Violet Blue's Bisexual Husbands Sizzles with Hot Threesomes

I’m really enjoying the new layout by Violet Blue who has gone rogue with her new publishing company, digitapub.com (get yourself there and get some goodies both sexy and techie).  I have devoured her introductions which are the perfect tease to the book and state her mission of sexual exploration in the most divine ways.  She includes bits of history, political perceptions, and juicy bits from the stories until you are one turn away from an orgasm.  

Bisexual Husbands is a book best taken is delicious sips.  Each story is sexy and well-written, but since the book is thematic, the basic gist of the stories are monochromatic.  This is not necessarily a bad thing but once I realized this, I had to tone down my usual urge to inhale the book and just read it story-by-story.  This manner of editing really forces the reader to do justice to each author’s contribution.  In her latest anthologies, Ms. Blue moves the reader from innocence to dirty, dirty fun.  The stories at the first part of the anthologies really do introduce the reader to learners or innocents.  In Private Lessons, by Emilie Paris, there’s even a teacher - a delicious, divine dance teacher.  Who hasn’t thought about getting schooled by the dance teacher with glorious abs?  By the time you get to the end of the book, you will see the mastery or absolute depravity in the complex luscious subjects, such as in Alison Tyler’s Sparks Will Fly where the wife brings someone back to the room who she met on the elevator at the hotel.  This kind of sexual risk might be above my level but that doesn’t mean I haven’t fantasized about it.  After years of editing erotic anthologies, Ms. Blue had a great sense of how far to push her readers into risk or taboo subjects.

Each story is partnered with either a drink recipe (which I”m going to have to try more of - Rogueish Gin Daisy sounds like my kind of drink!) or a sexy how-to article written by Ms. Blue, who is in her own right a fantastic writer.  I must say that I enjoy these pieces as much as the stories.  I learned quite a bit about strap-ons just from the short how-to in Bisexual Husbands.  Having never used one, I appreciated the no-nonsense guide on not just how to strap on but how to do it successfully for both your pleasure and your partner’s.

Don’t think that just because this anthology addresses bisexuality in men head on (pun intended) that these stories have little to offer to those who are not either bisexual men or the wives of them.  In fact, the turn on in these stories may reside more with the fact that these are all stories of threesomes and most (not all) of the perspectives are from the viewpoint of the woman.  All of these wives are supportive of their husband's sexuality and needs even going so far as to support and encourage the expression thereof.  Here’s where Violet Blue transcends the art of fiction to bring in her clear perspective, as spouses we should be supportive of the most terrifying aspects of our partner’s sexuality because in the end there’s pleasure to be gained from their happiness and fulfillment.  And that the terror of bisexuality is contrived by social perceptions and gossip.  These stories go a long ways into dispelling any myths about bisexuality, making the new narrative just about pleasure between consenting adults with a few extra partners thrown in for good measure.   

With This Ring, I Thee Bed by Alison Tyler

With This Ring, I Thee Bed

Alison Tyler

As the magical date for the royal wedding bore down on me, I was in the mood to read stories about weddings.  On Amazon, I had Alison Tyler’s anthology already on the pre-order list.  Full disclosure; Ms. Tyler’s anthologies are frequently on my list.  Each one gets better.  This particular anthology is divine. 

With this Ring, I Thee Bed is a collection of stories based on weddings.  While this premise seems like it could be too limiting, especially to the sappy, romantic concepts of wedding, each story has been chosen because it has a particularly novel outlook on the wedding day.  In this way, Ms. Tyler has excelled.  None of the stories are the same or remotely boring.  From going to the church to renewing the vows, these stories cover all aspects of weddings and they do so in saucy, interesting ways.  Aptly named Wedding Crasher, this naughty story, by Rachel Kramer Bussel tells the story of the delight and surprise of a wedding guest who finds herself in the thrall of a pair of devious wedding crashers.  The sheer numbers of ways to explore weddings in erotic ways is almost mind-numbing.  And the anthology is packed with great stories.   

Opening with a nervous bride who has cancelled the wedding, this collection doesn’t dodge the sometimes painful ways that weddings stretch our emotions.  Making a commitment is not to be taken lightly.  Anniversaries become tender milestones and even events where buried passions flare up again as in Seven Year Itch by Kristina Lloyd where the wife nearly gets run over by a bus in Paris.  Sometimes marriages nearly break apart, to be mended again with renewing the vows.  There are plenty of cheaters too.  In Kate Pearce’s May the Best Man Win, the potential groom loses out to his own groomsmen.  And in P.S. Haven’s A Vow for a Vow, a wife cheats with as many men as her husband cheated with women during their marriage.  Her empowerment turns into a complex addiction and an important revelation about herself.  Every one of these stories has a twist and even when you start the story and it seems to be predictable, don’t be surprised if the reason that it was included in the anthology is because at the end your jaw will drop.    

With This Ring, I Thee Bed is not without heat.  The cliché of blushing brides takes on a whole new meaning, and it’s not their cheeks that are blushing!  It’s not always the bride or grooms who are in on the action but when they are, it’s not all vanilla wedding cake!  Jax Baynard gives the marriage of convenience a facelift in I Married a Gigilo.  His characters are so delightful and funny that I find myself wishing the story was longer. 

Another quirky look at the wedding traditions is through Janine Ashbless’ Forsaking All Others which takes a tour through the bride and groom’s photo albums through the perspective of the bride.

“We have two albums full of photographs from our wedding.  The first is face in cream satin printed with little gold ribbons and bells, and it lives in a tissue-lined box in the dining room cupboard with the good china, the set we use only on special occasions.  All those photos are in colour.  The second one stays in a locked briefcase under my side of the bed, and its cover is unmarked black leather.  All the prints in that one are black-and-white.”

From the very first paragraph, Ashbless has you looking forward to seeing all the pictures.  

 

Just when you think that the anthology can’t get any better, Ms. Tyler gifts the reader with her own story as well, Naked Nuptials.  The bride and groom make their love nest in bare splendor.  But as the wedding approaches, they find that putting clothes on might be more erotic than not. 

Like rich slices of wedding cake, these stories are to be consumed, savored, and then reminisced over again.  Even as I thumb through this book to write this overdue review, I find myself wishing that I had a peaceful moment to just relax in the sun and transport myself to these weddings – the perfect summer escape! Each of these stories are like bits of wedding cake in different flavors, some sweet and thick with buttercream frosting, others bittersweet like a tart lemon cake, and then some dense and heavy with chocolate.  Consume them but don’t pass up this collection because you are put off by weddings.