Fairy Tale Lust - erotic fiction by Cleis Press Inc. - review by hybridinsurge

'Lustfully Ever After' was edited by Kristina Wright, author, editor and college professor of English composition and world mythology. She has been printed in over 75 erotic anthologies including 'Sweet Love: Erotic Fantasies for Couples' and three editions of 'Best Women's Erotica.' Her novel 'Dangerous Curves' won the Golden Heart Award for Romantic Suspense.

The other 17 contributors to this anthology all have experience writing and most have been published previously.

This collection contained 18 short stories that averaged about ten to fifteen pages in length. Each story is written by a different author which makes for a variety of styles and content. They all stay true to their fairy tale inspiration. Some stories are based on specific fairy tales and some have a fairy tale feel to them when it comes to mood or content.

Most of the sex scenes in these stories are about a man and a woman. There are a few exceptions to this. 'Snow Queen' involves two women and an icy dildo. 'Three Times' is about a man, a woman, an unconscious woman and a magic dildo vine. The story ends with the two women marrying and keeping the man on as a lover. 'The Stone Room' briefly describes a man giving another man a blow job and some kind of oral sex orgy. 'The Pub Owner's Daughter' tries out an unknown amount of lovers before settling down. 'Gildi and the Unwieldy, Ineffectual Committee of Bears' is about a woman masturbating solo.

There was a good deal more BDSM influence on these stories than I was expecting. A few had some relatively light dominance games and bondage, but others were more intense. 'All in a Day's Work' is told from the point of view of a voyeuristic, dominatrix fairy godmother who grants a secretary's wish of having sex with her handcuffed boss. In 'The Stone Room' a man is bound, gagged, blindfolded, beaten, nipple clamped, passed around at a party and penetrated by a strap-on dildo.

Other unexpected things were also touched on in a couple stories. In 'The Obedient Wife' the Beast has anal sex with Beauty while he is still a beast. 'Gingerbread Man' details a woman's encounter with a giant baked good infused with her dead husband's spirit. In 'Ellie and the Shoemaker' the couple's shared shoe fetish is touched on.

A few of the stories did not have very detailed sex scenes. I found this a little disappointing.

The book seems securely bound and is fairly lightweight and portable. The cover is not very discreet. A topless couple is embracing, and it clearly identifies the book as containing "erotic fantasies for women."

The short stories are organized well. The introduction and foreword to the collection explain the thought process behind the book effectively. After the short stories, there is an 'About the Authors' and an 'About the Editor’ section.

While I enjoyed the book, I did not find it very effective as a form of erotica. It will not be a regular bedside companion. I found the BDSM-influenced stories were too adventurous for my tastes. I'm pretty vanilla as far as sex goes. A little spanking and hair-pulling is it for the dominance/pain games. Several of the other stories were not explicit enough when it came to the sex scenes for me to get aroused.

I did enjoy a handful of stories that I will summarize here.

'Ellie and the Shoemaker,' based on 'The Elves and the Shoemaker,' brought in a shared sexy shoe fetish and a very satisfying sex scene that involved female oral and vaginal intercourse. The characters were cute and a little sassy. The story had a lighthearted feel to it and a happy ending.

'Mind Your Peas and Qs,' inspired by 'The Princess and the Pea,' did not have a very detailed sex scene, but it was funny. It proves the 'Handbook for the Highborne' method of identifying true princess.

'Big Bad Wolf' was from a male character's point of view, which I find rare and refreshing for a piece of women's erotica. A wolf shape shifts into a human woman in order to lay claim to her human caretaker. The sex scenes are depressingly brief but, in my opinion, the sexiness of the story's concept makes up for this.

'The Kiss' had a very creepy vibe to it. An entity, occupying a man, convinces a woman to literally give him her body in exchange for a fantastic orgasm. It includes female oral, male oral, and vaginal intercourse. What more could you want?

While I enjoyed the book, I did not find it very effective as a form of erotica. It will not be a regular bedside companion. I found the BDSM-influenced stories were too adventurous for my tastes. I'm pretty vanilla as far as sex goes. A little spanking and hair-pulling is it for the dominance/pain games. Several of the other stories were not explicit enough when it came to the sex scenes for me to get aroused.

I did enjoy a handful of stories that I will summarize here.

'Ellie and the Shoemaker,' based on 'The Elves and the Shoemaker,' brought in a shared sexy shoe fetish and a very satisfying sex scene that involved female oral and vaginal intercourse. The characters were cute and a little sassy. The story had a lighthearted feel to it and a happy ending.

'Mind Your Peas and Qs,' inspired by 'The Princess and the Pea,' did not have a very detailed sex scene, but it was funny. It proves the 'Handbook for the Highborne' method of identifying true princes.

'Big Bad Wolf' was from a male character's point of view, which I find rare and refreshing for a piece of women's erotica. A wolf shape shifts into a human woman in order to lay claim to her human caretaker. The sex scenes are depressingly brief but, in my opinion, the sexiness of the story's concept makes up for this.

'The Kiss' had a very creepy vibe to it. An entity, occupying a man, convinces a woman to literally give him her body in exchange for a fantastic orgasm. It includes female oral, male oral, and vaginal intercourse. What more could you want?