| Title | : | Alison's Wonderland |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0373605455 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780373605453 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 416 |
| Publication | : | First published May 15, 2012 |
Over the past fifteen years, Alison Tyler has curated some of the genre's most sizzling collections of erotic fiction, proving herself to be the ultimate naughty librarian. With Alison's Wonderland, she has compiled a treasury of naughty tales based on fable and fairy tale, myth and legend: some ubiquitous, some obscure all of them delightfully dirty.
From a perverse prince to a vampire-esque Sleeping Beauty, the stars of these reimagined tales are like the original protagonists chafing at desire unfulfilled. From Cinderella to Sisyphus, mermaids to werewolves, this realm of fantasy is limitless and so very satisfying.
Penned by such erotica luminaries as Shanna Germain, Rachel Kramer Bussel, N. T. Morley, Elspeth Potter, T. C. Calligari, Sommer Marsden, Portia Da Costa and Tsaurah Litzsky, these bawdy bedtime stories are sure to bring you (and a friend) to your own happily-ever-after.
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Alison's Wonderland Reviews
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Oh yeah. You read that right. Erotica. Hey, I mention it in my policy that I'll have one of these every once in a while. But like catching Britney Spears acting civilized, the sighting is rare.
I am really out of my comfort zone with this one. Why did I select it for review? Because they were re-imagined fairy tales. I expected a little more plot with my porn but chalk that up to my own naivety with the genre. Especially in short stories, you're not reading erotica for the plot.
But I'm a little at a loss as to how to review it. Not because it's another compilation of short stories but because how the hell do you review porn??? Did it do it's job? Yes. Did it make me want to call my soldier boy in the middle of the night? Yes. Was it a bad idea to read this at work? Absolutely. But I don't know how to judge the writing.
I can say none of it was absolutely ridiculous when it came to naming body parts. No hot throbbing sausages here. The point of the work is to make you hot, not make you laugh. They were pretty much straight and to the point, the re-worked fairy tales they were set in were just mentioned in the background, setting the sex in a different place.
While the hotness maintained, I felt the stories becoming redundant. They lost their edge, I guess. At least with me. I think I was breaking down the sex scenes too much, though. Ultimately, as I read, they just ended up as some kind of penetration and end scene. The stories were cool but the sex was sex. It was as raw and animalistic as you could get. Again, erotica. You're not reading this stuff for the good stories.
The fairy tales I could recognize I liked how they were reworked. Dementing fairy tales is a favorite of mine. But this book just reiterated why I don't dabble into erotica too often. The first couple of stories are neat and fresh and exciting! But the more you read, the more watered down they became. That's not a reflection on the book itself, but just my own personal tastes.
So what would I rate this? I'd say a four. I liked the writing in every story, they were all hot as hell and if you're looking for some at-home excitement hidden behind a nominally inconspicuous book cover, Alison's Wonderland is it. Just don't expect to see books like this around her very often, as I said. They're ultimately not my thing. -
Some of these stories were good. Most were mediocre. This is great if you're in the mood for sexy short stories but I'm sure there are other anthologies that are better. If you really like fairy tell re-tellings this might be for you.
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Pardon me while I take a cold shower. This was my first foray into "real" erotic fiction and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. The fantastical element was interesting, with each story interpreting a different fairy tale (with varying degrees of success), and they were, for the most part, surprisingly well-written. Not gonna tell you which were my favorites though...that's insight into my psyche I don't want you to have. ;-) Looking forward to reading more of Alison Tyler's compilations.
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The sex scenes are decent, but I’m a character girl and none of these ones had he depth to hold my interest. Meh
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There's a lot of blurring between what is erotica vs. erotic romance so to clear that up - this anthology is erotica. It's also aggressively fine. There was only one story that rubbed me the wrong way (ha!), but the Meh It Was OK, outweighed the stories that stuck with me. Similar to the Cleis Press anthologies (if you're familiar with those) these are short stories, on average 8-10 pages. Neither good nor bad for me - just sorta there.
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Really good collection of short stories !!!
