“Smooth: Erotic Stories for Women” is a collection of erotic stories edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel. This book is published by Cleis Press. The cover of the book is softcover, and all of the words on the inside are printed in black and white with high-quality paper and large enough text to easily read. In these 204 pages, there are 19 different erotic stories written by various authors. The front cover of the book shows a naked woman lying around with all of her “adult” parts discreetly hidden. The backside shows the same picture, so this book isn’t exactly discreet enough for public reading.
The theme to this erotic novel seems to be a celebration of the female body. All of the stories in this collection revolve around the female’s celebration (or liberation) with an aspect of her physical self. The stories talk about how the woman comes to accept her body and accept it for pleasure. In all of this theme, there’s quite a bit of erotic detail.
The book is mostly focused on heterosexual relationships. There are a couple of homosexual relationships included in the book, but for the most part, the book is completely focused to heterosexual relationship. For the most part, this book is also devoid of most plot development. It gives a bit of back story, but the plot is usually very basic and exists only to get to the point where couple ends up doing something sexual. This means that the stories end up being relatively short, and while there is a bit of plot development, almost all of the plot includes erotic elements which make it more along the lines of “foreplay” than an actual plot.
All of the stories are directed towards female readers, but it doesn’t stop male readers from reading any of the stories. The stories do seem to be a bit more vague in sexual language that some of the “regular” erotic stories I’ve read. However, some people (males included) will end up finding that they enjoy reading the stories. It really depends on whether you enjoy your stories to be very specific and graphic (but not crass) or whether you enjoy a vague story and prefer to imagine some of your own details.
I have to say that I was a bit disappointed with the lack of detail in some of the stories. I know this book is supposed to be directed towards females, but I felt like some of the stories were a bit vague on the sexual action. Some of the stories didn’t have too much in terms of sexual action, and for me, I felt like the action was too vague for me to really be aroused by it. Some people may enjoy imagining some of the details, but I enjoy having all of the specific details laid out in the stories. It just seemed a bit too general for my enjoyment.
It’s interesting all of the way that the different stories help represent them. For example, there are quite a few stories about tattoos, public nudity, muscles, piercings, sex with food, temperature play during sex, shaving body hair, BDSM relationships, and body painting.
The most arousing story out of this entire collection was “True Colors” by Louisa Harte. In the story, we get a play-by-play account of a woman who goes to an artist to have her body used as a canvas for paint. Of course, the paint enhances her natural beauty, and both of them end up enjoying it.
One of the neater (not really so arousing, but I enjoyed the plot) of the stories in here is “Clean Slate” by Lisabet Sarai. It’s a story about a woman who’s boyfriend pays for her to go to the salon to get all of her tattoos professionally removed. When her body is free and clear from all tattoos, the salon girl wants to “celebrate” her newfound body.
In “Ivy League Associations” by Donna George Storey, an Ivy-league graduate ends up working as a working girl. She goes to a guys house, and half-way through the foreplay, they realize they graduated together from the same college. Of course, despite the awkward delay, that doesn’t change that she wants money for rent.
Overall, “Smooth” was a good novel with some good stories, but most of the stories just weren’t that arousing to me. I loved a couple of the stories, but for the most part, the rest were just a good read – not all that arousing. If you enjoy softer stories with some seduction, “Smooth” is an amazing read. The entire book is centered about body acceptance and includes 19 different erotic stories for women. Thanks for Rachel Kramer Bussel for sending me a copy for review.
