Fall Into Smut Returns!

[Jgrace]

I'm loving this thread. It's so good to have a laugh while drinking my morning coffee. (Reading the news makes me want to go back to bed and pull the covers up)

Put me down for a subscription to the Smut Highlights reel.

[Kristen]

Well... I got to the smut of my book and it's delightful! Though no good euphemisms just yet, nuts :-)

[Olivermagnus]

Night After Night - Lauren Blakely - 3 Stars

Julia is a sassy and confident part owner of the Cubic Z bar in San Francisco. Clay is a successful entertainment lawyer in New York. Clay walks into Julia's bar and sparks fly.

Clay has been burned in the past and he is very anti-secrets in a relationship. Julia just happens to have a secret, one that is dangerous, that she is keeping close to her because she doesn’t want anyone to get hurt.

The storyline was actually decent for a romance novel, but the main characters needed more development and it's obvious the storyline will take place over three books. This one definitely ends in a cliffhanger.

The intimacy scenes of the book are explosive but eventually become repetitive. I doubt I continue with the series but this author has lots of fans.

I was disappointed in this as a Fall Into Smut selection. There's lots of erotic and creative type sex but it just became too repetitive after awhile. There were no funny euphemisms and it ended in a cliffhanger. I decided to go back to the Jilted Brides Honeymoon Club next month.

[Theresa]

There's real skill needed to write good smut that doesn't just become repetitive and frankly boring, causing one to skip over it. Also to keep it hot and steamy in book after book. I personally don't like predictability in my smut reading - I'll just reread a favorite for that, thank you.

The last couple of posts reminded me of a cozy mystery - zero smut sadly - set in Tuscany where a recently retired police detective is attending a writing seminar in a villa outside Florence. He's planning to write historical fiction set in Tuscany in his retirement and as a retirement gift, his squad gives him this writing seminar. Only it's also a joke as it not an ordinary writing seminar, but one for those who want to write erotica. Now the murder mystery is of course straight and serious, but the seminar is a riot from who is attending (and reflecting who really is writing all erotica) to some of the seminar workshops -- I dare you not to cry with laughter over the discussion over the merits of different descriptions for panties -- and differences between Brits and Americans. Our MC is of course beyond uncomfortable and embarassed.

I do recommend it - as a cozy mystery - Murder in Tuscany by T.A. Williams - who is male and also writes romances I believe.

[Kristen]

Just finished - what a delightfully smutty little novella! I listened to the audiobook version and the voice actors were top notch - especially the MMC, Adam Gold. I could listen to his voice on repeat... I'm getting hot flashes just thinking about him :-)

Now I'm on to . I have mixed feelings regarding Sierra Simone so fingers crossed this will be a good book!

[Kristen]

Theresa wrote: "There's real skill needed to right good smut that doesn't just become repetitive and frankly boring, causing one to skip over it. Also to keep it hot and steamy in book after book. I personally don..."

Oh - I love me a cozy mystery. I'll have to add this to my TBR list!!

[Robin P]

Book Riot's newsletter today highlights newish romance bookshops around the world. BC, do you know about https://www.thewellreddamsel.com in Wauwatosa? They call themselves "your local smut dealer"!

Romances, like mysteries, are a category I'll rarely buy as new at a bookstore. They are too quick a read for the money. I buy them used or as sale ebooks, or sometimes audio if I especially like the narrator.

[Theresa]

I'm thinking the Wisconsin members need to visit The Well Red Damsel and give an in-person report.

The single best reviewed independent bookstore in NYC is also only a couple years old - and is dedicated to romance novels of all kinds: the East Coast The Ripped Bodice Bookstore, located in Brooklyn. It is a delight and lauded for the customer service as well as everything else. It's time I make another visit myself.

[Kristen]

Theresa wrote: "I'm thinking the Wisconsin members need to visit The Well Red Damsel and give an in-person report.

The single best reviewed independent bookstore in NYC is also only a couple years old - and is d..."

I'm on Long Island and have been meaning to take a trip over to The Ripped Bodice. I'm going to be in Brooklyn in a few weeks and may have to take a detour. I'll keep you all posted.

[Theresa]

Kristen wrote: "Theresa wrote: "I'm thinking the Wisconsin members need to visit The Well Red Damsel and give an in-person report.

The single best reviewed independent bookstore in NYC is also only a couple year..."

It's delightful and area has excellent restaurants even a French Bakery up the street to restore yourself after the sensory overload of so much to look at. Lovely flower shop across the street. I represent a coop across the street as general counsel. The husband of the board president stops into the shop to buy surprise books for his wife -- and he always raves about it!

[Kristen]

Theresa wrote: "Kristen wrote: "Theresa wrote: "I'm thinking the Wisconsin members need to visit The Well Red Damsel and give an in-person report.

The single best reviewed independent bookstore in NYC is also on..."

I would love if my boyfriend would go there to buy me surprise books :-)!!! I will have to inception the idea into his brain.

And thanks for the info on the French bakery and flower shop - I may have to make a whole day trip out of visiting this area.

