| Title | : | The Sexy Librarians Big Book of Erotica |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1627780653 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781627780650 |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 336 |
| Publication | : | First published August 12, 2014 |
The Sexy Librarians Big Book of Erotica Reviews
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lots of steamy stories in here. i highly recommend.
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**disclaimer; I have a short story in this collection, so my review is for the other stories
Everyone, and I do mean everyone, has talked about the little library cards inside the book, and I'm going to as well, because they're really nifty! Each card is like one of those old paper card catalog you used to find in libraries back before the 90's and everything moved to microfiche and then to computers. I kinda miss those old cards.... they gave you a lot of details in a small amount of space and let you pick out new ideas.
The cards in Sexy Librarians serve the same purpose; letting you sift through the book to find just what you're looking for, right now.
I've read a lot of the other reviews and seen the stories that appeal to other readers, so I'm going to talk about one in particular that I favored: The Whole of Me by Katya Harris. I'd never heard of this writer before, but her appealing little sci-fi story really got me. I felt a lot of sympathy for the main character, but then, the secondary character really got me. Because I know just what that's like, discovering that the Whole of You isn't what someone else actually wanted.
Clara is dying of cancer, and her husband, Shaun, wants to hold onto those memories as long as possible. He downloads her into his mind so that he can keep her with him. But little does he know that memories make us what we are, make us who we are, and Clara eventually comes back, as a fully autonomous person, inside Shaun's mind...
Brilliant, unsettling, and extremely hot, The Whole of Me is a story that's going to stick with me for quite a long time. -
The strength and weakness of The Sexy Librarian’s Big Book of Erotica is that it encompasses so many styles of writing and genres. Contemporary. Sci-Fi. Horror. Steampunk. Speculative Fiction. It’s all here.
Will you like this anthology? To answer that, I’m going to give micro reviews to my favorite nine stories. (Yes, nine. I had so much trouble trying to pick three–my usual review style–that I decided to highlight all nine).
Sensate Silicone by Lilian Douglas
If you’re a woman who has ever used a strap-on, you’ve probably wondered what it would feel like if the toy were a real cock. Or maybe you’ve just wondered what it feels like for a man when he’s fucking a woman? In this story, tech savvy sex toy inventors have created just that—a strap on that feels like a real cock to the wearer. The descriptions had me squirming in my seat in the best possible way. My biggest complaint is that I can’t go out and buy one now!
Three Legs in the Evening by Janine Ashbless
One of my daughters has a middle name from Greek Mythology. A story premised upon an interview with Oedipus, with the focus on his encounter with the Sphinx instead of Queen Jocasta had me sitting up and paying attention. It’s a really imaginative premise, and the twist at the end had me going back through the story to see if there were any hints I’d missed. Kudos for creativity.
The Secret Game by Chase Morgan
In the author’s section, it’s noted that this is Morgan’s first published story. With well paced sex and a twist ending that gave me a good chuckle, it won’t be his last. Solid contemporary erotica.
POW! It’s Shibari Girl by Tamsin Flowers
I always enjoy Tamsin’s stories. A superhero named Shibari Girl and her encounter with the new villain in town, complete with snappy dialogue made my day.
The Perfect Massage by Olivia Archer
Getting a massage from two men and having things take a sexual turn is a fantasy I’ve entertained more than once while on the table. Archer does a fantastic job of turning fantasy into a sensual story.
Full Frontal Neighbor by Lynn Townsend
I applaud Lynn for submitting and Rose for accepting a story with a plus sized heroine. I’m plus sized, and I don’t often see women who look like me in anthologies that aren’t specifically centered around BBW’s, so it made for an unexpected and welcome suprise. I liked the main character, the voyeurism, and deft way that the encounter between our heroine and the object of her lust is handled. I’d read a full length novel with these characters, Lynn.
