Best Women’s Erotica 2014

If your only experience with erotica is a “certain trilogy” (as more than one character in this collection calls it), you may not be prepared for the high quality of storytelling and character development in a Violet Blue collection of erotica. These17 stories, written by women, for women, are hardcore, well-crafted, literate, and steamy.

There is a story here for every taste and kink. There’s BDSM, there’s fantasy elf-play, there’s anonymous sex. Couples evolve, fall in love, satisfy each other selflessly; the entire volume is peopled with eager (if sometimes shy), generous, sex-positive partners. In one story, a woman frets that her hunky new boyfriend will not appreciate the sex toys she has hidden in her closet – sharing with him, however, cements their relationship and improves their lovemaking. In “Chrysalis,” lust between a powerful lawyer and a feminine pre-op transsexual deepens into love. One of the best stories is the luscious, poetic, mouth-watering “Nyotaimori,” in which a young woman is bound and used as a platter for a meal of sushi.

If your only experience with erotica is that “certain trilogy,” you deserve better. Pick up this collection (or, really, any of the previous nine volumes), because you won’t be able to put it down. Except to, well, you know.