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Oh MY goodness. Wow. Just, wow. Boy did this book wake up things I didn't know existed or would be of interest 😉
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Title - Alison's Wonderland
Author - Alison Tyler (Editor)
Summary -
Alison's Wonderland is a collection of short story erotica, using established fairy tale characters in a modern twist. In these pages you will find a red-haired girl with a broken down car on her way to grandmother's house; Snow-white entertaining her seven roommates; Cinderella after the ball and the three Billy goats gruff and a rather reserved Mrs. Troll. These and many more re-imaginings of classic tales.
Review -
It's difficult to know just where to begin with this collection of erotica. Some of the tales borrow heavily from their counterparts while others only name the characters to resemble the fairy tales. What they all share is a clever inventiveness and creativity to which each tale is told.
Granted, taken out of the context of the short story, some of the premises would seem to be ludicrous, they are so well told in this collection that you would believe a young woman would fantasize of being spanked by the massive fishtail of a mermaid. Belle travels to meet the Beast, herself a bought sex slave; but who will end up dominating who? Beauty or the Beast?
In the hands of these authors, each story comes tantalizingly alive. And isn't that the greatest problem with collections? That after a few, they all blend into the same story. Here the variety is what is so well maintained.
A very good read. -
A collection of erotic stories, mixed with hints of classic fantasy and paranormal stories so familiar to us as Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Vampires, Mermaids, Faeries ... etc.
What attracted me to this book was the title "Alison's Wonderland." By the title I had no idea what kind of book it was, but obviously by the cover I knew it would be an erotic book.
I'm not used to read this kind of books, but If one word could explain how is was reading it would be: WOW!. Yeah, this book left me shocked.
But that didn't made me want to put it down at all. When I started it was impossible to stop.
In almost every story I laughed, and others were so intense that I could only read and gasp. Some were more like my favorite stories, others less, but in general, I liked them all.
Recommended if you like to read erotic stories, and if you are familiar with fairy tales. -
I've never ever liked fairy tales. So I was a bit nervous to write for this book but pretty curious to read it. And I know I"m in it, so you'd say my view is skewed. You'd be wrong. Extracting my own story (which I never read in print) I loved Alison's Wonderland. There were so many stories that stood out for wildly varied reasons. From dark to fun to intensely sexy to sweet. It ran the gamut.
Bottom line, these are the kind of fairy tales I can get on board with. It turns out I was reading the wrong ones at the wrong stage of my life. This is totally the magical book I've been waiting for! -
I read the ARC of this collection of erotic short stories which I received from netGalley.com. This was my first ever e-ARC and I enjoyed that experience as much as I enjoyed the book. Most of these stories are based on fairy tales of fantasy motifs and they are oh so steamy. While I’ve enjoyed most of the collections that I’ve read by Alison Tyler this one is the best. Almost every story is a winner and the best are “The Three Billys” by Sommer Marsden, “Fool’s Gold” by Shanna Germain, and “The Broken Fiddle” by Andrea Dale.
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Alison's Wonderland is an erotica anthology of reimagined fables and myths. Sadly, I apparently don't have the literary background to actually identify the fables in most of these stories, but that's okay, I had a lot of fun reading them.
I read the ebook version. There were some minor formatting issues, but overall it was well-edited, typo free, and generally a pleasure.
The Red Shoes (Redux) by Nikki Magennis: The build up in this story was adorable. The sensual details of the shoes and dancing was just spot-on for an introductory story. It leads wonderfully into the sex parts, but the end was rushed.
Fool's Gold by Shanna Germain: I loved the "that is one" line in the story, it just really set the tone. And the mental stewing that lead to the eventually submission added a lot of emotional overtones in the story when it finally comes to a climax.
The Three Billys by Sommer Marsden: The name of the main character in this story (Troll) was somewhat of a turn off, but the Billy's were absolutely adorable. I loved the interaction, the teasing and pushing that leads this story to a steamy conclusion.
David by Kristina Lloyd: This story didn't really excite me. The idea of standing on a pedestal was cool, but the rest of it just sputtered.
Managers and Mermen by Donna George Storey: Mmm, I love spanking story. And the mermaid bit was nice and hot... I was sad when it ended. A fun story.
The Clean-Shaven Type by N.T. Morley: I wanted to like this story. I really, really did. Beauty and the Beast is my favorite story of all time, but the inner monologue of the Belle just threw me off. I loved the submission of the manservant, but the beast... meh.