The Whole of Me by Katya Harris
I had never read speculative fiction erotica before this story…and now I know I’m missing out. A husband downloads his wife’s memories into his own brain as she lays dying…and a year later finds out he got more than he ever expected. The sex was well written, but for me the real pull of the story came from the idea that you never fully know your partner. Getting access to every last secret corner of someone’s brain is going to be more than you bargained for.
Appetizer by Sommer Marsden
Sommer fulfills a fantasy I never knew I had with this contemporary story. Best. Anniversary. Gift. Ever.
From Greek Myths to Super Heroes to Contemporary Erotica to BDSM and beyond, Rose has pulled together an impressive collection.
***Disclaimer--I received an ARC of this book. All opinions are my own**** -
Cleis Press puts out a lot of erotica anthologies that I truly enjoy, but this one may just be my new favorite. This was my first time reading an anthology put together by Rose Caraway, and after reading this collection I know that I will be reading more of her work.
The Sexy Librarian's Big Book of Erotica consists of 22 short stories that are incredibly diverse. Spanning such erotic genres as fairy tales, Greek classics, sci-fi, and even steampunk, this two hundred something page book truly manages to be its own little library of sexy fun. I love that at the beginning of each story, there's a library-esque card catalog introduction that introduces the story with the title, author, category, and subject. Not only is this incredibly cute and matches the librarian theme of the collection, but it is also exceedingly helpful. It lets you easily flip through the book and pick a book based on your mood and interests at that very moment. Conversely, it allows you to skip stories that you know aren't your erotic interests.
The stories are unconnected, so in addition to easy maneuvering through genres and the like, this means that you do not have to read them in any specific order, or straight through like a regular novel. You can pick and choose, stop and go back, and read in whatever way may tickle your particular fancy. Personally, I went to my favorite genres and kinks first because I'm impatient and the kind of girl who sneaks peeks at her Christmas presents well before Christmas morning.
That being said, I can honestly say that there is no story in this collection that I didn't enjoy. That being said, of course I loved some more than others. I'll share with you my top three stories, in no particular order. "Three Legs in the Evening" by Janine Ashbless is an erotic imagining of Oedipus and the Sphinx that he encountered in the Greek tragedy we all know and love. This one tugged at my Classics minor, and I adored that someone decided to make something, well, classic into an erotic tale. "A Perverted Fairy Tale" by Emily Bingham tells the sizzling story of Little Red, who journeys into the woods in order to seduce a Wolf. I'm a sucker for both fairy tales and werewolves, so this was another home run for me. "Cherries in Season" by KD Grace is a delicious treat about a sexy, sticky romp in the back of a greengrocer that will teach you a whole new way to enjoy cherries. Let's just say I have something new to try out after reading this one.
This collection of short stories is perfect for anyone who is a fan of erotica, period. No matter what genre, sexuality, fetish, or grouping you most enjoy reading about, Rose Caraway has made sure to include a story in here just for you. Be sure to have your partner or extra batteries nearby, though. This is a steamy read that will have you asking for more. I know that I am.
Thank you to Cleis Press who provided me with a copy in exchange for my honest review. This review can also be found on my blog,
Bitches n Prose. -
This book is probably one of the most delightful collections of erotica I've read in a while because it's got something different: variety. Every tale represents different genres and subtopics, all of which are labeled at the start of the story with a clever “old-fashioned” library catalog classification. This special touch not only makes the book fun, but it allows the reader to pick exactly what she or he is in the mood for. Take superheroes, for example. Or sex toys. Or romance. Or...moonshine. (Really!)
But beyond the card classifications, Rose Caraway has done a wonderful job of collecting beautiful, artistic, and oft-literary pieces that take the erotica genre to a whole new level. I have a few favorites, myself. There's Tamsin Flowers's "POW! It's Shibari Girl!", a charming, sassy tale about a superhero who ties her villains up in shibari knots...and one day discovers the bad guys are quite fun to play with. Then there's Angela Caperton's "Mikhael," a voyeuristic, dark supernatural/ghost story written in an incredible literary style. Kristina Wright’s “Vivi and the Magic Man" mixes fantasy and horror with lovely prose to convey a rich gypsy feel, and “The Mating Chamber” by Caraway takes us on a journey through sexy mating customs in a matriarchal society. There were several others that entertained, and overall the book offered something for everyone, no matter her preference. It's truly like visiting your very own sexy library! -
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.