[Theresa]

Plus you won't want to be rushed in the shop!

[Kristen]

A bit off topic, but have you ever been to Green-Wood Cemetery? Since you mentioned you live in that area. If not, you should definitely take a day trip there, it is a lovely place to spend the day, with many gothic headstones and crypts. They hold festivals, parades, and tours if your interested. If you like Halloween they also have a spookish festival in the evening called "Nightfall". This will be my first year attending, I hear it's wonderful.

[Theresa]

Kristen wrote: "A bit off topic, but have you ever been to Green-Wood Cemetery? Since you mentioned you live in that area. If not, you should definitely take a day trip there, it is a lovely place to spend the day..."

I keep meaning to take a tour but never have. One of these days I will. I actually enjoy old cemeteries - even visited some famous ones such a Pere Lachaise in Paris. When we took Sunday drives as a kid, we often ended up at old cemeteries just over the border in Central PA checking for relatives (my mother was from a large Irish family in Wyalusing, PA that emigrated here in the 1930s). I think that's where my interest originated.

I live on the UWS of Manhattan. I really need to move Green-wood up on my list! I had no idea about Halloween! A friend lives not far from Greenwood (it's so large - more than one do but one is very close). I'll have to ask if she ever has gone.

Feel free to post your impressions after your visit in Kaffeklatsch! Love to hear them.

[Algernon (Darth Anyan)]

Faking It
My second 'smut' pick was even more fun than my first, but I cheated a little because I was already familiar with Jennifer Crusie
For me, laughter is always the secret ingredient for great action in bed, or in a closet ...

I have to get out more , she thought. Six months of celibacy and she was swapping tongues with burglars in the middle of felonies.

Tilda Goodnight is a good girl. Or at least she is trying very hard to be one, when she doesn’t stumble upon dangerous men while she tries to steal valuable paintings. She is the main support of her family, pimping out her talent for commercial wall paintings that imitate classic masterpieces. The Goodnights own an art gallery that isn’t selling anything. There’s an explanation why, but it’s better to arrive at the answer at the pace set by the author. Right now, all we need to know is that Tilda sneaks into the house of a wealthy art collector, who happens to have a hot fiance named Clea.
Davy Dempsey is not a good guy, but he’s [probably] redeemable. He’s a conman, a burglar, a card-sharp and pool hustler with a taste for blonde bombshells. And he’s mad as hell after his former girlfriend Clea emptied his bank account with help from a crooked accountant named Rabbit. So Davy sneaks back into Clea’s house to steal back the money he initially stole himself from the woman.
... and there happens to be a closet in that dark house.

If you think this is complicated, wait until you meet the rest of the cast.
There’s Gwen, the owner of the gallery, mother to Matilda and Eve and grandmother to teenager Nadine. Then it starts ‘raining men’ in the household, including a probable hit man. To say nothing of the dog named Steve...

full review here
Because I run a little long in commenting on the book, I will only include here a few candidates for Smut Highlight Reel. They are even raunchier when put into context.

Davy’s kiss tasted like vodka and disaster, and even while she kissed him back, Tilda thought, I’m never going into a closet with this man again

There was a possibility that he would lose his shirt to this woman. With a great deal of enthusiasm.

Behind her, Betty Everett sang, “It’s in his kiss,” and Tilda relaxed into the familiar lyric and Davy’s unfamiliar mouth.

“Fifteen minutes,” Davy said. “Time me.”

“You’re in a long-term relationship with an appliance,” Davy said.
“Hey,” Tilda straightened. “I never have to talk to it, it never makes me feel embarrassed, and it never lets me down.”
[...] “Look, this is not a problem. I’m an open minded man. How about a threesome?”
“What?” Tilda said, outraged.
“You, me, and the machine,” Davy said.

“Men tend to miss women who get to the handcuff stage by the second night.”

“If I win, we play Space Invaders.”

“Does she still do the thing with the feathers and the ice cube?”
“What?”
“Oh, Rabbit, don’t tell me you gave her three million dollars and she never pulled out the feather and the ice cube.”

“Con me,” she said.
“I’ll respect you in the morning.”

So, if you want to learn how men are like doughnuts or muffins, give this story a spin. You might also like the earlier Welcome to Temptation, which I think is even wilder and steamier.

[Theresa]

I love Jennifer Crusie's books as much because they are funny as for any other reason. I also love the ones she's written with her husband - Agnes and the Hitman is a favorite.

I started following her on Facebook during the pandemic as she reported about her and Bob's writing process on a couple of upcoming books. Her posts were HILARIOUS!

[Book Concierge]

Theresa wrote: "I'm thinking the Wisconsin members need to visit The Well Red Damsel and give an in-person report.

The single best reviewed independent bookstore in NYC is also only a couple years old - and is d..."

Well, neither Hubby nor I is cleared for driving yet, so it will be a while before I can scope out the Well Red Damsel. But I will check to see if they had any major flood damage last month. Some areas of Wauwatosa had serious damage (like millions of dollars, failed foundations, etc).