Tasting Her - erotic fiction by Cleis Press Inc. - review by Alan & Michele

Tasting Her, edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel, is a pretty steamy book, with 21 well-written erotica stories that revolve around the act of cunnilingus. Each one is written by a different author, making the writing styles as varied as the scenarios and characters. The majority of the tales are heterosexual in nature, with almost as much regular sex involved as there is oral. Some are soft and seductive, some are hot and wild, and nearly all of them make this book a real keeper.

Because the stories are so short (from 5 -13 pages each), you don't have to wait until you have a lot of time to enjoy the book. There's also no particular order to them, so you can pick and choose at will.

Hands down our favorite was "Suspension," written by Craig J. Sorensen. It's about a struggling artist who is commissioned by a wealthy client to paint a sexual memory. Not to paint a person per se, but to try to capture an erotic moment from the client's past. It's an incredibly unique scenario and we loved the ending.

Another one that made our top list was "The Vitality of Youth," by Joanna Christine. The plotline is a little cliché, featuring an older woman who lusts after her lawn boy, but the sexual encounter that follows is a lot hotter than expected.

"Read Her Lips" by Stan Kent was as amusing as it was sexy, because it isn't often that you get to hear a man telling you how he learned to lick a woman correctly by having his lesbian best friend correcting his technique while he was going down on another woman!

Over half of the stories are written in the first person point of view, which reads like a personal account. They're realistically set and have believable characters, in spite of the fact that the short-story format doesn't allow for elaborate plot lines. Rachel Kramer Bussel has once again outdone herself in compiling a book full of outstanding stories.

Alan says:
Excellent from cover to cover. We always try to mention some favorites when we review anthologies, but it was difficult for me with this one. Besides what we've already mentioned, I guess "Happy Hours" by Adelaide Clark is the one that stood out most in my mind. It involved one fortunate male slave who was taken to a Dom convention to 'service' multiple women. Sounds rough when put like that, but believe me, this guy wasn't suffering!

Don't forget to read the "About the Authors" and "About the Editors" sections in the back of the book either. It's pretty cool to know a little about the people behind the stories.

Michele says:
Since cunnilingus isn't really my favorite thing, I've never read erotica dedicated to it and had my doubts as to whether or not I would enjoy the book. The fact that I *did* enjoy it says a lot for the writing overall. Most of the stories weren't very graphic and the plots were interesting, arousing, and easy to follow. There was only one that I didn't like at all, but it was geared toward the die-hard cunnilingus giver who is obsessed with women's juices, and it just wasn't my thing.

One of the ones that stood out nicely for me was "All About the Girls" written by Shanna Germain. Her writing was so clear and descriptive that I felt like I was actually in that coffee shop, smelling the coffee, seeing and feeling all that the author described. None of the stories came close to that sort of realism for me, but they had other unique qualities that kept me reading.

Bottom line is, even if you aren't crazy about cunnilingus, you might want to give this book a chance because the writing is great and the stories are arousing enough in general for nearly anyone to appreciate. And if oral sex really is your passion, then you're going to love this book!