I received this book in the mail yesterday and finished it by 2am. I had not read very many anthologies and was excited to read this book, especially since it was catered to librarians. I am currently pursuing my degree in Library Science and appreciated the small nuances. Each story was prefaced with an antique card catalog that included the title, author, and key themes in the story. I thought it was a nice touch. I enjoyed how diverse this collection was because it included different genres within erotica: horror, science fiction, paranormal, historical, and contemporary. My favorite stories were Three Legs in the Evening (The secret youth of Oedipus), Cherries in Season (An original plot that took place in a farmer's market), and The Mating Chamber (A matriarchal society comprised of warriors who imprisoned different species once a year to continue their race. It was written by the editor.) The story I enjoyed the most was Lauren's Journey by D.L. King, which took place on a spaceship and the humans wore futuristic stasis suits. I had not read erotica that took place in space before and wished this story was longer. All in all, I enjoyed my first anthology and I am happy to add the first book I officially reviewed and enjoyed to my personal library. -
I wish I could give this collection of stories more than five stars as it definitely deserves it! There is a lot of variety among the stories and I found them all to be a turn on in their own way. All were well written and different. I loved the layout of the book, which stuck to the library theme which made me glad that I got the paperback edition. This book will stay proudly on my bookshelf with my other erotic anthologies. Awesome job on this Rose Caraway, I look forward to another great collection!
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Fantastic collection! So eccentric and varied, which you might think would make it an odd book, but actually is part of what makes it amazing. The stories are all so well-written and interesting, full of flavor and character. That they are so different from each other makes them stand out even more. Looking forward to more from Rose Caraway.
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I'd give this 4.5 stars. A few of the stories (maybe three) were too weird for me to get in to, but I truly loved all the rest of them. I don't even know how I'd pick favorites.
What is it about Rose Caraway? Do more talented people submit to her casting calls because she's well known? Or does she just have a special knack for choosing stories? Her anthologies are different from those of other editors. They're in a class all by themselves, true literary erotica.
I think there is something here for everyone, meaning every sub genre of erotica you could dream of. -
I read this book, story by story, over a period of several months. As with any collection, there were stories I liked more than others in the collection. And I think I read "librarian" as meaning there were more stories involving librarians than there were, instead of actually being a librarian-curated style of collection. The curation was well done--while there were several stories I didn't enjoy, there really were a very wide variety of stories, both genre and settings, and they seemed quite well written, even the ones that weren't to my taste. A broad range of sexual orientation and kink were featured too. There should be a little something for anyone in this collection.
I also found the story headings to be really clever. Each story got its own card catalog card, complete not only with author's name and story titles, but also with some keywords.
Here's some of my thoughts on individual stories (some of which have faded a bit, given the long period of time over which I read these stories):
Rachel Kramer Bussel's story Book Swapped was first in order as well as my definite favorite. strangers on a plane, books, and dominance. It was hot.
Lauren's Journey was really creative and imaginative, and fairly hot.Spaceflight, deep sleep, and orgasms. hmm. Sensate Silicone, involving a performer/ sex worker and neurologically linked dildos, also got points for creative, if strange, sci-fi erotica.
Second Look was an intriguing story about allowing a seemingly unattractive coworker to prove himself in bed. I was worried it would be creepy, with a coworker who wouldn't take no for an answer, but it ended up being sweet.
Cherries in Season involved the most creative use of fruit I'd ever heard of, and featured a local produce shop and a handsome clerk. it was cute.
Three Legs in the Evening involved ancient Greece and mythological characters. it gets points for creativity, but was not my favorite.
