet's book on women and pornography (11/17/09). That book is also excerpted and featured on Oprah Winfrey's website, as well as in O, The Oprah Magazine.

Violet owns and operates Digita Publications (digitapub.com), an indie digital publisher of e-books and audio books. Rather than a royalty system, Digita books share all sales with the authors fairly and transparently, featuring books in both DRM-free versions and for Kindle on Amazon.

Her online sexuality blog, Tiny Nibbles, is one of the Internet's longest-running sex blogs, and has won many accolades and awards. For her day job, Ms. Blue is a journalist on hacking, crime, cybersecurity, privacy, and at-risk populations for outlets ranging from Engadget to CNET, and occasionally outlets like CBS News, CNN and O the Oprah Magazine.

Reviews

[MsRomanticReads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5

*Complimentary ARC provided by the publisher for the purpose of an honest review.

18 scorching hot stories with a little bit of everything. Most of the stories were M/F, but there were also F/F, F/M/M/M and M/M. The majority of these stories were terrific, but I found some stand out favorites. Also, I filled in some of the blurbs where I couldn't find any on the author's websites or on the back cover.

The Ghostwriter by Valerie Alexander

A female ghostwriter indulges a wealthy businessman, and he uses her for far more creative purposes than just writing—even loaning her out to his business associates.

Tags: Contemporary, BDSM, CEO, Hero: 58, Heroine: 28, Humiliation, Anal sex, Multiple partners

Very hot and sensual, not just in terms of sex, but the hero had charisma. I could see why she fell under his spell. Despite him coming across as aloof, the heroine and the reader could feel that she was safe and that he cherished her in his own way.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Roxanne by Tamsin Flowers

A modern take on Cyrano de Bergerac.

Tags: Contemporary, NA, College, F/F

It was a cute story, even though I don’t read NA or F/F. It was fun to see Syra “speak” to Roxanne through Christian’s texts, and Roxanne (the class beauty with brains) was clever enough to figure out the game.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Click-Click-Click by Annabeth Leong

For five years, a woman has loved the attention and artful photographs her voyeur has bestowed on her. But she’s ready to take their game to The next level.

Tags: Contemporary, M/F, Voyeurism, Exhibitionism

This was very erotic and tastefully executed. By establishing that this woman and Ron had this silent but consensual agreement, he didn’t come across as a creepy stalker type. It seemed she cared on some level about Ron since she doubted her new plan to spice things up for a split second. The ending was open-ended, but I’d like to think they grew closer afterward.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Star Fucker by Malin James

A writer, a famous actor and a mirrored elevator.

Tags: Contemporary, M/F, Hollywood actor, Author

I loved it! Who wouldn’t dream of having their favorite actor’s focus on them in a room full of people and a quickie in an elevator? Vivian was a confident woman, and Michael wasn’t a star with a huge ego. Their encounter in the elevator was so hot, mainly because the removing of clothes and heart-pounding sex occurred in the time it took to descend 25 floors. The phrase racing towards climax fit here perfectly. I was impressed, and I would read more books by this author.

Rating: 5 out of 5

The Art Teacher by Rachel Woe

A grudgingly virginal high school senior with a crush on her art teacher.

Tags: Contemporary, M/F, Teacher-Student, Taboo, Hero: 32, Heroine: 18, Virgin Heroine, Voyeurism

This was another hot story, even though Mireille and Mr. Thompson didn’t have sex. She starts out as a shy girl, testing the waters to see if her art teacher will take the bait. What she witnesses instead and what she decides to do with that knowledge gives her boost of (sexual) confidence she didn’t have a few hours ago. I really enjoyed this saucy tale.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Gwendolyn and Mario Go to Philadelphia by Gwendolyn Kansen

A girl finally gets the boy she can’t have and more on a spur of the moment trip.

Tags: Contemporary, M/F/M, M/M/F, Unrequited love, Bisexual, Gay, Anal

The most emotion came through from reading how Gwendolyn tried to immerse herself in the sensations of having sex with her friend Mario and realizing that it hadn’t changed their dynamics at all.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Accidental Transmission by Beatrix Ellroy

A hacker finds himself in a predicament when he accidentally leaves his webcam on —and his female chat partner won’t let him off the hook.

