Making the hook-up - book discontinued by Cleis Press Inc. - review by Lady Neshamah

I have always gravitated to black erotica. Typically I find it much hotter than the typical erotica. I really can't tell you why I love it so much, but I just do. For the most part I have found that black erotica to be much more deep and well written than the usual stuff. It's very intelligent, for the most part. But sometimes I have made the mistake of picking up a black erotica book and started reading it only to find that it is talking down to the reader and assuming that it's reader isn't as smart as the book is.

I was at a friend of mine's waiting for her to get ready to go out and she had a copy of Making The Hook-Up sitting on her coffee table. I asked if I could read it while I waited for her to get ready. She said go for it, but she hadn't read it yet and wasn't sure if she even wanted to keep the book around. That right there should have been a warning.

Making The Hook-Up is a collection of short erotic stories that focuses on mostly on black characters and writers. It came out in 2010. It is 245 pages long with eighteen stories. The collection is edited by Cole Riley.

With in a few pages of the book, I could tell that this was going to be one of those books that talks down the the reader. The language was very rough, not in the crass or sexual way of rough but rough as in it was full of bad grammar and misused words. The misused words weren't even things that where said by characters. The characters where totally one demential and came off as not that bright.

Yes i know it's a book about sex, but I want to read something that is well written when I am taking the time to read it. This was a painful read. I felt that the writers either didn't have a high view of who was going read the book or didn't have a high view of their subjects.

To be totally honest, I could only stomach reading two stories before I had to put it down and grab a magazine.

My friend asked what I though of the book, since she hadn't read it yet. When I told her how painful a read it was, she told me that she had a feeling it would suck and she returning the gift.

I really wish that I had come across goodreads.com before I picked this one up, I wouldn't have had to suffer though reading it.