Obsessed Erotic Romance for Women - book discontinued by Cleis Press Inc. - review by Escheresque

"Obsessed" is a book of erotic romance for women, edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel. I purchased it about a month ago. The cover is very "film noir", with flowing red letters caressing the black and white shoulder of a woman posed in pleasure. In that, the cover is not very discrete, which I will say is the one negative thing about this collection of nineteen stories.

In a foreword by Caridad Pineiro "obsession" is defined for those that want to whet their appetites by sinking deep into their "mind and soul with no thought of reason". Pineiro introduces these stories which will "challenge you to walk along the edge where control wobbles" and perhaps to find liberation through satisfaction.

Bussel, the editor, also pens an introduction to the reader, introducing the authors (including herself) who have written about women who go "where their bodies tell them."

And the directions are rewarding...

In "Silent Treatment" one woman finds consolation for old wounds on a silent yoga retreat. Confronted by her former lover, she mends her heart and finds in her mind the truth of what she needs from a relationship. "Pleasure heals" her old hurts as he offers his silent apology.

In "Mephisto Waltz" a young female prodigy learns, with the help of her passionate teacher, how to unlock the fire within herself to transform her music from perfect to transcendent. He gently instructs her that, "Passion is not learnt. It is felt." And takes her innocence through the steps of learning what ecstasy music can be.

In "Aftershocks" a marriage on the cusp of divorce is given a hard lesson in closeness when an earthquake traps the two of them in a storage unit. Truths are revealed when she admits that the reason she's leaving is that she can't stand that her husband is so "gentle" - that she needs him to "claim" her, and with that revelation he admits that "all these years [he] held back." The resulting passion is more tumultuous than the ground beneath them.

This is a book I will read over and over. Each story took less than ten minutes to complete and most left me breathless. Across the gamut - from tender to tantalizing and back again - "Obsessed" reminds us that within each of us is a "master...[that] can enslave" us only to liberate us again through satisfaction.

I realized that it was time to write my follow up review when I was going through my books for donation/recycling purposes and this one wasn't kept.

While the stories were sexual, sensual and GREAT for a one-time read, they really weren't hot enough to keep for re-reading. So, if you get this book - pass it on! You'll enjoy it and then other's will too!