The Midas F*ck by Erica DeQuaya: Aww, this was a wonderfully sweet story. I loved the sex, the despair at the beginning that lead into such a beautiful meeting of two people. The sex was hot, the reasons behind it even hotter.
Sleeping with Beauty by Allison Wonderland: Another story I absolutely adored. It had a realistic quality to it as the two women dance around each other, tying beautifully into be a costumed character and falling in love.
Unveiling His Muse by Portia Da Costa: The obsession in this story was beautifully done, the loving drawing of the same character again and again. Even when his lover leaves him for his obsession, it added to the intensity. The scenes were great, though I full admit, there was one point that really turned me off but it ended with a promising note.
Always Break the Spines by Lana Fox: Submission and books, how can that not go right? Well, for me, it did. I loved the imaginary of this book, though I have no clue which fable it was from. The attitudes of the book keeper was adorable, not perfect but forceful.
An Uphill Battle by Benjamin Eliot: The details of this story was fantastic, but I felt it was a flat twist at the end. For me, it needed after that twist to really bring it home. Overall, a good story but didn't excite me.
Moonset by A.D.R. Forte: Lovely details, lovely sex, plot didn't hold my interest. I couldn't really tell if it was real or not, which detracted from my enjoyment.
Mastering Their Dungeons by Bryn Haniver: I've always had a secret fantasy of this one, so this story just hit a lot of lovely buttons. I like the uncomfortable scenes and much as the sexy ones. The climaxes could use more details for me, but overall, I could fill in the gaps enough to really enjoy it.
A Taste for Treasure by T.C. Calligari: This was a fun, light-hearted story that really appealed to me. The details were great, the plot engaging, and I really was sucked into it.
The Broken Fiddle by Andrea Dale: Another sweet and beautiful story. The foreplay was exciting and the sex even hotter. I loved the setting in this story and thought it added beautifully to the plot.
The Cougar of Cobble Hill by Sophia Valenti: A fun, sexy story about an older woman getting two very willing younger men to please her. I loved it.
Wolf’s Tavern by Bella Dean: Okay, this story was a bit creepy but it worked *perfectly* with the Little Red Riding Hood tale. The foreplay, touching, and sensual details build up a fantastically sexy story. I'd would have bought the collection for this story alone.
Slutty Cinderella by Jacqueline Applebee: Mmm, cross-dressing and gender bending. Yeah, I loved this one, though it was a trifle short for me.
Kiss It by Saskia Walker: I loved the surrealness of this story, but also the seduction of the fae. I loved that the wishes were realistic instead of asking for something remarkably, and they tied nicely into the story.
Let Down Your Libido by Rachel Kramer Bussel: I adore denial stories, but the more scientific-minded person was just bothered by this one. I got hung up on the premise of this story that it kind of ruined it for me.
Dancing Shoes by Tsaurah Litzky: A short little story about love and a shoemaker. It was (very) short and sweet.
Gold, On Snow by Janine Ashbless: This bittersweet tale is written from the point of view of the wicked stepmother and touches one of my favorite fantasies, Snow White gangbangs. The piercings and chains were an interesting flair to the story, but loved it. Absolutely loved it.
After the Happily Ever After by Heidi Champa: Another sad but erotic tale of when "happily ever after" goes poorly. The setup was nice but I felt the twist was rushed to justify the climax.
Cupid Has Signed Off by Thomas S. Roche: I loved this story, but I didn't see it coming when the lights were turned on. The circling around that lead into that climax added to the intensity that made the scene a wonderful bit. I loved the promise of the ending, it sounded just as hot as what lead into it.
The Walking Wheel by Georgia E. Jones: Every time I tried to read this story, my eyes just glazed over.
Rings on My Fingers by Alison Tyler: Mmm, I love tattoos and foreplay stories. This is one of those type and, as usual, Alison pulls it off. It brought my own personal lusts over a local tattoo artist that it pretty much sold itself on the premise.
The Princess by Elspeth Potter: For a few paragraph ending, a flash fiction, this ended the anthology on such a wonderful and humorous note. My opinions of it, and the scene that played in my head (not to mention this review) is longer than the words written. -
Copyright 2010. This is an anthology of erotic short stories. A reread for me, I actually remembered some of these!
