Not Nearly Erotic Enough

In Sleeping Beauty's Bed in a nice collection of eroticized fairy tales that just manage to miss the mark, somehow, and come off as quirky rather than sexy.
Published:
Pros
An intellectually stimulating collection of erotic fairy tales.
Cons
Only one author means that there is only one writing style to these stories.
Rating by reviewer:
2
useful review
Never has erotica disappointed me so deeply. Story after story I searched for redeeming arousal and nowhere - absolutely nowhere - was there a smidgen of erotic allure to be found. What I did find was snazzy writing (don't get me wrong), and a number of facts about the origins of popular fairy tale stories.

But no *sexy*.

In Sleeping Beauty's Bed is structured to appeal to the mind as well as the sexual psyche - each perverted fairy tale is prefaced with a small essay on the probable origins, evolution, and known variations on the tale itself. Being a 'myth geek' in my undergrad years (I got a minor, no joke), I ate this up like you wouldn't believe - but I cannot help but wonder how appealing it would be to the average person going to this book for erotica. While interesting, it's kind of distracting - I mean...when you want erotica, do you want a lesson in myth as a preamble to your smut? Probably not.

The erotic fairy tales themselves are...vague. The language used is highly metaphorical, and pretends to be 'innocent' whilst describing adult concepts, erotic or not. The metaphors Mitzi Szereto uses come across as a little dark and grity, or just somehow jarring. It's a little difficult to explain, exactly, but her metaphors just aren't right. The eroticism that appears comes up as a curiosity or oddity, with no buildup leading to its appearance, and it's unsettling more than anything else.

When eroticism does appear in these stories, seemingly random fetishes pour in from all angles to fill in the story in some sort of poorly orchestrated grand finale. Casual references to heavy sadism, bestiality, shoe fetishism (and more banal diversions like cock worship and the fetishizing of long pubic hair) are tossed in like they're going out of style. Its a little hard to get into the 'mood' of things when the story reads like some sort of randomly generated "choose your next fetish adventure".

In short, "In Sleeping Beauty's Bed" is a disappointment. What a shame - the idea of erotic fairy tales is truly delicious and ripe with potential...
This product was provided free of charge to the reviewer. This review is in compliance with the FTC guidelines.

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My In Sleeping Beauty's Bed: Erotic Fairy Tales tags
  • Who / How / What
    [ ? ]
    Who might this product be best for? How is it best used? What are the best circumstances or situations for using this product?
    • Anyone
    • Bdsm
  • Features
    [ ? ]
    What kind of features does this product offer?
    • Travel friendly
  • General
    [ ? ]
    Other tags that are useful and descriptive for this product.
    • Erotica
Comments
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  • Contributor: Kayla
    I'll agree - the writing wasn't explicitly erotic. Nor turned me on. But I have to say that I did enjoy reading it anyway. Good review.
  • Contributor: Antipova
    I actually enjoy a lesson in myth history as a preamble to my smut... but the following smut should be good, too.

    Thank goodness for Alan Moore and Lost Girls---not a lot of mythological history, but a *little* bit of European history and a whole lot of erotic.
  • Contributor: Mihoshi4301
    Thanks for the review.
  • Contributor: Red
    @Antipova - thanks for the heads up on Alan Moore, I will certainly check him out. I like non-fiction so much that the idea of it mixed with HOT erotica is very alluring
  • Contributor: geliebt
    Shame you didn't like it Thank you for the review!
  • Contributor: pinkzombie
    Thank you!
  • Contributor: BooksBooks
    Thanks for the warning review. Definitely looking for something that ups the ante on adult fairy tales
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