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. 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)Comment Comment | Permalink
What do You think about Alison's Wonderland (2010)?
This delicious and magical anthology contains my story "The Broken Fiddle" (written as Andrea Dale).
—ztctc
Read 6 of the 27 stories when I decided that light, fluffy, fairy-tale erotica wasn't for me.
—Eric
Nothing. I have not read this. Can't remove it!
—Blueluv