No clear favorite, but these are the stories I can recall : The Clean Shaven Type, Mastering Their Dungeons, Wolff's Tavern, Let Down Your Libido, Gold,On Snow, & Cupid Has Signed Off.
The cover is awesome! -
Ok bedtime read. Some styles/stories weren't my type, but there's a "type" for every reader.
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Not my cup of tea
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I am unashamed. Beautiful cover art, interesting mix of stories. Not all are my cup of tea, but hey that's okay. Did I mention they're all stories inspired by fairy tales?
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Some of the short stories were very spicy and really good. Others, were okay.
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I have read better erotic fan fiction in Archive of Our Own. The chemistry and spice is severely lacking and writing is highly lackluster.
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Not my usual read. First time reading this much erotic fiction. I did enjoy the aspect of re-telling fairy tales with an erotic twist.
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😳
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Take a bit of magic, a bit of folklore, a bit of darkness, a bit of humor, and quite a few bits of naughty and shake them all up. That’s what you get with Alison’s Wonderland.
It caught my eye because I had just finished talking about how much I tend to like recreated fairy tales in the paranormal genre. This is my first “erotica” novel, but it’s not really a novel. It’s a collection of (very) short stories inspired by myths and fairy tales.
Now, I’ve read my fair share of romance novels (mostly paranormal, but not all) that include sex. Some authors, obviously, do it better than others. I discovered two things while reading this book. First, I’m much pickier about fairy tale retellings than I realized. I tended to like the stories that stayed closer to the original. Second, I need more time (generally speaking) with characters before I can really appreciate the sex scenes. Some just seemed too rushed and didn’t have nearly enough story to create a believable connection. Now, that’s not to say that I didn’t like some of the more creative stories, or that I didn’t enjoy the hanky panky in some of the offerings. There are, of course, exceptions for just about everything.
Some of my favorites in the collection were:
•Fool’s Gold by Shanna Germain – A surprisingly intense story about desire and trust. Very well written.
•The Midas F*ck by Erica DeQuaya - I admit I almost wrote this one off at the title, but I would have missed out on a remarkably sweet story.
•An Uphill Battle by Benjamin Eliot – One of the funniest stories in the book, also one of the longest. I loved Zeke’s inner monologue during his many treks up flights of stairs. The ending was fairly predictable, but enjoyable, none-the-less.
•The Broken Fiddle by Andrea Dale – The Irish in me got all happy while Finn was playing his fiddle and spinning tales by the lake. I would really loved for this to be retold as a full length novel.
•Wolff’s Tavern by Bella Dean - This is the stuff that makes my paranormal romance heart go pitter patter.
•Rings On My Fingers by Alison Tyler – Another of the longer stories in the group. I’m not sure what fairy tale this represented, but the character and chemistry building was fantastic.
There were others I liked, but didn’t love, in the book. And quite a few I didn’t care for at all. Some that seemed to just toss characters together whether they were ready for it or not. Again, that could all be chalked up to my apparent preference for more build-up before characters get all frisky. I’d rather think that than the alternative. That some of the authors were more interested in the wham-bam-thank-ya-ma’am than what got the characters to that point.
I’ve decided that I will probably not read any other erotic anthologies like this in the future. Not because I dislike erotica (I plan on checking out a few of the authors’ other works), but because I just couldn’t sit and read one encounter after another without story in between. It seemed too forced and too shallow to me. It took me almost a week to read this book, and that’s very rare for me. Again, it’s (mostly) not the book’s fault. It’s not you, Alison’s Wonderland, it’s me. Really. Maybe. -
Once upon a time, at College, I came across a theory that was to me novel, audacious, and helped reinforce the idea that what I was going to learn in college was not just going to be more high school, but was a whole new type of learning.
That theory, as expounded by one of my professors, was simple. All fairy tales, she said, every single one, had at its bottom a sexual context. Some were cautionary tales, she said, tales meant to warn young women about the dangers of sex outside of marriage. Others were symbolic rites of passage, suggesting the transformation between girl and woman by means of various symbols. Others were meant to show the transfer of bonds between a girl and her father and a woman and her husband.