Tags: Contemporary, M/F, Voyeurism

When you video chat, it’s always a good idea to make sure the web cam is off when you’re done. The mini blurb on the back cover says hacker, but that wasn’t the case. Nice, steamy story.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Groped by Lana Fox

A woman becomes determined to find a dirty stranger to feel her up on the subway, and with the help of a clever and resourceful friend, she gets what she wants.

Tags: Contemporary, M/F

The blurb says it all.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Postcards from Paris by Giselle Renarde

A woman and her two lovers play an electrifying humiliation game that tests the limits of both pleasure and taste.

Tags: Contemporary, M/F/M

This wasn’t my cup of tea. While I believed all the characters involved were very much into their game, I couldn’t stop laughing. I’m not sure that reaction was appropriate, however some descriptions and wording took it from serious to hilarious.

Rating: 2 out of 5

Magic Tricks by Sue Lenee Cix

These young lovers widen their horizons with a new type of kink.

Tags: M/F, Pegging

A very well-written story, and I liked the open honesty between May and Danny. He wanted to try something different, and his sheepishness of indirectly asking for it was cute. May was adventurous and didn’t make fun of his wish. If anything, she found some benefits as well.

Rating: 3 out of 5

The Kissing Party by Rachel Kramer Bussel

A couple’s evening of public sex and power exchange is an orgiastic escape from everyday life.

Tags: Contemporary, Married couple, M/F, F/F, Kink

I really enjoyed Belinda and Derek’s sexy evening out. I’m kind of glad tat the best was reserved solely for those two and didn’t include strangers or a third party. The way he took her in the alley was hot.

Rating: 4 out of 5

A Not-So-Subtle Spice by Alison Tyler

A bored housewife decides to play out a favorite fantasy while her husband is at work. But he returns home early.

Tags: Contemporary, M/F, Married couple, Figging, Role-playing

This was a fun and sexy story. Bonnie discovered an old book of erotic stories that fueled her imagination and offered a diversion from her somewhat boring love life. Don’t misunderstand, she loved her husband, Henry. But he was rather simple in his ways and adventurous sex was probably the furthest thing from his mind. She was petty bold to plan all the details of secretly fulfilling her fantasy, and when he caught her red-handed, it was pretty priceless. I loved that he played along and indulge her as well as himself, and most importantly, he didn’t make her feel ashamed.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Tryst of Fate by Lydia Hill

A woman’s car breaks down in the middle of nowhere. Stranded overnight at a run-down motel, she is inexplicably drawn to the raw masculinity of the night manager.

Tags: Contemporary, M/F, Strangers, Rough sex, Oral

Loved it! This tryst was ridiculously hot, made even better by the twist at the end. If you insist that fictional characters use condoms, especially when they're strangers having sex, then you might not like this one.

Rating: 5 out of 5

Triplet Trouble by JT Louder

When a college student learns that her fiancé and sexual soul mate has two (almost) identical twin brothers, the scandalous romp that ensues doesn’t sacrifice heat for tenderness.

Tags: Contemporary, M/F, F/M/M/M, NA, Triplets, Virgin hero

Another super hot story. Well-written and without immature (college-aged) dialogue or angst.

Rating: 5 out of 5

The Unrequited Orgasm by Dani Bauter

Lucy discovers what it’s like to become the mistress of a husband as well as his wife.

Tags: Contemporary, The Other woman/Mistress, Cheating husband, F/F, Bisexual

Okay, don’t freak out about the cheating husband bit if that’s something that turns you off in general. The story is told from the mistress’ POV, Lucy. The moment she met Lina, Brady’s wife, she called it quits with him and became friends with Lina. Then Lina found out about the affair and confronted her. I suppose Lina’s actions afterwards was supposed to indicate a sort of revenge sex? I may have missed a point, or if there was some significance that Lina was no stranger to “lesbian stuff”. Overall, it was a steamy read.

Rating: 3 out of 5

The Dancer by Evey Brett

I DNF this one. I stopped reading a few pages in because I just couldn’t get into it. Perhaps it’s my loss, and it was probably a great story. I just wasn’t feeling it at the time.


More Light by Laila Blake

Lights, camera, passion. Two friends discover more than just their mutual passion for photography.