Vivi and the Magic Man was definitely not to my taste. I'm inclined to nightmares, and the creepiness of the story was not a good choice for me to read immediately before bed. Same with Mikhael. Both involved non-human spiritual entities and sexy times that affected reality. I'll pass. A Perverted Fairy tale did indeed pervert the story of Little Red Riding Hood. Another disturbing story--I couldn't tell if it was meant as bestiality or not, but it was certainly dark.
The Whole of Me involved death and preserving individual consciousness and memory and individual choices and the depths to which grief can drive humans. I found it disturbing too.
I didn't prefer the male written stories. I rarely do. The Contest felt kinda inappropriate--like a thin line between consensual coworkers on a business trip vs. just creepy harassment. The Secret Game was better--married couples keeping things exciting, with a twist at the end. I apparently didn't even read Shades of Desire, both horror/ supernatural AND written by a male. I learned my lesson with the other creepy stories and how they affected my sleep.
Pow, it's Shibari Girl! was a lighthearted story of superheros and supervillains and sex.
Notes on a Scandal incorporated a significant percentage of passages written in second person, which I rarely find enjoyable. the story was a clever concept, though, and there was a librarian!
Taped and Appetizer both involved couples keeping it fresh by involving another person. They were fine, but I didn't love them.
The Perfect Massage was a somewhat sweet story involving loners and voyeurism and a very scarred veteran hero with PTSD and related issues.
The Mating Chamber gets points for a diverse fantasy setting peopled with strong, dark-skinned women, and for being pretty hot. But honestly, regardless of the gender swap, it's about kidnapping and rape and Stockholm syndrome, and that was really distracting. The Skilled Technician also involved sketchy depiction of consent--while I'm guessing a lot of male garage mechanics wouldn't mind being jumped in the midst of their labors, I just wasn't comfortable with the heroine's choices.
Grumbles and misgivings aside, it was overall a very good collection of erotic stories. If you don't mind horror (like I do), you'll probably enjoy the overall collection even more than I did. a good entry into the genre. -
How can one resist a title like that? Why would one even wish to? When the Sexy Librarian beckons, you come running. Or something like that. This is the usual mixed bag that anthologies are wont to be. Some stories are more memorable than others, and probably no two readers will agree as to which are which. Yes, there are explicitly described sex scenes in all of these, mostly hetero or lesbian--pretty much all, in fact, as the only male-male I can recall was implied, not shown. The book is just straight erotica, as opposed to literary erotica, which tends more towards BDSM and is usually so dry and stuffy that the Victorians would consider it overly-repressed. This is more of a healthy, feel-good book of sex stories, many with SF and/or fantasy elements. I was pleased to find this book at my local library, evidence of a healthy sense of humor and fun--and libido, I would suspect--on the part of the local librarians. At the back of the book is a catalog of dozens of erotic anthologies. Wow! I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but I had no idea there was such a vast library of this sort of thing out there (there are several devoted specifically to erotic steampunk stories. It's like fanfiction.net got a publishing deal or something.) It's always a happy moment when I stumble across an entire genre that I'd no idea even existed ...
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At the same time that I was reading “Little Birds” by Anaïs Nin, I was simultaneously reading “The Sexy Librarian’s Big Book of Erotica”. Both are of course erotica; however, the styles of writing couldn’t be more opposite. A big part of why that is, in my opinion, is “Little Birds” is all written by the same author; “SLBBoE” is a collection of stories written by different authors, all with their own style and their own ideas of what is considered “erotic”. That’s part of what makes the book enjoyable. No two stories are ever the same.
Out of the twenty two stories, I only found a handful of them that were really good:
1. Three Legs in the Evening
2. POW! It’s Shibari Girl
3. A Perverted Fairytale
4. Moonshine Ballad
5. Mikhael
6. Sensate Silicone
The rest of the stories were underwhelming. The fantasies/plots were interesting; however, the execution was poor, and sometimes even laughable. I’m no expert in erotic story writing, but I will say that part of the reason I didn’t enjoy some of the stories was the inconsistent use of certain words. If you’re going to say “cock, then say “cock. If you’re going to say “penis, then say it. Using both words within a couple of sentences of each other definitely takes away from anything erotic in my opinion.