This old theory was firmly in mind as I began to read Allison's Wonderland, an anthology of erotic fiction based on fable, fairy tale, myth and legend. Readers of my reviews know that I am well and familiar with Ms. Tyler's previous work--both as an indefatigable anthologist and a writer of her own right. That work, in the main, however, has been kinky, sexy, hot contemporary erotica. Characters that you could meet walking down the street in Los Angeles, or encounter in a sawdust-floor bar in deepest Texas.
This anthology, on the other hand, is a little different.
Some of the stories in this collection, such asJanine Ashbless' Gold on Snow and Georgia E Jones' The Walking Wheel, are explictly set in a fairy tale or historical fantasy world. Others take the idea and theme of various stories and transform them into contemporary contexts, sometimes very much a tale sprinkled with magic. Charlie, in Portia Da Costa's Unveiling his Muse meets a fairy queen of his own creation.Sometimes, though, the only magic needed are the interactions of the protagonists (such as Ms. Tyler's own Rings on her Fingers.
All are most delicious and the quality of the tales are high--and hot Ms Tyler has many of her "Regulars" contribute stories--herself, of course, Kristina Lloyd, Rachel Kramer Bussel, Sommer Marsden, and others. Ms. Tyler has slaved away at getting a high quality of authors in the genre to contribute to the anthology.
There is a wide variety of fairy tale subjects to be found here, too. If you were afraid of reading ten variations on Red Riding Hood, relax, Ms. Tyler has carefully crafted an anthology of a wide variety of stories based on original fairy tale inspiration. She also has provided a wide variety of sexual themes, combinations, and kinks. What other anthology are you going to find an imaginary (or IS she?) lesbian dominatrix mermaid? Or a Greek God in an online chat room?
The stories and authors temper and tone are appealing, in general, to a wide variety of readers of this genre.
Readers of Ms. Tyler's other anthologies, especially, are going to be quite taken with this set of tales. Readers of the A. N. Roquelaure Beauty novels will be quite satisfied as well.
Really, there are few readers of erotic fiction who will not find something to their taste in Allison's Wonderland. So, why not take a trip down the rabbit hole, and find out where it leads you? You won't regret it. -
I bought this anthology for one just one story, which is The Red Shoes (Redux) by Nikki Magennis. It was worth it for that one story.
The other authors have formidable reputations but I wasn't going to read their stories because I have only just bought another fairy-tale themed collection edited by Alison Tyler which I started to read just before this. In fact this is the fifth fairy-tale themed story anthology I have picked up this year. Fairy tales are a rich source of inspiration and can take this kind of a beating but I can't.
Alison Tyler is a bit like a fairy tale character herself. She is the Princess of Porn. Whether the other writers know it or not, she has first refusal on every erotic story published in America and can cherry pick from the offerings of the world's erotica literati.
She must have included some sort of hidden cantrip inside the Kindle text because I started to get curious about the other stories and once I got started I couldn't stop.
I read Sommer Marsden's The Three Billys to improve my vocabulary. Her literary inventiveness left me dizzy with awe.
I read Portia Da Costa's Unveiling His Muse for its perspicacity. Portia's lucid and witty style acts like a pornographic palette cleanser.
I steeled myself for Kistina Lloyd's David and needed all my inner resolve to withstand the shock of the ending. No writer comes close to Kristina.
Then I had to take a break.
But Alison must have been out there in the internet weaving her magic because pretty soon I came across this desperate plea:
'Hairstyle nerds, please help: What do you call it when someone wears their pony tails atop their head at devil-horn angles? Like, sort of in front? It's like, a candy commando thing. You know, punk, kinda. They dye them pink. It's a Grrl thing. "front-facing pigtails" isn't cutting it.'
This cry for help came from Thomas Roche. THE Thomas Roche. Thomas S. Roche. I went scurrying to my anthologies and found I have no less than three stories by him, none of which I had read.
That was then. This is now. I was so impressed by that poetic paragraph that I had to read all three of those stories.