Tags: Contemporary, M/F, Friends to Lovers

Oh my, this was sensual. I loved the scene setting as these two friends and colleagues turned their cameras on each other. The writing felt artistically beautiful to me.

(previously published in Best Erotic Romance 2014 from Cleis Press)

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

The Seven Ravens by Ariel Graham

A woman’s fantasies of humiliation and punishment turn into reality.

Tags: PNR

Cecily breaks a curse her father had placed on his once best friend's family. Very hot!

(previously published in A Princess Bound: Naughty Fairy Tales for Women from Cleis Press)

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

[Sonia · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF @ about 50%. This is just gross, and lord knows I'm no prude. Why is this "women's erotica"? I object to the idea that women always want different things than men in erotica/porn anyway, but this collection is also heavy on scenarios that are basically rape fantasies with no discussion of parameters (so much for safe/sane/consensual?) as well as super-cliche. We can do better than this. People do better than this.

[BookAddict ✒ La Crimson Femme · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review is a long time coming and a fitting end for the month of May. When it comes to seeing a book edited or compiled by Violet Blue, I expect to have mind blowing erotic scenes. This sexy collection meets and exceeds my expectations. The last story is the one which makes a lasting impression.

To read the rest of my review, click on the image below to see it on my website on or after May 31, 2021.

[Charlotte Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Erotic fiction is not for everyone. I like my erotic classy and fun. In this collection of short erotic stories the reader will find first times, break-up, make-up, same sex, rekindling, and game play; just to name a few.

Since this book was a printed copy for me, I kept it locked up in my bedroom. It is not for faint of heart or those who are innocent. It is an adult story book, with only adult themes. I was not even comfortable taking it out of my house and into public. I know which friends I have that will enjoy this and cannot wait to discuss some of the short stories after they have read it.

While many of the stories fall in what I would consider classy, there were a few that I had to skip. I don’t feel bad about that, I accept that everyone has different tastes and what I enjoy reading is not always what others enjoy.

I liked that Best Women’s Erotica is a great collection of stories. It is easy to pick up, read a few, and then put it down. I actually found that when I read only one or two at a time I enjoyed them even more. I was able to pick up another book, totally different, and break up my reading time between the two books.

This is a book I will recommend by erotic readers check out.

[Janine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m a big fan of erotic anthologies and Violet Blue’s Best Women’s Erotica collections are never disappointing. Varied collection of sexy, steamy short stories. Perfect to read alone or to your significant other. Recommend.

[drowningmermaid · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like a lot of collections, a really mixed bag. As with a lot of sex-stuff, the really mixed bag includes everything from "memorably sexy" to "incomprehensible" all the way down to "scarringly vile."

[Vivian · Rating 3 out of 5]

50/50 good and bad.

[Shannon Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this for book club, and so I finished it, but I think otherwise I might have abandoned it midway through. There were definitely things in here that I found hot, or at least interesting, but too many of the stories and vignettes relied too heavily on cliches -- and not in new or fun ways -- to set the scene. And while I appreciate a collection that aims at women and their needs, I have been spoiled by too many years of smart, strong writing on the Internet -- about all kinds of relationships -- to think that these stories were particularly naughty or transgressive or insightful.

[Koozebane · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars, read for the #paperbacksummer challenge.

This year's edition feels a little bleaker in tone to me (though not as much as some of the very dark editions edited by Marcy Sheiner back in the '90s). This is either because of hopeless scenarios (such as the one-sided desire portrayed in "Gwendolyn and Mario Go To Philadelphia") or endings that don't offer the expected pleasurable resolution ("Postcards From Paris"). Then again, there is an intriguing array of plotlines, and there are some more lighthearted and sensual pieces included (such as "Magic Tricks").

[Courtney · Rating 2 out of 5]

As with most anthologies, not everyone is going to like everything. However, most of the stories weren't as hot as ones from previous Best Women's Erotica books. I only found 4 of the stories really interesting, so that's why I'm only giving two stars. If something I was uncomfortable with was included in a story, I had to skip past it entirely. I'm hoping for a better collection with next year's anthology.

[SunshineGirl79 · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice mixer of erotic short stories. Skipped some because of style/theme.

[Michel · Rating 2 out of 5]

In a few words: not enough lust, too many clichés.