Overall it was quite an entertaining book, whether in the way they meant for it to be or not. -
There are so so so many stories in this anthology and absolutely something for everyone! I really liked how this was set up like a library catalogue with key words at the beginning of each story to let you know what kind of kink you're in for, as well as the kind of genre it'll be in. There were so many stories that I enjoyed that I don't feel bad about giving this book 5 stars even though there were a few stories I skipped (not really a fan of m/m or femmedom).
I would highly recommend this to fans of erotica in any context, because you are seriously guaranteed to find something you enjoy! -
Okay, so this book will NOT be for everyone, but it is for me, lol! I liked most of the stories, and I liked how they mixed it up genre wise. What I loved was the book plates before each story. It provided the title, author, genre and three themes that the story portrayed. All in all a good read :)
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We were checking this in to go out on hold for a patron at another location. Being librarians, obviously we had to look at it. I noticed one of the stories was set on a space ship, which I was surprised by. My coworker then checked to see if we had another copy, went out to the stacks and got it, and checked it out to me. I intend to pass it around and make everyone else read it next.
I loved the idea of the catalog cards prefacing each story! Going through the book, I quickly learned that I should not have been surprised by the space story. I'm now ashamed to say that I had previously considered erotica to be its own genre, not realizing that sexy stories could so clearly fall into more traditional genres and work within them so well. I'd like to thank this book and the authors and editor for opening my eyes to the existence of genre erotica, and for the literary merit of the stories with regard to plot, character development, scene setting, and even world-building.
Here are my ratings (out of 10) and a few thoughts I wrote down as I finished reading each one. And yes, there are actual plot elements to be spoiled in here, so beware! -
some stories were bursting with eroticism, others limp and dry... it has been a few years since i read any erotica, and it seems some writers now think a story matters... um, no. yeah, there needs to be build-up, foreplay, warm-up, prep time BUT i couldn't care less about background info on the protagonist's friends, or a litany about clothing choices, or details more fitting for some cheesy bodice-ripper... not that there's anything wrong with ripping a bodice, if that's what the participant wants, but you get my point... so, as usual, a collection that overall is good - it IS erotica - but not enough tales that got me going, going, gone... hahahaha! the Red Riding Hood story was probably my fave...
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This was a brilliant compilation of tantalizing stories. I rather enjoyed the card catalog introductions to each new short story; each card provided just enough info to entice me to continue reading on. I found myself dragging my feet to finish this book in the need to savor and prolong the pleasure from each story. Truly a treat that I will be getting for my collection.
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Definitely adult erotica. Quite a variety of short stories. Each one starts with an old-fashioned librarycard with Dewey Decimal system numbers and subject headings. I particularly found some of the science-fiction ones imaginative. Some I skipped- they didn't catch my interest. The title and intro certainly grabbed my interest!
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Like any anthology, it's a little uneven. Some of the stories are naturally better than others, but overall it's pretty decent. There are some weird sex-shaming moments in it, which was incredibly odd. But, worth it for some okay smut.
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5/21/15 - $1.99 on Kindle
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Loved it!!
Very sexy dirty stories!! The last story didn't do anything for me though so that's why I took a star off. But all in all these stories where hot hot HOT!!!! -
Some good, some bad
I got this short erotic compilation to have a variety of sexy reads. Some of the story's were good and some were awful. Won't get another one. -
Lots of short stories. really enjoyed a few, but not most.
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An awesome collection of erotica. Rose puts a lot of variation into her works.
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Awesome medley of stories
A combination of different approaches to sex with methods many could not imagine. A little something for everyone with varied interests in sex.