I was very pleased with myself. My instinct didn't let me down. But I spent the day cursing him. Cupid Has Signed Off made me late for work. It made me break my rule of never reading erotica at the bus stop. Or on the bus. Or in the toilet between meetings (bless you, Kindle for iphone!) The suspense made me ill but luckily the ending was to die for.
Thomas Roche has a novel coming out in September called The Panama Laugh. I've pre-ordered it.
Do you need any more assurances that these stories are good? Well, I can't end this review without telling you to read Alison Tyler's Rings On My Fingers. That woman has put a spell on me. -
50 words or less: Take the fertile ground of folklore and popular fairy tales and nursery rhymes and add an erotic twist and you have this boundary-testing anthology.
Before I say anything else, I want to make one thing very clear. This is an erotica book first and a paranormal romance book second. It is not a book for folks who like minimal sexual content or for whom sexual escapades that are off the beaten path, so to speak, might be offensive in anyway. Take a look at the cover (a good look at the cover) and I think you'll see that this is probably not a book you want to leave on the kitchen table at your mom's house or in the break room at work. Ye be warned.
With that said, this was a venture outside of my comfort zone as well, as I'd never read an erotica anthology before. When I saw this one available on netgalley, I decided to give it a shot, and I can say that it was definitely an experience.
As with all anthologies, there were some stories that I liked way more than others. "Wolff's Tavern" was a fun reworking of Little Red Riding Hood, and "Fool's Gold" takes the Rumplestiltskin story and gives that cranky little man a serious kick in the butt and creates a fun happily ever after in the process. "Rings on My Fingers" is one of the more traditional stories but is still a lot of fun. There were many others (27 stories total) and some were not my cup of tea, but this is one anthology where there just might be, literally, something for everyone.
I want to reiterate one more time that this is an adult book with adult themes lurking on every page; beyond the sexual content, though, the writing was interesting and unusual, and the introduction provides a neat guide to which story provides the inspiration for each offering in the book. I confess that there were several that I'd never heard of before, and I found myself googling the original stories to see where the comparisons could be found.
This is definitely not a book for everyone, but if you're looking to try something from this genre or read something that is well off the beaten path, then this is a neat anthology that takes a well-traveled theme and really runs with it in an unusual way.
Overall Grade: B
Read more reviews and other good stuff at
What Book is That? -
Have I ever told you how much I love you, Harlequin? Because I do. Completely & totally. I want to thank you for not only putting out a collection of well written erotic stories, but putting out erotic stories based on & inspired by some of the best loved fairy tales out there. The only problem? Well, several readers are going to find it hard to put this away & others might not realize how incredibly difficult it is to write erotica. (Hey, you try writing a sex scene & find ways to describe the same body parts & actions without repeating yourself!)
Alison's Wonderland is a compilation of erotic stories written by several different authors, each of which lend their own personal style & tastes to this exotic blend. There's stories here based on Cinderella, Beauty & the Beast, Red Riding Hood- even the Billy Goats Gruff! (Don't worry, there's no goats in that story, although there is a woman with the last name of Troll!)
I'll warn people that if they don't like a good heaping of BDSM, they might want to skip a few of the stories in the book. (Hey, some people like it, some don't.) No worries though- Tyler made sure to include just about everyone's tastes in this book. It also doesn't hurt that she also made the book cover into something that you can openly display on your shelf without worrying about anyone looking at it & immediately thinking "oh, porn on display". What will really intrigue readers is that Tyler tries to make sure that she collected stories that have deeper meanings to them. Whether it's Belle finding the will to assert herself or two women finding love with each other, it is nice to see that these stories have more to them than just sex.
While I'll admit that I didn't fall in love with every story in this book, I will say that I did love the book as a whole. Readers will find this book a scintillating read that they'll be returning to time & time again! You'll read through it once for the hot sex, but you'll come back for the wonderful tales of people claiming their own personal freedoms (sexual and otherwise) and/or finding that one person that's just for them!
(ARC provided by Netgalley)
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Alison's Wonderland
(Anthology)
by Alison Tyler
Warning: NOT exactly YA appropriate
Genre: Erotica | Fantasy | Fairy Tale
Over the past fifteen years, Alison Tyler has curated some of the genre's most sizzling collections of erotic fiction, proving herself to be the ultimate naughty librarian. With Alison's Wonderland, she has compiled a treasury of naughty tales based on fable and fairy tale, myth and legend: some ubiquitous, some obscure—all of them delightfully dirty.
From a perverse prince to a vampire-esque Sleeping Beauty, the stars of these reimagined tales are—like the original protagonists—chafing at desire unfulfilled. From Cinderella to Sisyphus, mermaids to werewolves, this realm of fantasy is limitless and so very satisfying.
Happily-ever-after never seemed so HOT. With over twenty short reads that add some spicy details to well known fairy tales, Alison's Wonderland, is a real treat. It's defiantly a juicy read where the characters hold nothing back and the passion is off the charts, so curl up with some steamy fables & enjoy!
I love fairy tales - give me! give me! - and this was truly a fun book that had me reading all Sunday afternoon. I'm not usually a fan of anthologies since I crave depth and character growth in a story, but these succulent tales had just the right about of heat that it was easy to overlook everything else. The numerous stories were quite easy to read, we're talking less than five-minutes to finish some, but others were a little longer and more involved. My favorites were Wolff's Tavern and Rings on my Fingers, but overall, be prepared for some dirty whispers & naughty acts.
Likes: I happily couldn't put the book down for a few hours after starting and finished later that day!
Dislikes: Some tales were better than others and those "other" tales were far & few between. -
I own possibly every collection of erotic fairy tales that exist. They are my favorites to read because they hold a mish-mash of the old with the new. Alison’s Wonderland was like a warm quilt that happened to have a clit stimulating vibrator sewn into it—comforting and so sexual and engrossing I never wanted it to end. One of my favorite things about this collection is the readiness to identify and understand each and every character. It was like being told some of the naughtiest stories by a circle of my best friends.
Some of my favorites include The Red Shoes (Redux) by Nikki Magennis for her spunky, sexy heroine, Managers and Mermen by Donna George Storey for making a fantasy about mermaids one of the hottest things I’ve ever read in my life, Wolff’s Tavern by Bella Dean who made me blush whenever I see a tow truck man, and The Clean Shaven Type by N. T. Morley for making one of the hottest dominatrix stories I’ve read in a long time.
All and all this collection really had something for everyone. There wasn’t one story that didn’t turn me on or twist what I thought I knew about sex until I was curled up in a blanket, happy, sated, and ready to do it again. -
Please note; my star rating on any book is completely subjective and limited to the label for each star.
1 Star I didn’t like it
2 Stars It was okay
3 Stars I liked it
4 Stars I really liked it
5 Stars It was amazing!
If I do actually have something to say about a book other than what my enjoyment factor was, I will write a review and share my thoughts. If I say I didn’t like a book but there wasn’t anything about it that I thought needed to be shared, then that’s it, I just didn’t like it.
If you’d like to start a discussion about a book or you’d like an actual review, ask any question you like and I’ll be happy to try and comply/respond.
Additional note; I do not feed the trolls. If you don’t have something constructive to say, or if you can’t say it in a respectful way, you won’t get a response from me. Ever. -
Part classic fairy tales and a whole lot of naughtiness, that's what Alison's Wonderland is! I have to say that what I enjoyed most was the creative retelling of the fairy tales that we all grew up with. Oh yes, they were steamy, but also extremely well written.
I've developed a new respect for Erotica writers, because they not only have to be able to write steamy scenes but also have to be able to tell a good story. Alison Tyler definitely picked some of the best writers around, because there isn't a dull moment in this collection of stories. You may blush a bit, but I guarantee you'll find yourself wanting to keep right on reading.
If you're looking for something racy to read, but still crave that storyline aspect, Alison's Wonderland is a book for you! -
I was surprised by the writing in this book considering its genre. I enjoyed many stories, including the one that I found to be very strange and almost disturbing in a sexual sense...but so well written, I read it twice!
I loved the fairy tale element and many of the characters. I also appreciate the fact that, while all of the stories are erotic, they spanned across a great range of presentations, from kinky to sweet, and even, as I said before, borderline disturbing.
Above all, I thought it was a great collection of well written works in a genre that typically lacks in the area of prose.
That said, I highly recommend this book to my librarian friend, Colleen.
